Rolling Stones’ ‘Hackney Diamonds’ review: A nostalgic, stomping victory lap
The last time The Rolling Stones put out an album of new material — 2005’s “A Bigger Bang” — it was all the way back in the pre-Taylor Swift era.
In the interim, the pop superstar has dropped 10 studio LPs — and rocked the music world the way the Stones once did in the 1960s and ’70s — while the legendary British band has released exactly one: 2016’s “Blue & Lonesome,” a collection of blues covers.
Although the Stones continued to tour — and play the hits that everybody comes to hear — it certainly seemed as if they had given up on making original music and would ride those classics into the inevitable sunset.
But perhaps jolted by the death of founding drummer Charlie Watts in 2021, the Stones are back with — dare I say it — a bang on “Hackney Diamonds,” out on Friday.
With the band enlisting Grammy-winning producer Andrew Watt — a top studio gun for everyone from Miley Cyrus and Dua Lipa to Justin Bieber and Post Malone — you might be worried that Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood are making one last desperate attempt at the pop charts.
Thankfully, that’s not the case. (And to his credit, Watt, 32, has some rock bonafides, too, having also produced Ozzy Osbourne, Iggy Pop and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder.)
“Hackney Diamonds” — which takes its title from the Hackney district in East London — feels like classic Stones, even if it’s not up to the gems of yesteryear. (Really, how could it be?)
It’s a solid, satisfying victory lap in what could well be the last studio album of their storied career.
While Jagger turned 80 in July and Richards is right behind him, hitting that milestone in December, the grizzled Glimmer Twins don’t sound as if they’ve lost any of their old bite on “Angry,” the first single that opens the album — and one of three tracks that they co-wrote with Watt.
With Jagger’s singularly snarling vocals and the dueling guitar riffage of Richards and Wood, the rest of “Hackney Diamonds” is likewise a nostalgic trip back to familiar territory.
“Get Close” keeps pace with the sexy strut of “Angry,” as the forever frisky Jagger comes on with “I wanna get close to you” while dragging out the “I” as only he can.
Meanwhile, “Whole Wide World” — another instantly catchy track that would deserve to be a hit in a more rocking, less ageist pop landscape — shows that the Stones are still capable of delivering a rebel anthem.
“And you think the party’s over, but it’s only just, only just begun,” sings Jagger, knowing full well from the experience of having kept the party going for six decades.
“Mess It Up” — one of two tracks featuring Watts on drums (Steve Jordan fills in on skins for the rest) — is another stomping standout.
But the Stones turn wistful and, yes, weary on the country-tinged “Dreamy Skies” and “Driving Me Too Hard,” with Jagger singing, “I’ve got to break away from it all,” on the former.
And by the time they get to the penultimate track “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” it’s almost as if they are imagining joining Watts on the other side.
With Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder showing up as two of the guests that make “Hackney Diamonds” feel like an event record — there are also cameos from Elton John, Paul McCartney and former Stones bassist Bill Wyman — “Sweet Sounds” is seven-plus minutes of gospel-blues righteousness that takes the Stones to the edge of glory.
