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The Rolling Stones – Foreign Tongues

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What does it sound like?:

These grizzly old Stones are having a blast. It took nearly twenty years to come up with an album of new material, Hackney Diamonds, a Grammy winning, chart-topping triumph, but only three to produce this follow up. Four songs are leftovers and ten are fresh. With a sparky, young producer, Andrew Watt, galvanising them in the studio, the job was finished in just four weeks. Some people feel overwhelmed by his bright, polished style, no doubt yearning for the sordid murk of Exile, but he’s certainly re-energised these Stones. The cover art, “Mr Ugly” designed by Nathaniel Mary Quinn, is a hard-staring representation of their cussed defiance. It’s as though Charlie’s passing has made them realise the clock is ticking faster than they thought. The result is the most Stonesy album in half a century. Every element that makes up The Rolling Stones at their very best is here on Foreign Tongues, delivered with unrestrained glee.

The first two songs, already released as a double A side single, set the tone. Rough & Twisted is classic Blues Rock, with a raw, gritty riff and a road trip lyric. It wouldn’t have been out of place on any of their seventies albums. In The Stars is smart, catchy Pop in which Mick tries to persuade a lady their relationship is destined while having a side swipe at the Republican regime in the US. “…there’s a sickness in the land. All the judges in their robes got their rubber stamps.” Straight away, the guitars are loud and crunchy, the rhythm section nimble and dynamic and Jagger’s voice is remarkable, as if sixty years haven’t stretched his vocal chords at all. He’s maybe a little too ambitious on the dancing break-up, Jealous Lover, pitching for the Emotional Rescue falsetto and only reaching a high voice, but the chorus has a satisfying thump at its heart and the guitarists display a delicate touch.

Having demonstrated they can still Rock, Pop and Soul with the best, the next clutch of songs are very much in the present day. Mr Charm depicts Mick in the role of a wealthy, hedonistic womaniser and features a scorching Ronnie solo and a dig at Elon Musk. Divine Intervention, Robert Smith guesting on guitar, emphasises the need to get on with life rather than wait around for something to happen, while billionaires scuttle to their bolt holes in the sky. Ringing Hollow is Country, a love letter to America and a lament over what it’s become. “Lady Liberty is wearing a frown.” Trump isn’t named but his shadow hangs heavy. Many Stones’ Country songs are lighthearted. Not this one. Never Wanna Lose You’s raving funk contrasts rich and poor without once mentioning the multi-millionaire status of the singer convincing his lover to commit. The bass is superb, though, and the organ playing exceptional.

Though Foreign Tongues can be regarded as Hackney Diamonds part two, its treatment of guest musicians is different. There is no fuss, no Jagger shout outs. Steve Winwood and Tenmont Bench play tasteful keys on several tracks. Never Wanna Lose You is fired up by both Robert Smith on synths and Bruno Mars’ blink-and-you-miss-it cowbell. Red Hot Chilli Peppers’ Chad Smith contributes ten seconds of “concert bass drum” to the final track. The two marquee performances are Charlie Watts, complete with unique snare sound, playing Punk Rock on Hit Me In The Head from 2021, and Paul McCartney, characteristically bubbly on Covered In You, a leftover from 2022.

A faithful rendition of Amy Winehouse’s You Know I’m No Good is the Stones cover you never thought you needed, but it suits the Jagger swagger. He tweaks the phrasing a little and the harmonica is suitably mournful, a touching tribute that compares more than favourably with their Soul/Reggae covers of the seventies. Things get more sentimental on Keith’s One Of Us, a ballad whose origins date back to the eighties. His voice has aged considerably, almost to a state of collapse, but, after a shaky start, the band, especially a swirling organ, lead him into a rousing chorus and Mick intertwines a backing vocal to sustain him. It’s a moving, vulnerable performance, one to rank with the better Keith ballads.

In the final run-in, there are a couple of real blockbusters. Covered In You is a purpose-built stadium anthem. The crowd should enjoy singing about autocrats multiplying like dirty rats. The guitar weave is wonderful, there is a scabrous harmonica break and it all ends with a lovely piano part. No wonder McCartney loved playing on it. Side Effects, likening falling in love to taking drugs, is somewhat lost sandwiched between the two, despite a fantastic rhythm section and more great Ronnie soloing. Back In Your Life is the real show-stopper. Mick finally allows himself a backward glance on this slow-burning, dramatic Blues, all building up to the best Wood solo of the album (“C’mon, Ronnie!”) and a rousing horn section. As a reprise to their whole career, they turn again to Chuck Berry, the writer of their very first single, transforming his Beautiful Delilah into a Delta Blues, just vocals and acoustic guitar and ten seconds of Chad Smith, of course.

