The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds – 2023
Hackney Diamonds is the first studio album from The Rolling Stones in like a million years. I was never a fan of the band. But when reading around the internet how great this album is and so on. I felt like I needed to hear what the fuss was about. But As I said, I was never really a fan and I never really listened to the Stones in any organized form before. I have a few albums on CD but I don’t really listen to them, they just take up space on my shelves and in my collection. But anyway, I am listening to this new album – Hackney Diamonds today.
I’m not really impressed, I’m not really disappointed either. To me, it sounds like the Rolling Stones that I’m used to hearing. Not bad in any way, just quite boring. I guess all music cannot be for everyone and The Rolling Stones isn’t for me. I think I can conclude that once and for all now. That doesn’t mean that I never will listen to them again or not even that I won’t give Hackney Diamonds another listen when I get a feeling. But for now, it’s just another album that I could have lived without.
A Gazillion Guest Performers
There are a gazillion guest performers on it though. The main core is Ronnie Wood, Keith Richard, and Mick Jagger. I don’t know if they even have a bass player in the band anymore or if it’s just hired hands these days. In any case. Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards seem to perform bass duties on Hackney Diamonds. For me, it sounds like the bass is kind of sloppy but what do I know? I’ve heard plenty of bass players claim that you can’t treat the bass as a guitar and here we have two guitarists playing bass on the tracks. I don’t know. Maybe I’m reading too much into it.
We have guest performances by Stevie Wonder, Bill Wyman, Paul McCartney, Lady Gaga, Elton John, and Charlie Watts to name a few. Of course, the latter might not be considered a guest performer since he was a member of the band until his death.
