By Mark Savage and Steven McIntosh, BBC News
From left: Mick Jagger, Ron Wood, US comedian Jimmy Fallon and Keith Richards, at the launch in London. Photo: AFP
The Rolling Stones have unveiled their first album of original material since 2005, and the first since the death of drummer Charlie Watts.
Hackney Diamonds will feature 12 tracks and be released on 20 October, preceded by lead single 'Angry'.
Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood and Sir Mick Jagger announced the album on Wednesday at an event in Hackney, London.
Richards said: "Ever since Charlie's gone, it's been different, he's number four. Of course he's missed."
But, he added, the new album will feature Steve Jordan in Watts' place, a drummer Richards said the band knew from "way back" and who filled Watts' seat on tour this summer.
"It would have been a lot harder without Charlie's blessing," Richards said, explaining that Watts had previously told the band Jordan should replace him if he ever was not around to record.
Watts died in 2021 aged 80, prior to the band's 60th anniversary tour, after suffering from throat cancer.
Sir Mick explained: "The album has 12 tracks. Most are with Steve, but two are tracks we recorded in 2019 with Charlie."
The album is preceded by a new lead single, titled 'Angry', which also received its premiere at the event in Hackney.
Euphoria actress Sydney Sweeney, who was sitting in the audience at the launch event where she was briefly interviewed by host Jimmy Fallon, features in the music video for the song.
In a five-star review, the Telegraph's Neil McCormick called the song "an absolute blast", describing it as the band's best single in 40 years.
Discussing the recording of the album, Wood told Fallon: "We did it pretty quickly actually.
"There were lots of ideas floating around, we gathered them together just before Christmas last year and made a go of it."
The record will feature Lady Gaga, and other rumoured guest stars include Sir Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder.
Asked about the gap since 2016's Blue & Lonesome, an album of blues covers, Sir Mick said: "We've been on the road most of the time, maybe we were a bit too lazy, but then we said, 'let's put a deadline'."
The Rolling Stones recorded the album after setting themselves a deadline. Photo: AFP
He said the band cut 23 tracks, which were mixed in February, before deciding on the final 12 to include on the album.
Sir Mick said the sound of the album was "angry", like the title of the lead single, but added there was an "eclectic" mixture of genres on the record, including love songs and ballads.
He continued: "I don't want to be big headed but we wouldn't have put this album out if we hadn't really liked it. We said we had to make a record we really love ourselves.
"We are quite pleased with it, we are not big headed about it, but we hope you all like it."
One fan told the BBC he had flown in from Poland just for the launch, which was also livestreamed on YouTube.
"They are the kings of rock and roll," he said.
"We've been waiting 18 years to get some new Rolling Stones music and finally here it is. I think it's a really special day."
Another said: "It's fantastic that they're doing all this, I've been a fan of theirs for a very long time - I first saw them in the mid-1960s."
One attendee said he was a "hardcore fan" of the group. "It's so great they've come here today to Hackney," he said. "To me, they're original rockers, they've never changed, they're dynamite."
Speaking to BBC News after the press conference, Wood confirmed the band would likely take the new material on tour.
Asked about Watts, he added: "I was with Charlie before he passed, and he said 'make sure Steve Jordan covers for me until I'm repaired enough to come and join you'. So Steve has his blessing, and that's a really comforting thing."
The last track on the album is a cover of Muddy Waters' 'Rollin' Stone', but Richards said it should not be perceived as the band saying goodbye.
"That's not intended," he said, "it was actually Andrew Watt who came up with a 1920s guitar, and said 'maybe you guys could finally do a song that the name of the band came from".
"And Mick and I looked at each other and said 'yeah, okay'. So there it is, it's more a tip of the hat to Muddy Waters, Chicago and all the blues men we learned our stuff from."
The Rolling Stones performing at a concert in Madrid in Spain in June, 2022. Photo: AFP
Teaser campaign prior to announcement
The announcement of Hackney Diamonds follows a teaser campaign that began with an unassuming advert in the Hackney Gazette - a free newspaper distributed in corner shops and supermarkets that covers the London borough.
Ostensibly for a local glazing firm, the blurb contained several references to Rolling Stones songs, and a phone number where fans could register interest.
Over the weekend, the band also shared a preview of one of the songs, via a website called dontgetangrywithme.com.
However, it was another elaborate ruse: after a prolonged loading screen, the site only played a short snippet of music before appearing to crash.
The band responded to supposed difficulties on social media with the message, "Sorry, don't get angry with me" - a reference to the song's opening lyric.
But all was finally revealed in Hackney on Wednesday afternoon, with all three remaining Stones - Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood - in attendance.
"New album, new music, new era," a trailer for the livestream promised.
The album will be their first since 2016's Blue & Lonesome, which featured covers of the songs by Little Walter and Howlin' Wolf that first inspired them to form a band in the 1960s.
Before that, their last album of original material was 2005's A Bigger Bang, trumpeted as a return to basics, but which failed to reach the heights achieved by classics like Sticky Fingers and Exile On Main Street.
This story was first published by the BBC.