BLAIR MORGAN

Recently there were four deaths that, on the surface, seem unrelated: guitarist Wayne Perkins, singer Dennis Locorriere from Dr. Hook, producer Jack Douglas, and actress and singer Claudine Longet. Yet together they form a map of the 1970s - excess, celebrity culture, reinvention, and the feeling that another world is slowly disappearing from view.

Rock critics, whoever and whatever that means these days seem to falling over themselves in praise of the new Stones album Hackney Diamonds - the "best since Some Girls" said The Times of London, "they've still got it" , says NME. and on and on . After letting the tracks sink in, and at the risk of putting a dampener on all the Stones "luurve" out there I'm afraid most of these "Diamonds" would have been better left in the mine.. Ladies & Gentlemen - Hackney Diamonds 1. Ang