The Rock n Roll Curmudgeon Rides Again
Foreign Tongues – The Rolling Stones
Now be honest. It’s only us in gallery view and, give or take a cliche or two, it’s only rock n roll so don’t hold back. Did anyone in their right mind (a condition suspect among my peers) expect the Rolling Stones — the two ex-Glimmer, nee Patina Twins — and their goofy party mate Ronnie Wood — to have a credible record left in the tank? And if you did harbor such a sullied notion, what was your contemporaneous evidence? A Bigger Bang (2005)? Blue and Lonesome(2016)? Hackney Diamonds (2023)?
But have we not always judged the Stones on a sliding scale of greatness? For example, Some Girls (1978) as opposed to Undercover (1983); Beggar’s Banquet (1968) as opposed to Dirty Work (1986). And sure, the Stones hip-shake, just-buy-the-concert-tickets sneer has gotten them this far.
So where are we then with Foreign Tongues?
In a really, really good place honestly. And the fun starts with the blues rocking “Rough and Twisted” the most fun the Stones have kicked a record off with since “Start Me Up” from Tatoo You, back there in the din of 1981, three years after “Miss You” jump started the iconic Some Girls. That is over forty years by anyone’s calendar, and the band (Jagger, Richards, Wood, and host of semi-Stones — long standing drummer Steve Jordan, bassist Daryl Jones, co-producer Andrew Watts, saxophonist James King, and the piano duo of Ben Waters and Matt Clifford — know they’re into a good thing and rock out for all it’s worth. There is no Keith mugging or Ronnie flailing on this track like there is any night onstage. “Rough and Twisted” is tight and taut and full of that Stones energy that gets under-used body parts onto the dance floor.
As is “In the Stars” (with its kicker chorus), “Mr. Charm,” and “Divine Intervention.” Can anyone within reading distance recall when it was last these guys gave us one solid rocker after another? It hurts the head to ponder. The only slip up in the early going is “Jealous Lover,” a pretty good RnB number that Mick insists on spoiling with a mocking falsetto.
Thus, the real story behind Foreign Tongues is that Mick and Keith have concentrated
on writing songs again. “Ringing Hollow” is that smirking country song and no one smirks like
England’s Newest Hitmakers. The punky “Never Want to Lose You.” The Exile-like, Charlie Watts led charge of “Hit Me In the Head.” Keith’s cranky but triumphant “Some of Us.”
Even the far too cutesy “Side Effects” has a drop-dead groove.
Should Foreign Tongues happen to be the last Stones album in any of our lifetimes, they go out like they came in: snarling, hardy, and blue with Chuck Berry’s “Black Deliah.” Chuck Berry and the blues. I rest my case
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2025-6 Ulster County Poet Laureate, Mike Jurkovic has been published globally but with little reportable income. Full-length collections include Buckshot Reckoning, mooncussers, American Mental, (Luchador Press 2023, 2022, 2020); haiku collections Monet’s Bamboo (CAPS Press, 2025) Blue Fan Whirring, (Nirala Press, 2018). President, Calling All Poets, 26 years in the Hudson Valley. 2016 Pushcart nominee. CD reviews appear online at All About Jazz and lightwoodpress.com. He is the Monday 9am-10:30am host of NuJazzXcursions,WVKR-91.3FM Vassar College. He loves Emily most of all.
Mike is a frequent contributor to Lightwood. Read more poetry, reviews and articles by Mike Jurkovic here on Lightwood. Scroll to our Search Link and insert his name.
