The Rolling Stones

HACKNEY DIAMONDS

The Rolling Stones must be doing something right on their first album of original material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang if it instantly evokes positive comparisons with their imperious run of studio LPs that stretched from Beggars Banquet to Exile On Main Street. As remarkable as it seems, it really isn’t overstating matters to suggest that Hackney Diamonds is the band’s finest studio album for half a century.

For most of that time, fans have had to content themselves with three or four gems on each new LP to add to any accompanying mega-tour setlist plus Stones-by-numbers filler that gets immediately jettisoned. You can forget about that here – the strike rate on Hackney Diamonds is quite astonishing.

Although it’s turned out to be a grower, lead single Angry was arguably a Start Me Up-style calling card that held few surprises. Angry reveals more over time but the major revelations are to be found elsewhere.

Leading the way is the quite extraordinary

Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder-assisted Sweet Sounds Of Heaven, an ambitious gospelinfused newly-minted classic that’s the equal of glorious, expansive Exile... highlights such as Loving Cup or Shine A Light.

Elsewhere, we get a little of the muchmissed Charlie Watts on chunky rocker

Mess It Up, which deftly morphs into Some Girls-era ‘Disco Stones’ for its middle eight and there’s a reunion with Bill Wyman on

Live By The Sword.

Taking Watts’ place, though, for the vast majority of the album is Steve Jordan – and he’s a more than able deputy. His sly, percussive groove drives early standout

Get Close, mimicking Charlie’s trademark behind-the-beat shuffle. The gonzo punk of

Bite My Head Off is another thrilling highpoint that has to be heard to be believed. Featuring a fuzzed-up bass solo by Paul McCartney, it’s honestly the most all-out rockin’ the

Stones have been since the frantic Rip This

Joint way back in 1972.

There’s plenty of nuance elsewhere, though, in amongst the high-octane rock.

The country-flavoured Depending On You boasts a wonderful slide guitar accompaniment while the beatific Dreamy Skies lives up to its name, recalling the bluesy likes of No Expectations. And, after decades of Mick Jagger adopting a mid-Atlantic drawl to regale us with endless generic tales of decadence, it’s lovely to hear him return to his London roots and really dig into his talent for well-observed lyric-writing on the nostalgic Whole Wide World. With references to his “filthy flat in Fulham” and prison guard “lager louts”, it’s the type of oh-so-English lyricism he’s barely returned to since Mother’s Little Helper.

Credit, too, for producer Andrew Watt who has managed to make a 21st century Stones record that’s every bit the equal of their 60s and 70s imperial phase. Steve Harnell

POLYDOR ++++