The Rolling Stones’ Foreign Tongues Review: New Music Is More Exciting Than Another Reissue

The Rolling Stones have nothing left to prove.

They also have no obvious reason to make another album.

That may be what makes Foreign Tongues so compelling.

Released on July 10, Foreign Tongues arrives less than three years after Hackney Diamonds, an album that could easily have served as the band’s final statement. Instead, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood returned with another 14 songs spanning more than an hour.

The result does not sound like a band carefully protecting its legacy. It sounds like a band that still enjoys being a band.

That distinction matters.

We Keep Asking for the Past

In a recent Vinyl Latte article, I questioned why the audiophile market continues returning to the same familiar albums from the 1960s and 1970s.

How many premium editions of the same classic records do we need?

The Rolling Stones are certainly part of that cycle. Their catalog has been remastered, expanded, boxed, recolored and reissued countless times. There will always be another version of Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers, or Exile on Main St. competing for space on our shelves.

Yet while collectors debate which pressing of a 50 year old Stones album sounds best, the band is still making new music.

That makes Foreign Tongues an interesting test.

Do we actually want artists to remain creative, or do we only want them to preserve the version of themselves we already know?

This Does Not Feel Like a Retirement Album

One of the greatest strengths of Foreign Tongues is that it rarely feels reflective.

There is no extended farewell. No overly sentimental tour through the band’s history. No attempt to make every song sound like the closing scene of a documentary.

The album opens with “Rough and Twisted,” immediately establishing a loose, physical rock and roll energy. The guitars feel dirty, Mick Jagger sounds fully engaged and the rhythm section pushes the song forward rather than treating it like a museum piece.

“In the Stars” is more polished and melodic, but it carries the same sense of momentum. The Stones are not trying to reinvent modern music. They are simply playing with enough conviction that the songs do not require nostalgia to survive.

That energy continues through tracks such as “Jealous Lover,” “Mr Charm” and “Never Wanna Lose You.” The album moves through blues, soul, country and dance influenced rock without sounding like a collection of disconnected genre exercises.

It sounds like the Rolling Stones.

That may appear to be a modest achievement, but very few bands can still sound recognizably like themselves after more than six decades without becoming a parody of themselves.

Better Than Hackney Diamonds?

Hackney Diamonds was an impressive comeback. It was concise, accessible and filled with moments that reminded listeners why the Stones mattered.

It could also feel calculated.

Producer Andrew Watt gave that album an enormous, highly polished presentation. Everything sounded designed to announce that the Rolling Stones were back.

Foreign Tongues feels less burdened by that responsibility.

The band sounds looser. The rhythm has more personality. Darryl Jones and Steve Jordan are allowed to contribute more than simple support, particularly on the album’s more groove driven songs. Pitchfork similarly noted that the record improves upon Hackney Diamonds through a broader rhythmic range and a stronger spotlight on the rhythm section.

Not every decision works.

At more than an hour, the album is longer than it needs to be. A tighter sequence might have produced a more immediate record. Andrew Watt’s production can also become aggressive, occasionally pushing every instrument toward the front rather than allowing the music to breathe.

That approach creates excitement, but it does not always create intimacy.

Still, Foreign Tongues feels more like an album made because the musicians wanted to continue working together and less like a carefully managed comeback campaign.

For me, that makes it the more interesting record.

The Absence of Charlie Watts

There is no avoiding the change created by Charlie Watts’ death.

Steve Jordan is an excellent drummer, but he does not play like Watts. Nor should he try.

Watts created tension through restraint. His playing often seemed to sit slightly behind the band, giving Keith Richards room to shape the rhythm. Jordan plays with greater force and a more direct attack.

That difference changes the feel of the Rolling Stones.

At times, Foreign Tongues sounds less elastic than the classic Stones. At other moments, Jordan’s presence gives the band a renewed physical energy that would be difficult to achieve through imitation.

The album reportedly includes one of Watts’ final studio performances, giving the record an additional connection to the band’s past without allowing that past to dominate the entire project.

The Rolling Stones are no longer the same band they were in 1972, 1981 or even 2023.

They should not be.

The Vinyl Question

Musically, Foreign Tongues deserves to exist.

The more difficult question for Vinyl Latte readers is whether the vinyl deserves to be purchased.

The standard album is spread across two records, which gives the lengthy program more physical space than attempting to compress it onto a single LP. Independent technical coverage has described the vinyl edition as more dynamic and engaging than the standard digital stereo presentation, while identifying the Blu ray edition as the better option for listeners interested in the Dolby Atmos mix.

The production remains modern.

This is not an all analog recording designed to recreate the sound of an early UK Decca pressing. It is loud, dense and deliberately contemporary. The vinyl does not transform Foreign Tongues into Beggars Banquet.

What it can offer is a more comfortable and engaging presentation of an album that sometimes becomes overly forceful digitally.

That distinction is important.

A record does not need to be an audiophile demonstration disc to justify owning it on vinyl. It needs to present the music well enough that the physical edition adds something to the experience.

With Foreign Tongues, the appeal is not simply greater sound quality. It is also the opportunity to engage with a new Rolling Stones album as an album rather than allowing it to dissolve into a streaming playlist.

Stop Comparing Everything to 1972

No, Foreign Tongues is not better than Exile on Main St.

It does not need to be.

This is where discussions surrounding legacy artists often become unreasonable. Every new album is immediately placed against the artist’s greatest work, usually recorded when the musicians were young, culturally dominant and operating within an entirely different music industry.

That standard would make continued creativity almost pointless.

The better question is whether Foreign Tongues has enough energy, personality and worthwhile material to stand on its own.

It does.

There are songs I expect to revisit and others that may not survive outside the context of the full album. The record is occasionally overproduced and somewhat overlong. It does not rewrite the Stones’ legacy.

But it adds something to it.

That is more than many late career albums accomplish.

Audiophiles Should Be Rewarding This

The audiophile community often complains that modern artists do not create music with the durability of the classics.

Then, when an established artist releases new material, many of us ignore it and purchase another remaster of the old album instead.

We cannot have it both ways.

If we want artists, labels and pressing plants to invest in new recordings, listeners must demonstrate that new music matters. That does not mean pretending every new release is brilliant. It means approaching it with the same curiosity we give to another expensive reissue.

Foreign Tongues may come from one of the oldest active bands in rock, but it represents something the audiophile market desperately needs: musicians choosing to create rather than merely curate their past.

I would rather hear an imperfect new Rolling Stones album than buy a tenth copy of a familiar one simply because it was cut by a different engineer, pressed on heavier vinyl or packaged inside a more elaborate box.

Final Verdict

Foreign Tongues is energetic, occasionally excessive and far more alive than it has any right to be.

It improves upon Hackney Diamonds by sounding less calculated and giving the band more room to move. The production can be heavy handed, and the album would benefit from losing a few songs, but its strongest moments reveal a group that still finds purpose in making music together.

This is not a record you purchase because it replaces the classics.

You purchase it because the Rolling Stones are still creating something new.

And in an industry increasingly devoted to selling us the past, that may be the most audiophile thing they could possibly do.

Vinyl Latte Rating: 8 out of 10

Would you rather purchase a new Rolling Stones album or another premium reissue of one of their classics? Share your thoughts in the comments.