The Rolling Stones have released their 25th studio album, Foreign Tongues, which critics are calling a continuation of the band's late-stage career renaissance. According to The Guardian's Dave Simpson, paired with 2023's Hackney Diamonds, this is comfortably their best material in decades. The album features the octogenarian rock legends Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, and Ronnie Wood, who launched the record with a vitality that belies their age.
Film Highlights
The week's top film pick is The Last One for the Road, a tragicomedy about two optimistic drinkers bumbling around Italy with a lovelorn student. Guardian critic Peter Bradshaw describes it as a cynically amused witness to drunkenness and sadness, capturing the endless pursuit of one last drink in search of elusive happiness.
Other notable films include Call of My Life, a Nigerian call-centre romcom starring Uzoamaka Power, which Leslie Felperin praises for hitting all the right romcom beats while adapting effortlessly to a West African setting. Letters from Baghdad returns for its tenth anniversary, a documentary about Gertrude Bell narrated by Tilda Swinton, offering a cinematic introduction to the explorer's sprawling story.
Book Reviews
David Sedaris's new essay collection, The Land and Its People, leads the book picks. Emma Brockes notes that the strongest sections are observations about people, showcasing Sedaris's shrewdness and power. Daniel Mason's Country People, set in modern-day Vermont, is praised by Sarah Crown for its witty prose reminiscent of Nabokov.
Charlotte Edwardes's debut Trouble Was, set over the hot summer of 1976, is described by Sarah Moss as haunting, with a slow pace that mirrors school holidays. Katie Barclay's The Kiss offers a cultural history of kissing, which Tiffany Watt Smith calls rich and fascinating. Sarah O'Connor's We Are Not Machines explores AI and automation's impact on labour, with Mythili Rao highlighting the real issue of assumptions about human-machine interchangeability.
Music and Touring
Jack White's seventh solo album, Frozen Charlotte, is noted by Shaad D'Souza for its no-frills blues-rock and fury in White's voice. Baby Rose's Yearnalism showcases cinematic soul, with Michael Cragg emphasising her voice as the star. Wild Gods' The Glorious Abysmal, from Argyll's Jamie Livingstone, is described by Jude Rogers as mercurial yet heavy with regenerative power.
BTS are currently touring Europe until 18 July, bringing their album Arirang to global stadiums for the first time since their 2022 hiatus. Kate Solomon declares that whatever BTS has, it's potent.
