"Hackney Tongues," Or Is It "Foreign Diamonds?"

 

As sure as the sun will rise, a new Rolling Stones record will bring on the usual comments and criticisms across the internet, from the old warhorse "The Stones haven't been good since Mick Taylor left," which isn't true, to the new heavyweight champion, "We should all be grateful the band is still around to make music for us." 

I am grateful, but that won't stop me from saying something stinks if it indeed stinks.

Thankfully, "Foreign Tongues" does not stink. Not by a long shot. But it has its problems, though they are minor.

I loved "Hackney Diamonds." It was the first Stones record I loved since "Steel Wheels" in 1989. (I actually love "Stripped" from 1995 more, but that wasn't new material.) Still, I wasn't looking as forward to "Foreign Tongues" as I was to the last album because I already knew it would be "Hackney Diamonds 2," since all of the tracks were recorded at the same time.

And it is, for better or worse.

The first single "Rough & Twisted" is basically "Black Limousine" from "Tattoo You," only louder and hotter thanks to loud and hot producer Andrew Watt. 

The second single "In The Stars" uses the same guitar riff from "Angry," the first single off the last album, and unfortunately has verses that sound a little too much like the atrocious "You Got Me Rockin'."

"Never Wanna Lose You" uses the same vocal trick on the chorus that was used on "Get Close" from "Hackney." 

"Hit Me In The Head" is "Bite Your Head Off" from "Hackney," sorta. It's hard and punky and Mick is hollering and the word "head" is in both titles. So there.

"Some Of Us" is the token Keef ballad like "Tell Me Straight" from "Hackney," though "Some Of Us" is the better song. 

"Side Effects" sounds a bit too much like "Mess It Up" from the previous album to love it. But I do like it.

The album's penultimate track "Back In Your Life" has a slow burn gospel coda just like "Sweet Sounds Of Heaven," the penultimate track on the last album, but musically it's almost exactly like "Depending On You" from the last album. It's a great six minutes, regardless, thanks to the great guitar work of what I hope is Keef & Ronnie. 

And the closer is an acoustic cover of Chuck Berry's "Beautiful Delilah" just as the "Hackney" closer was an acoustic Muddy Waters cover.

I mean, why not call the album "Acme Hymens?" 

The template is almost identical to "Hackney Diamonds."

The biggest problem though is the length. 62 minutes is 22 minutes too long, and creating an edit was pretty easy for me since there are a few more lemons on this one than there were on the last.

Any good news? Absolutely.

The band sounds great and the songs that work are truly terrific. Mick's falsetto on "Jealous Lover" will take you back to "Emotional Rescue," which may not be a good thing for some of you, but for me, it's perfect. It's also a great breather from the LOUDNESS of the first two songs. 

"Ringing Hollow" and "Some Of Us" at the moment, are my two favorite tracks on the record. The former, for lack of a better description, is a country protest song and the latter is simply gorgeous. 

"Covered In You," "Back In Your Life" and "Divine Intervention" are as good, if not better than half of "Hackney Diamonds."  "Divine Intervention" could have been on "Some Girls." 

But "Mr Charm" is classic bad Mick, and the Amy Winehouse cover should have been left in the studio. The backing track has its moments, but there is nothing slinky or sexy about Mick's delivery. The whole thing is a bit like a bull in a China shop and it doesn't make the album better. No doubt it would have been more welcome if it popped up on YouTube five years from now. 

And speaking of Mick, it seems that he is mostly yelling than singing on this album. He still sounds great, but it got me thinking. Andrew Watt's production in always in the red. Is Mick yelling to be heard, or has Mick at 83 lost the nuance in his voice to simply sing, therefore leaving Watt to compensate by turning everything up to 11? It's a theory. Maybe a weak one, but I'm still thinking about it.

Paul McCartney is back and is much better here on "Covered In You." Steve Winwood is on almost all of the record. Robert Smith of The Cure sings back-up, but I didn't notice. And Bruno Mars is credited as playing cowbell on one track, thank god.

The best thing I could say about "Foreign Tongues" after only two spins is something I can't say about records like "Dirty Work," "Voodoo Lounge," "A Bigger Bang" and "Bridges To Babylon" after multiple spins. I already remember the songs I enjoyed. This record is full of hooks and with some tweaking, it will play better and get played often. I already loved it more the second time around.

"Foreign Tongues" comes in over 439 variants, including vinyl, colored vinyl (colors include blue, green, white, avocado, raw umber, teal, and a very limited Tilda Swinton translucent), cassette, cassingle, Chu-Bop, 8-track, reel to reel, and a special chip injected into your arm which you can program to isolate any vocal or instrument on any song from the album. Japanese fans have the bonus chip which offers all of the stems from "Gomper.")