Hackney Diamonds – Rolling Stones – 2023

On October 20 the remaining three Rolling Stones will release their latest album, Hackney Diamonds, the band’s first studio album in 18 years. With tongue firmly in cheek, Mick Jagger says that it took (this seemingly always touring band) so long ‘because we’re lazy’.

Two singles off this album have been released to date.

The first, titled Angry is pared back, and guitar riff and drum beat driven – a sound we have come to associate with the Stones in recent years. It is likely to be well received and possibly a dance hit, but unlikely to rank amongst Stones hits. Angry left me relieved that that these old rockers can still sound so good, but disappointed that this single foreshadowed yet another enjoyable, but not particularly great album.

And that is precisely why the second single, released today, has blown me away.

Sweet Sounds of Heaven is unlike most Stones songs of the past 40 plus years. I’m not suggesting that it’s a rehash of one of their old songs. It sounds contemporary, but reintroduces elements that featured in the Stones most memorable songs. First of all, it is a rock ballad which builds up to an unmistakeable wall of sound Stones classic. Rather than being built around guitar rifts, it is much richer – featuring an excellent brass section, (which in recent decades has only featured in live performances of old Stones’ songs).

StevieWonder’s contribution on keyboards and synthesiser also reintroduces a sound reminiscent of the Stones’ classics of the 1970s. Finally, Lady Gaga’s vocal duel with Mick Jagger is pure magic and in some ways reminiscent of live versions of Gimme Shelter.

Even if the rest of the album turns out to consist of relatively ordinary songs, I will remain amazed that 50 years after their heyday, the Stones can write and produce a song that will feature in my and I suspect many other Stones favourites playlists.