When the Rolling Stones finally set a deadline for the album that would become their twenty-fourth UK studio release, they chose 14 February 2023. Mick Jagger had suggested it to Keith Richards, and the band used it to push Hackney Diamonds over the line after years of false starts. The Rolling Stones released Hackney Diamonds on October 20, 2023.
First original album since 2005
Released on 20 October 2023 on Geffen Records, Hackney Diamonds was the first album of original Rolling Stones material since A Bigger Bang in 2005. It was also the first record the band completed after the death of their drummer Charlie Watts in 2021. Watts had recorded parts for some tracks back in 2019, so his playing still anchored the project. The road to the studio had been uneven. Work on a new record began in 2020, but the pandemic interrupted it, and sessions in 2021 produced only a few finished songs before the band lost momentum. Keith Richards later said that the death of Charlie Watts made the group take the task of finishing the album more seriously.
The title itself came from London slang for the shards of glass left after a smash-and-grab. That image suited an album that arrived with a jolt. Producer Andrew Watt tightened the sessions, and the core recording took about four weeks, followed by two weeks of overdubs. The result was a blues rock record that did not sound like a band coasting on reputation. The sessions also drew on old friends and new guests. Paul McCartney recommended Andrew Watt to Ronnie Wood in mid-2022, and by November the producer had taken charge at Henson Recording Studios in Los Angeles. McCartney himself recorded bass parts for two new songs, while Elton John, Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder also contributed.
The result was a blues rock record that did not sound like a band coasting on reputation.
Singles, Muddy Waters and a cryptic campaign
The singles told the story: 'Angry', 'Sweet Sounds of Heaven' and 'Mess It Up'. The album closed with 'Rolling Stone Blues' by Muddy Waters, the song that had given the group its name and one they had never released before. It was the only track on Hackney Diamonds recorded to tape, a nod to the sound that started everything. The album's arrival was announced with a playful campaign. In August 2023 a cryptic advertisement appeared in the Hackney Gazette, and later the band projected its lips-and-tongue logo onto monuments around the world. A fragment of 'Angry' surfaced on a website that seemed deliberately glitchy, before the album was officially revealed in a live-streamed interview with Jimmy Fallon at the Hackney Empire.
Critics were largely kind, and some called it the band's strongest work in decades. The commercial response matched the praise. The album topped the charts in 20 countries, among them the UK, Austria, Australia and Germany. It became the fourteenth Rolling Stones album to top the UK Albums Chart.
There was one more piece of history waiting. Hackney Diamonds became the first Christmas number one album in the Rolling Stones' history. In 2024 the band took the record on the road with the Hackney Diamonds Tour, and the album won the Grammy for Best Rock Album at the 67th ceremony. The record also carried the band's history inside it. Bill Wyman returned to play bass on 'Live by the Sword', his first studio appearance with the group in three decades, and Charlie Watts's 2019 drum parts appeared on 'Mess It Up' and 'Live by the Sword'. Keith Richards took lead vocals on 'Tell Me Straight', while Mick Jagger played guitar and percussion on every track except 'Rolling Stone Blues'.
Three years after its release, Hackney Diamonds stands as proof that a deadline, a sharp title and a band willing to finish what it started can still make a noise. The glass was broken, and the Stones swept it into a crown.