Can the Rolling Stones do Tattoo You Part 2?

Compile a great album from outtakes, lost gems and 2 new songs?

 

35 years of not coming up with great albums suggests no

 

My understanding is that Tattoo You came from the same block of recordings that produced Some Girls and Emotional Rescue. I've never been a huge fan - there are some good songs but overall it does feel like they might have been scraping the bottom of one particular barrel. I think it was the last Stones album to have some massive hits and I always figured that was because it was a retreat from the wonderful weirdness of Emotional Rescue to a more traditional Stones outing. Just opinions, of course.

I remember reading an interview with Keef where he said something about all the unreleased tracks the Stones have in the vaults. My impression is that they could basically poop out an album of musical bong scrapings anytime they choose to do so. I give them props for NOT doing so actually and choosing to continue to pursue new music instead. I'm sure everything will see the light of day eventually though, whether we want it or not.

 

Some Girls bonus disc was pretty close!

 

Tattoo You is a great record for its side 2. Strangely a bunch of ballads coming from different sessions from different years sound like they were composed together. Another thing I love about it is the very gentle and warm usage of reverb, flanger and chorus, things the Stones weren't known for. Also you get Sonny Rollins. Waiting On A Friend is the most tender moment, a bit ironic since Keef and Mick weren't at their friendship peak at the time. Anyway, it's magical and soothing like watching the sunset at the beach with friends and people you love. It always gets me there.

 

Some were from late seventies sessions, but a lot was leftover from GHS/IORR/B&B.

 

Yes that could have been a good stand alone album if the Stones could find two bankable singles for it. Still it is more enjoyable than some of the later releases.

 

That's what they should have done. Made a new album with the old tracks. It worked before and Tattoo You is a great album.

 

Chris Kimsey said in an interview that he was tasked with going through the vaults to pick out possible tracks for use on Tattoo You from the period of 1973-80. I think if I remember correctly he said he came up with a list of 20-30 tracks and let the Stones pick from those. It would be interesting to see the list and find out which tracks were used on the Some Girls bonus disc and how many of them still have not been officially released.

 

I like it better than the Emotional Rescue album.

 

Not sure why it would be better than an album of all new songs that would say something about The Stones now instead of pretending to be The Stones of then.

 

I would rather see them cook up a batch of new songs, go in with just the four of them(six, wishful thanking but kiss my ass if you don't like that), and do an organic, 12-track album with a raw production.

 

The Stones is the only band that knows how to revitalize dead tracks from the past. The only thing that really changes in the engine of a band is the maturation of the singer's voice. If you have a complete vocal in the can, build a new track around that. Variations of this were done with the Exile and Some Girls rereleases. While the Stones seem to like this form of excavation, The Beatles did it most famously with Free as a Bird and Real Love.
McCartney stands to gain the most from this type of track building. Unlike Jagger his voice has changed a lot in recent years.
There is a well known McCartney outtake called Boil Crisis. Certainly not a classic, but good enough. He could leave it buried, rerecord the whole thing, release it as is, or wipe the backing tracks and replace them with his touring band. Too my, there is only one option if you want to rehabilitate this track. Unfortunately no one really investigates this path except for The Stones.

 

Yes, I felt they could have made a "Tattoo Two" with some of the tracks from the Exile and Some Girls bonus discs, and whatever other interesting things caught Mick's ear. People might have been less concerned about the redone vocals that way.

 

I've long shared this line of thinking. Some Girls bonus disc definitely has that feel. Really, if you combine the best of that with the best tracks on Exile, presto!

 

Perhaps because the Stones of then made music never officially released that is far superior to anything the Stones of now could ever imagine doing even if they tried, which they won't.

 

I still go for that they try. They are supposed to rockers not wimps.

 

So do I. The funny thing is, we've always thought of Emotional Rescue as a lesser effort after the great Some Girls, and Tattoo You as a "comeback". We now know that they had so much material recorded that Emotional Reacue could have been a great album. Like the guy looking for the Cup of Christ at the end of that Indy Jones movie, they just "chose poorly."

 

With the leftover Some Girls material, the tracks used for Emotional Rescue they could have come up with a better album for sure. They also had the material the was later used for Tattoo You as well except for the new tracks when Emotional Rescue was compiled.

 

Why? Is that what the new one is supposedly going to be, or is this a random question?

 

No. They supposedly are going to release 2 new albums within the next year. One album of cover tunes and one of new songs that they composed.

 

And would it be called " Tattoo You Two ( too)!


Peace and love✌

 

Oh, ok. I heard they were going to put out a record in 2017 with lots of Chicago blues on it, and that they had also written a bunch of new songs. I didn't know those were two separate records.

 

If there's enough material lying around for a 2nd disc, this would be the next obvious candidate for their deluxe treatment. However, it gives hesitation since they tend to prefer releasing a Blu Ray/DVD concurrently from the supporting tour. Unless Still Life could be expanded, Live in Leeds just issued out last year.

The Stones have been doing a fabulous job at opening the archives. If there's one thing, though, that falls under category of "What They Should Do...," it's put out The Brussels Affair as a stand alone release.

 

From a purely business perspective, I wonder in this day and age if you can expect to sell more units of a re-issue with a bonus disc of unreleased material than issuing the same unreleased material as a new album (a la Tattoo You). The Stones probably made that calculation with their recent reissues.