The Rolling Stones took 18 years for a new album – and then everything happened very quickly.
What takes a long time … The Rolling Stones took their time for 18 years a new studio album, now the band has announced “Hackney Diamonds”, which is due to be released on October 20, 2023. During the livestream, which was hosted by Jimmy Fallon and also featured Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, fans learned more details, including how the new album was made.
Rolling Stones: “Hackney Diamonds” was finished in two months
“We got it done pretty quickly, there were a lot of ideas flying around. We collected them last Christmas,” says Keith Richards succinctly. And Mick Jagger openly and honestly admitted: “We were really lazy” – that’s why the new album was so long in coming. That may not be true given that the band has been touring extensively in recent years, but the band doesn’t seem to plan a lot of studio time for themselves, Jagger said. “We had already done something. And then we just set ourselves a deadline. Keith and I made the songs at Christmas, finished them in January and mixed them in February.” The band managed to have a new album ready by Valentine’s Day in just two months.
The putative set list of “Hackney Diamonds”:
“Angry” (with Watts)
“Bite My Head Off”
“Depending On You” (with Watt)
“Dreamy Skies”
“Driving Me Too Hard”
“Get Close” (with Watts)
“Live by the Sword”
“Mess It Up”
“Morning Joe Cues”
“Sweet Sounds of Heaven”
“Tell Me Straight”
Whole Wide World
Drummer Charlie Watts recorded tracks for two songs in 2019, who have now made it onto the new album. Thus, the Stones member who died in 2021 is also represented on “Hackney Diamonds”. The record also features “a couple of love songs, ballads and country songs,” according to the musicians during the livestream event with Jimmy Fallon.