The 25th album from the octogenarians is far, far better than it has any right to be.
The early days of rock and roll are filled with bands who emphasised the importance of youth, vital to the reactionary backlash of the genre to the safer and duller musical landscape that proceeded it. Yet as the first “legacy bands” grew older, rock and roll became its own establishment. Whilst some bands parted as they could no longer work together, some ended due to ill health or death, a handful began to throw water on the concept of rock belonging to just youth alone. It has been a fine year for fans of older artists. 84 year old Paul McCartney released The Boys of Dungeon Lane, including a contribution from 86 year old Ringo Starr on drums. The quality of this recent Stones resurgence, starting with 2023’s Hackney Diamonds, makes you wonder what the occasional Beatles reunion would have brought us over the years had Lennon and Harrison not been taken from us so unfortunately early. The Boys of Dungeon Lane was fun, but there was an element of fragility to it. McCartney’s voice is not as strong as it once was, if you were to imagine it as a release from a new band you suspect it would have hardly caused a ripple.
Foreign Tongues is an outrageously vital album, both classically The Rolling Stones whilst never resting on previous glories. There is a real energy to the playing. Mick Jagger benefits from never having had a classical singing voice. It was always a wild force of nature, as flawed as it was exciting. The range he is still able to bring here is quite extraordinary, he is a far better singer at this point than when he first started out. There is full on falsetto on ‘Jealous Lover ‘, a powerful rock singer on ‘Hit Me In The Head’ who could give Brandon Flowers a run for his money. Then there are also a couple of quite ridiculous mainstream pop sounding tracks such as the chorus of ‘Divine Intervention’ and ‘Never Wanna Lose You (featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith on backing vocals and most bizarrely, Bruno Mars on cowbell).’ Has Jagger ever sounded better than he does on this album? It certainly is close to matching former highpoints. Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood still know their way round a guitar, and whilst Charlie Watts is missed the slightly more youthful 69 year old Steve Jordan and The Red Hot Chilli Pepper’s Chad Smith are able to bring an energy to the tracks that you suspect Watts would never have been able to match had he still been alive.
Huge credit needs to go to super-producer Andrew Watt as well. The thirty-five year old has worked extensively with music royalty over the last decade and he was also the producer on much of The Boys From Dungeon Lane, as well as a couple of tracks on the new Madonna album. Keith Richards described him as a “breath of fresh air and a kick up the ass.” The aforementioned McCartney appears here on ‘Covered In You.’ One of a number of guest spots on the album including Steve Winwood.
At fourteen tracks there might have been some bloat but everything feels well chosen. Apparently, there are at least another ten tracks near completion suggesting we may get at least one more album out of the legends in the next couple of years. Not only is the playing here vital, but this is probably the most relevant the band have sounded in decades. The guitar scene has begun shifting in the last few years and a number of Rolling Stones indebted bands are making inroads into the mainstream, Geese being chief amongst them.
The singles from this album are all strong offerings. The bluesy stomp of ‘Rough and Twisted’ kicks it off. ‘In The Stars’ is more reminiscent of the better end of the Stone’s 1980’s output. The playful soul edged ‘Jealous Lover’ is such an extraordinary offering from a band that has no need to experiment in this manner. Where as McCartney lent into nostalgia this year there is much more lyrical relevance here. Elon Musk comes in for a battering amongst a few modern targets. ‘You and me were separated like Korea’ is one of a number of memorable zingers featured across the album.
Many older bands and artists resort to cover albums when they run out of things to say in an effort to keep going. There is a single cover on here that is definitely not there for the sake of it. It is a great cover version of Amy Winehouse’s ‘You Know I’m No Good.’ You can imagine Jagger and Winehouse would have found some crossover in their inspirations and they do absolute justice to a wonderful track here, bringing out the maximum blues qualities from it. The final song ‘Beautiful Delilah’ strips back the production that most of the album is covered in for just Mick’s voice and a solitary guitar, the purest slice of blues rock presented here.
Like Hackney diamonds this is an out and out triumph. Roll on the next album. In a year that feels a bit short on standout album smashes, this one is right up there.
Essential Tracks: ‘Rough and Twisted,’ ‘In The Stars,’ ‘Jealous Lover,’ ‘Divine Intervention,’ ‘Never Wanna Lose You,’ ‘You Know I’m No Good,’ ‘Covered in You’ and ‘Back In Your Life.’
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