Hackney Diamonds, the new Rolling Stones album and the first in 18 years of the legendary band, which has been on hiatus for more than six decades, will be released on October 20.
This was announced at the Hackney Empire, a historic theater in East London’s hippest district, by Mick Jagger, Ronnie Woods and Keith Richards, impeccable as ever, in a YouTube conversation with American comedian Jimmy Fallon.
Two of the album’s 12 tracks were recorded in 2019 while drummer Charlie Watts was still alive: Living By the Sword, which Jagger identified as having a retro flavor, is among them. “The tone is ‘angry’ (angry), but there are also love songs,” Mick, 80, said ahead of the release of Angry, Hackney Diamonds’ opening single, in which director François Rousselet directed “White Lotus” and “Euphoria” actress Sidney Sweeney cranks on the hood of a red convertible, while Mick, Keith and Ronnie, in different age incarnations, play music on the big billboards that dot Los Angeles’ Sunset Strip.
Hackney Diamonds is the band’s 24th album and the first since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. Jagger jokingly admitted that “we were lazy”, although, despite their age, the group has mostly been busy all these years on very long tours “on road’. “Live performances are the holy grail for the band, but recording in the studio is the place where we can freely exchange ideas.
When it works, it’s great,” Richards, 79, explained. Hackney Empire has received no confirmation of the contributions ex-Beatles Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr made to the album, while Wood, 76, the youngest of the group, revealed that Lady Gaga sings on a gospel track called Sweet Sounds. Heavenly and mysteriously also named Stevie Wonder.
On the Hackney Empire stage, three broken crystal chandeliers hint at the origin of the album’s title, produced by 32-year-old Andrew Watt: East London slang for “Hackney diamonds” is a broken windshield,” Jagger explained. .
The album is the first since Watts’ death in 2021: “It’s number four and we miss him incredibly,” Richards said, recalling that it was Charlie who recommended the band’s new drummer Steve Jordan and “the decision to take him on would be without his blessing was much harder.”
Returning to Hackney Diamonds, once they decided to return to the recording studio, the Stones decided to give themselves a deadline: “Finish by Valentine’s Day,” Jagger said. So last December they were in the studio, finished 23 tracks in January and mixed them the following month.
Fans have been waiting for this moment since 2016 when the band released Blue and Lonesome, featuring a dozen covers of songs from blues artists such as Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walt. In October 2021, Jagger told the Los Angeles Times that Hackey Diamonds would have been out a long time ago if not for the Covid pandemic.
PEN