Hipsters back in the day (and, oh yes, they existed) complained that Tattoo You was the Stones retreating back to safety after the failure of Emotional Rescue's brave experimentalism. I peed on their socks.

This was the Stones Inc. at their best. Total professionalism, with all the positives and negatives that term implies. The first time I heard "Start Me Up" I thought it was a deep cut from some late 60s album I'd never known about and, in a way, it was. It's that sound, codified and preserved in amber, but still able to spark some magic. "Little T'n'A" did the same for the Keith outlaw song, and worked. At this point, that was enough. I saw them on this tour and, sure enough, it felt like a nostalgia act, with hippies and yuppies alike dancing to perfunctory renditions of chestnuts like "Jumpin' Jack Flash" and "Brown Sugar" that felt a million years away instead of a mere decade. J. Geils Band opened and managed to out-Stones the Stones. I bought the t-shirt though (but I never bought the album).

This is almost EVERYBODY'S breaking point when it comes to this band. Some of the outtakes consist of material from as far back as Goat's Head/It's Only Rock and Roll.

I remember being shocked that Start Me Up was released as late as this album. Though now I can only see it through the prism of Mick's purple football pants and yellow cut off tank top, at the time it reminded me of stuff like If You Can't Rock Me - not sure which sessions this has its genesis from though. Good enough for Stadium Rock - they still manage to say "You'd make a dead man cum" on the radio 30 years ago.

Hang Fire is the best (only) power-pop song The Stones ever came out with. Fabulous. Never fails to put me in a good mood.

Slave is a little overrated in my book, but still a nice pop-blues work out of mongerous proportions.

Little T&A is supposedly Keef's ode to Patty Hansen, and how she "saved" him from Big H and Brown Liquor.

On any given day I might site Neighbours as my favorite song on the album -- it's about Keef getting kicked out of NYC apartment co-ops because of his lifestyle. Basically, as much you think you want Keith Richards as your Neighbour, apparently you really don't.

Tops might be the most, or second most mongerous tune they have ever written. Mick as lecherous casting director. "Have you ever heard those opening lines? You should leave this small town waaaaay behind."

And of course - Waiting on a Friend. Great fucking song, and possibly their best video.

Apres-ca, Le Deluge. Bring on The Fail.

tattoo you is a good album with several great songs

Yep, love that track but overall the album is not one I ever listen to, a companion piece to It's Only Rock & Roll.

Holy shit, this week is just downhill incredibly fast.

Historical context be damned, I love this record. But, like Dump said, I rarely pull it out when there are many others I'd reach for first.

Still, heard it first at a late night party in late college and the triple shot of "Hang Fire", "Slave", and "Little T&A" were what had me searching for in the light of day.

As time has passed I think my faves are the slow build of "Worried About You" and the pleading of "No Use In Crying".

I think harry and Rads take about Stones, Inc is completely valid but I can't really subscribe to it because I wasn't there to live it when the songs were new. To me, I only have the music and for me, this is a solid Stones record.

It's funny that y'all don't listen to this a lot. I don't listen to The Stones near as much as I used to, but I definitely listen to this one as much as any of the others, and certainly more than anything after this.

I think this is your answer. At least from me anyway.

These albums are part of my DNA at this point, much like Dylan or REM or a handful of other bands that I have been obsessed with during my life's musical trek.

For me, when I want some 80s Stones I grab Steel Wheels.

LOMIT

I can at least somewhat get behind that statement. I wouldn't call Emotional Rescue brave experimentalism but I like it alot more than Tattoo You.

I don't dislike Tattoo You really but I can't say there's a single song that I really like much either. It just seems like mostly a pale imitation of the Stones during their peak period. There isn't really a single song that grabs me. A fourteen year old Billy G really liked Little T&A but I don't care for it much anymore and I'd be pretty happy if I never heard Hang Fire or Start Me Up ever again. Waiting on A Friend comes closest to being a good song but its mostly because of the Sonny Rollins sax. The rest of it is kind of throwaway to my ears.

Emotional Rescue and Some Girls at least benefit from a different sound. They don't attempt to scratch the same itch as Sticky Fingers or Let it Bleed and thus don't suffer from the comparison in the same way.

I'd rather listen to Angie, Honkey Tonk, and anything off of Dirty Work on repeat than Start Me Up ever again.

waiting on a friend is a good song i just really, really hate their vocals.
somebody else needs to cover this.

i hate almost all of jagger's falsetto bull.

No really, you wouldn't. Just wait until we cover that on Wednesday. It is DRECK.

Aside from "Start Me Up" (which is sorta like "Born In The USA" to me--I never listen to it and just pretend the album starts with Track 2), I love Tattoo You. I remember being pretty shocked to find out that it was essentially an odds-n-sods collection.

The title track is what gets a lot of the attention, and She Was Hot, which is a solid Rolling Stones, Inc. single, but this album is redeemed by 2 things - it solidifies the notion that if Keef sings, the song is good - Wanna Hold You - and All The Way Down, which for some reason has become one of my all time favorite Stones songs, and easily in my Top 5 post-Some Girls/Tattoo You era songs. \

Kind of sums up the latter years: "How the years rush on by, Birthdays, kids and suicides. Still I play the fool and strut - Still you're a SLUT"

I could never get past the opener, which I liked for its weirdly non-Stonesiness(remember that video?). All the way Down and It must be Hell are bad attempts at modernizing a straight Stones sound, or at least weak songs to make that attempt, but I don't mind them so much compared to the rest of the album.

I've never even heard OF this record, much less any of the music from it.

I've never bothered to listen to this one. I hated the two singles off it ("Under Cover of the Night", and "She Was Hot") and that was enough for me. DLing now though, through sheer masochistic curiosity.

I struggle to see how anyone can stomach any Stones records from here on out. But, I tip my hat to the courage you all show when you try

I really wasn't prepared for how shitty this was. I might even like Dirty Work better. Might.

Over the course of the last thirty plus years, there has been the occasional blip of Glimmer Twin greatness, but as far as I'm concerned, it died with that final lyric "pile it high on the platter". You can think about what M&K meant by that, but I'm fairly certain we all know what "that" is......and I'm not talking about $$$$.
 
I've said this about a thousand times in my lifetime, but in every possible level, 'Sway' is one muddaf**king perfect song. But I digress. 
 
btw - great thread
 

I just put on Undercover. These are precious minutes I'll never get back.

Also, I remember seeing this in the stores on vinyl, and I think it was packaged in a red wrapper.

Actually, I bet Meat Loaf could have made 'She Was Hot' slightly more interesting.

'Wanna Hold You' warranted a double play.