The Rolling Stones are back! For the first time in the better part of two decades, the Stones have released a new album, "Hackney Diamonds," of original material. It seemed that each time I heard people talking about it, they remarked on just how vintage Stones the songs on this album felt. And after hearing the album, I think it is easy to understand what they mean. This has a distinctively "Stones" sound to it. Mick Jagger's voice sounds like his younger self from many years ago. If I was unaware, and had been told that this was a compilation of lost Stones songs from, say, the 1970's, I would actually believe them after giving this one a listen. Not sure that you could say the same thing about some of their other, more or less recent albums, such as Voodoo Lounge or Bridges to Babylon Don't get me wrong, I liked both of those albums. It's just that this one feels like...well, vintage Rolling Stones. As if this was a recently discovered pile of lost Stones songs from decades ag.
One of the things that I most appreciated about the album is that the first three songs were co-written with Charlie Watts, which makes me feel that at least this is a bit more of the older Stones, and not just Jagger and Richards doing it alone.
By now, almost everyone who listens to or follows class rock stations must have heard the first song on this album, which also was the first song released as a single, as well. That would be "Angry." It has a solid energy and strength to it and, again, Jagger sounds like the younger version of himself in it. A solid way to open up this new album.
The second track, "Get Close," is also a bit of a rocking song. They worked with Elton John on this one. A solid song, and followed by the much slower paced :Depending on You," a song of heartbreak, as the title might suggest. This is the final one, I believe, featuring the late Charlie Watts, who happened to be my personal favorite member of the band.
After that, the energy goes up tremendously again with the fourth track, "Bite My Head Off." This one features a collaboration with Paul McCartney. It is probably the hardest rocking song on the album, very fast paced and energetic. One of the songs that likely might grab the listener the most.
"Whole Wide World" keeps up the fast pace, although it also has a more reflective feel to it, with lyrics addressing the difficulties of our modern lives. At some point, the song really slows down, and Jagger begins singing about the "dreary streets of London...they never promised much," as he paints a bleak picture of being forced to live with a dead end job as a life sentence. Wild guess, but I suspect that he's not singing these lyrics from personal experience.
After so many fast songs, "Dreamy Skies" slows the tempo quite a bit. This one has a distinctively bluesy feel to it. Following the bleak lyrics from the previous song, it feels like this song was deliberately chosen to follow it. The lyrics here are from a man who is in desperate need to "take a break from it al." A very decent song.
"Mess It Up" gets the album back to a high tempo, with lyrics listing all the ways that the individual being addressed has wronged the singer. Whoever he is singing this to has done a lot of wrongs, from breaking codes to stealing numbers and even seducing his landlord and broke into his home. Sounds like it could be a country music song, but this one is rocking.
The next track, "Live By the Sword," also features Elton John. It has lyrics warning people that if they live by the sword, you're going to die by the sword (and many versions on that running theme) before the chorus switches tact, and assures the listener that he is going to treat you right. Easy to imagine Jagger dancing in his highly energetic way during a live rendition of this song.
"Driving Me Too Hard" has the most distinctively "Stones" sound (to my ears) of any song on this entire album. Right from the get go, it feels reminiscent of music that this band did decades ago. A solid track, obviously.
"Tell Me Straight" sounds different from all of the rest of the songs, not least of all because it is the only one where Jagger is not the lead singer. This one is done by Keith Richards. It is a slower paced track, where he is talking to a potential lover, just urging her to give it to him straight, as the title suggests, before he plunges into his desire for a long-term relationship, lest he suffer a heartbreak.
"Sweet Sounds of Heaven" has an almost gospel feel to it. It features not one but two famous musicians, Stevie Wonder and Lady Gaga. This is the longest track on the album, and if memory serves correctly, it was the second song to be released publicly from this album. Lady Gaga's voice sounds pretty unbelievable in this one, almost reminiscent of Merry Clayton from her duet with Jagger on "Gimme Shelter." This song ha a very different feel than that one, and I am not comparing it to "Gimme Shelter," which I personally feel ranks among the greatest rock songs ever. Still, this is a solid and enjoyable track.
The final track on the album, the aptly named "Rolling Stones Blues." It is a cover of an original Muddy Waters song from the 1950's, and it has that kind of a sound and feel to it. Really bluesy, with a very old feel to it. Solid way to end the album, all in all.
Okay, so there you have it. My review of the the new Rolling Stones album, "Hackney Diamonds." Fans of the Stones are sure to really like this one, as again, it feels almost like a return to their vintage stuff, the sounds distinctively "the Stones." Lady Gaga may draw some younger fans, and there will obviously be some interest due to the other very high profile musicians who collaborated with the Stones on this album (McCartney, John, and Wonder). I derived considerable pleasure with each listen. In fact, the more I listened to it, the better this album got.
Highly recommended!!
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