The Rolling Stones frontman, Mick Jagger, used to get fed up with his bandmate, guitarist Keith Richards, playing The Beatles songs non-stop when they shared an apartment together. Jagger admits a lot of their songs were inspired by their former rivals' pop hits because guitarist Keith was obsessed with them.
Speaking to Mojo magazine, he said: "Originally, Keith was the pop person really. I mean, I used to just write lyrics to his pop tunes and he wrote all these pop tunes because he listened to The Beatles all the time. Drove me crazy listening to The Beatles when we shared a flat together. Keith sort of left that behind in a way, but he wrote 'Ruby Tuesday', 'Let’s Spend The Night Together' – these were all Keith’s songs. But yeah, people will say ‘Keith was the one that liked blues.' I really like pop music now, listen to it all the time – Keith doesn’t. I still like blues but I like dance music and Keith doesn’t really like it.”
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The Rolling Stones' new album, Hackney Diamonds - the band's first album of new material in eighteen years - is out now.
The 12-track album, was recorded in various locations around the world, including Henson Recording Studios, Los Angeles; Metropolis Studios, London; Sanctuary Studios, Nassau, Bahamas; Electric Lady Studios, New York; and The Hit Factory/Germano Studios, also in New York. Late drummer Charlie Watts is featured on two tracks, "Mess It Up" and "Live By The Sword". "Live By The Sword" additionally features bass from former Stones bassist Bill Wyman. "Sweet Sounds Of Heaven" featuring vocals from Lady Gaga and keys & piano from Stevie Wonder, "Get Close" and "Live By The Sword" with piano from Elton John, and "Bite My Head Off" with bass from Paul McCartney.
Hackney Diamonds is their first studio set of new material since 2005's A Bigger Bang. Since then, the Stones have continued to smash box office records on a series of global sell-out tours and released 2016's Grammy Award winning Blue & Lonesome, which featured their brilliant versions of many of the blues tracks that helped shape their sound, and topped album charts around the world. Last year, they thrilled European audiences totalling nearly a quarter of a million on the anniversary Sixty tour. The Rolling Stones have sold over 250 million albums worldwide.
Hackney Diamonds marks The Stones' first album produced by producer and musician Andrew Watt.
Tracklisting:
"Angry"
"Get Close"
"Depending On You"
"Bite My Head Off"
"Whole Wide World"
"Dreamy Skies"
"Mess It Up"
"Live By The Sword"
"Driving Me Too Hard"
"Tell Me Straight"
"Sweet Sounds Of Heaven"
"Rolling Stone Blues"
"Sweet Sounds of Heaven" lyric video:
"Angry" video:
(Photo - Mark Seliger)
