For the first time in 18 years, The Rolling Stones have rolled out a new album of original material as the iconic Rock band celebrates the release of their 26th studio album, Hackney Diamonds, available now.
LISTEN NOW: Mick Jagger takes us behind-the-scenes of The Rolling Stones' 'Hackney Diamonds'
Featuring 12 all-new tracks including contributions from former Stones bassist Bill Wyman and late drummer Charlie Watts, the project is already being hailed as perhaps the band’s greatest record since 1978’s Some Girls.
“I had a good time making the record, I really enjoyed doing it,” frontman Mick Jagger expressed to Audacy host, Remy Maxwell, earlier this month. “It was done pretty quickly, like December last year and I did the vocals in January.”
In addition to spotlighting Wyman and Watts, the project also includes some all-star collaborators including Lady Gaga and Paul McCartney.
Lady Gaga, Mick says, “did an amazing job... I thought that she sang so soulfully on [‘Sweet Sounds of Heaven’]. Apart from the technical ability of her hitting those really high notes, she really took that song and made it her own as well.”
“It was a great piece of work for her to do with me and I really enjoyed doing it. We did it really quickly... She just wandered into the studio to say ‘hi,’ and then ended up on the track."
McCartney’s feature also fell into place naturally as the album’s GRAMMY-winning producer, Andrew Watt, was simultaneously working with him and decided to bring the two together.
“[Watt] wanted — which I wanted to do — was concentrate on just this record,” says Jagger. “He canceled all of his other commitments apart from one, which was Paul McCartney,” Mick shared. “He said to me, ‘I’m gonna just do this record for the next whatever it takes, months, and I’m not doing anything else.’ And then when we came down nearer to the wire he said, ‘I’ve gotta confess to you, I do have a few days booked with Paul McCartney.’”
Mick told him “‘Well that’s great, I’ll come to your session,’ and he said, ‘No! Let’s get Paul to come and play on a track’ during my session time with him. So, we did, and that’s how Paul gets to play,” on the album track “Bite My Head Off.”
“It was very generous of Paul to do that,” he added, “and he does a great job on it.”
Jagger also spoke of the Stones’ previously released, “Angry,” and accompanying music video — an AI-infused masterpiece that brings old clips of the band to life while Mick sings the words to the new single.
“It was fun getting that to actually all match,” he says. “It was quite a lot of work to get the words of ‘Angry’ in some of these other songs. But it was a fun idea and I think came off really good — all these different periods of The Rolling Stones’ career."
While the album features some standout collabs and fresh technology, fans still get a full serving of authentic Stones music brought together by Jagger and founding guitarist, Keith Richards, whom Mick says has a “really good understanding of what’s needed.”
“As a guitar player, if I have a guitar riff he usually makes it better. We have a really good studio relationship,” he shared. “We never really worked this hard for this long to make a record so quick.”
The Rolling Stones' Hackney Diamonds track list (with features):
1. Angry
2. Get Close (w/ Elton John)
3. Depending on You
4. Bite My Head Off (w/ Paul McCartney)
5. Whole Wide World
6. Dreamy Skies
7. Mess It Up (w/ Charlie Watts)
8. Live By the Sword (w/ Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman, Elton John)
9. Driving Me Too Hard
10. Tell Me Straight
11. Sweet Sounds of Heaven (w/ Lady Gaga, Stevie Wonder)
12. Rolling Stones Blues