The Rolling Stones’ stellar new album proves you CAN always get what you want: ADRIAN THRILLS reviews Hackney Diamonds
Hackney Diamonds – The Rolling Stones
Verdict: Cut above the rest
With the first album of new Rolling Stones songs in 18 years just ten days away, the long wait to see if the self-styled ‘greatest rock’n’roll band in the world’ can still cut it is almost over past.
And having had a taste of Hackney Diamonds, I can report that the Stones are back with a bang.
They are joined by a supporting cast that includes Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga. They certainly still have the pull, but even their star guests can’t quite steal the thunder from singer Mick Jagger (80), plus guitarists Keith Richards (79) and Ronnie Wood (76): they haven’t had that in years didn’t sound dynamic.
The group made the 12-track album with a new producer in New Yorker Andrew Watt.
One of Watt’s strengths is his ability to emphasize enduring strengths while adding contemporary flair, and he does so again here, helping the band deliver a late-career masterpiece.
Having had a taste of Hackney Diamonds, I can report that the Stones are back with a bang
Keith Richards also emerges as the album progresses, adding piano to the ballad Driving Me Too Hard and providing lead vocals on Tell Me Straight
Some songs have a live-in-the-studio feel. Others have a modern sense of clarity and separation between the vocals, guitars and drums. Recent single, and opening track, Angry, is actually one of the weakest songs here. Based on what Richards calls a ‘damn funky riff’, it has a Stones-by-numbers feel, despite the interweaving of Richards and Wood’s guitars, and a groove that echoes the staccato strut of 1981’s Start Ms. Up repeated.
Things take a more interesting turn from there. With Elton on piano, though not particularly high in the mix, Get Close is a raucous, soul-style number that wouldn’t have sounded out of place on 1972’s Exile On Main Street. “I walk this road a million times, with a blindfold on my eyes,” sings Jagger in his finest ‘mockney’ accent.
The mood softens on country-esque ballad Depending On You, with Jagger alternating between longing for a lost lover and playfully pondering his own mortality. “Come on Paul, let’s hear some bass,” roars Mick on the next track, Bite My Head Off, and former Beatle McCartney obliges with a heavily distorted bass solo on a rousing, punky number.
Jagger uses a series of cute dog metaphors (‘I’ll howl through your house all night’) to chastise a woman he feels has wronged him.
The punk mood continues on Whole Wide World, another rocker that finds Jagger looking back on his life before concluding that, despite a litany of hardships, the party has only just begun.
The mood softens on country-esque ballad Depending On You, with Jagger alternating between yearning for a lost lover and playfully contemplating his own mortality
Hackney Diamonds will be the first album of new Rolling Stones songs in 18 years
The pace slows down again on Dreamy Skies, another country tune about getting away from ‘the city, the suburbs and sprawl’. With Hackney Diamonds being the first Stones album since the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021, most of the drums here are played by Steve Jordan, although Charlie does appear twice.
His jazzy, relaxed approach adds a more traditional bounce to Mess It Up, and he reappears on Live By The Sword. The latter, with Elton John more prominent this time on honky-tonk piano, also features another former Stone, Bill Wyman, on bass.
Keith Richards also emerges as the album progresses, adding piano to the ballad Driving Me Too Hard and providing lead vocals on Tell Me Straight.
The star-studded penultimate track, Sweet Sounds Of Heaven, is a powerful duet between Jagger and Gaga, with Stevie Wonder on keyboards. It begins as a blues ballad in the tradition of 1973’s Angie, and develops into a more hymn-like piece in the fashion of 1969’s You Can’t Always Get What You Want.
The band ends with a nod to their roots in the blues by covering Muddy Waters’ Rolling Stone Blues. When Jagger and Richards first met as teenagers at Dartford train station in 1961, Mick had a prized Muddy Waters LP in his hands, bonding with Keith over their shared musical tastes.
Sixty-two years later, this loving cover brings the pair full circle, confirming a studio comeback that rolls back the years with stunning aplomb.
Hackney Diamonds is released on October 20th.