A MARTÍNEZ, HOST:
The Rolling Stones put out their first album 62 years ago. LBJ was president. The Super Bowl didn't exist. Dinosaurs roamed the earth. Well, Mick and Keith are resilient. Today, the Stones released a new one, "Foreign Tongues."
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "MR CHARM")
THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) Life's too short for just making money. Show me how to spend it, honey. Life's too short to waste it living on your own.
MARTÍNEZ: Yep, that sounds like Mick and the boys. Ann Powers of NPR Music listened to the new album and considered what it means to keep rocking into your 80s. Ann, first of all, what's your impression of "Foreign Tongues"?
ANN POWERS, BYLINE: Well, you know, A, it's just very fun. It'll get you dancing in your kitchen...
MARTÍNEZ: Sounds like it, yeah.
POWERS: ...Which is what you want from a Stones record, right (laughter)? It's also a bit of an education for anyone who isn't super familiar with the Stones catalog. Mick Jagger has said that they set out to make an album with a lot of varied sounds, and it - "Foreign Tongues" is varied but within the Stones universe, if you know what I mean. It's all things they've touched on before. There's rock 'n' roll barn burners like "Mr Charm," which we just heard. There's straight-up blues. There's blue-eyed soul and country rock. A song like "Jealous Lover" points us back to one of their most beloved hits, "Emotional Rescue." It's got that disco falsetto going on.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "JEALOUS LOVER")
THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) Said you'd let me live my life, no fetters and no chains. I believed your every word. Now your tune has changed. One day after coffee, you fixed me with a stare and said, where were you on Friday night? Tell me who was there. Well, the only problem is, well, the only problem is you're such a part of me. Hands off, jealous lover. Please let me be.
POWERS: I'd like to hear you try to do that in your 80s - or me.
MARTÍNEZ: Oh, yeah. I'm going to have to, like, channel my inner Barry Gibb, I think, to get there with my voice.
POWERS: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: No, so it's worth mentioning that they actually cover an Amy Winehouse tune. I mean, that's a little unexpected. That's not on anyone's bingo card, I don't think.
POWERS: Yeah. No, it's a great choice. The guitarist Ronnie Wood - who's been with the Stones, of course, since the '70s - he was friendly with Amy Winehouse. And the way they cover it is really interesting. Jagger takes a huge harmonica solo in it to replace the horns in the original. And it's a really moody and kind of moving version of the song.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "YOU KNOW I'M NO GOOD")
THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) Meet you downstairs in the bar and hurt your rolled-up sleeves in your skull T-shirt. You say, what did you do with her today and sniffed me out like I was Tanqueray. 'Cause you're my girl. I'm your guy. Hand me your Stella and fly.
MARTÍNEZ: Now, critics have not always been too kind to the Rolling Stones about their later output. Some of them say that maybe they haven't had a classic album since "Tattoo You." That was 1981, and I wasn't even double-digit-aged yet.
POWERS: (Laughter).
MARTÍNEZ: Is that fair to say about the Rolling Stones and their latest output?
POWERS: You know, critics were not nice to the Stones in middle age, and frankly, those albums from the '80s were not always consistent. But if you look, you'll find that every album since "Tattoo You" has also been called their best album since "Tattoo You."
(LAUGHTER)
POWERS: So they've always, you know, retained their fan base, and people have always loved that Stones sound. I will say, for most of the past - I don't know - 30 years, the Stones have been about touring and just being icons. Then the death of their original drummer, Charlie Watts, in 2021 really lit this fire under Mick Jagger. And alongside his grief, he found renewed creativity. I mean, Keith Richards, who was kind of ready to retire, was inspired to come back to the partnership and get back in the studio. So now we have all this new material. In 2023, we got the record "Hackney Diamonds," and now we have "Foreign Tongues," and they're both really good.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DIVINE INTERVENTION")
THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) Yeah. Walking down the street in New York City.
MARTÍNEZ: The new Rolling Stones album is called "Foreign Tongues." That is Ann Powers of NPR Music. Ann, thanks a lot.
POWERS: Thank you.
(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "DIVINE INTERVENTION")
THE ROLLING STONES: (Singing) I looked up and saw the bare end a** of Scotland scrambling to four poles in the sky. Watch them fly. But meanwhile, we just keep on... Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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