Audio Mixers: Gary Lyons; Bob Clearmountain.

Audio Remixer: Bob Clearmountain.

Like Emotional Rescue before it, Tattoo You was comprised primarily of leftovers, but unlike its predecessor, it never sounds that way. Instead, Tattoo You captures the Stones at their best as a professional stadium-rock band. Divided into a rock & roll side and a ballad side, the album delivers its share of thrills on the tight, dynamic first side. "Start Me Up" became the record's definitive Stonesy rocker, but the frenzied doo wop of "Hang Fire," the reggae jam of "Slave," the sleazy Chuck Berry rockers "Little T&A" and "Neighbours," and the hard blues of "Black Limousine" are all terrific. The ballad side suffers in comparison, especially since "Heaven" and "No Use in Crying" are faceless. But "Worried About You" and "Tops" are effortless, excellent ballads, and "Waiting on a Friend," with its Sonny Rollins sax solo, is an absolute masterpiece, with a moving lyric that captures Jagger in a shockingly reflective and affecting state of mind. "Waiting on a Friend" and the vigorous rock & roll of the first side make Tattoo You an essential latter-day Stones album, ranking just a few notches below Some Girls. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

After bum-rushing the '80s with EMOTIONAL RESCUE, the Stones released TATTOO YOU, the second half of a potent one-two album punch that showed the band asserting themselves as they entered their third decade of music-making. Essentially made up of songs dating as far back as 1972 sessions for GOATS HEAD SOUP, the Stones' 1981 release is still a potent slab of swagger and sass. "Hang Fire" is a tight two-minute and twenty second redefinition of surf music, and "Start Me Up" is classic Stones, replete with Jagger's sexual braggadocio and Keith's patented "Honky Tonk Women"-style riffs. The bluesy shuffle that is "Black Limousine" is only surpassed by the cocky "Little T & A," sung by an endearingly raspy Keith Richards. Most impressive on TATTOO YOU is the wistful "Waiting On A Friend," featuring jazz giant Sonny Rollins wailing away on his saxophone as the song fades out.