Let’s just give a shout for Daryl Jones, bass, Steve Jordan, drums, and Matt Clifford, keyboards, for their unsung heroics. They provide a flexible, yet solid platform to enable the stars to shine. Also, the marketing team deserve applause for the relentless milking of this product. There are nine different physical packages on The Stones’ website and the likes of HMV have exclusive coloured vinyl. A completist nightmare.

Foreign Tongues is more potent than Hackney Diamonds. There are more Pop songs than usual, the mood is up-beat, the songwriting is better and there are zero weak tracks. A handful of them are worthy of considering among their very best. Although it is thoroughly modern, if you send this back to any time since 1975 and the then production techniques, it would still be one of the finest Ronnie era albums. Foreign Tongues features The Rolling Stones as masters of their craft, having the time of their lives. It’s a miracle.

What does it all *mean*?

At the late stages of their careers, Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen and Bettye LaVette acquired a stately authority, Ry Cooder, and to an extent Mavis Staples, have become more overtly political, Steely Dan grew more cynical, and Paul McCartney’s developed into a nostalgic national treasure. The Rolling Stones, their days of debauchery long gone, prove they still have the chops, writing songs firmly in the present tense and performing them with youthful vigour.

Goes well with…

Joi de vivre and living in the moment.

Release Date:

10/07/2026

Might suit people who like…

If you liked Hackney Diamonds, you’ll love this. And, there may be more to come. Mick’s still writing.

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Comments

  2. I think I actually might buy this record. And on merit. OK a shedload of nostalgic goodwill too, but whether you call the above parody, pastiche or just bloody well put together and played, it’s top notch. Jagger has never used his voice with as much croon control in his holler here, and, the drums are pure Charlie, even if they actually aren’t.

  4. Great review as ever Tig. It’s definitely moved me to give it a few listens. I have to mention Tenmont Bench. He does have time on his hands since the sad loss of Pom Tetty I guess. 😉

  6. I’ve just had email from Amazon saying “We’re encountering a delay in delivering your order.” – looks like I’ll have to wait before I can nod in agreement with your review

  7. Will listen later, am trying to not get wound up in the hype. The first two singles (one by the Cockroaches) were pretty good, third one (Jealous Lover) I am on the fence about.

    If anything on the album matches Sweet Sounds of Summer from HD then it will be pretty special

    * vinyl and CD currently a bit pricey, have ordered iTunes version which has a bonus track

  10. Great review Tigger, although I did balk slightly at the description of Jagger “in the role of a wealthy, hedonistic womaniser”…hardly a stretch for him, playing that role!

  13. It’s interesting that acts become heritage, the last record was a decade or more ago and no one cared too much, for example critics, and fans, It was all in the past. Then something happens, time is runnng out, a last flowering emerge. We do not know how much time we have got. There’s a certain pattern there.

  14. Circumstances have prevented me buying this just yet, but a listen on Spotify convinces me this is pretty top notch. Hackney Diamonds was over praised to my mind (not dreadful, not great, a couple of really good tracks), but this is much more consistently good….and that’s after just one listen, although I have listened to the singles quite a bit. My only beef is the production….it sounds compressed and hard, very like the last one, which shouldn’t be surprising I guess.

  15. Listening now. Is this not a Mick solo album in all but name? There is a massive Keith-sized hole in everything, and word on the street is that virtually all the ‘Keith’ parts are played by Watt. The key to the Stones was the lurching rhythmic interplay between Keith and Charlie, and that is entirely absent.

  17. Ian McNabb seems to quite like it apart from the thing is tiring to listen to (it’s too long) and the production renders it unlistenable. Which sort of fixes the first problem I suppose.

    • It seems 14 tracks is expected these days when 12 would be perfectly fine.

      With CDs on the wane and vinyl still popular, you’d think forty minutes would be the norm.

      • Hackney Diamonds was 48 minutes (still a little long) and all the better for it. Foreign Tongues is over an hour and a double on vinyl and I will treat it as such, especially adding the bonus track

  19. Couple of listens, have formed some initial opinions. I mostly resisted @Tiggerlion ‘s excellent review to form my own opinion until I had listened to it

    In general not a huge fan of the production/mastering, sounds loud and trebly, am listening to downloaded files though, hopefully the vinyl is better. Macca’s album did (same producer).

