Three years on from Hackney Diamonds and The Rolling Stones are back with their 25th studio album. Foreign Tongues, which releases today, features a number of hidden camels from the likes of Bruno Mars, The Cure, Red Hot Chili Peppers and Sir Paul McCartney, who plays bass on the track Covered in You. Meanwhile, the late Charlie Watts drums on Hit Me in the Head, which was recorded prior to his death in 2021. Now the reviews are in and the critics largely have little but praise for the energetic octogenarians Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood. Check them out below.
The Independent
The Stones’ new record seals this as the summer of vintage comebacks from musical legends, with the veteran rockers sounding astonishingly good, not just for their age, but for a band 60 years younger.
Rolling Stone
There’s always the feeling that this album may be the last time. They don’t know. If it is, though, Foreign Tongues is an album that lives up to their legacy.
Record Collector
Foreign Tongues can stand tall among The Rolling Stones’ most compellingly evocative works.
The Telegraph
There is more than enough vitality, wit, richness, energy and joy on offer here to make the case that rock ’n’ roll still rules in the modern pop firmament, and the Stones remain its greatest advocates.
The Guardian
Foreign Tongues doesn’t match the holy run of albums that began with 1968’s Beggars Banquet, or later triumph Some Girls, but at their ages it’s remarkable – and paired with Hackney Diamonds, this is comfortably their best material in decades.
Uncut
While Hackney Diamonds was about return and resurgence, Foreign Tongues offers something more nuanced. Above all, the Stones’ 25th studio album carries an unforced pleasure in playing together.
All Music
Foreign Tongues finds the Rolling Stones swinging hard, drawing sweat, and sounding like they still have some business calling themselves the world’s greatest rock & roll band, which even they probably never expected to happen when they cut their debut sixty years ago. Could they go on forever? This album is just good enough to make you imagine they could.
NME
Foreign Tongues’ lacks a true classic Stones joint. There’s nothing to rival ‘Gimme Shelter’ or ‘Jumpin’ Jack Flash’ if they do tour again. However, we’re picking holes. …. There’s plenty more left in the tank.
Clash Music
Foreign Tongues isn’t perfect, but it’s unquestionably a triumph.
Foreign Tongues is out now.