The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_mEC54eTuGw

The Rolling Stones have unveiled their first album of original material since 2005, and the first since the death of drummer Charlie Watts.

Hackney Diamonds will feature 12 tracks and be released on 20 October, preceded by lead single Angry.

Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Sir Mick Jagger announced the album on Wednesday at an event in Hackney.

Richards said: "Ever since Charlie's gone, it's been different, he's number four. Of course he's missed."

But, he added, the new album will feature Steve Jordan in Watts' place, a drummer Richards said the band knew from "way back" and who filled Watts' seat on tour this summer.

"It would have been a lot harder without Charlie's blessing," Richards said, explaining that Watts had previously told the band Jordan should replace him if he ever was not around to record.

Watts died in 2021 aged 80, prior to the band's 60th anniversary tour, after suffering from throat cancer.

Sir Mick explained: "The album has 12 tracks. Most are with Steve, but two are tracks we recorded in 2019 with Charlie."

The album is preceded by a new lead single, titled Angry, which also received its premiere at the event in Hackney.

The White Lotus actress Sydney Sweeney, who was sitting in the audience at the launch event where she was briefly interviewed by host Jimmy Fallon, features in the music video for the song.

Discussing the recording of the album, Wood told Fallon: "We did it pretty quickly actually.

"There were lots of ideas floating around, we gathered them together just before Christmas last year and made a go of it."

The album will feature Lady Gaga, and other rumoured guest stars include Sir Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.

Asked about the gap since 2016's Blue & Lonesome, an album of blues covers, Sir Mick said: "We've been on the road most of the time, maybe we were a bit too lazy, but then we said, 'let's put a deadline'."

He said the band cut 23 tracks, which were mixed in February, before deciding on the final 12 to include on the album.

Sir Mick said the sound of the album was "angry", like the title of the lead single, but added there was an "eclectic" mixture of genres on the record, including love songs and ballads.

He added: "I don't want to be big headed but we wouldn't have put this album out if we hadn't really liked it. We said we had to make a record we really love ourselves.

"We are quite pleased with it, we are not big headed about it, but we hope you all like it."

The stage is littered with fallen chandeliers, the famous lips logo is slashed to pieces. The Stones might be entering their 80s, but they're not going quietly.

Sir Mick and Ronnie bound onto the stage, vamping for the crowd and stirring up a frenzy. Keith Richards hangs back in his shades and a trilby hat, forever cool.

They're in a playful mood, teasing Jimmy Fallon for his questions ("the first track is called Angry, what's the main emotion behind that?"), and singing an impromptu version of the 1965 track Off The Hook.

"Mick and Keith, you've been together longer than me an my wife. What's the secret?" asks a fan.

"Don't talk too much," Sir Mick fires back.

The trio are obviously energised by the new album, with Keith talking up the "damn funky riffs" and Sir Mick declaring: "We wouldn't have put this album out if we hadn't really liked it."

"I'll drink to that," replies Ronnie.

MORE:
https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-66720789

new song is good fun, nothing amazing, feels kind of Tattoo You-ish

entire album is about me, im the hackney diamond

it's about time they did a rock opera

yeah, sounds very Start Me Up, I'm not complaining, this is much better than I would have expected.

(xxp) Now the Plymouth Rock

big as the ritz, landed on us

Pretty good for a lead single

this isn't awful and while the execution isn't great, i appreciate the concept of the video to avoid the reality of aging

basically a riff and a repeated lyric from first listen but it's nice to have it.

lol @ being able to order a CD single with, it appears so far anyway, just this song and no B-side for $7, marketing kings to the end

good to see Mick Taylor back in the band.

I know this is a corny sentiment, but the fact these guys are 80 f'in years old and still just out there doing their thing is somewhat "inspiring" to me. Like, if I can age anywhere in the vicinity of how Jagger is aging, I'll consider it a success!

I think being a billionaire helps.

the processing on Jagger's voice is kind of off-putting

Additional musicians

Steve Jordan – drums
Lady Gaga – vocals on "Sweet Sounds of Heaven"[21]
Paul McCartney – bass guitar
Andrew Watt – production
Stevie Wonder[3]
Bill Wyman – bass guitar

Interesting that Wyman is involved. Also a pleasant surprise to see Stevie.

i wonder if wyman is on the charlie tracks?

Like, if I can age anywhere in the vicinity of how Jagger is aging, I'll consider it a success!

I'm impressed he was able to bounce back after heart valve replacement surgery! Though heart valve replacement surgery, of course, is one of many big downsides of vicinity to Jagger's age; the millions in the bank probably helped a lot with his recovery.

I just listened to the single, it's pretty good. I don't think it particularly sounds like 'Start Me Up' but it's in that same area of Stones mid-to-faster tempo songs that threaten to get unruly. The processing on the vocals is kind of par for the course on rock records these days. At least it comes across mainly as excessive reverb/delay, although there are some auto-tuney bits when the different vocal takes separate out from each other a bit. At least the mix doesn't sound like it's been stupidly compressed.

I lol'd at "I'm still taking the pills"
And I never would have known that it's Sydney Sweeney in the video.

The album cover is later day Smashing Pumpkins

i can't get past the awful snare drum sound

There is something sad about that video, the band animating their younger selves and centering around a very attractive woman young enough to be their granddaughter.

I did like the L.A. street shots.

Ha, that's Sydney Sweeney, who as someone pointed out on Twitter, was 8 years old the last time the Stones released an album of all new, original material.

Oh wow she's only a week older than me.

I remember A Bigger Bang reasonably well or rather I remember Rain Fall Down.

