The Rolling Stones tease out clues for potential new album
By Ivor Levene
As has been the case for many years with The Rolling Stones, they don't just drop albums or tour announcements without some sort of mysterious shenanigans. When it's a tour, they typically start putting up billboards in random areas in cities in which they will be playing, with nothing more than their famous logo and a line from a song as a clue.
Yesterday was more of the same, as an ad mysteriously appeared in a local newspaper in London's borough of Hackney (Where Mick Jagger once lived) for a "company" called "Hackney Diamonds," and was quite obviously a tease by The Rolling Stones. If you look closely at the ad, there is that tongue logo, a nod to 1962 when the band was formed, and references to song lyrics from "Satisfaction", "Gimme Shelter" and "Shattered."
Showing up on Rolling Stones' social media was what is believed to be the front and rear covers for the album, the front consisting of a diamond heart being fractured down the middle by a dagger, with a pair of legs wrapped around it. The rear photo features a new take on the tongue logo, with this one being a fractured version.
No Stones activity would be complete without the usual uber-fan speculation amongst the Stones universe. Some suggest the heart is breaking due to the death of Charlie Watts. Others suggest the "diamonds" are a nod to the band's 60th anniversary. Some suggest that the shards of glass represent the past and present members of the band.
Nobody outside of a few people who worked on the album really know what's in store, people such as Don Was and the latest producer to work on it, Andrew Watt. Fans have been eagerly anticipating this release for more than a decade, but were somewhat placated by 2016's release of Blue and Lonesome, an album of old blues covers that the band claims, "came out of the rehearsals for the new album in a very organic way."
Most of the album has been recorded in Los Angeles, with all sorts of rumored participants such as Ringo Starr, Paul McCartney and former band-member Bill Wyman participating in the live recording (as it turns out, Ringo didn't participate, Paul did, and Bill Wyman, due to his fear of flying recorded his part in London). Most fans are in agreement that this will be the last time we hear any new recorded material from the band, and that if they tour, it will be the last time, but you never really know with the Stones. Most say that they will never announce their last tour or concert, and will simply fade away view one day without a word.
Jagger, Richards and Wood appeared a few weeks ago on the streets of New York, recording what looked like a video. Could it have been a tour, album or other announcement? We will have to wait.
I've reached out to members of The Rolling Stones for comment, but as usual, they aren't giving anything away, nor are spokespeople at Universal Music.
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