Tattoo You (O-Card)

The Rolling Stones | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (August 30, 2005)
• Original Release Date: 2005
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Virgin Records Us
• ASIN: B000AM6OLC
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #240,956 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)

Track Listings

1. Start Me Up

2. Hang Fire

3. Slave

4. Little T & A

5. Black Limousine

6. Neighbours

7. Worried About You

8. Tops

9. Heaven

10. No Use in Crying

11. Waiting on a Friend

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Newly Remastered CD = Excellence, December 28, 2006

By 

Magnus - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tattoo You (O-Card) (Audio CD)

I bought the LP version of this album the DAY it was released and played it on my Technics turntable again and again. Now, 25 years later, listening to this newly-remastered CD version made me realize just how wonderfully produced the album was for its time. Maybe some of the songs aren't as memorable as those on BB, LIB or Exile, but one thing's undeniable--the sound quality never got better than this for the band. The 1980s would bring a lot of production opportunities that the band and its producers were probably right to try out at the time, but with mixed results. So this is (fittingly) the last great album of the 1970s Stones . . . That's right, since most of these tracks were written (and occasionally even recorded) in the 1970s, so if you've never heard anything from the album besides the 2 - 3 big hits, fear not. There's no "Undercover of the Night" or "Winning Ugly" types of filler here.

This is the real deal, and if you have the chance, listen with headphones to get the best audio experience for the band's best-sounding album. Bar none.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Raucous rock and stirring ballads, March 21, 2006

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Tattoo You (O-Card) (Audio CD)

Tattoo You contains some raucous rock 'n roll and a couple of beautiful, soulful ballads. Although not considered to be amongst their very best albums, there is enough here to make it a worthwhile purchase.

The opener, Start Me Up, is the Stones at their high powered best with its killer riff and insistent rhythm, whilst the melodic Hang Fire with its impressive vocals comes a close second. These were big hits and can be found on many Stones compilations.

The bluesy Black Limousine and the reggae-influenced Slave aren't bad either, but ballads like Tops and Heaven fall somewhat beneath their high standards. This may be forgiven though, since the closing number, the poignant Waiting On A Friend sees them at their soulful best. It's a moving ballad on a par with earlier great moments such as Wild Horses and Dead Flowers from 1971s Sticky Fingers album.

Overall Tattoo You is thus an uneven work but the aforementioned highlights more than make up for the few tepid and uninspired ballads. I give it four stars but that is judging it by the high standards of their own work.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Middle of the Road, June 10, 2007

By 

finulanu ""the mysterious"" (Here, there, and everywhere) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Tattoo You (O-Card) (Audio CD)

Tattoo You marked the end of an era for the Rolling Stones. It was their last U.S. #1 (it's not like everything since has flopped, though), and it's the nominal pick for "last great Stones album" - that is, when rock critics aren't praising Some Girls, which by the way is leagues ahead of Tattoo You. (then again, the several critics who today still consider this the "last great Stones album" seem to have conveniently forgotten they fell over each other to praise Steel Wheels, Voodoo Lounge and A Bigger Bang). But I don't consider this the "last great Stones album", for two reasons. One, the Stones have yet to enter a truly stagnant period - even the mid-'80s fiasco (how else would you explain the back-to-back releases of Undercover and Dirty Work) was at least partially recovered from with Steel Wheels (and totally saved with Voodoo Lounge), while the awful Bridges to Babylon was followed by the pretty good Bigger Bang. Another reason I don't consider this the last great Stones album is simply because I don't consider it great.

Not to say it's a wrtetched excuse for an album - there are five really good songs on this album. Slave is a fun jazzy reggae jam with Pete Townshend on backup vocals. In fact, I think it may be my favorite Stones reggae song (though the song Sweet Black Angel would probably argue if I said that, because that's a good reggae song too) - Luxury, You Don't Have to Mean it and Cherry Oh Baby can bite my derriere (saying rude words in French makes me feel sophisticated). Hang Fire is a frenzied, fun rockabilly blast of a song. Little T&A is a fun, perverted Chuck Berry boogie. And Neighbors is an enjoyable enough generic blues song. Oh, plus you have your two uberhits. I like the sleazy, riff-happy rocker Start Me Up as much as the next guy. But I also don't think it would be a crime to slow down its radio play by just a little bit. It's not like DJs everywhere are gonna be murdered in alleys because they didn't play Start Me Up for the 504,013 time, okay? I much prefer the melodic jazz/reggae ballad Waiting on a Friend, a sensitve song with a good sax solo. Easily the Stones' best song of the '80s.

Then we get to the bad stuff, and I'm not just talkin' about the ballad side, either. Black Lmousine is just some random half-thought-out blues jam with shrill high-pitched harmonica squeaks ruining every chance of it being potential potential entertainment. Heaven is probably my least favorite Stones original. Who wants to hear the Stones indulge themselves in an "atmospheric, shimmering bedroom song"? Eh, I don't. And what's with Mick's vocals? Let's just forget that song ever existed and move onto... the other three dull ballads! Tops, No Use in Crying and Worried About You aren't as bad as Heaven, but I still hate 'em all. Pretty much interchangable songs. Sorry, but it's true.

Oh, and this is little more than a collection of remixed outtakes. We'll go through the recording dates in chronological order, shall we? Waiting on a Friend dates back to 1970; Tops, 1972; Black Limo, 1973; Worried About You, 1974; Start Me Up and Slave, 1975; Hang Fire, Little T&A and No Use in Crying, 1979; Heaven and Neighbors, 1980. So it's just a bunch of warmed-up leftovers. Yeah, warmed-up leftovers are okay. At least you get something to eat. But wouldn't you rather a steak fresh off the barbeque?