Foreign Tongues: The Stones Still Got It
For those who know me well, I'm a big Rolling Stones fan. Probably a top 5 band for me, and they've really influenced the way I play guitar. But ill try not to fanboy out too much here.
Love them or hate them, you have to respect the hustle. I feel like that's what everyone says before talking about one of these old acts coming back. An example is Paul McCartney, who also released a record this year, The Boys of Dungeon Lane. His record looks back at his life and really tries to get an emotional reaction from people who want to look back and think wow, Paul is still alive and making music, and wow, he too was once a young lad like me. But I'd argue the new Rolling Stones album, Foreign Tongues, takes the opposite approach from the McCartney record. Mick Jagger is the kind of guy who doesn't look back but always forward, and knew this next record couldn't be sub par, it needed to prove they still belonged in 2026.
The Stones in an ally somewhere in 2023
The Stones made a grand return in 2023 with Hackney Diamonds. But of that lineup, only three members remain: Mick, Keith, and Ronnie. A couple of years before that album, they lost their drummer, who'd been with them from the beginning, Charlie Watts. Watts really did have a bigger impact on how their songs sounded than most drummers have on their bands. Luckily, Charlie told Ronnie that if anyone could fill his shoes, it would be Steve Jordan. Now that they had the band together, they went looking for a new producer. They picked the young Andrew Watt, who had a huge backlog of demo tracks to work through but helped these old cats stay focused in the studio and pushed them to bring out a modern, exciting Stones record. Personally, I thought the Hackney Diamonds tracks were solid and felt like the Stones but with modern production. Watt's production choices aren't always my favorite, but I'm glad he was able to help that album get made.
I saw in interviews when Hackney Diamonds came out that they'd recorded so many tracks they wouldn't be surprised if another record showed up in a few years. Well, here we are three years later and they're back. It all started with a bang. They released a record store exclusive under the name The Cockroaches, one of the many aliases they've used over the years. I thought this was a cool way to bring out new music for one of the biggest acts in the world. The track wasn't a very commercial song, but a wild, bluesy tune called Rough and Twisted. Loud and in your face, and it ends up being the first track on Foreign Tongues. It's unusual for the Stones to open a track like this, but I really enjoy having something more grungy and mysterious up front; it helps break up Watt's cleaner production on the other tracks.
The next single was In the Stars, and they put it out with a music video, and an interesting one at that. They hired a young band called Hot Property who stood in as body doubles, then used an AI outfit called Deep Voodoo, the same deepfake company founded by the South Park guys, to age the Stones' own faces back down onto those bodies to how they looked in the late 70s. I didn't love seeing this. not just the AI part of it but I actually like seeing them old and being unfiltered and themselves. But this really goes along with Mick and Watt's vision to look cool and modern. Also, something they always seem to do now is hire a young actress for the video. Last record it was Sydney Sweeney; this time it's Odessa A'zion in the In the Stars video, and Anya Taylor-Joy in the video for Jealous Lover. Jealous Lover really showcases Mick's vocal ability at 82, it might be my favorite track on the record, and it reminds me of tracks like Emotional Rescue.
Ringing Hollow is a really neat country-tinged track about America not being the same. The Stones fell in love with America when they were kids, but now it's not ringing the same. I wrote a whole Scoop post about the Stones’ influence with country; check it out here
Another track I got into that I didn't expect to like is Hit Me in the Head. It's a fast-paced rocker and is one of the last tracks Charlie Watts ever played drums on, and you can tell he really adds his touch to it. On the last record, they had a similar track with Charlie on it called Bite My Head Off, but I think this one is much better. It's also cool to hear Keith on backing vocals again, feels like we don't get him on backing vocals as much on the later records in their catalog.
The next track worth talking about is Covered in You, which has Paul McCartney playing bass. You'd never know it unless someone told you, but it's cool to think of him in the room and in the band for a second. Mick almost raps in the verses, and it reminds me of something like Shattered from Some Girls. He's also got a hilariously blunt lyric in there about being separated like Korea.
Something I've noticed about the Stones is they really like to stay true to their English roots. Calling their last record Hackney Diamonds. Back in the 70s, when they were looking for a new guitarist after Mick Taylor left, they passed over two American players, Wayne Perkins and Harvey Mandel, and picked Ronnie Wood, partly because he was English. And with this new record, they wanted to do a cover and landed on Amy Winehouse's You Know I'm No Good, saying they wanted something with some English roots to it. I think this was a cool pick and a great track, and it gave Mick a good showcase for the bluesy harmonica he plays so well.
The record is just over an hour, making it longer than 2023's Hackney Diamonds, which clocked in at 48 minutes. I've heard people say this record is too long. They're probably right, but hey, I'll take as much Stones material as I can get. At the end of the day, the boys still got it somehow, and I think a lot of what makes this album so listenable is that Mick Jagger's voice sounds so good at 82. Keith has his classic open G style and does the ancient art of guitar weaving with Ronnie. I think this is an improvement over Hackney Diamonds, and I can't wait for more. Ready for another record, boys.
As for a tour, the band themselves have said they're not sure yet. But I'd put money on them doing something to support this record, and I'll be there when they do. If you've never seen the Stones live, you need to. Even at their age, they can still put on a hell of a show. They're probably the only stadium act left that I'd actually pay to go see. If you really want to learn more about the making of the record, I recommend you listen to the podcast on how they made the record below!
