Maps of Music

Foreign Tongues (2026)

Where the lyrics of Foreign Tongues take you, and where it was really made.

Its first single was backed by a song first issued in only 1,000 copies under a pseudonym the band had used for secret shows in the 1970s.

Key places

Los Angeles session with Charlie Watts (2026)

Recording site A&M Recording Studios — The band's recording with Charlie Watts took place in a session in Los Angeles shortly before his death in 2021. Several Hackney Diamonds tracks were recorded in the same sessions. Google Maps · Apple Maps

How to get there: See the map for directions.

Album story

Overview

• Foreign Tongues: 25th British and 27th American studio album by the Rolling Stones
• Released 10 July 2026
• Produced by Andrew Watt
• Musical contributions from Steve Jordan, Darryl Jones, Steve Winwood, Robert Smith, Paul McCartney, Benmont Tench, Bruno Mars and Chad Smith, among others
• Includes a song recorded with Charlie Watts before his death

Background

• Ronnie Wood confirmed in late September 2025 that a new album was coming
• Reports said it would not be the band's last album and that at least 10 more songs had been written for a later album
• The album was first teased through 'Rough and Twisted', credited to The Cockroaches and released 11 April 2026 with only 1,000 vinyl copies for select record stores
• The album consists mainly of new material, with four compositions recorded during Hackney Diamonds, including 'Covered In You'
• The album includes material from the band's final session with Charlie Watts in 2021, as confirmed by Jagger at a press conference in New York City
• Lead single 'In the Stars' was released on 5 May 2026 on YouTube and streaming services, backed with 'Rough and Twisted'
• Second single 'Jealous Lover' was released on 25 June, backed with 'Divine Intervention'
• Music video for 'In the Stars', featuring Odessa A'zion, was released on 14 May 2026

Recording

• The band's recording with Watts took place in a Los Angeles session shortly before his death in 2021
• Several tracks on Hackney Diamonds were recorded during the same Los Angeles sessions
• Guest appearances by Paul McCartney, Robert Smith of the Cure, Chad Smith of Red Hot Chili Peppers, Steve Winwood and Bruno Mars

Cover

• Cover art is a 2025 pastel drawing by Nathaniel Mary Quinn, titled Trinity
• The composite, collage-like surrealist portrait shows the faces of the three bandmembers merging into one
• Art direction by Portuguese illustrator Bráulio Amado and English art director Mat Maitland

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Tracklist

Disc 1

Disc 2

Sources: musicbrainz.org

Artist

Formation

• Formed in London in 1962 as an English rock band; their first stable line-up was Brian Jones, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Bill Wyman and Charlie Watts.
• Jones named the band after a Muddy Waters song; they were rooted in blues and rock and roll.
• Manager Andrew Loog Oldham encouraged them to write their own songs, and the Jagger–Richards partnership became their main creative force.

Members

• Current: Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Ronnie Wood (joined 1975).
• Former: Brian Jones (died 1969), Mick Taylor (1969–1974), Bill Wyman (1962–1993), Charlie Watts (1963–2021, died 2021).
• Steve Jordan became their drummer after Watts' death.

Career

• Hits included "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (1965), "Paint It Black" (1966) and "Start Me Up" (1981).
• Their 1969 Hyde Park show and Let It Bleed, Sticky Fingers and Exile on Main St. are key points of their career.
• Formed Rolling Stones Records in 1970, whose tongue-and-lips logo became their band logo.
• Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989; the band has sold more than 250 million albums.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Reception

At release

• Metacritic: 'generally favorable reviews', weighted average 75 out of 100 from 19 critic scores
• AnyDecentMusic?: weighted average 7.1 out of 10 from 22 critic scores
• The Guardian (Dave Simpson): described it as a thoroughly modern-sounding, occasionally political record
• Rolling Stone (Kory Grow): said it continues the band's late-career winning streak and is superior to Hackney Diamonds
• Rolling Stone: found it more guitar-centric than its predecessor, with production that is a little overly slick at times
• The Telegraph (Neil McCormick): awarded five stars out of five
• NME (Alex Flood): called it a cool, confident compendium of everything the band have done so far
• Mojo (Danny Eccleston): called it a rousing and varied experience, while criticizing the loud and busy production
• Paste (Grant Sharples): gave a D+ rating and denounced Watt's production as sanding down the guitar solos
• PopMatters (Steve Horowitz): gave 5 out of 10

Records

• UK Official Albums Chart: debuted at number one, selling 38,016 copies in its first week
• 15th UK number-one album for the Rolling Stones, tying the Beatles for second place behind Robbie Williams (16)
• US Billboard 200: debuted at number seven with 54,000 album-equivalent units, from 4.48 million on-demand streams and 49,000 pure album copies
• 39th top 10 album for the band on the Billboard 200
• Reported as the best-selling album of its week in the US

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Trivia

• The lead single was released with 'Rough and Twisted', which had earlier come out only as a 12-inch of extremely limited quantity under the pseudonym The Cockroaches.
• The band had used The Cockroaches name in the 1970s to play secret shows at smaller venues.
• Euronews dismissed the cover as 'retina punishing', and reports said it was possibly inspired by the art of Francis Bacon.
• Ronnie Wood first confirmed the album in late September 2025 in an interview with The Sun.
• The band posted 20 photographs on its Facebook page on 25 April 2026 showing posters with the words Foreign Tongues written in different languages.
• A special edition called Loose Lips, with five new 'blues and country' tracks recorded during the album sessions, was set for 27 November 2026.

Sources: en.wikipedia.org

Maps of Ages ↗ (mapsofages.com)

Privacy · Contact