She is younger than my oldest child.

my hackney diamonds, pretty as a summer day

Song is okay, first song I have even listened to in like five albums.

There is something sad about that video, the band animating their younger selves and centering around a very attractive woman young enough to be their granddaughter.

so much this. it's so fucking depressing

also the totally anonymous dude who is just driving the car. what's his story? what's on his ipod?

He’s the famous Street Drivin’ Man.

this song fucking sucks by the way

They did a more interesting version of that video with Kristen Stewart in 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEuV82GqQnE

Seriously. And it sounds so much better, too.

Tired: "Moves Like Jagger"
Wired: "Moves Like K-Stew"

tired my movin' ass!

Wow, that is far more alive and cranked than I would have expected!

There’s a reason that I just found the song on Apple Music and didn’t watch the video (which, in fairness, is what I do with most new music)

the album cover art is truly dreadful.

The song is pretty much Stones by the numbers.

I kind of like the album cover, for what it is. The song is just the stones giving the fans what they want, or what they think the fans want. It just leaves zero impression. The video's pretty bad, kind of annoying overall, and it just makes me want to listen to all of the previous albums featured on the billboards

Going to give the album a chance, seems likely that this would be the last one they're going to release, though who the hell knows? Kind of crazy to think that the time between a bigger bang and this one is going to be approximately the same time between their debut LP and undercover.

They did a more interesting version of that video with Kristen Stewart in 2016

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEuV82GqQnE

― an icon of a worried-looking, long-haired, bespectacled man (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, September 6, 2023 9:14 PM (yesterday) bookmarkflaglink

ok yes glad I'm not going crazy I swore they already did a "girl drives around the city" video somewhat recently

anyway the song is okay I guess, kinda hard to get past how processed and patched up the vocals on the chorus are, though I suppose a lot of rock music sounds like that now

he's number four.

ice cold dis of Charlie here imho, Ron Wood should clearly be #4

lol @ being able to order a CD single with, it appears so far anyway, just this song and no B-side for $7, marketing kings to the end

― Maxmillion D. Boosted (jon /via/ chi 2.0)

What, not even a Fred Again remix?

hackneyed dead mens

has this been done yet

do you think kristen stewart can really drive stick?

Obviously should have been Kristen Stewart driving Sydney Sweeney around for conceptual continuity.

Other than the auto-tuned vocals, what makes this boring is that the guitar riff isn't even syncopated.

I don't hate this song? It's not great or top tier Stones or anything, but honestly far better than I expected in 2023 and has me mildly excited to hear the whole album.

I do like that this is only going to be a 12-track album. Lots of speculation over at the the H0ffman Forums that they recorded 23 tracks in total and that they might have another release in the can down the road. Who knows, but I guess I could kind of see them trying to milk two albums out of the very likely final batch of original material they've pulled together.

Not to be "sure wish I could just see four three guys in a room playing together getting back to the basics" but it would be nice to see these old dudes actually playing the song, instead of featuring a college age woman grooving to their stuff as if to obliquely say that these guys are still hot or whatever.

That cover art, yikes! In what world did that get okayed by everyone, some DGAF swag going on there.

(xp) Have you seen Keith Richards lately? The video might have had to come with a warning for people of a nervous disposition tbh.

XPS Reminds me of this story that made the rounds back when Goddess In The Doorway came out: they had this big premiere party at a theater in LA, like it was a movie or something, celebrities on the red carpet etc. There were all these excited, screaming young women congregating by the stage door, where Mick would make his exit photo op at the end of the night, and a journalist singled out a few, asking questions and finding out they all had been hired for the event from modeling agencies. Furthermore, most of these women didn't even know who Jagger was.

100% believe they would hire women for the exit photo op, but believing that "most" of any group of people in LA didn't know who Mick Jagger was in 2001 strains credibility a little

Almost all their album covers post-Exile are hideous. (Exceptions: Some Girls, Dirty Work, and maybe Stripped.)

Tattoo You is iconic!

Dirty Work is dreadful.

but believing that "most" of any group of people in LA didn't know who Mick Jagger was in 2001 strains credibility a little

I dunno. These people where probably all in their late teens/early twenties who probably listened to contemporary Pop and/or R&B and Hip Hop, so Jagger might not necessarily have been on their radar other than being some old famous guy they were pretending to want to fuck.

new song is good!

it sounds like they still like / care about this shit. inspiring.

Right?

+1

They looked excited here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NgDnk5p2w3M

eye contact ftw

Tattoo You is iconic!

True; I liked that one.

Dirty Work is dreadful.

The album? Absolutely. (Here comes Alfred in 3...2...1...) But the cover is an official company portrait of Rolling Stones Inc. circa 1986.

Here's why I love Dirty Work:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eH6drAKz7bc

That song sounds like someone put a digital watermark on it for copyright purposes.

🤣

because Mick's pants aren't fire, they're MUSTARD

they definitely care, they sure haven't needed the money for decades

The album? Absolutely. (Here comes Alfred in 3...2...1...) But the cover is an official company portrait of Rolling Stones Inc. circa 1986.

I should have specified that I was talking about the cover art, which is the height of mid-80s mediocrity. An immense fall from grace for a band that became known for iconic cover art.

I had this 45 rpm single as a kid; whaddya think about that art

I thought it was cool when I was 18.

OHHN-DA-COVAH OF DAH NIIIGTT

95% sure my mom also had the LP with the peel-off stickers (guess I can text her and ask)

My dad had the version of Sticky Fingers with an actual working zipper.

