The Rolling Stones announce the release of their new album "Hackney Diamonds"

Fans have been waiting for it for nearly 20 years: the Rolling Stones will release on October 20 Hackney Diamonds, a new studio album composed of original songs that the legendary British band announced on Wednesday, September 6.

Ronnie Wood, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards at the press conference presenting the release of their new album Hackney Diamond, on September 6, 2023 in London. © Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP

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Composed of 12 tracks, according to Mick Jagger, including the first single called Angry, this album is the first released by the Rolling Stones since 2016 but the first of original songs in 18 years.

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We didn't do anything. We were on tour most of the time. Well, maybe we were a little lazy... And then, we wanted to make an album that we really liked. I don't want to be pretentious, but we're proud of this one, we hope you like it," said Mick Jagger, the band's charismatic singer who celebrated his 80th birthday in July, presenting the album, alongside Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, to the press. They were interviewed by American television host and comedian Jimmy Fallon, in a theater in the Hackney district of East London, a place "at the center of the new album".

All dressed in black, glasses on the nose, the three grandparents of British rock arrived all smiles, posing in front of photographers and many fans present to see this cult band. This album is the 24th studio album by the Rolling Stones in the UK, the first with original songs since 2005, when they released A bigger Bang. Their previous album, seven years ago, Blue and Lonesome, was a record of blues covers. The three musicians promise eclecticism in this one: funk, ballads and of course rock.

Hackney Diamonds will be their first album since the drummer of the legendary band Charlie Watts died in 2021 at the age of 80: "It's been different since Charlie left. He is missing, we miss him enormously. But thanks to him, we have Steve Jordan, whom Charlie recommended if something happened to him," says Keith Richards. "There are 12 tracks on the album. 2 of them were recorded in 2019, with Charlie, "says Mick Jagger.

Treasure hunt and clues in a local newspaper

The Rolling Stones had maintained the suspense around this album. Its launch was announced in August in a cryptic advertisement in a local newspaper, the Hackney Gazette. "Hackney Diamonds", glass repair expert. Opening in September 2023," it read. This announcement immediately spread on social networks, fans having spotted allusions to the group.

In the text, mentions of flagship titles like Gimme Shelter and Satisfaction. The date of the creation of the company, 1962, also happens to be that of the creation of the Rolling Stones. And the dot on the "i" in the word "diamonds" was the famous tongue-sticking mouth logo. The advertisement linked to a website hackneydiamonds.com bearing the signature of the Universal Music label.

To listen alsoThe epic of black music - The blues of the Rolling Stones

(With AFP

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