The Rolling Stones – ‘Foreign Tongues’ album review: Little in surprises but boasts gas in the tank
Now having reached album number 25, The Rolling Stones find enough gas in the over 60-year tank for Foreign Tongues to at least shoo away the glossy nadir of their previous record.
The Skinny: Regarding original material, the world’s biggest band was able to pen an absolute stormer like 2013’s ‘Doom and Gloom’, but Hackney Diamonds’ arrival a decade later fell flat in its beige dead end of uninspired, retro posturing. Curiously enough, The Stones have teamed up with the same producer, Andrew Watt, and managed to whip up an infinitely more vital sound from the blues rock veterans whose youngest member turns 80 next year.
There are moments on Foreign Tongues where that special Stones alchemy crackles and snaps with that ramshackle energy only they seem to be able to wield. ‘Divine Intervention’ hurtles toward its dystopian vision of contemporary decay with a devil-may-care boogie gospel, backed by lyrical kamikazes boasting some of the finest lines Mick Jagger’s spat in years: “Through the gloom, I asked her, ‘What’s my future?’ / Well, she threw up and then broke down and cried.”
The energy’s dialled up on the jabby ‘Mr Charm’, injected with a little of ‘Respectable’s punk pastiche mixed with Keith Richards’ bluesy stomp that takes a square aim at the capital class, never mind Jagger’s own net worth, but still summons a respectably electric hoe down of a cut, gunning pot shots at “mad mogul Mr Musk” and, one suspects, “Mr Charm” sounding awfully similar to the orange president to less studious ears. ‘Hit Me in the Head’ packs a whollop too, nice beefy riffs wrestle and pummel with hellish harmonicas and a scorcher of a solo from Ronnie Wood.
Elsewhere, however, The Stones wobble amid a tired terrain of modern flash that sucks the life out of their Americana twang. It’s amazing that the team led Foreign Tongues with ‘In the Stars’, a deathly ordinary Stones by numbers, wilted with a pappy vocal harmony in the chorus that Richards’ otherwise distinctive rhythm rolls can’t save. There’s nothing on the album worse than that, but tedious trundles into derivative flumps like ‘Never Wanna Lose You’s stilted funk, featuring The Cure’s Robert Smith on backing vocals and keys, and ‘Covered in You’s chintzy indie traipse, which never arrives anywhere as stirring as it fancies, although Paul McCartney’s bass is on point.
However, what’s the world to expect from The Rolling Stones juggernaut? Such lapses on Foreign Tongues are easily forgiven due to the sheer joy that radiates between the band. Whether kicking back to play out Chuck Berry’s ‘Beautiful Delilah’ as the masterfully slapdash finale, or honouring Amy Winehouse’s R&B pained ‘You Know I’m No Good’ thumper as the fans they are, the 60+ year Rolling Stones ride still feels like there’s plenty of road yet when spinning Foreign Tongues’ gutsy swagger.
Standout Track: ‘Mr Charm’
The Verdict: While the material offers pearls of greatness amid a chunk of banal blues retreads we’ve all heard before, The Rolling Stones’ magic synergy and admirable efforts to keep their old flame alive elevate Foreign Tongues somewhere between ‘respectable’ and better than most of their 1980s to ‘90s.
Release Date: July 10th, 2026 | Producer: Andrew Watt | Label: Polydor
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