(My mom said yes, and asked if I’ve seen the video of the new song)

MomRock

My uncle had the version of let it bleed with actual frosting on the cake

Mmmmmm, frosting.

Mick Jagger had my uncle.

Disappointingly, behind the zipper was . . . jockeys.

I remember my Mom talking about how people complained about and were absolutely scandalized by the Sticky Fingers cover. At the time she was working for JC Penney (which sold records back then) and ot of Baptist/Fundie types were threatening a boycott because they were selling the album.

That scandal was dwarfed by the scandal around the marketing of Black and Blue (which, tbf, was scandalous).

Undercover is an interesting listen, it's not vital but it's hardly a low point

I’ll have to revisit it (my mom offered that it “has some excellent tracks”)

I thought "Too Much Blood" was cool.

Undercover is like half-blood: keepers are the three singles, the Keef song, "Tie You Up", and "It Must Be Hell". I may be alone on those last two.

The mixture of rue 'n' sleaze grosses me out. After "Too Much Blood" it just natters on.

I'm a fan of Chris Kimsey's dried-dead-insect mix, though.

I like all of side 2 of Undercover, it feels like the last time they just wrote and recorded without self-consciousness about how they compared to the competition. Dirty Work is very try-hard in comparison. None of the singles from the subsequence records have made me curious enough to check out the deep tracks.

Like I don't need a few dozen more Rolling Stones songs in my life that are 6/10 at best.

I quite disagree. At least Dirty Work sounds legit angry. Jagger has never sung so aggressively nor has he written so disgustedly about politics, bandmates, lovers; for once he sounds uncensored.

The only thing I'll concede: "Harlem Shuffle" is their worst first single.

I'm a fan of Chris Kimsey's dried-dead-insect mix, though.

It's a production style that I wish was more influential, yes.

I like all of side 2 of Undercover, it feels like the last time they just wrote and recorded without self-consciousness about how they compared to the competition.

Listening to it now, and yeah wow I totally agree. The album actually really opens up for me after "Too Much Blood"... this final batch are loose, groovy songs. ("It Must Be Hell" sounds like a retread of "Soul Survivor" or something, but that's ok...)

(Actually, I feel like that Michael Jackson song "Black and White," of all things, sort of nicked the riff?)

Mildly obsessed w/"All the Way Down," which is like the archetype of a cool Rolling Stones song (lyrics notwithstanding; or maybe yes withstanding – it's the Stones, after all)... and sits randomly at track 9 of 10 on this LP which Christgau apparently called a "murky, overblown, incoherent piece of shit."

Undercover is fairly ordinary except for Undercover of the Night, Feel on Baby and Too Much Blood, which are head and shoulders over the rest imo

I never noticed that the cover of Dirty Work features Mick kicking Keef in the ass, and Keef kneeing Mick in the stones.

They're all just about ready to leave the studio and teach Detectives Crockett & Tubbs a lesson they won't soon forget.

I like Dirty Work too, it's a fine album of its time. I guess it would be a "B+" for me if I was using xgau's scale. (FWIW, he still gives it a solid "A.")

Reflexively tried to hit like on the Miami Vice post

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/14/arts/music/rolling-stones-hackney-diamonds.html

good article. the new song sort of does sound like the blare of a modern-day stones concert. that's an interesting detail that they put keith in the left speaker and ronnie in the right because that's the way they hear themselves on stage.

it's called the Harlem shuffle iirc

Yay:

The songs are unapologetically hand-played and organic, not quantized onto a computer grid; they speed up and slow down with a human pulse.

Boo:

And the album honors the band’s elder-statesman status, drawing guest appearances from [Paul] McCartney, Stevie Wonder, Lady Gaga and Elton John.

The assumption that Gaga is an Elder Statesman prompted a slight gasp on my end -- inevitable, I suppose.

The new song showed up in this week's episode of Reservation Dogs and felt really out of place. (Pretty much every other piece of music ever featured on the show has been by a Native American artist. This just screamed "cross-promotion"/"product placement".)

Ugh, really? Having this new song in an episode (I haven't seen yet) seems kind of intrusive and illusion-breaking, like the one time "The Americans" randomly tossed in a new Pete Townshend song.

I get it, I've been there, but that Times piece reads like a press release. Also:

they speed up and slow down with a human pulse.

I'm happy to be proven wrong, but I preemptively call bullshit on this. Steve Jordan ain't wobbling for anyone, and the producer's CV screams "hack."

i saw steve jordan backing ron wood at atlantic city and "stay with me" started too fast and ended up inhumanly fast.

Maybe he can ebb and flow as needed?

i'm sure he can -- he is a real pro. in that case, though, everyone was looking each other quizzically like...."how did *this* happen?"

It's the guest appearances I like and the hand-played-and-organic I'm sniffy about

Also: Pareles promotes the usual hoary notions about "organic" vs "processed" music. Bean sprouts versus frozen falafel.

one the other hand everyone on the stones message boards are wailing and gnashing teeth about use of autotune.

Maybe they are going for some of that "Goddess in the Doorway" magic.

This stuff sounds like an above average solo Jagger joint.

That cover art is dire.

there are a couple of leaked songs (maybe demos?) that you can find if you search around called "depending on you" and "get close." "depending on you" is a pretty nice ballad.

