The first album under the band’s new contract with CBS Records and another with an outside producer on the credits, this time Steve Lillywhite.
It is also the first time since he band’s earliest days that the album’s lead single was not a Jagger/Richards composition. It was a cover of Bob & Earl’s R&B classic ‘Harlem Shuffle’ that was originally from 1963. The track, which featured a guest appearance by Bobby Womack, made number five in America and number thirteen in Britain. In the spirit of the era it was remixed as a longer-running 12 inch single and released in several different versions. In December, shortly after the album was finished, Ian Stewart died from a heart attack and as a tribute to their long time friend and piano player the album features a hidden track with Ian playing 30 seconds of Big Bill Broonzy’s ‘Key to The Highway’.
