The Rolling Stones : "Hackney Diamonds"

 This is the Stones's 26th album. They are arguably the greatest rock band ever.  However, this legacy gets threatened with every album they decide to drag their career out with. Keith is having to adapt his playing around his arthritis. Richards is 79, and Jagger is 80. Supplemented by producer Andrew Watt, who helped write three songs. The Jagger / Richards songwriting machine keeps rolling. Don Was who makes more sense for the band than the pop producer Watt, who has also worked with Iggy Pop and Ozzy. Jagger sounds more youthful than any other 80-year-old could ever dream. I guess that deal with the Devil he made worked out wonderfully. The first two songs are slicker than the Stones in my mind's eye who made 'Sticky Fingers" but growing up I liked "Dirty Work" and "Undercover" which were poppy at the time. "Steel Wheels" was the last album I spent much time with. 

They can invoke the gritty Blues-based dive bar feel with the punchy "Bite My Head Off". Paul McCartney plays bass on this one, which settles the debate since he is now playing for these guys. There is a classic palm-muted shuffle for the more brooding "Whole Wide World". It rocks more convincingly than you could anticipate them doing at this late in the game. They go for a more laid-back honky tonk sound on "Dreamy Skies' and it feels like they are trying a little too hard. It is better than most bands can do, but the bar is high for these guys as we have heard them do this better already. They used a Charlie Watts drum track on "Mess It Up". Is it on the poppier side of what they do? Yes, but it works. There is a touch of disco to it, and truth be told Disco Stones are some of my favorite albums. Jagger can still go into falsetto at 80, I want to hear zero excuses about your favorite aging rock singers. 

"Live By the Sword" is another that uses a Charlie Watts drum track. Elton John also bangs on the ivories in the background to fill in the gaps. Hardly anything that displays his chops but works for the song. It's really well produced, as you would expect from the biggest rock band in the world. "Driving Me to Hard" feels more authentic to who they are. "Tell Me Straight" is a ballad sung by Keith Richards, is also in a pretty good voice for what he does. Though he sounds a little more like Boby Dylan now.  Jagger sounds at his best on "Sweet Sounds of Heaven" which is a gospel-inflected ballad that Lady GaGa lends her voice to. At times I wonder if it's not Ronnie Wood who is pulling off some of these licks. Lyrically this album is far from their strongest, so it's the vocal performances and playing that is selling it. The last song is an ode to blues we heard done more effectively with "Exile on Main St". Overall this exceeded my expectations considering where these guys are in life I will give this a 9.5.