The Rolling Stones may have dominated the rock and roll genre, but one song by the Mick Jagger-fronted group sounds like a “whole other band”. That is according to fans who have dug deep into The Rolling Stones‘ discography and found a song that makes Jagger and company sound completely different.
While the band has worked on blues, rock, and blues rock for the last sixty years, a song featured on Tattoo You makes all the difference for some listeners. In a post on The Rolling Stones subreddit, fans discussed their favourite underrated songs by the band. The likes of I Love Ladies and Scarlet were mentioned by the original poster, but another singled out Heaven from Tattoo You as a remarkable song.
The fan wrote: “Heaven from Tattoo You sounds like a whole other band.” That may be true, as one member of the band was completely absent for the recording. Instead, Bill Wyman and Jagger would fill in the guitar gaps left by Keith Richards’ absence.
Speaking of the song back in 1981, ex-band member Bill Wyman said the only instrumentalists on the track were Wyman, Mick Jagger, and Charlie Watts. He said: “Come to think of it, I play synthesiser and three other instruments on Heaven on the new album. That’s just me, Mick and Charlie on that track – only nobody realises it because there are no credits on the album.”
Instrumentalists outside of the band would also feature on the song, with keyboardist Chris Kimsey sharing the part he played in the making of the song just a year after the album was released.
He said: “I played on Heaven, I played alleged piano on Heaven. That was laid down with just Charlie, Mick and me, I think. I don’t think anyone else was in the room. But the session was called for like midnight, and Mick and Charlie were the first to arrive, and Mick started playing the chord sequence, and I sat down at the piano and started following along, and next thing I knew it sounded really good. So I told the assistant to roll it and we put some things on it and it sounded very good.”
While the two recollections contradict one another, what is clear is that Keith Richards did not play on that song. Wyman would instead play guitar on Heaven. Fans have since praised the work on the song, which may sound like a different band considering a staple member of the group was absent for its recording.
One fan wrote: “Gorgeous tune. All of side two of Tattoo You is perfect beauty. It’s basically a perfect album.” Another added: “The band needed an album, and they were a bit pissed at each other, lucky they had so much extra Some Girls stuff. There is even Mick Taylor stuff on this album.” A third added: “It goes to show how versatile they are.”
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