Rolling Stones’ first album in 18 years out in October

LONDON – The Rolling Stones will release their first album of new music in 18 years in October, lead singer Mick Jagger, fellow founding bandmate Keith Richards and bass guitarist Ronnie Wood announced on Wednesday in London.

The album, Hackney Diamonds, is the first since the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021, and the first containing original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang.

“We didn’t want to make just any record and put it out,” Jagger, 80, told a launch event at the Hackney Empire theatre in east London, hosted by American talk-show host Jimmy Fallon and live-streamed on YouTube.

“I’m not saying we’re big-headed about it, but we’re pleased with it and we hope you all like it,” the rocker said.

The Stones’ 24th studio album, set for release on Oct 20, has 12 tracks, with the single, Angry, the first to come out.

Wood, 76, confirmed during the launch that American superstar Lady Gaga features on another, Sweet Sound Of Heaven, adding that she “sings really sweet” on it.

Two of the tracks were recorded with Watts in 2019. The others feature drummer Steve Jordan, whom Watts recommended to replace him.

“Ever since Charlie’s gone, it’s different,” said 79-year-old guitarist Richards of recording the new album without one of the English rock band’s founders.

“He’s number four, he’s missing, he’s up there. Of course he’s missed incredibly.”

Already acclaimed

“Hackney diamonds” is English slang for the shards of glass left scattered on the ground after smash-and-grab robberies, and refers to the historically working-class east London neighbourhood.

“It’s like when you get your windscreen broken on a Saturday night in Hackney,” Jagger joked.

Throngs of people crowded outside the event venue, including those without tickets who came out of curiosity and in hopes of spotting the band.

“I’ve been following the Stones since I was four years old and I’m from ’round here – it’s my backyard,” said musician and fan Rory McGlinchey. “It’s crazy that they’re here.”

Wearing a Rolling Stones T-shirt, he said the new release was “great news”.

“Can’t wait,” he told AFP.

Critics have already hailed the release as the band’s best work in many decades.

Will Hodgkinson, rock and pop critic for Britain’s The Times newspaper, said it is “unquestionably the best Stones album since 1978’s Some Girls”.

“Variously poignant, irreverent, anarchic and, in one gospel-tinged moment, quite spiritual, it touches on all the aspects we love about the band, glued together by the rambunctious energy they have made their own since the early 60s,” he wrote.

The Daily Telegraph’s music reviewer Neil McCormick said Angry was “their best single in four decades”.

The Stones also unveiled the single’s typically rock ’n’ roll video.

It shows the band playing from Los Angeles’ billboards as scantily dressed, leather-clad Euphoria (2019 to present) actress Sydney Sweeney writhes to the soundtrack in the back of a red Mercedes convertible driving through the city.

Teaser

The Rolling Stones’ last studio album was 2016’s Blue & Lonesome, which was made up of blues covers.

“We’ve been very lazy,” said Jagger. “We’ve been on the road most of the time.”

The band teased the release of the new album through a spoof advertisement in the local Hackney Gazette newspaper.

The cryptic ad, which also appeared in sister title the Islington Gazette, referenced several of the band’s best-known songs, including (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction, Gimme Shelter and Shattered.

The ad went on: “Opening our new store on Mare Street, September 2023. Our friendly team promises you satisfaction when you say gimme shelter we’ll fix your shattered windows.”

Clues that the ad was not for a bona fide east London glass repair business included a miniature version of the band’s famed lips logo to dot the letter i.

The ad – in the same font as the Some Girls album – also says the firm was established in 1962, the same year the band were formed.

In 2022, the Stones travelled through Europe for their 60th anniversary tour, which featured stops in cities including Madrid, Milan and Munich, and a performance at the British Summer Time festival in London.

Asked for the secret to their decades-spanning musical marriage, Jagger quipped: “Not speaking too often.”

Richards added: “How to say shut up politely.” AFP