2023-09-10 08:30:00
«¡Ladies and gentlemen… The Glimmer Twins!» Or, in literal Spanish, Los Mellizos Flash. Now we know (we always knew) The Rolling Stones were always regarding them: in 1961, sitting on some bench Dartford station talking regarding music or in 2023, sitting in Jimmy Fallon’s television living room… talking regarding music. Then as now, Mick Jagger y Keith Richards They were, still are and will be The Rolling Stones.
Last Wednesday, the only original members of the band formed 61 years ago, along with Ron Wood, their stable guitarist for almost 50 years, were Fallon interviewedbefore whom they presented the launch of “Hackney Diamonds”, the band’s first album with new songs since 2005’s “A Bigger Bang,” which will be released on October 20.
That same day, during the interview at Hackney Empire Theater located in the London neighborhood that gives title to the band’s new album, the three stones finally presented new music of their own: the single “Angry”, a flash of canonical riffs of the unmistakable Richards factory that refers to the riffs of the late 70s and early 80s, when the band established its definitive sound as demonstrated in this new single.
If someone embodied like no one Being stone, those were, if you doubt, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards. Together they formed “the greatest rock & roll band in the world” or, as Marianne Faithfull defined them: “a corporation.”
Jagger and Richrads were the natural leaders of the band from the moment they met in Dartford. He knew it immediately Andrew Loog-Oldham, mentor de los Stones. That’s why he always had his sights set on Brian Jones, music leader undisputed member of the group, but lacking the charisma and versatility necessary to make a great blues band the greatest rock band in the world.”
Fate – Brian’s own erratic behavior, it must be said – caused the guitarist to die in July 1969, leaving the path to corporate leadership of The Flash Twins. It was since then that The Rolling Stones –dissolution of The Beatles through, it must also be said – built its reputation in the heart of the entertainment business. Reputation that, at 80 years old, keeps them current, creative and active as well can be seen and heard in “Angry.”
“Hackney Diamonds” cover art the next album by The Rolling Stones.
Jagger y Richards They began calling themselves The Glimmer Twins between late 1968 and early 1969 as an inside joke, during a vacation trip on a cruise ship. An older couple was intrigued by the figures of both musicians and their respective girlfriends, Marianne Faithfull and Anita Pallenberg.
Since then, they used the phrase The Glimmer Twins to sign compositional collaborations with the Stones and the production of the albums when he was in charge of the duo. Today, both keep alive the heart of a (still) inextinguishable band.
The photo that illustrates the presentation of the new material (and this note) is strange: there they are, laughing, on their way to a new adventure Jagger, Richards and Wood at 80, 79 and 76 years old, respectively. At the same time, it shows the inevitable passage of time and the inevitable extinction of the band because that is life beyond rock and roll.
Only two of those Stones from 1962 are still there. The rest, no longer. Two of them, Brian Jones and the irreplaceable Charlie Watts, died, although for very different reasons, one from the other. And others, by decision: Mick Taylor, Jones’ replacement in 1969 and replaced by Wood in 1976; and Bill Wyman, the original bassist who was never officially replaced, although at this point Darryl Jones has been one more stone since he joined the band in 1993.
Now, with Steve Jordan on the drums that until August 2021 was owned by the (did we already say it?) irreplaceable Charlie Watts, The Rolling Stones are ready for a new musical adventure. What to say regarding “Angry” and what to expect from “Hackney Diamonds”? Nothing and everything, at the same time. Nothing (especially, let’s clarify) because they have already given everything and continuing to give us music is all we can expect from them.
“Hackney Diamonds” will arrive on October 20, it will be the band’s first since “Blue & Lonesome”, the collection of blues standards released in 2016, and 18 since “A bigger bang”, the last one with original music. But above all it will be the first without Charlie. Wouldn’t that have been the perfect alibi to leave him there? “It’s not that we have retired, it’s that we can’t do it without Charlie” is a phrase never said by the Glimmer Twins and that we will never hear from any of them because, if you are rockers you know this: or you die in time to eternalize your youth rock or you will rock until the end.
«Everything is different since he left. It’s number four. Of course we miss him. but thanks to him we have Steve Jordan, who was Charlie’s recommendation and is a friend to everyone. I even played with him. It would have been more difficult without his blessing.
Keith Richrads, on the absence of Charlie Watts, who died in August 2021.
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