Recorded throughout 1979, first in Compass Point Studios, Nassau, Bahamas, then Pathé Marconi, Paris, with some end-of-year overdubbing in New York City at The Hit Factory, "Emotional Rescue" was the first Rolling Stones album recorded following Keith Richards' exoneration from a Toronto drugs charge that could have landed him in jail for years. Fresh from the revitalisation of "Some Girls" (1978), Richards and Mick Jagger led the Stones through dozens of new songs, some of which were held over for "Tattoo You" (1981), picking only ten for "Emotional Rescue".