The Rolling Stones' "Foreign Tongues" Album Review

Anti-war sentiments, hard-hitting blues, surprising sentimentality and a swipe at "mad mogul" Elon Musk.

The Rolling Stones may be rock 'n' roll elders but they still know how to deliver the thrills.

When the band released 2023's Hackney Diamonds, their first album of original material in 18 years, it dismantled concerns that rock stars in their eighties could still make a good record.

Foreign Tongues, the group's 25th studio effort (out today), proves they can make not just one, but two.

A satisfactory sequel

Foreign Tongues extends the Stones's late-career revival by replicating the model of its Grammy Award-winning predecessor, reuniting the core trio — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood — with Hackney Diamonds producer Andrew Watt.

Together, they knocked out 12 originals and two covers in under a month at West London's Metropolis Studios with the assistance of core personnel and some star-studded special guests (more on that later).

That sense of urgency and vigour is audible from the first bluesy lick of stomping opening track Rough And Twisted, which swiftly establishes the Stones hallmarks.

Even at 82, Jagger's preening voice is still commanding, swaggering atop the guitar latticework of Richards and Wood, their riffs and runs panned for full complimentary effect and backed by long-term keys player Matt Clilfford, bassist Daryl Hall and drummer Steve Jordan.

Jordan's skin-whacking is a key presence on the album; his tough playing has a net positive on the performances, prompting everyone else to up their oomph on searing cuts like Side Effects and lead single In The Stars, which has rhythmic attitude but also an uplifting refrain.

Former drummer Charlie Watts, whose death in 2021 seems to have rejuvenated the Stones to up their album game in the first place, makes a posthumous appearance on Hit Me In The Head.

It's a punky blast of jagged riffs and wailing harmonica where Jagger relishes in the irony of its mortality-defying chorus:

"One of these days gonna fall down dead/And I'll go a lot quicker with a hit in the head." (Although, Richards's 2006 encounter with a coconut tree in Fiji would suggest differently)

Star-studded special guests

Covered In You benefits from the presence of 60s contemporary Sir Paul McCartney, the former Beatle and one-time friendly rival offering an excellent bassline.

There's also room for veteran allies, like Tom Petty's trusty keys wizard Benmont Tench and the prolific Steve Winwoo, who each provide organ and piano on select tracks.

Fresh from a stint with pop sensation Olivia Rodrigo, The Cure's Robert Smith offers synths and backing vocals to Never Wanna Lose You, with its popping bassline and blink-and-you'll-miss-it cowbell from Bruno Mars.

Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith keeps time with a thudding kick on the closing Beautiful Delilah, a stripped-down cover of problematic rock pioneer Chuck Berry and a nod to one of the Stones's foundational influences.

The album's other cover is a blistering take on Amy Winehouse's You Know I'm No Good, re-imagining the tragic soul singer's dour R&B anthem with more howling harmonica and a terrific vocal performance.

Jealous Lover switches into slick, soulful mode, its groove and Jagger's slinky falsetto positively evoking their 1978 disco favourite Miss You.

It's one of several echoes you'll hear of the band's esteemed back catalogue, but Foreign Tongues isn't a play for nostalgia.

It's a modern-sounding record, especially when the Stones voice their disillusionment with the current state of global affairs.

A political bent

Mr Charm contains the aforementioned dig at Elon Musk, and while President Donald Trump is never explicitly mentioned, he hovers like a spectre over Jagger's writing.

"Lady Liberty don't look so good when there's a tear in her gown," he sings snarkily in Ringing Hollow, a honky-tonk stand-out that, like hip-shaking hits Street Fighting Man and Gimme Shelter before it, protests America's social unrest.

"Let the dreamers get the dream they want, my favourite joke/So pass around the fenty/Pass around the coke [...] When voices are stifled/I wanna scream out loud."

It's Only Rock 'n' Roll (But I Like It)

On another essential track, the Exile On Main St.-adjacent Divine Intervention, Jagger describes "billionaires all scuttling, scrambling to their boltholes in the sky," while everyday folk ignore the growing divide in favour of "going to the football every Saturday night".

During the politically charged, semi-spoken verse of Covered In You, the frontman wakes up "sick and tired of all these autocrats/You know, they seem to be breeding like a swarm of dirty rats with their missiles on parade."

Though largely a gustier, more guitar-powered showcase, there's welcome moments of sensitivity.

The power ballad Back In Your Life confidently stretches past the six-minute work with the assistance of sax, horns and Jagger's instruction of "C'mon Ronnie" producing a winningly emotive guitar solo.

Richards takes lead vocal duties on the touching Some Of Us, a song dating back to the 80s. His weathered voice augmenting a devoted plea to a fairweather lover: "Some of us are on our knees, begging, baby."

Speaking of begging, fingers crossed Foreign Tongues means Australia gets one last tour. As ever, these songs will really shine in the live setting.

While maybe not strong enough to wholesale supplant for the classics, they equally won't leave you impatient or ducking for the bar or a toilet break while waiting for the next hit.

It'd take a mighty effort to topple the Rolling Stones's imperious, influential run of records through the 60s and 70s. But Foreign Tongues easily rivals their uneven late 80s output and 1994's Voodoo Lounge, ignoring trend-chasing for reliable Stones-y satisfaction.

They've long cemented their legacy as rock 'n' roll legends, as much as they have a refusal to retire, but even as The Rolling Stones march toward the inevitable, Foreign Tongues is an impressive hour-ish of new music that proves age is but a number.

Or, as Jagger declares with sly vigour amid a joyful bluster late in the album: "This never gets old!" Amen.