So finally we get to Foreigner's sophomore effort. This was one of those early albums that I recorded off the radio and couldn't generate the enthusiasm to purchase. I was a fan of the debut, but already by 1978 I was looking for more. A wise 13 year old apparently. One gets the impression that the members of Foreigner were recruited by a corporation to create the perfect AOR group. And they succeeded that goal on the debut, but the band accidentally recorded some quality music to go along with their obvious attempts at radio airplay. By Double Vision, they'd honed their craft to block out most of that innovative music nonsense, and get on with making hits! Even with that, they let a few good songs slip on the B side. Namely 'Tramontane', 'Lonely Children', and 'Spellbinder', none of them allowed within miles of getting on the radio. Honestly I think they improved on their "formula" for their next two albums, separating further from any kind of artistic integrity dogma. And to think former King Crimson member Ian McDonald put his good name to this effort. Look at him and his pretty girlfriend on the album with Michael Giles and ask "What happened mate?"
Source: 1978 Atlantic (LP)
1978; 5/15/25 (review)
Foreigner 4 (1981)
My rating for this was really low, a reaction real time to what I perceived Foreigner to be back then. By 1981, I was going underground, and had no use for mass acceptance pop slop like Foreigner! As noted on their debut, I was a fan of theirs as they started when I was all of 12. In hearing that debut album again only a few years ago, my view softened considerably, and nostalgia took over (I kept the LP). I imagine a similar response will occur when I revisit Double Vision (nope). A reunion with Head Games didn't have the same positive response, so will Foreigner 4 do any better? I'd submit very much so. Make no mistake, this isn't getting collection space, but it does represent the time and place quite well. Compared to the garbage REO Speedwagon and others were spewing out, this is downright Yes in their prime. Even Journey was below this effort in 1981. It's still way too much panning for hits for me to take overly seriously, but not bad. Not bad at all.
Source: 1981 Atlantic (LP)
9/16/24 (review)
Foreigner (1977)Unlike the other albums I own from my first year of buying in 1977 (including Alan Parsons Project I Robot which is already in UMR), I didn't originally keep Foreigner. Not even sure the LP made it to college with me. This was a "pandemic pickup" for a $1 from a fellow collector who had a garage sale on some random Sunday. Real time in '77 this would prove to be the first title I'd purchased with a prog rock heritage, primarily a one Ian McDonald.
Even though I played it endlessly as a kid, and only three years ago on the reminiscence purchase, I couldn't tell you what A5, B2-B4 sound like. The first two tracks were played endlessly on the radio, and they are good 'uns too: 'Feels Like the First Time' and 'Cold as Ice'. For me the best track is 'Long Long Way From Home', about the only one here that had more than two ideas in the same song. Overall, it's a pretty good example of late 70s FM radio AOR.
I originally purchased this album in 1977 (as noted above) at Montgomery Ward in Northtown Mall (Dallas). I bought a lot at that store back in the day. The records were up front, by the window, near the entrance from the indoor mall. The mall itself was a total disaster and had turned into an outright slum by the 80s. They wisely bulldozed it and there's a much more attractive retail / office space there today.
Ownership: 1977 Atlantic (LP). Lyric inner bag.
1977 (first acquired); 6/22/20; 11/9/23 (review)
Whatever I thought of Head Games when I was 14 years old still applies now. Though my rating was a bit too low. Yes, I can actually get through the whole thing, but it sure is trite. They are so obviously panning for hits at this point. I guess they figured if they threw ten of them against the wall, some would stick. And they were right, though they were to do even better (commercially speaking) on their next album. For what it is, it's not terrible, but I certainly don't need this kind of thing desecrating the collection.
Source: 1979 Atlantic (LP)
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