by Jim RunyanColumnist
Full disclosure, I am a Rolling Stones fan and have been since the summer of 1978 when the album “Some Girls” came out. Now, some 45 years later, The Rolling Stones have a new album being released. On October 20th, Hackney Diamonds will be the 26th Rolling Stones album released in the United States, and it has been 18 years since they last released an album of original music (they snuck in an album of blues covers in 2016 called Blue and Lonesome).
In true Rolling Stones fashion, they announced the album with a worldwide event hosted by Jimmy Fallon. The event was streamed live around the world and could be seen locally at 8:30am on Wednesday, September 6th. You can watch a replay of the announcement at
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NSzJhzfDtS4.
The interview and event with Jimmy Fallon are fun to watch. The Rolling Stones consist of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood (80, 79, and 76 years old, respectively). Their longtime band mate, Charlie Watts, passed away in 2021 and Hackney Diamonds is their first album without him, although his work will be heard on several tracks.
The band seems relaxed, happy, and glad to be producing new material. They explain in the interview that “Hackney Diamonds” is slang for something like “smash and grab,” like when a windshield (or “wind screen” as Mick calls it), is broken and the bits of glass on the street are called “Hackney Diamonds.” Hackney is a district in London and the announcement came from the Hackney Empire Theater in East London. After all, as Keith puts it, “It’s a London band.”
Following the event came the debut of the first single and video from the album. “Angry” is a straightforward rocker with a classic Stones guitar hook, vocals about a confused lover whose partner, for unknown reasons, is angry with him, and of course, a bluesy, ripping guitar solo which is often a hallmark of Rolling Stones rockers.
As expected, the video for the song is done with high production value and is very clever. A woman (Sydney Sweeney) is frolicking on the back of a cherry-red Mercedes Benz convertible rolling down Sunset Boulevard while passing billboards that have come to life with Rolling Stones scenes and performances.
The classic theme of the billboards reveals a bit of history in that Rock & Roll billboards were once an iconic staple on the Sunset Strip in the late 1960s with the first one advertising The Doors’ first album. The older videos are synchronized to seem as if they are playing the current song and the whole thing comes together seamlessly and should appeal to tried-and-true fans and newcomers alike.
Overall, having a new Stones song, and a new Stones video, and a new Stones album just seems right. If nothing else, it is worth celebrating a band that has been in existence for 61 years (1962-present) and has seen a thing or two on their times around the block. Keep an eye on this space for a full review after the October 20th release of Hackney Diamonds.
