The summer of nostalgia continues. Or does it?
Following Paul McCartney’s sentimental lookback on his early years with ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ and Madonna revisiting the dance floor 20 years later with ‘Confessions II’, we have another vintage act making a comeback. But instead of harking back to the past, the Rolling Stones make their new album ‘Foreign Tongues’ sound immediate, forward-facing, and anything but a trip down memory lane.
It’s quite the feat for an album recorded by artists in their 80s – with Ronnie Wood as the band’s spring chicken at 79. In all fairness, they could have used their 25th studio album as an excuse to look back at their seven-decade career, take stock and ponder on their legacy. ‘Foreign Tongues’ says, “Bollocks to that, anyone fancy some killer hooks that would make anyone 50 years younger green with envy?”
As impressive as that spirit is, what’s even more astonishing is how Mick Jagger has managed to preserve his vocal cords from the indignities of age. At nearly 83 years old, the frontman has lost none of his swagger or signature yowls.
How he’s doing it, we’ll never know; but after listening to ‘Foreign Tongues’, you’ll swear him and his lot will outlive us all.
From the opening double-tap of ‘Rough And Twisted’ and ‘In The Stars’, the band prove from the get-go that this follow-up to 2023’s ‘Hackney Diamonds’ is richer, more rambunctious and significantly more memorable than the band’s hiatus-ending first album of original material since 2005.
No shade to ‘Hackney Diamonds’, which was a welcome creative resurgence. However, when re-listening to it, the songs feel a bit limp by comparison. Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood’s guitars take center stage, the bluesy licks hit, the melodies are bigger, and the band’s verve sounds truly revitalised.
What follows is a tight and kinetic collection of rock gems (‘Divine Intervention’), funky pop (‘Never Wanna Lose You’), stadium rousers (‘Hit Me in the Head’) and a confessional solo spotlight from Richards (‘Some Of Us’). The band even lash out at points.
Beyond getting a jab in at “mad mogul Mr. Musk” on ‘Mr. Charm’ and bemoaning how autocrats “seem to be breeding like a swarm of dirty rats with their missiles on parade” on ‘Covered In You’, the veteran rockers deliver a remarkable honky tonk breakup song titled ‘Ringing Hollow’, in which Jagger sings about falling out of love with the US.
“Well I was madly in love with you before we ever met / Watched all your movies, smoked your cigarettes…” it goes, before noting how “there’s always a scoundrel trying to whip up the crowd.”
“Lady Liberty don’t look so good when there’s a tear in her gown,” it continues.
No one is mentioned by name, but we all know who the scoundrel is.
Somewhat disappointing are the much-publicised guest spots on the album, with Paul McCartney playing bass on ‘Covered in You’, Bruno Mars picking up a cowbell on ‘Never Wanna Lose You’ and The Cure’s Robert Smith contributing guitar and backup vocals on ‘Divine Intervention’ and ‘Never Wanna Lose You’.
The songs are great, but the cameos don’t register as particularly essential. The same could be said about the album’s two cover songs. The Stones’ versions of Amy Winehouse’s ‘You Know I’m No Good’ and Chuck Berry’s ‘Beautiful Delilah’ aren’t duds by any stretch; but you are left with the niggling feeling that if they’d ended up on the cutting room floor, the album wouldn’t have been weaker for it.
Still, for those minor bum notes, the album is striking in how consistent, kinetic and polished it sounds. Kudos to returning 35-year-old producer extraordinaire Andrew Watt on that front.
The only clear clunker is the syrupy ‘Jealous Lover’, which tries a bit too hard to be this album’s ‘Emotional Rescue’ – and fails. It’s hard to get too upset about it though, especially when you have Jagger’s strongest vocal performance in years on ‘Back In Your Life’ and the standout track ‘In The Stars’. It’s the Stones’ most infectiously catchy song since 1994’s ‘You Got Me Rocking’.
“Do you wanna dance until the roof caves in? / Yeah, and the guitars scream and the choir still sings,” Jagger hollers.
The guitars are still screaming, the choirs are singing, and unbelievably, the Stones can still make you want to cave in a roof.
‘Foreign Tongues’ is not only a step up from 2023’s ‘Hackney Diamonds’ but also a potent reminder that it may not be the years nor the mileage that count when it comes to Jagger, Richards and Wood. It’s the desire to keep their enthusiasm alive.
There is one worrying line in ‘Some Of Us’, in which Richards discloses that “some of us are on our knees”… But we needn’t fret. Considering how ‘Foreign Tongues’ might be their best album since 1981’s ‘Tattoo You’, it’s clear they’re still standing tall.
The Rolling Stones’ ‘Foreign Tongues’ is out now.