The Rolling Stones
Tattoo You

THE REVIEW

Prologue. Year 1970, the most famous Liverpool group in history disbands following various vicissitudes (economic and otherwise). The following year, precisely March 1971, the band that was the main "antagonist" in the Sixties to that group, releases its masterpiece, "Sticky Fingers". Exactly ten years later, history tends to repeat itself: in 1980 John Lennon, the soul of the Beatles, is assassinated; August 1981, the Rolling Stones produce their last masterpiece, "Tattoo You". The coincidence may seem forced, but perhaps not too much.

"Tattoo You" is definitely the best work of the Stones in the 80s, both because we have great rock here, even if interspersed with some ballads, and because the best moments were behind them, and the old bad boys would no longer leave their mark in the years to come.

It starts with a bang with "Start Me Up", an easily catchy single built in the best Stones tradition on three simple chords and with all instruments prominently featured, and with "Hang Fire", a fast piece with a simple yet perfect melody. Continuing, "Slave" is one of my absolute favorite hits. It encompasses almost all the standards that made the band of the glimmer twins great: the majestic guitar riff, the blues chords, the misogyny and sexual innuendos of Jagger ("Do it, do it, do it..."), the great performance of the same, assisted by the choirs and a great Billy Preston on organ and the faithful Bobby Keys on sax. After "Little T + A", the only one sung by a lively Richards, "Black Limousine", with a Jaggerian performance on harmonica. "Neighbours" stands out mainly for the shouted intro and the great energy it manages to unleash, but it is in the latter part of the album that the Rolling Stones show their best: sweet ballads, "Worried About You", "Tops", "No Use In Crying" (written with Ron Wood), in which the pianos of Ian Stewart and Preston shine, the semi-psychedelic interlude of "Heaven" (it really seems like hearing Jagger and Richards singing from another world), and finally closing with the sunny "Waiting On A Friend".

In essence, a great album, the last truly noteworthy one from the forty-year-old English band, after the fabulous sixties and seventies had consecrated them as the best rock group on earth.