Description
Rolling Stones – Tattoo You – Double Compact Disc
The Rolling Stones’ Tattoo You (released August 24, 1981 on Rolling Stones Records) is one of the band’s great late-period twists: an album that sounds like a confident, unified comeback, even though it was largely built from unreleased recordings and outtakes spanning nearly a decade.
The backstory is a big part of what makes it interesting. After Emotional Rescue (1980), the band had touring commitments and internal friction that made a traditional “write and record a new album from scratch” difficult. The solution was to go back into the vaults—material recorded in chunks from 1972 through 1981—and shape it into something coherent, with new overdubs and vocals added to finish tracks that had been left incomplete. The result is an album that’s effectively curated, not just compiled: it has a clear flow, a consistent sound, and a deliberate contrast between punchy rockers and moodier late-night tracks.
Tattoo You is famous for feeling like it has two personalities. The front half is packed with tight, hard-driving stadium rock—fast hooks, strong riffs, and a sense of urgency—while the back half leans more into soul, atmosphere, and slower grooves. That split is one reason the album plays so well front-to-back: it’s not monotonous, but it still feels like one statement.
It also has one of the Stones’ most durable “late” signature songs: “Start Me Up.” It became a major hit (peaking at No. 2 in the U.S.) and helped drive the album’s success. Other key tracks include “Hang Fire,” “Little T&A,” “Neighbours,” “Worried About You,” “Heaven,” and “Waiting on a Friend” (which has a notable earlier recording history reaching back to the Goats Head Soup era).
Commercially, it was huge: Tattoo You hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200 (for nine weeks) and reached No. 2 in the UK, and it’s been certified 4× Platinum in the U.S. It also has a fun “industry” footnote: the album’s cover design won the 1982 Grammy for Best Album Package.
In the Stones’ catalog, Tattoo You is often treated as their last universally agreed “classic-era level” studio album—not because it was a brand-new creative era, but because it took the best of their 1970s and early-’80s sessions and shaped it into a lean, high-hit-rate record with real personality.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
Start Me Up
Hang Fire
Slave
Little T&A
Black Limousine
Neighbours
Worried About You
Tops
Heaven
No Use In Crying
Waiting On A Friend
Lost & Found: Rarities
Living In The Heart Of Love
Fiji Jim
Troubles A’ Comin
Shame, Shame, Shame
Drift Away
It’s A Lie
Come To The Ball
Fast Talking, Slow Walking
Start Me Up (Early Version)
