Daily noise that works faster than any stimulant

29 September 2023

The eternal iconic rock legends THE ROLLING STONES are quite a phenomenon.

Mick Jagger is 80, Keef Richards turns 80 in December and Ron Wood is 76 and they look in absolute great shape. But it’s not only about their cool, healthy looks at that age, they’re still terrifically active, like I witnessed last year when they played for 75.000 in Brussels on their umpteenth tour.

As already announced, they canned a new longplayer, baptized HACKNEY DIAMONDS.
It’s their 24th British and 26th American album. It lands on 20 October. Their first proper LP in 23 years, since the release of A Bigger Bang.

Following the steamy lead single Angry we get taster number 2, titled SWEET
SOUNDS OF HEAVEN. It features Lady Gaga on vocals and Stevie Wonder on piano.

Jagger about Gaga: “She’s a really great singer and I’d never heard her sing quite that style before. Not exactly. We did it live in the room and that was a great experience, her just coming in the room and her just opening up and seeing her bits and feeling her way and then getting more confident.

About the song: “It’s all played live. And of course we did overdubs, but it’s all played in the room. Yeah, there’s that moment, especially in that session where we had Stevie, and you’re feeling your way out a little bit and then you do that soul ending, which is you do sometimes
on stage where you stop and you start.”

Sweet Sounds Of Heaven is an instant classic mixing the Stones‘ characteristic
way of writing impassioned blues-rock ballads and mixing it with sky-scraping gospel delirium (think ‘You Can’t Always Get What You Want’). Next to Mick Jagger‘s astonishing
vocal effort comes Lady Gaga with a wonderstruck vocal tour de force.

Really, really, really sublime. It’s a 7.22-minute diamond growing in tension and high soulful spirits along the way towards a fully orchestrated climax. If you’re a young rock band, listen and take notes. These old geezers still are masters when it comes to starting everybody up.

SUBLIME

THE ROLLING STONES: Website – Instagram