    Rough and Twisted

    Thrilling opener, don’t think there is much of a song there but it’s a riveting performance

    In the Stars

    I like this, a common theme for me on this album is sometimes fairly ordinary verses with bog standard Mick vocals, but then we get a great chorus. Definitely the case here

    Jealous Lover

    I am generally a fan of Mick’s falsetto, but it is a little shrill here, great chorus again though

    Mr Charm

    Love it, great riff, fairly menacing vocals

    Divine Intervention

    Stones (Mick) by numbers. Weakest so far

    Ringing Hollow

    Magnificent country ballad, a real highlight

    Never Wanna Lose You/Hit Me in the Head

    More fairly ordinary Stones, but once again decent choruses

    You Know I’m No Good

    Decent enough, fairly pointless though, Amy Whitehouse lived through her songs, Jagger didn’t

    Some of Us

    This is great, may be a repurposed Keith vocal, but it’s a lovely song and when Mick joins him on the chorus that is really a great Rolling Stones moment. Wonderful

    Covered in You

    Covered in shit more like, no it’s not that bad but fairly perfunctory. Yet again an ok chorus

    Side Affects

    Was thinking this was the weakest track on the album, but still found it slightly stuck in my head afterwards

    Back in your life

    Classic Mick ballad, perhaps a little overlong, but it does rise to a crescendo at the end after “Come on Ronnie”

    Beautiful Delilah

    Nice, but not really needed

    Bad Luck Hideaway (bonus track)

    This is another absolute highlight, should have been on the album, a rare Mick and Keith duet with Charlie on drums. May be my favourite track. Perfect

    Overall it is a very decent effort and I am happy they are still capable of this near the end of their career. Agree with some that more Keith may have taken it to another level, but Mick is generally in good form and his harmonica playing is superlative throughout.

  21. Without wishing to be sacrilegious, I’m confused about Charlie’s contributions over the years. I can detect a certain swing, and his drums are always mic-ed up beautifully, but in all honesty I can’t tell a difference in the drumming with or without him – and I’m certainly not detecting any signature snare sound on Hit Me in the Head. Overall the album is really good. I just wish the producer didn’t feel the need to turn everything up to 11. Stones records always had some space in them; this feels like a concerted attempt to fill every gap with noise (a good example being the ending of You Know That I’m No Good, which has a harmonica solo, guitar vamps *and* backing vocals; it’s all too much). Rough and Twisted, too, has drums so loud it sounds like an Age of Chance record. The whole thing is urgent and proficient, but somewhat lacking in charm and subtlety.

    • You are right. Hit Me In The Head is not a good example. It is a fast beat, one where the drummer sits upright to get on top of it. Normally, Charlie is a fraction behind the beat, paying close attention to Keef’s rhythm guitar part. It’s that slight delay which gives a lurch. Honky Tonk Women is a good example. He gives the rhythm a push, a bit like a child on a swing. He waits until after the apex, when the swing is just about coming down, to give it a a good bit of thrust. This generates a swing sensation in the rhythm of the songs. Jazz drummers are expert at this and Charlie was, at heart, a Jazz drummer. Jordan is a great Rock drummer, super dynamic & energetic. He is always on the beat. He can’t quite do that delay that Charlie could.

      The B side of Honky Tonk Women is You Can’t Always Get What You Want. Jimmy Miller played the drums because Charlie’s style did not suit it. I bet Jordan can play it with ease.

      • Thanks for that, and I totally get the comparison with jazz players. It’s noticeable whenever I see a new band these days that the drummers are always perfectly on the beat. It misses a certain looseness, which is where the character lives.

  22. Yes lacking charm and subtlety. Too shouty and for mine most of the choruses and backing vocals just clutter things.
    I think with different production it would have been a lot better. I guess Mick is to blame here.
    They are really putting in and I love the guitar work , harshness aside. Jordan to these ears tends to thump more in the Bonham school at least on this record. If Charlie was there he would have dictated his sound.
    I wanted a track for my radio show. Considered Rough and Twisted and Mr Charm but landed on Ringing Hollow.

  23. Bit late to the party but as a Stones fan who has obsessed over pretty much everything from Come On to Soul Survivor (minus Satanic Majesties) and saw them at Melbourne’s Kooyong Stadium in 1973 (afternoon and evening), Knebworth in 76, the MCG in 95, Rod Laver a few times and Hyde Park in 2022 … I’m always excited (and hopeful) when a new Rolling Stones album is released.

    Initially a bit underwhelmed, I’m finding myself listening to it most days. Up loud. Reading the interviews and fan comments. Waking up with different lines running around my brain. Enjoying it very much!

