The Rolling Stones - Tattoo You

Back in the day I did not own any Rolling Stones records. The first album I actually bought was Dirty Work in 1986, and I only bought it because I loved "One Hit (To the Body)" which is an awesome song. Later I'd succumb and get the Hot Rocks and More Hot Rocks double albums, and those were all I needed ... and this lamp.

Tattoo You is a weird one for me. As there are two impressions of this album for me. The first one comes from the me of yesteryear. "This sucks, if I have to hear Mick Jagger's nut squeezed falsetto while watching him prance around in leopard skin tights I'll puke." Of course, even eighteen year old me had to admit that "Start Me Up" was something special. I had no idea how he played it - I didn't know anything about alternate tuning back then other than drop D, and that really didn't count.

The second one, actually doesn't stray all that far from my first impression, although I'm a lot more forgiving than I once was, I can even listen to "Hang Fire" and not throw up a little in my mouth. I can put the album on and play it through an appreciate it for what it was. I'm still perplexed as to how these guys got to be labelled "The World's Greatest Rock Band" - their out put is so uneven. When they're good, they're really good - this was why I loved the Hot Rocks albums - all killer, no filler.

There's really nothing in the liner notes that hints at the drama behind the album. It just seemed to be a given that Mick and Keith were nattering at each other over something or other. When you listen to the songs, everything seems to be there for a reason. Now, I know I just went on about uneven they are, but you can still have a jigsaw where everything is fitted together but not like the picture. This is sort of like that. Whether I like all the songs or not it doesn't matter.

From what I've read, the album was mostly cobbled together by associate producer Chris Kimsey who went back as far as a decade, through old tapes for ideas and snippets and outtakes and then got the band in to do their bits and pieces and complete the songs. Heck they were even able to break the album into a rock side and a ballad side. Even the once incredibly annoying "Waiting on a Friend" has a certain appeal now.

The album was mixed by the ever reliable Bob Clearmountain of the gold and platinum ears, and mastered by the legendary Bob Ludwig.

Tattoo You was their eighth album in a row to go to number one, which is pretty awesome. The fact I found this in the dollar bin with all the pieces was quite a find. It was a bit roughed up, but nothing too bad and it cleaned up to where it played without a lot of pops and clicks. Score.

While I may never be a huge fan of the band, you have to respect a body of work that over a half century is far greater than the sum of their parts. It really isn't a stretch to call them "The World's Greatest Rock Band."

Oh, and "Start Me Up" still has the power and swagger it held over forty years ago - and for this song alone it was worth my dollar. The rest was just extra.

Like I said.

Score.