Album dossier / 1981

Tattoo You

The Rolling Stones · Rock/Hard Rock

Facing a touring deadline and unable to book fresh sessions amid Jagger-Richards friction, engineer Chris Kimsey spent three months combing a decade of vault outtakes -- 'Tops' and 'Waiting on a Friend' dated to the 1972 Goats Head Soup sessions, 'Slave' and 'Worried About You' to Black and Blue, and 'Start Me Up' had been shelved since the Some Girls sessions before Jagger wrote new lyrics and melodies over the old backing tracks; Sonny Rollins overdubbed saxophone on 'Waiting on a Friend' and 'Slave' at the final 1981 New York sessions, and the finished album became the Stones' eighth and, to date, final US #1, staying atop the Billboard 200 for nine weeks -- the band's longest run at the top.