‘It kicks ass’: Rolling Stones launch new album at star-studded New York event | The Rolling Stones
On Tuesday afternoon in New York, the Rolling Stones gathered friends, journalists and fellow artists for a preview of their upcoming 25th album, Foreign Tongues.
Before the trio took the stage, host Conan O’Brien said that perhaps this album was finally the one where the band would “finally make it after decades of uncertainty.” The audience, including Leonardo DiCaprio, director Baz Luhrmann and actor Odessa A’zion, laughed with appreciation.
Seventy years into their career and with sales of more than 250 million albums, the band has little need to cement its legacy. But recent years have seen a creative resurgence of the three-piece band following the death of drummer Charlie Watts in 2021. Their 2023 album Hackney Diamonds was praised by the Guardian’s Alexis Petridis as a return to form that “crackles with a sense of purpose”.
The group once again joins Hackney Diamonds producer Andrew Watt (Lady Gaga, Justin Bieber) on the Foreign Languages program and a host of special guests including Steve Winwood, Paul McCartney, The Cure’s Robert Smith and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith.
At the New York event, Mick Jagger said Foreign Languages’ 14 songs will span many genres. “The thing about this album is that the Stones are a rock band that is also capable of doing ballads, country music or dance music. So we don’t get stuck in one style.”
“When it doesn’t work, we call the referee,” says Keith Richards, pointing to producer Watt, who laughs along with him. “He’s kicking our asses.”
Jagger described his new song Ringing Hollow as a “country tune” inspired by his and Richards’ lifelong love of Hank Williams; Beautiful Delilah is inspired by delta blues. The singer also mocked Hit Me in the Head as a “real punk rocker” with tracks Watts recorded before his death.
The trio was in good spirits and joy on stage; Jagger was happy to play along when O’Brien joked that the singer’s striped jacket was “from Wily Wonka’s mansion.”
“It’s beautiful,” O’Brien said of the new album, adding that it was reminiscent of the band’s 1972 classic Exile on Main St, and that he had listened to the album “25 times” since purchasing it a few days ago. “There is a vitality and urgency to this.”
Jagger said this was partly due to the fact that the album was recorded in about a month: “The fact that we only had four weeks gave us some urgency. We have fun in the studio most of the time, but it also takes a lot of concentration; really [a song’s] “Five minutes counts.”
When asked how he kept his octave-spanning singing voice in top shape, Jagger quipped: “I was doing a lot of drugs in 1968… so it’s a practice.”
“Riffs, you can’t force them,” Richards said. “They’re coming to you.” Guitarist Ronnie Wood, meanwhile, likened his interaction with his fellow guitarist to “an ancient form of weaving.”
The cover art for Foreign Tongues is a painting by New York-based artist Nathaniel Mary Quinn, who has described the painting as a “reunion” of the band. “I call him Mr. Ugly,” Jagger joked. “His Negative computer generated,” he added, to screams and applause from the audience.
The band also addressed the loss of longtime drummer Watts with affection and humor. “Charlie passed the baton to Steve [Jordan]” said Wood, the Stones’ new drummer. Richards was more blunt, saying: “When Charlie hit the basket, he said, ‘Steve’s your man.'”
The band said it was important for them to keep things fresh as their career spans more than 60 years. “You don’t just want to dwell on what you’ve done before,” Richards mused. “We put everything together, we love doing it, and there is always more out there.”
