Rolling Stones unveil `Hackney Diamonds' album
When the Rolling Stones released “Beggars Banquet” in 1968, the band had an unusual way of grabbing attention: a surprise food fight.
At the end of a feast with journalists in a posh London hotel, Mick Jagger celebrated the record, which includes “Sympathy for the Devil” and “Street Fighting Man,” by smashing a cream pie into the face of guitarist Brian Jones. The event quickly descended from there, with band members and guests throwing food at one another, leaving faces drenched in cream.
On Wednesday, Jagger, 80, Keith Richards, 79, and Ronnie Wood, 76 — the band's three current members — promoted their new album, “Hackney Diamonds,” in somewhat more sedate fashion: with a livestream on YouTube hosted by Jimmy Fallon.
Named after old British slang for the shards of glass that are left after a break-in, “Hackney Diamonds” will be released Oct. 20.
Richards, wearing a hat and shades, said that playing live is a “holy grail,” but that recording albums is “where the guys can get together and pass around ideas without any interference. When it works, it's great.”
Jagger, wearing a patterned jacket, said he didn't “want to be bigheaded, but we wouldn't have put this album out if we hadn't really liked it.” He then added that he hoped the group's fans would love it too. “I'll drink to that,” Wood said, raising a glass.
After the 20-minute event ended, the band premiered the video for the album's first single, “Angry,” featuring Sydney Sweeney. Jagger earlier said that the album had many tracks themed around anger and disgust.
The anticipated 12-track “Hackney Diamonds” is the group's first album of original material since the release of “A Bigger Bang” in 2005, and its first since drummer Charlie Watts died in 2021. Two of the tracks were recorded in 2019 with Watts, Jagger said, including “Live by the Sword,” which he described as “retro.”