The Rolling Stones: Hackney Diamonds - 2023
“I think we got along on this record really well. Of course we have disagreements about how things should be, but I think that’s pretty normal” - Mick Jagger
“We’re a weird pair, man. I love him dearly, and he loves me dearly, and let’s leave it at that” - Keith Richards
The Rolling Stones are back - who would have thought it? Are they going on about ageing, their own mortality or covering Sinatra standards? Are they fuck. They are rocking, doing the only thing they know how to do, and they are doing it well, as only these lovable old rogues can.
They are assisted by a number of old friends scattered around, no doubt recording their contributions separately, but who cares. That's the way of things these days. If it sounds good it sounds good, and it does. It is not a "return to form" or "the best album from the Stones since....", it is just a good Stones album and one we would never thought we would hear. It is also an album with several hidden depths, both musically and lyrically, and one that begs several listens, just to get that old Stones feeling injected back into your system after all this time.
The album's title supposedly refers to broken glass scattered on the street after a smash and grab raid in an insalubrious area such as Hackney in North-East London. The Stones link is due to their playing at the Hackney Empire in their early days, no doubt. The Stones themselves are not from that area.
Time to live by the sword....
Like Angry, the recognisable rhythmic Stones shuffle of the Memo From Turner-esque Get Close (and the next track too) are credited as a co-write with young (32) producer Andrew Watt (who was recommended by Paul McCartney - more of him later). This is unusual as Jagger/Richards rarely allow(ed) any other writer to be credited alongside them. Elton John is on piano here, although you can't really notice him if you weren't trying to do so. The piano certainly doesn't dominate at all. Who is playing saxophone on here, by the way? I can't find anyone listed on the credits. It is not the much-missed Bobby Keys, obviously, but it is sure played in his style.
Depending On You is a lovely mid-pace ballad in the style of Streets Of Love from A Bigger Bang. The line about "sharing a smoke on the steps of a bar" put me in mind of the "a couple watch me from a bar" line from that track. It is the most contemporary-sounding of the tracks.
Bite My Head Off, a breakneck punky thrash features one James Paul McCartney on bass, reuniting musically with his old supposed sixties rivals. Again, although you can hear him throbbing away it is not something you would necessarily concentrate on unless you knew, as we all do now, who it was. "Come on Paul, let's hear some bass" we hear Jagger exhort.
Whole Wide World is the catchiest, kick-ass, rocking number thus far, with Jagger on fine mockney slurry vocals and a killer of a chorus. When Jagger sings of "the dreary streets of London" he sounds like Suggs of Madness, but with a different style of backing. It's a great song, this one, serving almost as one last cynical hurrah from the band that have been a part of my entire life. I sort of get all emotional listening to this - it's not that sort of song, but then again it is. It reminds me of Wreckless Eric's new wave deep cut from 1977 of the same name, and not just because of the title, the chorus as well.
Now, please Charlie - show us you are eternal. On Mess It Up, he does just that, behind the kit once again, for one of the last times in the studio. It's a riffy Stones rocker to the core. I just love the Stones, nothing more can be said. The next track, Live By The Sword, has not only Watts but good old Bill Wyman back on bass and Elton John pounding his pudgy fingers on the ivories once more. The fact they are all on it makes it a more memorable track than it possibly is. It boogies, though, and it's The Stones. Anyone who has stuck with them all these years will love it, just as I do.
Driving Too Hard has a bit of a Voodoo Lounge or A Bigger Bang vibe to it for me - Driving Too Fast was on the latter album - being one of those riffy but surprisingly melodic grinds that just sweats "Stones" from every pore. I can't believe Voodoo Lounge is now nearly thirty years old and that was thought by some to be the last album they would do! Keith has a track on here too - as always - in Tell Me Straight. It has its sleepiness, of course, but his voice is actually sounding in better nick than maybe it had a few years back. The intensely lovable old bugger is still indestructible just as in the bombing raid he was born in.
The album's big You Can't Always Get What You Want is the seven minute-plus gospel-influenced glory of Sweet Sounds Of Heaven, with Jagger whooping it up for all he's worth with the powerfully-voiced shrieker Lady Gaga. It also features Stevie Wonder on keyboards and this is highlighted on the song's final, wonderful two minutes after a false ending. The beat stops, Stevie's electric piano, Jordan's drums and Gaga/Jagger's trade-off Gimme Shelter-style vocals take us all to Stones Heaven. Great stuff.
The Stones began as a blues covers band and surely now they end their album recording career with a lovely serving of copper-bottomed authentic blues, courtesy of Muddy Waters' Rolling Stone Blues, the song that inspired their name, of course. What a truly fine way to end what surely will be their final album of largely new material. It's been one hell of a ride, hasn't it?
