The Rolling Stones’ Album ‘Hackney Diamonds’ Leads Today’s New Releases

Each week Release Day Picks profiles new LPs and EPs Team JamBase will be checking out on release day Friday. This week we highlight new albums by The Rolling Stones, Bombay Bicycle Club, Pert Near Sandstone, Selcouth Quartet and Chris Shiflett. Read on for more insight into the records we have ready to spin.

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The Rolling Stones – Hackney Diamonds

Today’s release of The Rolling Stones‘ Hackney Diamonds album on Geffen Records marks a number of firsts for the legendary rock band. The 12-track LP is their first studio set of new material since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. Producer Andrew Watt was behind the board for Hackney Diamonds, his first time working with The Stones (Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood). It’s also the group’s first studio album since drummer Charlie Watts died.

Watts is still represented on Hackney Diamonds, as the late drummer is featured on tracks “Mess It Up” and “Live By The Sword” with parts recorded before he passed away in 2021. The latter also sees The Stones reuniting with former bassist Bill Wyman. Charlie Watts’ replacement, Steve Jordan, plays drums on the rest of the album, while the rest of the bass duties were split between Darryl Jones, Keith Richards and Paul McCartney. Macca contributed to the cut “Bite My Head Off.” Lady Gaga, Elton John and Stevie Wonder also make cameos on Hackney Diamonds.

Mick Jagger discussed the origins of the album with Zane Lowe on his Apple Music 1 show, stating:

“We recorded a lot of stuff, but we didn’t have a deadline. And I don’t think we were that mad about what we recorded, though there were some really good things, but there were some things that we weren’t crazy about. And there was no deadline and there was no cohesion and there was no finish line or style or anything. And so I think we got a bit lazy and lackadaisical about the whole thing.

So I said to Keith, ‘Well let’s do it another way. Let’s have a deadline. Are you up for doing a deadline? Are you up for getting a new producer?’ And Keith sort of, he agreed with all this straight away… And I mean, if it didn’t happen, it didn’t happen. And when I said, ‘let’s go to Jamaica and just hang out and just jam a bit and so on.’ He was very keen on that because just the idea of doing that, of being very loose and so on, and getting this album back on track. And he was very amenable to all this. …and Jamaica was super relaxed, a very nice place, beautiful views, and there’s no pressure, but you still want to play and see how things go. And Steve’s there, [keyboardist] Matt [Clifford] was there, me and Keith and that was it.

Then we brought it onto the next, we did some rehearsals involved Ronnie, and that’s where we introduced [producer] Andy [Watt] into the equation. And then Andy just bulldozed the whole thing through and he said, ‘Oh, this is a good song. This is a good song. I love this song.’ That made it easy. But, yes, there does seem to be a moment where everyone seems to be in agreement that they want to move forward, they want to make an album, they are excited, and they want to finish it.”

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Bombay Bicycle Club – My Big Day

British rock band Bombay Bicycle Club is back with their second post-hiatus album, My Big Day, which arrived today via Mmm… Records. The follow-up to 2020’s Everything Else Has Gone Wrong was largely produced by the band’s frontman Jack Steadman, who co-produced their previous LP. Additional My Big Day co-production was provided by Paul Epworth on “Heaven” and by previous collaborator Ben Allen on “Turn The World On.” Dave Fridmann mixed the album, which is the group’s sixth full length to date. The 11-track My Big Day was recorded at at The Church Studios in North London and at the band’s own studio. Guests on the new record include Chaka Khan, Damon Albarn, Jay Som, Nilüfer Yanya and Holly Humberstone. Additional backing vocals were provided by Rae Morris, Kawala and Flyte. Bombay Bicycle Club share the below message regarding My Big Day:

We hope this album will surprise people. After nearly 20 years together, there is always a danger of falling into a comfort zone and we’ve pushed harder than usual against that on this record. We continue to make music together not only because of the deep connection we have to one another, but also because we believe something magical happens when we make music together.

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Pert Near Sandstone – Waiting Days

Minneapolis/St. Paul-based string band Pert Near Sandstone independently released their new album, Waiting Days. The 11 songs on Waiting Days were written by the group’s primary songwriters and vocalists, bassist Justin Bruhn, banjo player Kevin Kniebel, guitarist J Lenz and Nate Sipe who plays mandolin, steel guitars and fiddle. The album also features “recent inclusion to the outfit,” fiddler Chris Forsberg, and frequent collaborator Matt Cartier on clogs. Another fiddler, Trampled by Turtles’ Ryan Young, recorded and mixed Waiting Days, which marks the fourth album engineered by the original Pert Near member. Recording sessions were held in the cold of a Midwest winter at Young’s NeonBrown Recording Studio in Crystal, Minnesota. The album features Young (fiddle, organ, percussion) on a few tracks, as well as contributions from Sean Roderick on piano, Andy Lambert on washboard and drums/percussion, Jason Marks on trumpet, Chris Bruhn on guitar and additional vocals provided by Anna Mason, Del Kniebel, Lena Kniebel, Lisanne Bogaard and Katie Bellville.

“I’ve been recording Pert Near Sandstone since 2004 when I’d set up some mics to record our practices,” Young revealed. “I feel like we know each other really well and I know what kind of sounds they are going for. Some songs call for a stripped-down feel of friends playing folk music together in a living room, and others are more elaborate with influences from metal to electronic music to rock and more.”

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Selcouth Quartet – Selcouth Quartet

Drummer Joe Russo, woodwind specialist Stuart Bogie, bassist Jon Shaw and guitarist Jonathan Goldberger joined forces to form the Selcouth Quartet. The group issued their self-titled debut album today via Flóki Studios Records. “Selcouth” is defined by Merriam-Webster as “unusual, strange.” Selcouth Quartet captured their debut at Iceland’s Flóki Studios after Russo was invited to record there and reassembled a band of longtime collaborators he had put together for a gig that was ultimately canceled. Produced by D. James Goodwin (Tim Berne, David Torn, Bonny Light Horseman), Selcouth Quartet had no material before entering Flóki. The record was deeply influenced by Iceland’s legendary landscape.

“Not having any predetermined material was definitely a benefit,” Shaw noted. “We could do anything, no limitations.”

“We birthed the band in the studio,” Joe Russo stated. “If we had made a record for the first time in Woodstock in the spring, it wouldn’t have sounded like this. This album was completely dictated and formed by its surroundings. It sounds like how we felt.”

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Chris Shiflett – Lost At Sea

Foo Fighters guitarist Chris Shiflett’s solo album Lost At Sea is out today on Blue Élan Records. Shiflett tapped Nashville producer/musician Jaren Johnson to further explore his “signature honky-tonk-meets-rock-and-roll sound,” as per a press release. Shiflett enlisted Music City guitar aces like Tom Bukovac and Charlie Worsham as well as teaming with renowned Nashville songwriters including Kendell Marvel and Cody Jinks to co-write Lost At Sea’s 10 tracks. Lost At Sea singles include “Damage Control,” “Dead And Gone” and “Black Top White Lines.”

“We wrote a lot of these songs during the lockdown,” the Southern California native said. “Then I began making trips to Nashville to work with Jaren. He and I have a lot of overlap, in terms of the music we like. We made a guitar-centric record that encapsulates everything I’ve been listening to over the years, from the most country songs I’ve ever recorded to punk rock and even songs that sound like a California version of The Clash.”

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Compiled by Scott Bernstein, Nate Todd and Andy Kahn.