Spins: Foreigner • 4 – Deluxe
Foreigner
4 Deluxe
(Atlantic/Rhino)
1981’s 4 saw the peak refinement of the Foreigner formula by guitarist and principal composer Mick Jones, singer Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, and bassist Rick Wills. The album charted at #1 for 10 weeks with three singles that became major pop hits. “Urgent” reached an appropriate #4 position on the Billboard Hot 100. “Waiting for a Girl Like You” demonstrated Foreigner’s previously undemonstrated potential as power balladeers, reaching #2 and paving the way for the eventual arrival of the chart-topping “I Want to Know What Love Is.” The starry-eyed “Juke Box Hero” didn’t climb as high into the Top 40, but it became a major concert anthem and a classic rock staple.
This five-disc set takes a deep dive into the origins of 4 and explains what made it a multiplatinum-selling success. There are no duds on the main album, and the second disc of unreleased songs, including the hard-charging “Fool if You Love Him,” shows that the band and its notoriously meticulous producer, Mutt Lange, had options.
Gramm’s vocal performances are consistently stunning on 4, demonstrating that he deserved to be named alongside the top rock singers of the era, like Journey’s Steve Perry and even Freddie Mercury of Queen. The melody and delivery of “Waiting for a Girl Like You” were particularly deserving of a chart-topping spot, but were held back by Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical.”
The straight-ahead AC/DC-style riff-rock crunch of “Night Life” was a satisfying opening track. The chiming arpeggios and harmony-laden pop-rock of “Luanne” brought Foreigner surprisingly close to the territory of the Knack and Rick Springfield. The band members cite Buddy Holly’s influence in the set’s liner notes.
Several outside contributions helped to set the 4 songs apart from the pack. “Shotgun” singer Junior Walker’s gritty saxophone on “Urgent” elevated an already invigorating rocker to hair-raising heights. “Girl on the Moon” weaves a moody and mysterious spell, augmented by guest and Steely Dan/Van Morrison veteran Hugh McCracken’s slide guitar.
A disc of instrumental demo mixes reveals the raw material that Jones provided Gramm to work with when developing his melodies. These tracks also highlight many of Thomas Dolby’s interesting synthesizer textures and flourishes, which are absorbed into the finished mixes of songs like “Urgent” and “Juke Box Hero.” “Urgent” included particularly acute influence from Dolby’s own “Urges,” which appeared on his album The Golden Age of Wireless. The instrumental rough mix of “Waiting for a Girl Like You” relies on a standard piano sound rather than Dolby’s ethereal sound for the melodic hook, underscoring the importance of Dolby’s memorable ambient textures. Two rough mixes of “Urgent” showcase the very different approaches of former Small Faces bassist Rick Wills.
Disc 4 features a full concert’s worth of live tracks from the band’s 1981-1982 tour supporting 4, with songs drawn from different venues in North America and Europe. Six of the ten album tracks are performed, including songs like “Luanne” and “Woman in Black” that would make infrequent set list appearances in subsequent years. Many earlier favorites are represented, with well-tuned versions of indelible rockers “Blue Morning, Blue Day,” “Cold as Ice,” “Double Vision,” “Head Games,” “Hot Blooded,” “Feels Like the First Time,” and more. Drummer Elliott delivers a powerful, caffeinated performance of “Long, Long Way from Home.” Gramm is electrifying with a Roger Daltrey-styled howl alongside Jones’ slashing guitar during “Dirty White Boy.”
The final disc features the new stereo and Atmos mixes in high-definition audio on Blu-ray. The set is housed in a 56-page hardback book with single artwork, international promo images, and more. The band members, Dolby, and other collaborators are interviewed by Ken Sharp, providing insightful track-by-track commentary. Dolby recalls Wills dismissing his contributions to “Waiting for a Girl Like You” as “like massage music.” Gramm recalls that the band wanted to produce an album that was “more balls-to-the-wall” and “would not only make us new fans but set our longtime fans back on their heels and carve out a harder image for Foreigner.” Jones says that making the album was so intense that he still has occasional nightmares about it. He also describes becoming overwhelmed and lost in the emotion of creating “Waiting for a Girl Like You.” Jones cites the influence of British rockers the Shadows and the Rolling Stones on “Urgent,” and describes the lucky coincidences that led to Junior Walker’s memorable presence on the song. For fans, this is an essential guided tour through the making of a landmark album from the heyday of album-oriented rock.
– Jeff Elbel
9 of 10
Category: Spins
