FOREIGN TONGUES - THE ROLLING STONES
By now you've all either heard the new Rolling Stones album, and made up your own mind what you think of it, or you couldn't care less that there's a new Rolling Stones album. But as The Rolling Stones have been my favorite band since The Beatles broke up in 1969, and this is a music blog, I feel compelled to add my two cents to the discussion. I think the best way to do this is to keep it short and sweet, and very simple.
THINGS I LIKE ABOUT THE NEW ROLLING STONES ALBUM
The music. All 14 tracks are solid. There's not a bad track to be found on it. I like the anti-U.S. political rant "Ringing Hollow" and the one Charlie Watts track that made the album, "Hit Me in the Head" is an early favorite. "You Know I'm No Good" written by Amy Winehouse does her justice, and Chuck Berry's "Beautiful Delilah" done acoustically reminds one again just how good The Stones have always been with Berry's material.
The production by Andrew Watt updates the band's sound without any loss of identity.
The best appearance from a multitude of guest stars has to be Steve Winwood who appears on 9 of the 14 tracks, and brings something extra to every one.
THINGS I DON'T LIKE ABOUT THE NEW ROLLING STONES ALBUM
Though I like all the tracks, the album lacks a signature classic single - something that's been a feature of nearly every Rolling Stones album. Think "Satisfaction" "Brown Sugar" "Tumbling Dice" "It's Only Rock 'N' Roll' "Miss You" "Start Me Up" "Undercover of the Night"...you know what I'm talking about. There isn't one here.
The album cover - which is so ugly I chose not to even reproduce the cover for this review (although the picture on the right above is the back cover).
I bought the CD. It came in a digipak with a booklet with lyrics and credits, and there were nice photos in the gatefold, but none of this justified the exorbitant price of $22 I paid for it. If I'd had to pay shipping, I wouldn't have bought it at all. (The vinyl edition lists for $51.98.) No doubt when it came to marketing and packaging, there was no thought given to the fans except how to extract more money from them. Thanks guys. I've been spending money on your records for 62 years, but I guess it wasn't quite enough yet to meet the deductible. (And don't even get me started on that Cockroaches 12" single of "Rough and Twisted" that was so limited that almost no one was able to hear it, let alone buy it.) I don't know. The new Ella Langley album, the biggest album of the year so far, cost me about $14, and Kacey Musgraves managed to sell hers for about $13. So I guess greed is the only plausible explanation. Greed from octogenarian millionaires who won't live long enough to spend what they already have. Meanwhile, we're turning the thermostat up in the summer heat so we can pay our electric bill.
After I bought the CD, I discovered there was an exclusive bonus track made available only through iTunes that could not be purchased separately. To get it, fans would have to buy the album a second time for $12 if they wanted that one song, "Bad Luck Hideaway." And by way of rubbing salt in the wound, that particular track is the other track that features the late Charlie Watts on drums, and it's something every Stones fan would want. There's a lot of backlash online about it already. But, I refuse to be robbed again. I'm hoping someone will post it somewhere online, so fans can steal it.
My 3 1/2 star ranking would have been 4 stars for the music, but I docked them a half star for their greed, and lack of consideration. This is the second time in a row that a great new Rolling Stones album was released with little consideration for fans, thus tainting the listening experience. I shelved Hackney Diamonds for more than two years after I bought it because the experience of trying to find the CD anywhere and ultimately having to buy it twice (I downloaded it first since I wasn't able to find the CD until later) left a bad taste in my mouth. And here we are again. Foreign Tongues will probably suffer the same fate because every time I think about playing it, I'll see that ugly cartoon face on the cover, and imagine dollar signs in his eyes. I would rather they leave now before I wind up hating them.
