Mick Jagger had never met The Cure’s Robert Smith before he played on The Rolling Stones’ new album
The Rolling Stones frontman Mick Jagger has explained the unlikely way The Cure’s Robert Smith wound up playing on his band’s new album.
After The Rolling Stones confirmed their new record, Foreign Tongues, would be arriving on July 10th, Jagger, along with Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood, sat down with Conan O’Brien to talk all things about their 25th studio album.
Intriguingly, they also have a variety of familiar faces that contribute to the record. In addition to Smith, Paul McCartney, Steve Winwood and Red Hot Chili Peppers drummer Chad Smith also play on Foreign Tongues.
In the case of Smith, it was merely a matter of being in the right place at the right time, as they both found themselves at Metropolis Studios in Chiswick, and sure enough, one thing quickly led to another despite not knowing each other on a personal level.
Jagger explained, “I turned up one day to do my vocals in London and there’s this bloke standing there with his back to me with his long gown on, and when he turned around he was covered in lipstick.”
The Rolling Stones frontman then took it upon himself to make the first move, which he duly did in a way that only Jagger could, adding, “I’ve never met him before, and I said, ‘You are Robert Smith of The Cure.’ And he said, he said, ‘Yeah, we’ve never met.'”
Despite the somewhat awkward start to their conversation, that didn’t stop Jagger from getting Smith to work, sharing, “And then I said, ‘Well, while you’re here then you’d better go and do something.’ That’s how collaborations work sometimes. Go out and sing the backing vocal.”
The exact track that Smith has provided backing vocals for on Foreign Tongues has not yet been revealed.
For the new record, The Rolling Stones have once again teamed up with octogenarian rock whisperer Andrew Watt, who also produced their 2023 album, Hackney Diamonds, and was also at the helm for McCartney’s upcoming LP, The Boys of Dungeon Lane.
Unlike other albums made by The Stones, Foreign Tongues was a straight-forward process that remarkably took less than a month to complete.
In a statement, which accompanied the announcement on May 5th, Jagger reflected on making Foreign Tongues, “I love doing these recording sessions in London at Metropolis. It was a very intense few weeks recording Foreign Tongues. We had 14 great tracks and we went as fast as we could. I like the room there as it’s not too big so you can feel the passion in the room from everyone.”
Similarly, Richards described the process as “a month of concentrated punch”, as well as sharing that Foreign Tongues was energised by having “that London vibe around us”.
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