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What do listeners expect from a Rolling Stones album in 2026? More than 60 years on from their formation in 1962, the English icons’ place in the rock ‘n’ roll canon is as secure as any guitar group in history — hell, as any non-guitar group in history too. They can still sell out arenas, their songs are still go-to needle drops for film and television, and frontman Mick Jagger is as much of a cultural archetype at this point as he is a classic rock star. And yet, even fans of the band’s latter era would admit it’s been a handful of decades since the Stones’ last truly essential release. Will their new album, Foreign Tongues, change that?
No. That’s the short answer. But once again, what were our expectations? No fan truly anticipated the band to miraculously pull out another Sticky Fingers, Exile on Main Street, or even Tattoo You, just as no Beatles-head expected The Boys of Dungeon Lane to match Abbey Road or Band on the Run. But like Macca’s recent effort, Foreign Tongues can offer a glimpse into the aging icons’ interests, status, and, importantly, self-perceptions.
The new set arrives two and a half years after their last effort, Hackney Diamonds, marking their quickest turnaround in the 21st century by a wide margin. Hackney Diamonds only materialized seven years after its predecessor, Blue & Lonesome, and even then, that record was mainly composed of covers. Effectively, before 2023, there hadn’t been a true-blue new Stones LP since 2005’s A Bigger Bang. So, with their proximity to each other, it’s not surprising that Foreign Tongues comes across like Hackney Diamonds Part Two, both in sound and in construction. The crew is playing their part, embodying the idea of what The Rolling Stones, the classic rock band, is in most folks’ minds. All the while, they’re referencing the same blueprint: hiring Andrew Watt to handle production duties, paying tribute to drummer Charlie Watts by incorporating posthumous performances, nabbing big names to feature on tracks, and throwing A-listers in their music videos.
To be clear, this is far from the worst outcome for the average Stones enjoyer. Hackney Diamonds was widely regarded as a return to proper Stonesian theatrics, receiving a warm welcome as a result, even if it’s unlikely for any of the tracks to make the next single-disc greatest hits compilation. Still, it’s a bunt. In comparison to swinging for the fences, it’s much more likely to get you on base (i.e. avoid a late-stage catastrophe like, say, Lou Reed’s Metallica collaboration Lulu), but there’s no chance for a home run (i.e. drop a Blackstar or The Drift). And if that’s the scale, Lulu to Blackstar, Foreign Tongues lands directly in the middle, one or two notches behind its predecessor. It’s an inoffensive, slightly bloated, passively enjoyable mixed bag with some surprisingly energized, though largely forgettable, tunes.
As they did in 2023, Foreign Tongues finds Jagger and company taking cues from various eras of their past. There are old-school blues rockers, boogie-down romps, honky-tonk jams, and arena rock ballads. Oftentimes, the record’s best moments arrive when the band fully throws themselves into one of those signature modes, particularly the ones with a little more edge, a little more oomph.
Many such instances occur in the first leg. “Rough and Twisted” is a crunchy electric blues tune with a real hunger, “Jealous Lover” is a groovy piece of schmaltzy disco rock with an intentionally goofy, infectiously fun falsetto vocal performance, and “Divine Intervention” gives Jagger room to snarl while also featuring one of the best choruses of the album, in part thanks to the guitar of The Cure’s Robert Smith. “Ringing Hollow,” meanwhile, is an entertaining tear-in-your-beer country rocker fit for the local watering hole, and closing number “Beautiful Delilah” is a loose, stripped-back, near lo-fi stomper.
When the crew lowers the volume and settles in, though, the cracks start to reveal themselves. By Track 10, the Keith Richards-sung “Some of Us,” the album loses just about all of its momentum. More than just showcasing the band members’ age, the mid-tempo snoozer features little more to grab onto than a C-minus melody and an organ track doing its best to give the instrumentation some gravitas. Sadly, things don’t pick up for most of the remainder of the album, as the backend of Foreign Tongues becomes a bit of a slog. The next three songs are easily some of the weakest of the project, and even bright spots like the unhinged verses of “Covered in You” or the crescendo of “Back in Your Life” are weighed down by dull hooks and tired ideas.
Additionally, without the smokescreen of a strong tone, these cuts bring one of Foreign Tongues’s worst aspects to the forefront: the lyrics. Not that Jagger was ever aspiring to be Bob Dylan or that the appeal of the Stones was their poetic musings, but especially on the less fun tracks, the lyricism ranges from lazy and trope-ridden (see “Mr Charm”) to awkward (see “Some of Us”) to downright distracting (here’s a real line from “Covered in You:” “Me and you were separated like Korea”).
In a few senses, the album simply needed some tighter editing. While the performances and production are expectedly proficient and expensive-sounding, Jagger could have taken another pass at some of his stanzas, and the band as a whole might have benefited from asking themselves if the record really needed to be 14 songs and over an hour long. Not to mention, many of the contributions from the headline-grabbing featured players are unsubstantial enough that, if you weren’t told that it was Paul McCartney playing bass or Chad Smith banging on the concert bass drum, you’d likely never come to that conclusion on your own.
Then again, if you’re The Rolling Stones, what reason do you have to edit yourselves? Why not throw everything halfway decent out there? You know just as well as anyone that your legacy is untouchable, so what’s the harm in giving completionists and die-hards more for the sake of more? As long as you’re enjoying the process, enjoy your victory lap. Do I, Mick Jagger or Keith Richards or Ronnie Wood, really care if leaving a few songs on the cutting room floor is the difference between Consequence giving us a B-minus and a B-plus? And to that, I say, yeah, fair enough, lads. You’ve earned it. Our opinions are just separated. Like Korea.
Foreign Tongues Tracklist:
01. Rough and Twisted
02. In the Stars
03. Jealous Lover
04. Mr Charm
05. Divine Intervention
06. Ringing Hollow
07. Never Wanna Lose You
08. Hit Me in the Head
09. You Know I’m No Good
10. Some of Us
11. Covered in You
12. Side Effects
13. Back in Your Life
14. Beautiful Delilah
English (US) · 