Rolling Stones Release Foreign Tongues to Sustain Legacy Brand
The Rolling Stones have released their second album in two and a half years, a 14-track record that serves to maintain the band's untouchable commercial standing rather than redefine it.
The Rolling Stones have released "Foreign Tongues," a 14-track album arriving just two and a half years after their previous record, "Hackney Diamonds."
For a band formed in 1962, this marks their fastest 21st-century turnaround by a wide margin. Before "Hackney Diamonds" arrived in 2023, the group had not released a record of original material since 2005's "A Bigger Bang," with the intervening 2016 release "Blue & Lonesome" consisting mostly of covers. This sudden acceleration signals a deliberate shift to keep the band's commercial machinery actively engaged.
The new record effectively serves as a sequel to its predecessor. Producer Andrew Watt returns to handle production duties, as do posthumous performances from drummer Charlie Watts. The band employs the same formula of recruiting high-profile collaborators, including Paul McCartney on bass, Chad Smith on drums, and Robert Smith of The Cure on guitar for the track "Divine Intervention."
However, this reliance on a proven blueprint results in a bloated product. At over an hour long, "Foreign Tongues" would have benefited from tighter editing, particularly since many guest contributions are barely distinguishable to the untrained ear. The album loses momentum by the tenth track, the Keith Richards-sung "Some of Us," with the latter half dragging under the weight of tired ideas and forgettable melodies.
The lack of editorial restraint exposes the record's weaker writing, particularly when the band lowers the tempo. Away from the energetic blues-rock of "Rough and Twisted" or the intentionally goofy disco-rock of "Jealous Lover," the lyrics often veer into cliché or awkward territory. This reaches a distracting low point on "Covered in You" with the line "Me and you were separated like Korea."
Ultimately, "Foreign Tongues" is a passable but uneven release that lands squarely in the middle of the band's modern output. For a legacy act with an untouchable place in music history, taking editorial risks is no longer a financial necessity. The band has opted to give die-hard fans volume over precision, a safe commercial strategy that avoids disaster but offers little artistic reward.
