It had been 54 years since the Rolling Stones recorded such a long song on a studio album. From the classic “You Can’t Always Get What You Want” from the 1969 album “Let It Bleed”. This lasted 7 minutes and 28 seconds. Sweet Sound Of Heaven lasts 7 minutes and 22 seconds. It is the second song from the group’s new work entitled “Hackney Diamonds”, which contains 12 tracks and will be available in stores on October 20th.
In addition to its length, Sweet Sound Of Heaven offers the incentive of collaborating with Lady Gaga on vocals and Stevie Wonder on keyboards. In contrast to the rock ‘n’ roll energy of Angry, Hackney Diamonds’ first single, this track is a beautiful gospel-tinged soul plea about music as salvation. “I hear the sweet sounds of heaven falling to earth. / I hear the sweetest sounds of heaven drifting down,” Jagger intones at the start of the song behind a bluesy piano by Stevie Wonder, who also plays organ. In the second minute, Lady Gaga arrives and gently tells the singer to go higher and higher until she reaches ecstasy. “No woman or child should go hungry tonight. / Please protect us from pain and harm,” the two sing as if they were in a church in the Bronx on a Sunday morning. The song seems to end at a certain point, but Gaga laughs and begins a two-minute-plus improvisation in which she particularly shines as Jagger encourages her, “Come on, come on, come on.” Sweet Sound Of Heaven is performed by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards signed. A shorter, five-minute long version was also released along with the album version.
Lady Gaga and the Rolling Stones had already worked together, albeit in concert. The New York singer took the stage to answer Mick Jagger in the tumultuous Gimme Shelter. Her involvement with Hackney Diamonds was a coincidence. While the Stones were recording the album, Gaga was recording vocals for a new album in an adjacent studio. She wanted to enter the Stones’ room just to have a good time. He sat curled up in a corner and watched. When the group recorded Sweet Sound Of Heaven, she let out a few “oooh, uuuuh.” Jagger noticed it and said, “Let’s do it right,” and he gave him a microphone. Gaga got up from the floor, began interacting with Jagger’s voice and they recorded the song.
It’s also not the first time the Stones have partnered with Stevie Wonder. The most notable comes from 1972, when the British group Wonder took them on tour to open their concerts. Jagger and Richards worshiped Wonder in a state of supreme grace that year, when he released two colossal albums: Music of My Mind and Talking Book. The tour was very good for Wonder because he had never played in front of so many thousands of people, most of them white. This tour helped him break into a market where he was not consolidated.
In addition to opening the Stones’ concerts, Wonder performed songs with the group on a few dates. They started with a piece by him, Uptigh (Everything’s Alright), which they followed with (I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction. The Stones have never played their big hit in such a funk tone. Then the stage turned into a party with the Rolling Stones and Wonder band sampling rock and funk. At the end, Jagger found Wonder at the piano and brought him to the center of the stage to perform a wild dance together. You can see it in this video:
Sweet Sound Of Heaven is the penultimate song from Hackney Diamonds, a work that ends 18 years without a new album of original songs from the Brits. In addition to Lady Gaga and Stevie Wonder, they are accompanied by the Brits Paul McCartney, Elton John and Bill Wyman, the founding bassist who left the group in 1993. Some recordings of long-missing drummer Charlie Watts, who died in August 2021, have also been restored for two songs.
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