Oh dear

MLB Presents… limited edition vinyl of new album Hackney Diamonds. Featuring custom art for each of the 30 MLB Clubs pressed on baseball white vinyl. Collect your favourite team today.

https://therollingstonesshop.com/collections/stones-x-mlb

I assumed the partnership was a corny play on "baseball diamond"... but neither the artwork nor the description explicitly makes that connection(?):

Celebrating Rolling Stones’ brand new album & historical legacy with Major League Baseball, this vinyl is a real catch & exclusive to RollingStones.com. (...) Punctuating their illustrious touring career, Rolling Stones have performed in the home fields of some of MLB’s most legendary teams. In 1989 the Steel Wheels Tour came through North America playing half of the dates at homes, or previous homes, to Major League Baseball teams: Philadelphia’s Veterans Stadium, Toronto’s CNE Stadium and SkyDome, Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium, Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati, Busch Stadium in St. Louis, RFK Stadium in Washington DC, Cleveland’s Municipal Stadium, New York’s Shea Stadium, the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum, the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum, the Houston Astrodome, the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis and Olympic Stadium in Montreal. Bridges To Babylon Tour in 1997 saw The Stones perform at Dodgers Stadium. A Bigger Bang tour led off in August 2005 with two shows at Boston’s Fenway Park.

(I'm the kind of person who needs a play on words to be as obvious as "this vinyl is a real catch" in order to really savor it...)

Also: their last several outings were No-Hitters

This album is a slump buster.

entire album is about me, im the hackney diamond

― mark s, Wednesday, 6 September 2023 16:09 (three weeks ago) bookmarkflaglink

neither the artwork nor the description explicitly makes this connection

Rolling Stones = Hackney Diamonds as in Hackney cab and, er, diamonds? Nah, definitely mark s.

correct

the operation's own promo meanwhile claims that the link is this: "hackney diamonds" is a v well known streetpoetic term for the crystals of broken glass found all over the pavement after e.g. a riot or a smash-and-grab

why hackney in particular when such glass can be found p much anywhere? bcz we are the most naturally poetic (or were until plymouth seized that crown)

Hackney would seem rough as fuck to some middle class lads from Kent tbf.

That description only really fits Mick. Keith is at pains to say that Mick’s family circumstances seemed noticeably more comfortable than his own when they were growing up, living in a nicer neighborhood of Dartford with fully detached homes, etc. Brian Jones and Ian Stewart were also from middle class backgrounds but Wyman, Watts and Richards were not so much.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1wkZ8cT-o9o

Okay, damn, I was highly skeptical going into this second single with Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder, but damned if I don't really like it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBn3d4s8qfc

The full album version on streaming is longer.

yeah this is good (if you listen to the whole song)

Yeah, the coda on the full version is mandatory. Embedded that since it was the only version on YouTube.

I like this a LOT.

watts didn't drum on this one, did he? because it absolutely doesn't sound like him in any way, which I kind of appreciate.

Listening again and liking it even more. Had no idea they still had something like this in them.

xpost - I don't think so, think he only did on two of the songs (neither of them the first two singles), this is Steve Jordan I think

Yeah that is really great.

Damn, respect for pulling that out of the hat.

That's not bad at all, but (ironically) I kept thinking of the Black Crowes.

So I just went back and watched the "Angry" video again, and realized that for all the tacky things about the video, it's kind of cool to be listening to the end of a Stones song as night falls over the city, because that's such a classic Stones vibe - that end-of-the-day, end-of-the-party feeling.

New one is impressive (Keith on bass and guitar!). Dunno if it's because I listened on headphones but they maybe should've pulled a Kit Lambert and threatened to take Jordan's cymbals away. Swooshswooshswooshswoosh when Charlie woulda kept it chill.

here's the full version with the coda.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JYhIXwWn9TQ

"Angry" has proven to be quite the earworm.

You guys like "Sweet Sounds of Heaven"? Maybe I need to listen to it again, but it's a retread to my ears, with shitty lyrics.

Personally, I think they both sound like self-pastiche, but "Angry" has grown on me.

You guys like "Sweet Sounds of Heaven"? Maybe I need to listen to it again, but it's a retread to my ears, with shitty lyrics.

I thought it was awful, and Lady Gaga's "soul" voice is the stuff of nightmares.

"Angry" was all over the NFL games last Sunday and by the fourth time I really dug it. I must be getting old.

Rolling Stone sez it's their best since...

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-album-reviews/rolling-stones-hackney-diamonds-review-1234837336/

Dollars to donuts that Judy Collins ref in the last 'graph was a last minute add after the Wenner interview.

They haven't sounded this on top of their game in about half a century

They haven't sounded this on top of their game since Bull Run.

xpost lol which makes this their best since ... "Exile"? "Goat's Head Soup"? Sure.

Some Girls is 45 years old.

i agree w/unperson about "sweet sounds of heaven" tbh, it's such a generic nothing of a tune. "angry" still isn't working for me either. i'm not bothered that they're releasing a new album though, it's kinda nice to have a fresh Rolling Stones LP in 2023.

I really love Sweet Sounds of Heaven; yeah, it sounds like an update of Let it Bleed, but it also just sounds good to me.

This Stereogum review is a pretty breathtaking on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand performance.

Hackney Diamonds is good. It’s not going to stand as some brilliant new chapter in the band’s catalog a la Dylan’s Rough And Rowdy Ways, but an album that could have been a disaster and an embarrassment is instead genuinely enjoyable. I can even imagine playing it around the house or in the car when not being paid to write about it. If some group of 20-year-old Stones fans made this record, we might be praising them as rock ‘n’ roll’s last great hope. Instead, Hackney Diamonds stands as proof that 80-year-old rock heroes can still convincingly pull off the style they invented, that they can still pump vitality into the same trusty formulas they perfected decades ago. If it’s the last Rolling Stones album, they’re going out with their dignity intact.

Who's "we" in that fifth sentence?

