(London) Fans have been waiting 18 years for it: The Rolling Stones will release Hackney Diamonds, an original new studio album on October 20, which the legendary British band announced on Wednesday.
Composed of 12 tracks, according to Mick Jagger, whose first single called Angry was released on Wednesday, this album is the Rolling Stones’ first since 2016, but the first of original songs since 2005.
Mick Jagger, the band’s charismatic lead singer who celebrated his 80th birthday in July, presented the album at a concert hall in Hackney, east London, alongside bandmates like him dressed in black, Keith Richards, 79, and Ronnie Wood, 76.
“We maybe got a little lazy and then suddenly we were like, let’s set a date and make a record,” the singer quipped.
All dressed in black, glasses on their noses, the three British rock grandpas arrived all smiles, taking a break outside in front of the photographers and many fans present to catch a glimpse of this cult group.
“I’ve been following the Stones since I was four years old and I’m from the neighborhood […] It’s crazy that they are here,” ignited Rory McGlinchey, himself a musician and sporting a t-shirt with their effigy. “I can’t wait,” he added when interviewed by AFP.
” It was time ! », adds, also enthusiastic, Victoria Riley, 50 years old.
Some admirers were luckier, having been able to get a ticket to enter the Hackney Empire Theater, where the press conference was taking place.
The group did not sing, but, sitting on the stage, soberly presented their new album for about twenty minutes and unveiled the clip for Angry, in which appears the young American actress Sydney Sweeney (Euphoria, The White Lotus ).
“We didn’t want to make just any record […] I’m not saying we’re big-headed, but we’re happy with it and we hope you all like it,” said Mick Jagger.
Besides referring to the neighborhood, “Hackney Diamonds” is also an English slang term for shards of glass strewn across the floor after break-ins.
“This is without a doubt the Stones’ best album since Some Girls in 1978”, said Will Hodgkinson, critic for the British newspaper The Times, while, for the Daily Telegraph, Angry is “their best single for forty years. “.
This album is the Rolling Stones’ 24th studio album in the UK, the first with original songs in 18 years since the release of A Bigger Bang. Their previous album, seven years ago, Blue and Lonesome, was a record of blues covers.
Asked about the secret to the longevity of the group, founded in 1962, Mick Jagger replied: “not to talk to each other too often”. “Knowing how to say ‘shut up’ politely,” Keith Richards bounced back.
Hackney Diamonds will also be their first album since legendary band drummer Charlie Watts passed away in 2021 at age 80.
“Of course we miss him,” Keith Richards said.
Two of the songs were recorded in 2019 with Charlie Watts. Steve Jordan, personally recommended by Watts to replace him, is behind the drums on the others.
Bill Wyman, an ex-member of the group, joined his ex-partners on a song, while Lady Gaga is a guest for Sweet Sound of Heaven.
The Rolling Stones had already maintained the suspense around this release.
The launch was announced in August in a cryptic advertisement in a local newspaper, the Hackney Gazette.
“Hackney Diamonds, glass repair experts. Opening September 2023,” it read. This announcement immediately spread on social networks, fans having spotted allusions to the group.
In the text, mentions of flagship titles such as Gimme Shelter and Satisfaction. And the dot over the “i” in the word “diamonds” echoed the famous tongue-sticking mouth logo.
— July 12, 1962: The Rolling Stones, a group of friends under the age of twenty, gave their first concert at the Marquee Club, a jazz institution in London, which has since disappeared.
— 1964: their first album, The Rolling Stones, was a great success in Great Britain.
— 1965: (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, a title written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, propelled the group into the big leagues.
– June 29, 1967: Keith Richards and Mick Jagger are sentenced to prison after a seizure of amphetamines at the former’s home. Faced with popular mobilization, the guitarist’s sentence is canceled, that of the singer commuted to a suspended sentence.
— July 2-3, 1969: Founder and multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones was found dead in his swimming pool shortly after his dismissal from the band.
— December 6, 1969: a concert at the Altamont festival in California turns into a riot; a spectator is stabbed at the foot of the stage. For some purists, the best of the bunch died that night.
— 1970: a design student in London designed for 50 pounds ($85) the “Big Red Mouth” logo (the mouth from which a bright red tongue protrudes), the Stones’ famous symbol.
— February 19, 1985: Mick Jagger releases his first solo album, She’s the Boss, this swerve alone almost cost the future of the group. Keith Richards responded with his own album Talk is Cheap (1988), which, through its success, ended “World War III” between the two former classmates who had always gotten along like dog and cat.
— 1995: Microsoft buys the rights to Start Me Up for the first Windows advertising campaign for several million dollars.
— February 8, 2006: More than 1.5 million spectators flock to Copacabana beach in Rio for a free concert.
— March 25, 2016: The Rolling Stones become the first Western group to perform on the communist island of Cuba during a free concert in Havana.
— 2022: the group celebrates its 60th anniversary with a tour of Europe without drummer Charlie Watts who died in 2021.
— September 6, 2023: Release of their 24th studio album, Hackney Diamonds, in London.