Infectious, humorous, and utterly self-aware, it sets the tone for what ultimately becomes the Stones’ most reflective album.īefore they get there, however, they prove that they’re still firing on all cylinders. But its loosey goosey riff – the only evidence needed to illustrate how Keith Richards earned his epithet, “The Human Riff” – and handclaps are the perfect bedrock for Jagger’s vocals: simultaneously at his lascivious best while being wryly self-deprecating. Almost casually assembled, the album could stand for what it was: 11 stand-out cuts that give each member a place to shine.Įven now, “Start Me Up” arguably remains the finest opener to any Stones album – no small praise, given that it has competition from “Brown Sugar” ( Sticky Fingers), “Sympathy For The Devil” ( Beggars Banquet), and “Gimme Shelter” ( Let It Bleed).

But while Mick Jagger later told Rolling Stone magazine, “It doesn’t have any unity of purpose or place or time,” that’s exactly what gives Tattoo You its power: no longer were the Stones the establishment-baiting bad boys of the 60s, or shouldering the weight of having to out-do themselves in the 70s. In Rolling With The Stones, Bill Wyman noted that “some of it was ‘leftovers’ from Emotional Rescue,” while a brace of tracks – “Top” and “Waiting On A Friend” – stretched back to the Goats Head Soup sessions of 1972.

By the band’s own admission, it had been pieced together from sessions stretching back several years.

The rolling stones tattoo you songs