Do I wish they could recapture the energy and textures they caught on tape at Muscle Shoals in 1969? Sure, but any Stones album this late into their too-big-to-fail multinational-corporation era was going to sound more polished than raw.

...

There are some replacement-level rockers along the way, and as several of the lesser songs pile up near the middle of the album, it becomes clear how easily this project can topple over into corporate-retreat bar-band territory. But on the whole, the Stones keep up the momentum, and their signature moves still connect.

"replacement-level rockers" vs. "Replacements-level rockers"

Shooting Dirty Work

Dose of Undercover

a pretty breathtaking on-the-one-hand/on-the-other-hand performance.

I think the review reflects genuine enjoyment and admiration while being aware of the perils of being seen to emulate Wenner-on-Goddess.

Who's "we" in that fifth sentence?

The author and Sonny Rollins.

it's pitiful that the first album by this band to be released and assessed in the post-Jann era, and in particular a few weeks after his reputation is now permanently ruined (it still feels so so gratifying that this deeply stupid, venal suckup's name is mud, finally) can do no better than "this stones album is the best since (take your pick, hack!)." and that that reviewer, a reliably conservative rockist (may be a very basic way to describe him, but that's what he is) nonetheless wouldn't take the opportunity to say something other than what every David Fricke/Anthony DeCurtis review of any record by this band for 40 fuckin' years is also pathetic. Why the powers that be, so at pains to distinguish this enterprise from its abject, supine past w/r/t to this band and the other "masters," didn't say "let's say something meaningful about this band at a time when we finally can" or "let's get Hanif Abdurraqib on this shit" is puzzling.

Always liked this one...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dx2WRQLSIew

Remember when Spin had Bridges To Babylon reviewed by a critic who stated in said review that their knowledge of the catalogue was basically being aware of the Pussy Galore Exile cover album?

Ultimately it seems now most publications/sites are worried about somebody pulling an Amy Phillips and so they play it safe.

Spin reviewer: Jessica Hopper, with the album earning a '2 out of 10' and Hopper concluding "When will they stop? How can I hate them so much when they are doing so little?".

Prescient: The opening of the review shares a page with an ad for the still-being flogged Pop by U2.

A few pages later there's a pan of the opening gig on the Bridges tour by Jane Dark.

Ah, the '90s!

...and a few pages before there's a rave for Dylan's Time Out of Mind penned by Sarah Vowell!

exclusive Paul Smith vinyl and shirts. unfortunately blew my budget on the complete MLB ballpark vinyl set:

https://www.paulsmith.com/us/discover/collaborations/rolling-stones?

how many kids do Mick and Keith have anyway?

Keith has three, Mick about 45.

lots of stones branded stuff at Madewell when i was in there last week too. definitely aren't suffering on the merch tie-ins

jesus, those paul smith t-shirts are expensive.

That Paul Smith cover is miles better than the actual album cover.

hang on, has the coverart been changed ?

xpost !

Found a leak earlier today, and surprisingly, it's not bad. The performances themselves actually sound good and lively, moreso than Blue & Lonesome (where Mick sounded great, but the rest of the band less so). After seeing them in 2019, where Keith struggled so much of the time, I was skeptical this would be any good, but I guess the advantage of taking an enormous amount of time in the studio is that you can have as many tries as you want and piece together a great "take." And yes, it does feel noticeably different with Jordan - when Charlie finally comes in on "Mess It Up," it's like "wow, THIS is the Stones" - but if he doesn't have Charlie's swing (and honestly it would be unfair to expect it - Jordan shouldn't try to play like a clone) he gives the album a great deal of muscle and it's very welcome. The one that reunites the Wyman/Watts rhythm section is pretty enjoyable for that alone - there's a distinct pulse formed by the two that I really miss. Paul's fuzz bass on his guest turn is immense fun. Keith nails his number pretty well.

The biggest weakness is the songs - they're fine, but they occasionally feel anonymous. Sometimes they're catchy in a way that feels kind of rote, like they were churned out by a writer-for-hire, and the lyrics aren't so hot, occasionally even awful. There were lots of moments where I wondered if this Andrew Watt's doing.

I'm surprised Living in a Ghost Town was left off - it's probably better than anything here.

except for Bridges to Babylon they're never Not Bad though

I think there's just barely enough stuff on the hour-plus Bridges to Babylon that would've made a not-bad (if not-great) single LP. Regardless, fair point, but with Charlie gone and Keith very unsteady onstage and not getting younger, I had pretty low expectations this time.

"...Ghost Town" got added to a comp in lieu of any other new studio material (checked, it's the Deluxe version of HONK, with remaining bonus stuff being late-model live stuff, some of which featuring guest stars).

and I will die on the lonely hill that after Dirty Work they recorded 25 mins of good to great work over four albums.

(I'm 48, came of age when "Mixed Emotions" became their last top 5 hit, don't give a damn about the Stones as historical monument, and have nothing at stake)

Most of Bridges to Babylon really works I think. Esp enjoy how Juiced sounds like late 90s/early 00s the Fall, but it peaks with the two-song Keef deep soul finale

some dude doesn't have your back, Soto: https://www.spin.com/2023/10/best-rolling-stones-albums/

BTB is more dated than Dirty Work if you care about nonsense.

I must disagree, the kazoo on "Cool, Calm and Collected" is 2023 in a nutshell.

They may be several decades past their peak, but compared to other peers who are still around, they don't have that many studio LP's that I skip over.

