The Rolling Stones will release their new album, Hackney Diamonds, on October 20, and while the songs won’t be a huge departure from what fans are used to, frontman Mick Jagger says they will sound different.
During an interview with Q with Tom Power, Jagger explains it was important to them that the album didn’t have a retro sound.
“I said ‘Andy (producer Andrew Watt), I want it to be true to the school, you know,” he says. “I want it to be like a Rolling Stones record, but it’s got to sound like it was recorded this year.’ We don’t want it to sound like 40 years ago, and of course it doesn’t.”
He adds, “It sounds like now — the clarity of it, you know, and fidelity of it. And if you listen to it — compare it to an old Rolling Stones record — it’s very, very different.”
Jagger also discussed the loss of his friend and bandmate Charlie Watts, who passed away in 2021.
“As you get older, you lose a lot of friends,” he shares. “I don’t want to just hang out with younger people, but I mean, a lot of the people in my generation are no longer here to hang out with, so what am I going to do?”
The 80-year-old says seeing friends die makes you “think about your own mortality,” but notes, “people think about that from much earlier ages than mine.” He adds, “People I loved really dearly, you know, died early, and it’s very sad. But there you are. It’s a part of life. Can’t make this all about death.”
Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.