Last week I marveled that The Rolling Stones not only released an album in 2023, but that the album — Hackney Diamonds — was one of their best.

Well, imagine my shock to discover they did it all over again three years later. This year’s Foreign Tongues isn’t quite the equal of Hackney Diamonds, but it’s pretty close.

And I hate to harp on the age thing, but Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are now closer to 85 than 80. Ronnie Wood, the baby of the group, is a spry 79. How is it possible these guys are still releasing great rock-n-roll albums 62 years into their storied career?

Like Hackney Diamonds, Foreign Tongues is produced by Andrew Watt, a 35-year-old American musician who has developed a reputation for breathing new life into new work by legends. He was introduced to the band by Paul McCartney, who plays bass on one track here.

Other celebrity appearances include Steve Winwood, Robert Smith, Bruno Mars, and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith. None of those artists is featured, however. It’s more like they wanted to play whatever small part they could on a Rolling Stones album. Mars, for example, plays cowbell on one track.

One reason for the continuity with the previous album is that four of Foreign Tongues‘ 14 tracks were recorded during the Hackney Diamonds sessions. That includes ‘Hit Me in the Head,’ a rollicking punk track that features drumming by the late Charlie Watts, showing up on his final Rolling Stones recording.

Lead single ‘In the Stars’ updates the riff of ‘Rock and a Hard Place’ with a pop sheen while the “ooo ooo” backing vocals sound like an upbeat spin on ‘Sympathy for the Devil‘s insistent refrain. Second single ‘Jealous Lover’ features Jagger’s taunting falsetto in the verses, another throwback to past classics.

But The Stones aren’t recycling old hits here, they’re utilizing a brimming toolkit that has served them well for six decades and serving up vital new music.

Standout ‘Covered in You,’ featuring a ripping bass line by McCartney, finds Jagger barking out the verses in a spoken-word barrage that’s the closest the English octogenarian will get to rapping. That song segues into the grungy ‘Side Effects,’ inspired by the American pharmaceutical industry’s ubiquitous commercials.

Penultimate track ‘Back in Your Life’ is an epic heartbreak ballad punctuated by a couple of sublime Ronnie Wood guitar solos (“come on, Ronnie,” Jagger interjects before the second).

The Stones have a history of giving Keith Richards about one lead vocal per album, and on Foreign Tongues he gets a beauty. ‘Some of Us’ was first written in the 80s as a reggae track but it arrives here as an earnest ballad, benefitting from Richards’ gravelly voice of experience.

It’s tempting to call Foreign Tongues a fitting swan song, a final album that captures everything special about one of history’s most iconic rock bands. But at this rate, I expect we’ll get at least one or two more.

And I bet they’ll be wonderful.

🎵 Part of The Rolling Stones Deep Dive 🎵
This post is part of my exploration of The Rolling Stones’ studio catalog.
→ Return to The Rolling Stones Deep Dive