After an almost two decade hiatus from new material, Mick Jagger and company have released a polished new batch of tracks that brings the band back to their established sound. Throughout Hackney Diamonds, the Rolling Stones sound like a well-oiled machine, self-aware of their strengths but unsurprisingly, after an almost 60 year career, unwilling to stray into new territory.
Many of the cuts here sound just like you would expect on a Rolling Stones album in 2023 – cleanly produced, with a big studio sound – such as on tracks like “Angry,” “Whole Wide World” and “Mess It Up.” Unfortunately, first-time collaborator and producer Andrew Watt takes much of the bite off these tracks. Instead, the polished production is too made-up and picked over to be representative of the band’s aesthetic. However, tracks like “Dreamy Skies,” “Rolling Stone Blues” and “Sweet Sounds Of Heaven” are just the opposite – sounding like they are straight off Exile On Main St. – with grimy production, country-inspired instrumentation and Mick Jagger’s snarly vocals all taking precedence.
“Sweet Sounds Of Heaven” is also the highlight of this album. It stands up to the best ballads of the Stones’ career – to songs like “Let It Loose” and “Angie.” Lady Gaga’s background vocals create a perfect counterpart to Mick Jagger’s singing, which soars throughout the track’s seven minute runtime. The jazzy piano licks, the drum groove, Keith Richards’ guitar and the saxophone at the climax of the track create a beautiful wall of sound that is reminiscent of much of their classic material. That is not to say that this is the only highlight here, in fact the Stones cook up many great tunes like “Get Close,” a steady rocker that proves that they are masters of their sound. “Depending On You” is a bluesy, romantic track that refuses to show the band’s age or that they are willing to move beyond their style of songwriting, as Mick Jagger sings, “Now she’s giving her loving to somebody new / I invented the game but I lost like a fool / Now I’m too young for dying and too old to lose.” “Rolling Stone Blues” is a perfect closer. It draws from the band’s country and blues inspired roots and is a great send-off for the album, tonally speaking.
The Stones do stumble a few times, like on tracks “Bite My Head Off” and “Live By The Sword,” which are decent listens but feel like throwaways in the greater context. Meanwhile, “Whole Wide World” and “Mess It Up” feel like knockoffs of their ’80’s material and feel out-of-place stylistically compared to what the band is doing on the rest of Hackney Diamonds.
That being said, the performances, instrumentation and energy are not what take away from the album, rather, the production choices feel foreign to the Stones’ sound, which is something they seem unwilling to change on Hackney Diamonds. Still, after sorting through a few throwaway tracks, listeners will find that much of the material on Hackney Diamonds does hold a light to some of the Rolling Stones’ best material.
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