Rolling Stones – Foreign Tongues (2LP/GF)
The Rolling Stones – Foreign Tongues continues the remarkable late-career resurgence that began with Hackney Diamonds, capturing a band still clearly enjoying making music together more than six decades into their career. Produced by Andrew Watt, the album embraces the full range of the Stones' musical personality, moving between raw rock and roll, Chicago blues, country, disco and tender ballads while remaining unmistakably their own.
The album opens with the raucous "Rough and Twisted", while "In the Stars" combines blues mythology with a defiant determination to keep going. Elsewhere, "Jealous Lover" revisits the slinky dancefloor feel of classics such as "Miss You", while the honky-tonk ballad "Ringing Hollow" and politically charged "Covered in You" and "Mr Charm" find the band confronting contemporary America, authoritarianism and the modern obsession with wealth and power.
Foreign Tongues also features an impressive collection of guests, including Steve Winwood, Paul McCartney, Robert Smith and Chad Smith, while the late Charlie Watts appears on "Hit Me in the Head", recorded in 2021. The Stones even tackle Amy Winehouse's "You Know I'm No Good", with Mick Jagger adding harmonica to their energetic interpretation.
Alongside the swagger and humour are moments of genuine vulnerability, particularly Ronnie Wood's guitar work on "Back in Your Life" and Keith Richards' touching vocal performance on "Some of Us". Foreign Tongues may not attempt to recreate the Stones' legendary late-1960s and early-1970s peak, but it finds the band sounding energised, relevant and determined to enjoy themselves for as long as they possibly can.