Review: Hackney Diamonds – The Rolling Stones Return with Their First Original Songs in 18 Years

When was the last honest album from this legendary group born 61 years ago? We have to go back to 1978 and Some Girlswith the classic Beast Of Burden. ” From Some Girlsthe Stones had released records a little quickly”, agrees to AFP Philippe Manoeuvre, French rock critic, great connoisseur of the English group.

Hackney Diamonds (“Breaking glass” in English slang), 24th studio album, the first with original songs in 18 years, does not however reach the heights of Beggars Banquet (1968), Let it Bleed (1969) or Exile On Main St. (1972).

But the record is better than its first single released, Angryconcentrated gimmicks Stones that an artificial intelligence could have concocted.

And small event, Paul McCartney, pillar of the Beatles, plays bass for the first time with the Stones on Bite My Head Off. “Macca” lays down rough chords on this piece, presented a little quickly by Mick Jagger as “punk” in the French television news France 2.

“Second circle”

The so-called Stones-Beatles rivalry — a nice marketing stunt — never really existed. Paul McCartney and John Lennon provide backing vocals on the title We Love You by the Stones in 1967. “Paul and I have always been friends,” says Jagger, 80, on France 2.

“Hey, if you can have one of the Beatles on your title, you know, you have to do it,” confides Keith Richards, 79, in the British newspaper The Telegraph. And added: “we have always been great friends”.

McCartney’s contribution can be heard, just like Lady Gaga’s voice on Sweet Sounds Of Heaven, gospel-inspired. Even if we should not give in to hasty comparisons with the soul singer Merry Clayton illuminating the gem track Gimme Shelter in 1969.

But the presence on Sweet Sounds Of Heaven by Stevie Wonder on keyboards leaves one doubtful, just like Elton John on piano on Get Close (we hear saxophonist James King, a lesser-known musician). Sir Elton’s touch is more audible on Live By The Sword.

Why did superstars like Jagger and Richards, frontmen of the Stones, invite other celebrities? For Philippe Manoeuvre, it is a way of reconnecting with this “coterie of musicians present on the great Stones albums, which we called the second circle, like Gram Parsons of the Byrds on Exile On Main St. ».

“Portrait of Charlie”

We also detect the touch of producer Andrew Watt (Justin Bieber, Dua Lipa, etc.), who called for Iggy Pop’s latest album (Every Loser) high-sounding names like Duff McKagan (Guns N’ Roses) or Chad Smith (Red Hot Chili Peppers).

Played by only Jagger and Richards, Rolling Stone Blueswhich closes the album, cover of Rollin’ Stone (1950) by Muddy Waters, convinces more. Like a return to the origins, when these apprentice musicians composed together in the kitchen of their first dilapidated London apartment at 102, Edith Grove.

Heartache for the fans : on Mess It Up et Live By The Sword, titles written in 2019, behind the drums is Charlie Watts, historic drummer of the Stones who died in 2021 at the age of 80. On the other drum parts, it’s Steve Jordan, replacing the phlegmatic dandy on tour.

“When I come out of my room the first thing I see is a portrait of Charlie in my stairwell, I always greet him on the way,” Richards revealed on The Howard Stern Show in the US.

Whatever the reception of this album, the longevity of the Stones places them in History. “Since I was little, I have lived in a world where there is the sun, the moon and the Stones,” concludes Philippe Manoeuvre.