Those legendary tongues that don’t want to stop rolling.
It’s been almost 65 years since “Your Satanic Majesties” They began to write their story. Iconic albums that left their mark on rock and extensive tours with multiple sold out in various parts of the world. A style that has not changed considerably over the decades, but that remains current and influential even with the lineup changes for their live shows and after coping with the sensitive loss of Charlie Watts five years ago.
We reach the middle of 2026 and, three years after the launch of Hackney DiamondsMick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood they come back with Foreign Tongueshis twenty-fifth album, where his mix of blues, rock & roll and rhythm and blues is still present to tell new stories and offer several surprises throughout his albums. tracks.
The album opens with “Rough And Twisted”an electric song that recovers the most classic seal of the stones and that was presented weeks ago under the alias The Cockroachesa move that reaffirmed his taste for playing with the public’s expectations and generating conversation around this new album.
The revolutions decrease with “In The Stars” and that piano introduction that makes you think of a traditional ballad. However, seconds later the guitars regain the spotlight to return the song to the band’s usual territory. A resource that will be present again at different times on the album.
The collaborations in Foreign Tongues They come naturally and never feel forced. In “Jealous Lover”, Steve Winwood contributes the organs to one of the most flirtatious songs on the album, while “Divine Intervention” accelerates the pulse with the participation of Robert Smith on the guitars. The song takes advantage of that energy to construct a criticism full of irony towards the decadence of politicians and billionaires, demonstrating that Mick Jagger his ability to observe the present with sarcasm remains intact.
The second half of the album finds a more introspective tone. “Ringing Hollow” returns to the most classic rhythm and blues while jagger reflects on the complex reality that the United States is going through. “Never Wanna Lose You” addresses the resilience of love and the emptiness left by the loss of a loved one, while “Hit Me In The Head” transforms the blues into a metaphor about leaving behind the emotional exhaustion and pain that a breakup causes.
Another of the most striking moments – and one that generated expectations since the revelation of the tracklist of Foreign Tongues— arrives with “You Know I’m Not Good”a reinterpretation of the classic Amy Winehouse originally included in Back to Black. The harmonica takes on a central role and the vocal interpretation of jagger provides a different reading, respectful of the original, but clearly brought to the sonic terrain of the legendary London band.
As is tradition in several albums of The Rolling Stones, Keith Richards takes the microphone again “Some Of Us”a ballad that reveals his most vulnerable side and offers one of the most intimate moments on the album. Shortly after it appears “Covered In You”where an initial piano again suggests a serene path before the guitars take control again. The participation of Paul McCartney The bass adds a special appeal to a song that, from a romantic perspective, also leaves space to reflect on social and political injustices.
“Side Effects” takes up the topics about toxic relationships and their emotional consequences, while “Back In Your Life” He approaches the readjustment to singleness after a complicated breakup from a tone that is much more contemplative than dramatic.
The closure of the material is in the hands of “Beautiful Delilah”a reversal of the classic that Chuck Berry published in 1958. An ending that returns the group to its deepest roots: the blues and rock and roll of the fifties, genres that marked its birth and that, six decades later, continue to be the language in which The Rolling Stones They know how to express themselves better.
Foreign Tongues is an album with which the most faithful followers of the stones and from the wave of British bands of the sixties they will find enough reasons to be satisfied. A material that seeks to reinforce the legacy of the band and whose main strength lies in the joint work of Richards, Jagger, Woodtheir guests and the musicians who accompany them in this new stage. And although it is far from becoming a new milestone within their discography or the genre, it maintains intact the seal that has allowed The Rolling Stones remain in force for more than six decades. In the end, it’s just rock & roll… but we still like it.
