The summer of nostalgia continues. Or does it?
Following Paul McCartney’s sentimental lookback on his early years with ‘The Boys of Dungeon Lane’ and Madonna revisiting the dance floor 20 years later with ‘Confessions II’, we have another vintage act making a comeback. But instead of harking back to the past, the Rolling Stones make their new album ‘Foreign Tongues’ sound immediate, forward-facing, and anything but a trip down memory lane.
It’s quite the feat for an album recorded by artists in their 80s - with Ronnie Wood as the band's spring chicken at 79. In all fairness, they could have used their 25th studio album as an excuse to look back at their seven-decade career, take stock and ponder on their legacy. ‘Foreign Tongues’ says, “Bollocks to that, anyone fancy some killer hooks that would make anyone 50 years younger green with envy?”
As impressive as that spirit is, what’s even more astonishing is how Mick Jagger has managed to preserve his vocal cords from the indignities of age. At nearly 83 years old, the frontman has lost none of his swagger or signature yowls.
How he’s doing it, we’ll never know; but after listening to ‘Foreign Tongues’, you’ll swear him and his lot will outlive us all.
