Album Summary
Hackney Diamonds is the twenty-fourth British and the twenty-sixth American studio album by the English rock band the Rolling Stones, released on 20 October 2023 on Polydor. It is the first album of original material by the Rolling Stones since 2005's A Bigger Bang and their first since the 2021 death of drummer Charlie Watts, who contributed to some tracks in 2019. Produced by Andrew Watt, it features guest contributions from Elton John, Lady Gaga, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, and former Rolling Stones bassist Bill Wyman. Hackney Diamonds received positive reviews, with some critics considering it the band's strongest album in decades. It was promoted by the singles "Angry", "Sweet Sounds of Heaven", and "Mess It Up". The album was backed by an extensive marketing campaign that included publicity stunts and merchandise, amongst other promotions. Hackney Diamonds reached number one in 20 countries, including the UK, Austria, Australia, Greece, Argentina, the Netherlands and Germany. It was the 14th Rolling Stones album to top the UK Albums Chart, in its first week and again on 22 December, making it the first Rolling Stones Christmas number one album. It was certified gold in several countries and certified platinum in Austria, France, and Germany. The Rolling Stones embarked on the Hackney Diamonds Tour in support of the album in 2024. The album won the award for Best Rock Album at the 67th Annual Grammy Awards.
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Reviews
Great that these lads are still going but god this is awful
"Don't get angry with me" pleads Jagger, as we're forced to sit through an album by a band who's peak ended half a century ago. I'm not angry, Mick, just disappointed. Not with you of course, Hackney Diamonds is surprisingly fine, but rather with Dimery for adding another Rolling Stones album that I most definitely did not need to hear before I died. The Rolling Stones have aged considerably, and you can hear it through the music. They don't have the youthful vigor they did in the 70s, they don't sing about sex, drugs, and rock-'n'-roll, and Jagger now requires autotune to strengthen his vocals. That said, this album isn't without merit, the Stones opted for a more pop rock direction in contrast to their typical style of hard rock, and the hooks on some of these songs are actually quite good. They retain their typical style of blues rock, and I actually kind of agree with Dimery that it's been modified for a more modern audience, though that doesn't make it any more interesting. There's a number of guest stars on here, there's old legends like Elton John, Paul McCartney, Stevie Wonder, but also new blood (relatively speaking) in the form of Lady Gaga, who does her best attempt at gospel singing as backup vocals for the song Sweet Sounds of Heaven, and she does a damn good job at it. This is one of the best songs on the album, if not the best. The album does wear it's welcome out towards the end, you could easily shave 10 minutes off of this and get an improved experience, a lot of the songs on here in the final third just feels like filler. I actually like this more than some of the Stones classic albums, like Aftermath, Exile on Main Street, hell maybe even Let it Bleed, but I think that's the problem with adding an album like this. I'm not a Stones fan, as you can see on my profile the only album I gave above a 3 was Sticky Fingers, and really I only enjoy them as a singles band, so if an album this middle-of-the-road and as easily digestible as this is provoking a mildly positive reaction from me, it probably isn't that good or important as a Rolling Stones album. Exile on Main Street has its fans, I don't like it at all, and that's okay because I don't need to, I can see why some would consider it their masterpiece. Despite my opinions on Hackney Diamonds, I can't see anyone considering it their favourite Stones record. And on the final song - "Rolling Stone Blues" - the lyrics repeatedly say "rolling stone". Bravo boys. Was it a good addition to the list: No, absolutely not. Top 3 Songs: Depending On You, Whole Wide World, Sweet Sounds of Heaven
AHHHH MY SOUL HAS BEEN TRANSFERRED BACK ONTO THE MAIN LIST AHHHH And of course the first fucking thing I generate after the new book edition comes out is the SEVENTH Rolling Stones entry released in the year of our lord 2023 (their TWENTY-THIRD studio album) featuring 80 year old Mick Jagger. I've spent 668 days on the user list. It's not all sunshine and rainbow over there, but the user base has nicely covered almost all the big misses from the original list by this point - Weezer's "Blue Album", Pink Floyd's "Animals", Massive Attack's "Mezzanine", Louis Armstrong, Chet Baker, Neutral Milk Hotel, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, This Heat, the soundtrack to 2004 video game Katamari Damacy (very important) etc etc.... ....And of course the first thing Robert Dimery does when it's time to update his list for the first time in five years is to add another album by these rotting fucking geriatrics half a century past their prime. Actual music review: It's exactly what you'd expect a 60s band to release in the modern day. I don't know what's up with it, but it seems like this is exactly the sound every single "way past their prime" band grey goo's themselves into. The musical equivalent of an overfitted neural network. The Stones will probably release one more album in a year or two and it will sound exactly like this one again. Maybe that one will be "the last one" so it will be a slightly bolder footnote in musical history. Couldn't ask for a more poetic and fitting start to this return. Is Elvis Costello still releasing music as well?
I'll avoid the low-hanging fruit of a joke and not called it hackneyed. They sound very good for their age, but I struggle to see the point of this. Even at their best I don't think they made any masterpiece albums. They made masterpiece songs, sure. Gimme Shelter is proof of that. But this feels like a curio for the die-hard fans and not something that should be an "essential" album.
Not a bad album but not a great one either. Unclear why this one needed to be added to their other albums on the list. Also one star deducted for making me conjure up an image of Rupert Murdock and Jerry Hall
Not bad! This band's got a real future ahead of them!
Alright, I think this is too new for the list, but it’s also one of the best Stones albums I’ve ever heard. So I don’t know. 4 I guess.
"Hackney Diamonds" is an album that was added to 2026 edition of the book and I am struggling to understand why. Putting aside that it's from the Rolling Stones for a second - it's a mid blues album and a mid rock album. Some songs are fine, but most are meh. But it's from the Stones, a storied band from the album era of Rock. Does this album reach the highs of their discography or even match the other 6 albums from the band that are already on this list? Not even close. I am truly struggling to see how the author of the book looked at "Hackney Diamonds" and said "Yep, this is on the level of 'Let it Bleed', 'Exile on Main Street', 'Beggars Banquet', and 'Sticky Fingers'". Like I started off, I'm struggling to understand the addition of this album. There are so many better options out there to include on this list. 2.4/5.
A really good modern era Stones album. Its not perfect as I think the production is too loud in a bad way, brickwalled dynamics and little sterile in some spots. But otherwise its got good songs on here.
This is ridiculous. With all the respect I have for TRS, the inclusion of this record in the latest batch is preposterous
Estilo muy típico de los Rolling, con canciones con su estilo de rock suave, a veces un tanto sureño y con el punto correcto de sintonía y buen hacer. Sin destacar ningún tema especialmente en esta primera escucha, suena a más de lo mismo. Y eso gusta.
A completely unnecessary addition to this list. I love the Stones as much as the next guy, but the inclusion of this overproduced, overhyped, inconsequential record is yet another ridiculous decision by Dimery.
The album itself is great But did we really need ANOTHER ROLLING STONES ALBUM?
The singles released for the radio were pretty good songs. It’s a solid rock and blues album.