The only Stones albums I don't actually own - and FWIW, I went with the UK editions of their '60s work - are Goats Head Soup, It's Only Rock n' Roll, Undercover, Steel Wheels, Voodoo Lounge, Bridges to Babylon, and Blue & Lonesome. Even then, I have selections from them on CD-R's, and in the case of Voodoo and Bridges, I just chopped them down to lean 40-minute programs that I can enjoy. I may get Blue & Lonesome - I didn't think it was as good as others made it out to be, but Mick is really good through the whole thing - and I may get this one if it grows on me.

I made this playlist of what I thought were the highlights of their post Tattoo You records, I'm generally a detractor but maybe Albert is right I put four songs from Dirty Work on

https://spotify.link/APZDQf5z2Db

Alfred! second time I've done that shit

The opening guitar chords of “Get Close” make me think of Dinosaur Jr. for some reason

I think "out of tears" is legit great…great lyrical conceit, great arrangement…

they did a 7-song set in NYC last night.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eiAGIJgahBU

and that event, replete with famous people and favored press, reminds me that it was really fucking tedious each time, for many decades, when the band would release an album, and en masse the MSM would commit the most fawning brown nosing conceivable… I went to the press conference under the BK bridge in 97, and the questions newspaper and TV people asked were revolting in their credulous simplicity… not that the band needs to be asked whether they killed Brian Jones or whether they approved of Bill Wyman dating a 14 year old, but this specific shameless kissing up perpetrated during the album release cycle was grotesque, it was good that it went away for 20 years, and now that its back for a bit, its suitable that the most disgusting perpetrator is Jimmy Fallon.

... 13 year old.

My biggest takeaway from this album (which I listened to most of): there’s so much 20th century Stones I haven’t gotten to yet, and shouldn’t I?

One thing about any reviews of this album bad or good, there's always this sense that the writer had gone into it already having decided exactly how charitable they were going to be to the new Rolling Stones album

I will not be listening to this album, but this picture made me laugh pretty hard.

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/F83g28cWUAAA8-d.jpg

LOL

time to revisit my most young-foax habit (posting to ilx)

tbf These guys were probably in their 30s when Steel Whhels came out

I typically like Grayson Haver Currin's reviews and he may indeed by right about the musical quality of this, I haven't heard more than the two lead singles yet, but that review is kind of bizarre. Like, really, the Rolling Stones might be financially motivated and have a huge PR blitz for a new album? You don't say. What a stellar revelation in 2023.

I actually don't think it's really money! I think they just need the cycle of being a band every so often, it's not like they've ever done anything else since they were basically still children

I like Currin as a person, but as a critic, he disappears up his own ass a lot and is really into psychoanalyzing both bands and their audiences. His recent very wrong review of the new Baroness album was heavy on that stuff, too.

Reading the Lester Bangs thread, I was imagining him now: "I know I said they sold out with "As Tears Go By"...and obviously I said they sold out with Sucking in the Seventies...but Lady Gaga was a step too far"
What I'm really waiting for is the compilation in four years or so, the latest iteration of 40 Licks, GRRR! or Honk which will try to tuck one or two songs from this into the running order as unobtrusively as possible.

Back to the album: Some okstuff on here and a few that just reek of solo Jagger. "Mess It Up"... oO
The band here ("MIU")could be almost anybody.

yeah there's definitely no feel to it

though I've seen some clips of Keith live and I wonder how much he can really do full takes anymore without Protools editing

i have listened to exile on main street more than any other album, yet i am totally uninterested in listening to this

The only Stones albums I don't actually own . . . are Goats Head Soup

This one does not belong with the others on your list. It's definitely a step down from Sticky Fingers and Exile, but it's a good- to great Stones album.

the "takedown" reviews people are posting seem pretty redundant though. these aren't out of touch "aging" rockstars. these are men in their 80s. and they don't seem capable of producing a "blackstar," a record that attempts to speak to the present. when this was announced it was clear they just wanted to show they've "still got it"

goats head soup is one of the best

i listen to winter all the time

There's a Bangs TV interview where he's incredulous at the idea of Jagger still performing at 30.

xp "Winter" is a great song.

https://uproxx.com/indie/rolling-stones-hackney-diamonds-review-rank-discography/

Nice review by Chat GPT

I mean, I remember being 11 years old in '87 and reading jokes in Cracked about the Stones performing in wheelchairs and with canes for their next tour.

Have they made a truly great song since "Waiting on a Friend"? I submit that the answer is no.

That song came out the year I got my driver's license, which was . . . a long time ago.

If they take as much time for their next album as they did since the last one, they will be in their mid 90s when it is released

Rumor has it that they already have another album's worth ready to go from these same sessions.

Have they made a truly great song since "Waiting on a Friend"? I submit that the answer is no.

Should be pointed out the backing track for that one was cut in 1973.

Have they made a truly great song since "Waiting on a Friend"? I submit that the answer is no.

I submit you are wrong.

That's just, like, your opinion, man.

What about that song from 2009 called like “neocon baby” or something? That song was terrible

For starters:

Sleep Tonight
Mixed Emotions
Moon is Up
Dirty Work
Thru and Thru
Biggest Mistake
Let Me Down Slow
How Can I Stop
One Hit (To the Body)
Laugh, I Nearly Died

i love this one a lot, i feel like most stones fans would?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKzkbk4lSRI

One Hit (To the Body)

spittingcoffee.gif

That acoustic-to-electric intro thrills me every time.

It's really fascinating to me that so many reviewers (and fans, apparently) love the Keith ballads. Every time a new album is released every single review talks about "Oh, there's another beautiful Keith ballad!" I hate those songs. Give me something like "Rip This Joint" anytime over some acoustic guitar and croaking.

