The Rolling Stones – Divine Intervention Review

The Rolling Stones have afforded fans two blues-rock classics and a smitten powerhouse so far with Foreign Tongues. As the Mick Jagger-fronted group build towards their first album since Hackney Diamonds, the question of collaboration comes into play. Do The Rolling Stones need to bring in names like Paul McCartney and Robert Smith? Yes, they do. Andrew Watt, the producer behind Foreign Tongues and the McCartney album, The Boys of Dungeon Lane, has identified a specific set of standards which work for veteran musicians. They sometimes need to be challenged by one of their equals. Make no mistake, that is what happens on Divine Intervention. Drafting The Cure frontman Smith into the studio to match up to the gifted instrumental qualities of Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards, is a tall order. But everyone is up for it, and it makes Divine Intervention a treat of a track.   

Blues rock dominates once more but the traipse through the streets of New York City is a fitting place to find Jagger. He darts from the Big Apple to Scotland to the skies and brings about a sense of travel as a necessity. Jagger digs deep into the everyday activities he wishes he could take part in. Football on a Saturday, popping into rundown bars in Los Angeles, those moments which make a person normal. Whether the band gets the chance to do that as much as they would like to given their mega stardom is up to the members themselves and how much of a risk they’re willing to run in the public eye. But Divine Intervention, as positive and thrilling as it sounds, feels more informed by a longing to kindle those flames that serves as the refrain. A gambling game is what Jagger notes it as, before Richards bursts through with some country-tinged electric guitar work. A romping, great bit of instrumental work from him and Wood on this track.  

Smith is not forgotten about either though his place in the song is, rightly, in supporting The Rolling Stones. He doesn’t stand out but he doesn’t need to. He finds himself caught in the buzz and brilliance of Jagger’s ever-incredible vocal range and the spirited celebration that comes from the band here. Divine Intervention is a tremendous blowout from the band. It’s also a politically poised piece of work from the band, with Jagger noting the dystopian metric of which we are now valued by governments across the globe. Total disaster, is what Jagger calls it. He has lived the high life. A jet-setting experience which few would find themselves disagreeing with should they not have envy in their hearts for it or a moral stance against it. But Jagger notes that those who live that way are bound to crash and burn in the flames so frequently mentioned.  

Whether it’s damnation away from the satisfying everyday that Jagger reaches out for here or something darker, the band is once more in great form. Jealous Lover proved to be a bold risk for the band with Jagger pushing his vocals further than he has done in decades. For Divine Intervention, it’s the instrumental work’s time to shine. Heavy, hopeful, and with such an upbeat thrill to the percussion and sudden bursts of saxophone, there is a lot to love about this latest track from the band. With Rough and Twisted and In the Stars on that level of quality too, it is hard to hear where it could go wrong for Foreign Tongues. Fans should now brace for what could be a late-stage album on par with Sticky Fingers and Let It Bleed. That is no overstatement; that is just where The Rolling Stones find themselves creatively following the Hackney Diamonds blowout.