Nearly 60 years after their debut…
The Rolling Stones, still alive and kicking after all these decades, released last month (Oct. 20) Hackney Diamonds a follow up to 2017’s all blues covers album Blue & Lonesome and first of new material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. Hackney Diamonds, a 12 song, almost 50-minute long record undoubtedly proves age is just a number.
Granted, the band has a long scroll of past members, the popular core remains in the swaggering singer Mick Jagger, 80, also on rhythm guitar, and lead guitarist Keith Richards, 79, both there from the start plus Ronnie Wood, 76, who joined in 1975 on guitar. All three contribute to the band on additional instruments, as well, Richards and Wood most notably on bass. Longtime Drummer Charlie Watts died two years ago but laid down some drum tracks for the album prior to his death. Steve Jordan takes his place behind the kit. Original bassist Bill Wyman, who left 30 years ago, contributes on “Live by the Sword.”
Received with much fanfare, maybe not so much because of the ingenuity of Hackney Diamonds but because the Rolling Stones have been around forever. Had they retired 20 years ago few would have batted an eyelash. An illustrious career then but now totally unsurpassed. And they may have more music in the pipeline!
Simply awesome for career fans who still get satisfaction in songs from the 1960s and the following half century while reminiscing about the past, only to get a reprieve on their mortality when the Rolling Stones release a new album. Admittedly, the Rolling Stones didn’t do much for me. I didn’t not like them, I just didn’t follow them. But years ago, I grew to fully appreciate them. As long as they carried on, hope existed for the aging band I listened to. I’ve yet to see the Rolling Stones live, nor have I dove into any one of their 26 albums. Until now.
To create a Top 10 Best Rolling Stones Songs list at this point would, at a minimum, require a few weeks of intent listening. An immense task especially for the previously uninitiated, however, I’ve heard plenty of their songs to know that something special exists within this band and on the new album for the opening track off Hackney Diamonds to be considered a worthy addition to that list.
Gimme “Anger” all day with that uber catchy chorus over most of what the local airwaves consider their specialties. What’s more, Hackney Diamonds offers plenty of meat with a couple songs that defy time and could have appeared on any of their albums since 1964, save for the advancement in recording technology of course, while other tracks send an updated sound to bring these aging musicians into the modern era.
Frisky rockers punctuate much of the first half in “Get Close,” the punk like “Bite My Head Off” (with some help from Paul McCartney) and “Whole Wide World” (check out the guitar solo on this one) laying down the gritty axe that defines so much of the band’s sound. Robust and poignant, Jagger, Richards and Wood don’t miss a beat. They sound current.
The Stones’ softer side comes right through on “Depending on You” another great cut filled with a touching melody that deserves a “best of” consideration. “Mess It Up” and Elton John on a pumped-up piano for “Live By the Sword” round out the catchy riffs of rock and roll the band mastered over a generation, though technically both start the second half these two belong on Side 1 because…
A tale of two halves as the tempo slows considerably for much of the flip side of Hackney Diamonds along with less defined harmonies underlined by the honky-tonk “Dreamy Skies” and album closer “Rolling Stone Blues” their version of the Muddy Waters song “Rollin’ Stone” and where the band got their name. (Just now tackling that one?) Both tracks help take Hackney Diamonds down an unconnected path than the opening half but no different than previous departures like “Country Honk” from 1969’s Let It Bleed and “You Gotta Move” off 1971’s Sticky Fingers.
In a similar vein, “Driving Me Too Hard” floats in a little country and this new character to the album emerges further by the plodding “Tell Me Straight” with Richards on lead vocals. The lengthy 60s throwback “Sweet Sounds of Heaven” adds some fuel to the glowing embers featuring Lady Gaga mostly chiming and wailing with Stevie Wonder contributing a dynamic piano. Actually, a rather stellar song that should have ended after the five minutes of crescendo but Jagger and Gaga do whatever it is they do.
I didn’t get much past the first three songs on the initial listen. But after all these years Hackney Diamonds demanded a follow-up or two if only to appreciate three near octogenarians still making rock music. No era defining songs like the terrific “Gimme Shelter” and though the slower musings ambled along at times, I hear no reason for the Stones to stop rolling.
Grade: B
The Rolling Stones Hackney Diamonds Songs:
- Angry
- Get Close
- Depending On You
- Bike My Head Off
- Whole Wide World
- Dreamy Skies
- Mess It Up
- Live By the Sword
- Driving Me Too Hard
- Tell Me Straight
- Sweet Sounds of Heaven
- Rolling Stones Blues
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