Stones Songs, Ranked:

fast rock songs > fake soul/funk songs > disco songs > psychedelic bullshit > fake country songs > fake reggae songs > songs Keith sings (except "Happy")

Ringo songs > Keith songs

Have they made a truly great song since "Waiting on a Friend"? I submit that the answer is no.

I like a good number of songs from the past several records, probably more than enough to make up one really good record. Heck, I liked that "Ghost Town" song, too, maybe they should just release singles.

Keith's songs rule wtf

stop negging the stones, dammit

"Coming Down Again" is pretty good.

That's my "only one Keith" pick.

It's hard to top "Happy," but yeah, it'd probably be mine, too.

Damn, the verse/riff of "Get Close" is awesome (...and then, as with "Angry," the chorus feels weirdly heterogeneous and "songwritten")

...chorus of "Bite My Head Off" hits, tho. Pretty rippin' song

(...this fuzz-guitar solo, lol! devil-horn emoji)

Is Mick affecting a different accent on "Whole Wide World"? (what is this supposed to be, some kind of "New Wave song"?)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUFL8WSxTgY

I like a good number of songs from the past several records

Sure, there are songs to "like," but I don't think they've done anything worth "loving" since 1981.

Jesus, "Mess It Up"... who's writing these choruses(??) It's another song with a cool verse, though

Pretty good album! The only song I skipped (after a minute or so) was "Live by the Sword."

(Ending with this number called "Rolling Stone Blues" feels like they're putting a capstone on their career, in the event this turns out to be their final LP...)

"Before They Make Me Run" is a great song and a Keith song - if I had to compile a definitive '70s compilation (something covering Sticky Fingers through Tattoo You which is essentially finished '70s leftovers), that and "Happy" would definitely make it.

The "listening party" unperson posted is funny, but lets not pretend that's not going to be many of us in 30-40 years

A bunch of doughy ILXors wearing ProKeds in a holostream center ready to hear Carly Rae Jepson's version of the Rick Rubin Johnny Cash albums

wait, has this thing only just been released? i thought it came out weeks ago.

xps I was at the 50th hip hop anniversary celebration at Yankee Stadium, and I didn't realize Snoop had already gone very grey. It's funny to think of '90s hip-hop as music for old people when I can still remember '30s jazz at one time being the definition of that, but that's inevitable for all music. Will boygenius reunite for that 50th anniversary show? That would be amazing to see.

speaking as someone who's probably the age of some of those gentlemen in the picture, i'd say that -- more pertinent than that they were in their early 30s when steel wheels came out -- they were roughly seven when satisfaction came out.

wait, has this thing only just been released? i thought it came out weeks ago.

yes, if it had come out weeks ago you would have been hearing about the album nonstop everywhere for at least a week

The "listening party" unperson posted is funny,

The dude pictured in the bottom right, iirc, looks like Clapton, would be funny if it was just a bunch of random dudes and Clapton. You know, checking out the competition.

the p4k review of this is often funny, but i actually this record is better than Currin wanted to admit because felt like going for the dunks.

"angry," "get close," "mess it up," and "tell me straight" are all better than they really have any right or need to be lol

(...this fuzz-guitar solo, lol! devil-horn emoji)

Oh, was that McCartney on fuzz bass? that's cool

4.5 is a dumb score to give this album, review aside

“In a recent interview, new drummer Steve Jordan complained that the songs were “too poppy”, the guest stars superfluous and, tellingly, that Jagger and Richards should have produced it with his help.” (The Guardian)

They really didn't need Elton John but I liked Paul's contribution.

So far I'm thinking this might end up my least favourite Stones album.

It's not even bad but just boringly what I expected every step of the way.

it's definitely not as good as A Bigger Bang

My biggest takeaway from this album (which I listened to most of): there’s so much 20th century Stones I haven’t gotten to yet, and shouldn’t I?

Somebody in a FB group I'm in posted about a similarity between this Flamin' Groovies track and "Dreamy Skies" off this album, letting me know I'm not alone in thinking this.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4PtKAcE1spw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B5qYl5LtucQ

...and supposedly Mick and/or Keef knew that Groovies album.

Jagger said it was better than "Sticky Fingers"... supposedly.

I say stupid things like that when I’m promoting albums. You gotta take that with a pinch of salt. “Course it’s better! This album, if you liked Exile, this is even better!” I can imagine myself saying that. - Mick

Oh wait, you mean he said the Groovies album was better?

Album is fine, as good as you could hope for frankly. Too long though.

Oh wait, you mean he said the Groovies album was better?

That's exactly what I mean!

Jagger is way too smart + cynical to think this is anything but "we need new product + I'm bored."

If they've been putting in time at recording studios for so long (first sessions were apparently in February 2019), I'm sure there was a threshold where there was never any doubt they'd release an album simply because so much time/money had been sunk into it.

Tony Visconti, on FB:

Got tickets for the 'private' or 'secret' Rolling Stones show at Racket. Ticket said doors open at 8 pm. Stood outside in the cold windy night until 8:40. My phone was taken from me and put in a bag that was impossible to open and handed back to me. Got inside and waited and waited, standing room only. The DJ was deafening, on top of that people came up to me and were screaming in my ears, attempting a conversation. One guy said he listens to my productions all the time, I was so testy by then I snapped back, "You should!" I asked someone in charge when the Rolling Stones were actually going on, as this environment was proving to be very hostile. The person didn't know. I looked at my date who told me if I wanted to leave she would go with me. It was 9:30 now and the DJ was cranking it even louder. I thought, f**k it, I saw the Stones so many times back in the day with a better line up, even one gig with Brian Jones and Bill Wyman. We walked out. A security guard said we won't be able to reenter and I said, thank God. Went back home, turned on Roku and watched Abbot and Costello meet Frankenstein. Now that was good!

haha i think the DJ wasthis guy

LOLz

Mega lol

This is my least favourite Stones album I'm calling it

Just spent time thinking about how all their other original albums for decades seem to have arrived in years where Stones ripping seemed to be pretty bankable. Voodoo Lounge was the same year as Give Out But Don't Give Up, Bridges to Babylon was the same year Reef had a number one album, and A Bigger Bang arrived probably not long after garage headbanger blues shit was at its most popular.

