The Rolling Stones - Hackney Diamonds

Dear reader, thank you for taking the time to read it, but this review is largely pointless.

For The Rolling Stones are beyond reproach: an unprecedented 60+ year run, as well as lucrative tour after lucrative tour ($170mill made in 2022 alone) means that Mick, Keith and Ronnie are bulletproof, and a hugely important stitch in rock’s fabric. They don’t need the money to keep touring, but they do it because they love it. Chances are, they will outlive you and me, and their legend most definitely will. And quite right too.

But it’s fair to say that there has been indifference to their recorded output for some time, including by the band themselves. Barring 2016’s Blue & Lonesome (an album of covers), the output of new material has been sparse for 18 years, consisting of just 3 singles (2 of which were for a Best Of). Did anyone even notice? Does the world need a new Rolling Stones album in 2023?

Hackney Diamonds may not be needed, but by god the world would be a poorer place without it. It shrewdly extolls the flab that has bedraggled every album since Dirty Work (1986), but its strength lies not only in its sense of purpose, but its familiarity.

https://www.live4ever.uk.com/2023/10/review-the-rolling-stones-diamonds/