Tattoo You (Remastered): CD

By the late seventies, The Rolling Stones were unquestionably the world’s greatest rock’n’roll band, a tag they thoroughly deserved and have yet to lose. They had moved effortlessly into open-air stadiums but also began a tradition of performing more intimate shows in theatres and clubs alongside their groundbreaking concerts in arenas. To the delight of their millions of fans, they have continued with this policy to the present.

The world really was The Rolling Stones’ oyster in the late seventies, as their Canadian escapades made headlines around the world. They partied at Studio 54, came up with dancefloor favourites Miss You and Emotional Rescue, and recorded in Paris, Nassau and New York. The eighties saw the band stretch the envelope further still, working with jazz great Sonny Rollins, film directors Julien Temple and Michael Lindsay-Hogg, and producers Chris Kimsey and Steve Lillywhite.

Amazingly, the Rolling Stones topped these achievements with ever-more ambitious tours in the nineties and noughties, and recorded three more classic studio albums with acclaimed producer Don Was, in Dublin, Los Angeles, France and the Caribbean.

Tattoo You is another undisputed classic and rightly topped the US charts for nine weeks on its original release in 1981. Its opening track and first single, Start Me Up, remains one of the band’s best loved songs and a mainstay of their live set. The cleverly sequenced Tattoo You comprises six rock tracks, including the US Top 20 hit Hang Fire, the fast blues of Black Limousine, Richards’ lead vocal on Little T & A, and the sneering Neighbours, but the five ballads which follow – and formed the second side of the original vinyl – really lift it into another league. The sweet soul of Worried About You, Tops and the sublime Waiting On A Friend, featuring jazz great Sonny Rollins on saxophone, in particular show what a fine singer Jagger is. Corriston’s cover design won a Grammy Award for best album package.