Was that it now? No, that’s it now! Still the biggest rock band in the world with another worthy, potentially final album.
The good, the very good news first: The ever-popular HACKNEY DIAMONDS, the 2023 album with which The Rolling Stones ended the 18-year wait for a new studio LP after A BIGGER BANG, and the now released successor FOREIGN TONGUES, which was largely created in the same sessions, are very similar to each other. Breathe out briefly with relief. So similar that they would have to be described as twin records – if it weren’t for the rumor that the band recently recorded even more material. So is the new album just part two of a whole farewell trilogy? After exhaling, hold your breath briefly and stay with what you know – namely the parallels mentioned.
First, the obvious: both records have great titles. “Dalston Diamonds” is slang for the glass shards that end up on the ground from broken car windows in Dalston, a district of the London borough of Hackney. The circle hasn’t quite come full circle, as Mick Jagger and Keith Richards come from Dartford, Kent. But at least with this slightly modified term the band returned to their former street dog image, which was missed by their then manager Andrew Loog Oldham. On the one hand, “Foreign Tongues” can be read as an expression of the group’s enormous international influence – with “Rolinga,” for example, a distinct subculture of Argentine fans emerged in the late 80s. On the other hand, a global playboy like Mick Jagger may also want to use the name to pay tribute to the numerous tongues from all over the world, especially women, that have found their way into his large mouth, which is the band logo, over the decades.
So the titles are so great, the artworks are so terrible: with the predecessor you were surprised that no one seemed to have told the group that Bon Jovi had been trying to establish the stabbed heart as their logo since 2010 – and the single cover for “Angry” was surprisingly close to Metallica’s similarly named ST. ANGER is – one now wonders how many fused faces of band members the world will have to endure after THE MIRACLE by Queen and HARDWIRED… TO SELF-DESTRUCT by, here we go again, Metallica before this idea is put on the blacklist of all design workshops.
Now to the content. Both records begin with an effervescent pre-single. The almost brutally thundering blues rocker “Rough And Twisted” is the new “Angry”, full of Sturm und Drang, refined with Jagger’s trademark harmonica – you can’t want more. In “Mr Charm” the melody of the line “Don’t have to be afraid” refers to “Don’t have to be ashamed” in “Angry”; the riff of “In The Stars” goes back further and recycles “Rock And A Hard Place” from 1989. The country number “Ringing Hollow” is the counterpart to “Dreamy Skies” on HACKNEY DIAMONDS, the hi-speed rocker “Hit Me In The Head” – with one of Charlie Watts’ last recordings – is the counterpart to “Bite My Head Off” not only in terms of title; Paul McCartney also plays bass on both.
Other guests on the album, once again produced by prodigy Andrew Watt, include Robert Smith of The Cure, Chili Pepper Chad Smith and Steve Winwood. “Never Wanna Lose You” continues where “Mess It Up” left off with its disco bass lines. With the ballad “Back In Your Life”, which is reminiscent of Brian Wilson, the album comes to an epic conclusion, as was the case with “Sweet Sounds Of Heaven”, before – analogous to the Muddy Waters cover of the band’s namesake “Rolling Stone Blues” – there is another demo-like LoFi encore, this time in the form of Chuck Berry’s “Beautiful Delilah”; At times you almost want to sing “It’s All Over Now” over it.
A big surprise in between: the convincing appropriation of the Amy Winehouse classic “You Know I’m No Good”. Late honor of the last great rock band for the last great female rock star. At the age of 82, Jagger is in top form vocally, and the fact that Keith Richards is no longer able to play live due to advanced arthritis is not evident in this album full of gripping riffs.
Editorial recommendations
Conclusion, just like after HACKNEY DIAMONDS: If the Stones close the bag with this album, they will leave us with one made of pure gold. But even after this 64-year history, there is probably still room in the bag. In any case, the term “old fart” will have to be rethought after FOREIGN TONGUES.