Tattoo You
by The Rolling Stones

Despite being largely an "odds and sods" collection of leftovers from previous albums, it works amazingly well as its own album and IMO is the last true classic Stones album before overpriced nostalgia tours and endless Greatest Hits recyclings became the norm.

Some think Some Girls is the best post-golden age album, other think this is it. I'm with the latter camp. Even though it includes previously unused tracks, Tattoo You still has a nice cohesiveness to its sound. "Start Me Up" might be the most overplayed song in the Stones's library (in my experience only "Brown Sugar" and "Honkey Tonk Woman" are even close) but I can still tolerate it. "Slave" is a classic Stones rocker, but for me the highlight of the entire album is the Goats Head Soup-era "Waiting On A Friend", a gorgeous tune in every way -- although I would have liked to hear Mick Taylor play on the released version.

They did a big tour for this one, Mick in his football jersey and capezios, and then settled in to the longest, most painful, and most lucrative slide in musical history, punctuated only by the occasional studio album. At which times we could be assured the dinosaurs at Rolling Stone would exclaim, "They're back! With their best album since Some Girls!" Nah. This is where it ended.

From Fischman TOP 100 COMMENTER 01/11/2017 22:57 | #182293 | TOP COMMENT Vote up your preferred comments and the comments with the most votes will be flagged.

I always wondered why I liked this album so much when it was clear the Stones were already well in decline. Then I learned much of the material had been written earlier which explains a lot as most of these songs sound like they would fit on some of the Stones great albums from the previous decade. What's amazing is that these songs, covering a broad time span and not having made the cut for other records, could be cobbled together into a reasonably coherent whole. The closer in particular is an underrated gem.

The next stones album after the disappointing emotional rescue. When I say new I mean sort of. The songs all came from previous sessions for earlier albums going back as far as goat's head soup. Having said that, as an album its very good. The first side is for the more rockier material including the classic start me up and the brilliant and often overlooked slave. The rest is good, (especially the catchy hang fire and little t&a) and awful, (neighbors and black limousine). The second side, the ballad side, is better. Heaven, worried about you, tops and no use in crying are wonderful, up there with the stones best love songs. The album ends with the lovely waiting on a friend, which features some great sax work from sonny Rollins. Great record.

To me, this one beats out Some Girls. A strong contender for the Stones' fifth best album behind their 68-72 period classics.