Compass Point Studios and the Making of Undercover

The Rolling Stones recorded Undercover at Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas in 1983 – a place famous for its isolation, humidity, and the 24-track console Bob Marley had used. The band booked the studio to escape distractions and legal headaches back home, but the tropical setting didn’t exactly inspire sunny vibes. Instead, the heat and claustrophobia of the island seemed to seep into the paranoid, violent tone of the album.

Sessions ran long and tense. Mick Jagger and Keith Richards were already drifting apart, and the Bahamas amplified that friction rather than smoothing it. Producer Chris Kimsey recalls the studio’s windowless control room and the constant hum of air conditioners, which gave the recording process a locked-in, feverish feel. The song “Too Much Blood” literally samples a news report about a chainsaw murder, which Jagger heard on Bahamian TV. The island’s atmosphere – peaceful on the surface but full of simmering danger – became the album’s secret ingredient.