BITE TWO is a big one: STONES
of course we're grading on a curve. Isn't everyone?
THE ROLLING STONES - Hackney Diamonds [LP/CD](Polydor/Geffen)
First and foremost, the Stones have not sounded this full of vitality in years. "Blue and Lonesome" was a great trip down memory lane, but it was too glossy and clean to be The Stones playing the Blues. Even "A Bigger Bang," the last album of originals from 2005, suffered from trying too hard to rock hard. Andrew Watt, who let's face it has been a producing star in waiting, gives The Stones sheen only when they need it (the crisp harmonies and rack tom sounds on the heart-tugging "Depending On You.") When Watt pulls the reins for the band, the Jagger/Richards axis turns a simple "Start Me Up" style vamp into the tough "Angry." The guests help out as if they too have been indoctrinated into the band and given songs that bear no characteristics of their voluminous catalogs. Sir Paul McCartney shows up for a rollicking "Tattoo You"-ish chop of "Bite My Head Off" (complete with those Charlie-ish high-hat pulls from Steve Jordan) that is completely unexpected. Sir Elton John appears on the “Sticky Fingers” Keef ripper “Get Close” complete with Bobby Keys-like saxophone. As for the Gospel-tinged closer with Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder, “Sweet Sounds of Heaven,” it works because Watt keeps Gaga sounding airy and “wide” in the mix to remind you of Merry Clayton and Bonnie Bramlett. However, it would be the rare cut that we might trade out the five-minute edited version.
What makes "Hackney Diamonds" tick is that Mick, Keith, and Ronnie just sound like they want to have a ball. So bassist Darryl Jones and Steve Jordan only have to crank the engine, and then those three do what comes naturally. Even a cut like "Whole Wide World" that strives to be gritty and no-nonsense like "Exile" with Mick in his tough guy character for the verse, benefits from a Pop chorus. Sure, it sounds like another shot at the infamous "One Hit (To The Body)" riffage - but once they grab hold of it and maintain it, you barely notice. Some ideas are less unique to the Stones catalog. "Mess It Up" cannot make the sum of some great parts (that bassline!) work with that Disco-y chorus that sounds a little too close to an outtake from "Primitive Cool." However, Keith makes up for it big time on the brooding “Talk Is Cheap” -ish “Tell Me Straight” that balances out its tense verses with a lovely rising chorus. The rumbling "Live By The Sword" is a great example of everything we love about the Stones, with just a slight overload of material. It raises more questions than most (the big one: Why would you have so much tambourine on a cut that is the last from Charlie?) Nonetheless, Elton John tosses in some very Ian Stewart-ish piano rolls and once the whole thing takes off in the end - you really get to hear that classic lineup catch fire.
As most later Stones’ output goes, you can hear where the give-and-take of sixty years might let the most overwritten (or underwritten for that matter) through. However, for the first time in recent memory, The Stones have a grasp on their working-class past and ride the swagger and swish (which now bear their name) to the rare late-career success.
BONUS PLAN: A trip to Memory Motel
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