The Rolling Stones recently announced their 25th(!) studio album Foreign Tongues. The band is proving that, at least in their case, age is just a number. Recent shenanigans from the group have included having fun on Record Store Day with the release of "Rough and Twisted" under their pseudonym, The Cockroaches. Now Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Ronnie Wood are back with the official first Rolling Stones-titled single from Foreign Tongues: "In The Stars."
How does the song hold up?
Honestly? It's pretty solid. We have a guitar riff that sounds a little bit like Michael Jackson's "Black or White" and an "Ohhhhhh" chorus that sounds a little bit like U2. Now, don't get me wrong, this is a Stones track through and through. When Jagger comes in with yowls about "whiskey glasses" and "standing there when the lightning struck" we're in familiar, welcomed territory. Does he sound old? A bit yeah, but he's still killing it. And of course Richards nails the blues rock guitar swagger that is synonymous with The Rolling Stones' sound.
The band will never be able to top the legendary albums that they created in the late '60s through the early '80s, but they're giving all other veteran rock acts a bar to top, and it's a tough bar to reach. Jagger and Richards were born to be rockstars, and with "In The Stars" they're just further proving that. The single got me pumped up for the new Rolling Stones record, which I'm honestly surprised to hear myself say!
When you've made 25 studio albums it's a little tough to sound fresh and exciting, but the Stones do a good job here. They don't sound like they're phoning it in — they sound like they're having a ton of fun. I hope I can be having as much fun when I'm 82 years old like Jagger.
