THE ROLLING STONES - TATTOO YOU(HALF SPEED MASTER)

An album of leftovers that doesn't sound like that at all, but rather led to the Stones' greatest success with music critics, is "Tattoo You" from 1981. The 11 outtakes from the sessions of "Goats Head Soup", "Black and Blue", "Some Girls" and "Emotional Rescue" sound like they came from the same mould. It's due to the post-production work of top sound engineer Bob Clearmountain, who gave all the tracks a vacuum-packed clarity.

The original LP splits the material into a rock side and a ballad side. Single-handedly, the Turbo #1 single "Start Me Up" thrust the album into the spotlight - how commanding is it, please, to hold a song like that back for years? Recorded back in 1975 as a reggae version titled "Never Stop," the Stones revisited this smash hit on the sessions for its predecessor, "Some Girls." "Start Me Up" shows the Stones in their element of the ultimate stadium band. Diametrically opposed to this is the excellent ballad "Waiting On A Friend", recorded in 1972 with be-bop god Sonny Rollins on saxophone.