    It’s relentless … maybe a bit long? Shouty in parts? There’s a couple of songs which feel similar to each other, but that could change with time. We probably spent a few months really getting to know and love all of Exile, though less time with Beggars, Let it Bleed and Sticky Fingers. Ya Ya’s instantly! I don’t imagine Foreign Tongues is in that lofty league. That would be a miracle. Maybe more like Some Girls, Tattoo You, Black and Blue, which all have their riches.

    It’s certainly a tour de force by Mick, though I’d love someone to have suggested a few less yelps and shrieks. Some restraint. But maybe lots of that is the Andrew Watt production? They all seem keen to say how great he is as a producer and how he cracks the whip and pushes them, but I can’t imagine him telling Mick to reign it in, or bring it down a few notches. I wish. The guitars are exciting. Keyboards and horns are great, but a little buried. Maybe a few more instrumental passages, the grooves are certainly there.

    Top shelf for mine are Rough and Twisted, Ringing Hollow, Beautiful Delilah.

    Divine Intervention is terrific, especially when he keeps ‘moving on to Silver Lake to play guitar with a brand new friend’. Mr Charm great fun. In The Stars is an ear worm and seductive. Back In Your Life promises much but gets a bit frantic and forced.

    But loving the ride and happy they are still rocking. Thank you Rolling Stones.

    • Yes excellent Dai. I know I keep banging on about production bur the record is better than it sounds.
      From the review.

      Watt’s more irritating production trademarks, though reined in somewhat, still occasionally spoil the party. Compression flattens the dynamics just when a song needs room to swing; the guitars are scrubbed a shade too clean for a band whose appeal is the dirt under the fingernails; and, most distractingly, the massed backing vocals on the bigger choruses are stacked and processed until they take on an oddly synthetic sheen that no gospel singer ever had. It’s the sound of a producer who loves the band slightly too much to leave well alone, reaching for ‘modern’ and ‘huge’ when ‘loose’ and ‘live’ would have served the songs better. He makes them sound urgent and punchy. That was always the brief and he delivers. But the Stones spent sixty years learning that the magic is in the space between the players. It’s annoying when Watt keeps filling it in

  25. I’m going to come to the defence of Andrew Watt. He has been brought in to give the records a contemporary sound, and that is, pretty much, what he has done. He has also managed to get them to come up with some good songs. Better than we were expecting, let’s put it like that.

    I sympathise with the points regarding compression and it having a hard sound, but at the same time, I kinda like albums to have the fingerprint of the time they were recorded. I was listening to Dirty Work recently. Don’t worry, I’m not going to say it’s a great album, it really isn’t, but I like the fact that it sounds like an 80s album. You feel a bit more generous towards songs like One Hit to the Body when you take them as what the band was at that time, rather than simply compare them to Let it Bleed.

  26. I’m not expecting a lot from The Stones at this stage. However good it is if it’s not got Charlie and only minimal Keith, it’s not really them. Ronnie will always be the one who missed the greatest period no matter how many years he’s been in the band. It’s a young man’s game in my mind and a late flowering is nice but of little importance in the scheme of things, for me at least. I might buy a CD though.

    • If you are approaching this album expecting The Stones of Charlie, Jimmy Miller and Mick Taylor you will be sorely disappointed. This is a completely different kind of Stones, one living it large in the Twenty Twenties. It’s gloriously fun. Much more Pop than Rock. The performances and songwriting are way better than we have any right to expect. The producer, for all his faults, has inspired them and brought them bang up to date.

      Enjoy it while you can. Or, listen again to their old stuff, if you prefer. Or both.

  27. I’ve listened to a fair bit (not all) of it and it’s OK, but for me it’s not quite good enough to play it much again.
    By no means the worst they’ve recorded.

  29. I’ve now lived with this for a week and I think I can get past the loud production to see that it’s a consistently excellent set of Stones songs. By the imperfect metric of how many songs I’m likely to add to my six-hour Rolling Stones playlist, it looks like it’s their best collection since Goats Head Soup (1973). If this is to be their last album, Back in Your Life would make a fine epitaph.

  30. I’m struggling with this album after repeated online listens, largely because of the production. The songs are strong, but it hurts my ears. Who or what is this mixed for? Does the vinyl or CD sound better?

  34. Well I thought I’d better give the album the grace of 6 listens, but plucked it from the player after about 2 and a half. Three or maybe four decent tracks and a lot of compressed to hell Stones-by-numbers, most of it sounds to me like it’s been piped through a long tube and then sung over by Mick in phone-in-whine mode. So about 10% worthwhile, and the rest is basically unpleasant and a waste of ones and zeros. The acquisition of this Rolling Stones album has – aptly – been the last time, at least for me.

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