A mere 64 years after their debut, The Rolling Stones make their bravura return with “Foreign Tongues,” their 25th studio album. While “Blue” and “Lonesome” (2016) may still be their elderly high-water mark, “Foreign Tongues” is chock-full of the brand of good-time rock ‘n’ roll that we’ve come to expect from the Stones.
Music lovers will fondly recall the band’s artistic heyday — namely, their quartet of Jimmy Miller-produced masterworks in “Beggars Banquet” (1968), “Let It Bleed” (1969), “Sticky Fingers” (1971) and “Exile on Main St.” (1972) — which had been offset by several late-period misfires. But in recent years, they have rediscovered their mettle.
Building on the creative strides of “Hackney Diamonds,” their 24th studio effort, “Foreign Tongues” oozes with soulful R&B and high-octane rock. “Foreign Tongues” also marks the band’s second LP with Steve Jordan handling drum duties in place of the late Charlie Watts. Although it’s still hard to imagine The Rolling Stones without their steadfast timekeeper, Jordan is certainly up to the task. Purists will be delighted by the inclusion of “Hit Me in the Head,” which Watts performed shortly before his death in 2021.
As always, when it comes to the music, the Stones don’t pull any punches. The album’s lead single, “In the Stars,” finds guitarist Keith Richards laying down a fiery riff against Mick Jagger’s raw and affecting lead vocals. By this point, it’s become rote. After all, it’s a formula that has worked for nigh on six decades.
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As with “Hackney Diamonds,” the new album is filled to the brim with special guests, including Paul McCartney, who performs a groovy bass line on “Covered in You,” one of “Foreign Tongues”‘ standout tunes. With a wink in his voice, Jagger sings, “This never gets old,” a fabulously ironic admission from a musician who began his career during an era when rockers couldn’t fathom the notion of working in their 30s, much less as an octogenarian.
In addition to McCartney, “Foreign Tongues” features such luminaries as Steve Winwood, who plays keyboards on the lion’s share of the album’s tracks, along with The Cure’s Robert Smith, who plays a mean guitar on “Divine Intervention,” and the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith, who good-naturedly plays the bass drum on “Beautiful Delilah,” the LP’s closing number. Even megastar Bruno Mars joins in on the fun, gamely rapping the cowbell on “Never Wanna Lose You.”
But for all of the Stones’ gusto, it’s the cover versions that find them at their sizzling best. Their cover of Amy Winehouse’s “You Know I’m No Good,” one of the late singer’s trademark vocals, finds Jagger turning in his finest performance on the album. “Foreign Tongues” pointedly concludes with Chuck Berry’s “Beautiful Delilah” as an homage of sorts to the forefathers who made the band’s existence possible in the first place. If Berry’s track proves to be the Stones’ final utterance, they will have concluded an illustrious career in fine style.
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