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.

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