Let me tell you about a man named Bonamassa...

I don’t think it is realistic to expect 100 year old men to create an effective swaggering rock album

A different emotional register would have been less clownish. I don’t know why they don’t do more blues stuff like they used to. Some grit and dirt in the production.

There is no better album than exile on main street. There are many other albums just as good, in different ways. But it’s so singular, so much itself.

xp Well they did a whole blues album recently…

I like the “modern” sheen of this album, and Jagger singing about cell phones and stuff.

Oh wow I never heard of blue and lonesome before

old man mick has been around so long it’s his face that pops into my head when I listen to old classic stones, sometimes I forget how lithe and feminine and gorgeous he was

Whether it's the Stones or Springsteen, it kind of amuses me when older acts (over)produce their records with radio or charts or any expectation of mass commercial success in mind. They all love Dylan, they should follow his lead and just produce themselves. Just three guys and their celebrity guests and ace session players in a room, back to basics. Heck, Bob Seger's "Old Time Rock & Roll" and Quiet Riot's "Cum On Feel the Noize" were supposedly both demos, and they were big hits, and rock doesn't get dirtier or grittier than that.

(Coincidence or not, "Exile" was sort of a demo-y itself, yet its shambling, stitched-together nature has been held aloft as the Stones's unpolished gold standard for years. I suspect it irks Mick that people love that one.)

In Jagger's defense, his preference to embrace new paths/sounds served them well - Some Girls is a perfect example of that. But the difference there is that the band sounded like it was absorbing new ideas and organically creating new music out of them. The middle-aged/senior records don't work so well when it sounds like they're hiring trendy collaborators or producers and having them lacquer on what they've already been doing elsewhere. U2, McCartney, and other vintage acts chasing after current pop have been guilty of this in recent years.

A good example on the new record is "Mess It Up" - I think you can immediate pick up it's Charlie because the way everything swings changes, where it has that wonderful tension/pull he created. But the whole song's also got this sheen to it that sounds too poppy for my tastes. I still enjoy it, I just wish it wasn't so overproduced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqI0ckjtOPw

SPOILER ALERT: The Return of "Undercover of The Night" video Jagger!

He was also in another sketch, but if you thought the one above was dumb...

yeah these were dumb but kind of enjoyable because bad bunny is surprisingly loveable doing sketch comedy. Hulu live didn't record the opening of the show because it thought football was going on longer than planned, but lady gaga was on stage at the very end; I thought maybe she and jagger showed up earlier in the opening sketch or something? did they?

Gaga introduced one of the musical performances, while the cold open was a Jim Jordan bit.

“Angry” is stuck in my head though

First listen: I kinda like this, which I wasn’t expecting. but expectations are generally pretty low now lol. Anyway. Nothing too corny or jarring or awkard or forced. Feels relaxed which i like.

like, regardless of why they made it aside from the obvious as ums pointed out its pretty much all they know how to do since they were kids …. at least it sounds like they still like doing it & not fully in individually-sending-voice-memos-to-the-producer or whatever

the only thing is i wish it sounded more like they were all in the same room together but that’s just me

sweet sounds of heaven is p good & very in the pocket for late-late-late period stones imo

It's not just you. I listened to some of Bigger Bang yesterday, noticing a real spark in the playing there that you get when it's a bunch of guys who've played together forever actually playing together and responding to each other in real time (or at least a better simulation thereof).

glad its not just me! i think it’s even more important to keep that vibe w these later albums

ABB is the better album.

"Rough Justice" might be my favorite Stones opener since "Rocks Off." Opening lyrics are really funny, too.

One time, you were my baby chicken
Now you've grown into a fox
And once upon a time, I was your little rooster
Now am I just one of your cocks?

^^Can imagine Bon Scott having fun with those lyrics.

Agree with Alfred. Relistening to ABB right now and it's pretty damn fine. Loose and fun. Much more of a Stones album than this new one.

Agree with Alfred, and I'll say ABB in a surprisingly good and solid late, late career album. At minimum a 3.5 and more likely a 4 star album if I was going by the traditional 5-star rating scale.

They should have just released that album again under a different name.

A Smaller and Slightly Limper Bang

I posted this in much more detail in the Richard Hell thread, but he absolutely loves this album - he doesn't think they've done anything great in decades but said Hackney Diamonds "blew me away."

For some reason, “Angry” makes me think of that last Joey Ramone solo record (in a good way).

That album itself is better than Hackney Diamonds, thigh

Lol

THOUGH

US Tour in 2024 brought to you by AARP. No, really.

I know that "Hackney diamonds" are shards from a broken storefront window, but has anyone made the connection between the album title and the fact that it is being released for the band's 60th anniversary, conventionally celebrated with a gift of diamonds?

xp AARP members get a discount!

I fuckin' died when I saw that ad.

New video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vTUKj4e3vd4

Hoult was born three months after Steel Wheels came out.

hahahaha holy shit. xp a blessed day, he's smokin