Foreigner - Foreigner

Expanded & remastered edition of their 1977 debut with 4 added bonus demo versions of 'Feels Like The First Time', 'Woman Oh Woman', 'At War With The World' & 'Take Me To Your Leader'. Album Description

Foreigner

ESSENTIAL ALBUM!!! Foreigner's debut album is their best &, like Bad Company, their following effort would fall off dramatically in quality. Foreigner peaked at #4 on the charts, an excellent performance for a debut album. But, unlike most groups releasing their first album, many of the group members already had a track record. Foreigner falls into the arena-rock sub-genre, along with Boston, their music was about as ready tio play on stage as anybody. But both Foreigner & Boston got tagged as being corporate rock also, i.e., they were catering to the whims of the powers of their contracted label. There were three singles released from the album, "Cold as Ice" which went to #6, "Feels Like the First Time" went to #6 & "Long, Long Way From Home" which went to #20.

This album was an excellent representation of how good arena-rock could be. Lou Grahm (lead vocalist) was an excellent singer who had already been around but with little widespread success. Mick Jones (lead guitars, vocals), founder of the group, had been a member of Spooky Tooth; he was no more than a journeyman lead guitarist. Ian McDonald (keyboards, guitar, horns) had done a stint with King Crimson. Dennis Elliott (drums) had been in a couple of recording bands in England but nothing of major proportions. Ed Gagliardi (bass) hadn't been in any bands of note. Al Greenwood (keyboards) hadn't been in any major bands either.

"Feels Like the First Time" opens the album with one of their best songs. Foreigner's trademarks were here; synthesizers & major harmony vocals. "Cold as Ice" follows, with its pounding piano, it became a trademark song for Foreigner. "Starrider" is one of their very best album tracks, once again, it had all the trademarks of Foreigner, it has a very good keyboard solo. "Headknocker" has some humorous lyrics that allowed Graham to show off his stage presence. "The Damage Is Done" is a great ballad, Jones does some of his best lead playing on this selection. This is one of my favorite songs from them. "Long, Long Way From Home" features more keyboards & has horns, courtesy of McDonald. "Woman Oh Woman " is probably the weakest song on the album. "At War With the World" has its moments but it shows the one major weakness that Foreigner had, neither Jones or Graham were strong as lyricists. Foreigner would suffer from this for their entire career. "Fool For You Anyway" is a great soulful ballad, it reminds me of the R & B artists that used to record with the Stax & Volt labels. "I Need You" was the closing song of the original album & is good.

We get four bonus tracks with this version, one of which hasn't been released before. They're all demo versions & sound considerably different from the tracks that made the album. They are: "Feels Like the First Time", "Woman Oh Woman" & "At War With the World" which actually has the sounds of marching & weapons being fired. "Take Me To Your Leader" is the song that didn't make the album, it suffers from the terminal weakness that Foreigner had, lack of good lyrics.

Foreigner would never release another album anywhere near this consistent. There's not a single bad song here. June 1, 2008

The first was the best...

at least in my opinion. I like most every song on here, but the standouts are "Feels Like the First Time"(the song that made me a fan of Foreigner),"Cold As Ice", "Long Long Way From Home", "Starrider" and "Fool For You Anyway".After 32 years this disc still holds up well for me. May 15, 2008

(1.5 stars) Well, at least it's not as bad as 4...

Okay, why did I decide to keep going with Foreigner even though I had expressed hatred for them with my review of 4? Well, I thought that I was being a bit harsh and judgmental by making this broad generalization of the group based on a single album. I mean, everyone puts out total crap, right? So I ignored that sarcastic little anti-Foreigner voice in my head that asked, Why are you listening to Foreigner again? Shouldn't you be doing much more productive things, like picking the dust out of your fan so you won't get dust all over you when you sleep? And I thought, Screw you, stupid voice, I'm giving them a second chance, because I'm nice! And hey, I actually found two Foreigner songs I kinda-sorta liked here! It's not either of the trite, nauseating huge hits on the album, either ("Feels Like the First Time", with an obnoxious organ; "Cold as Ice", dull pop-rock; "Headknocker", a stupid ode to a rocker). No, I actually kind of liked the exciting "Long, Long Way from Home". It's not great, but the horn section's a lot of fun, and I can rock out to it, and it actually does something for me other than bore me to death or leave me with a sick taste in my mouth. Even if the synthesizer noise is grating. Too bad right after it was a grating, bombastic ballad, "Woman Oh Woman". Actually, all the ballads on this album are grating and bombastic. I mean, "Starrider"? "The Damage is Done"? "Fool for You Anyway"? No. The other song I almost come near to recommending is "At War with the World". But only because of the verses, which have fun but totally inept power chords and funky drumming. The slowed-down bridge blows. And the keyboard solo blows worse. Wow! I like two Foreigner songs now! I mean, neither of them can touch the Beatles or John Coltrane, but they're... eh. They're not piles of puke. And for Foreigner, that makes them amazing. Now, the rest of the album is hideous, of course - come on, it's Foreigner! - but at least there's nothing as awful as "I Want to Know What Love Is" or "Waiting for a Girl Like You". Or "Jukebox Hero", while I'm at it. Wait, wait, "Feels Like the First Time" is that awful. So is "Cold as Ice". And "Starrider". So forget I said that. But come on, "Long, Long Way from Home" is as close to cool as this group ever got! September 5, 2007

Foreigner's Best (the first)

Upon first hearing this album these six guys just blew you away with their simple sound and great harmonies. Yeah, it's commercial rock or whatever you want to call it, but they did it well and there's not a bad song on this album. Throw in Mick Jones on lead vocals for one of the songs, which carried over to their follow-up albums and you just had a winning combination. Lou Gramm had a very distinct sound which made this great listening too. But, as is the case, sometimes a group's debut is their best because it's so difficult to top. It would be quite a few albums and line-up changes before Foreigner found this success again. If you don't own this album and love classic rock, you're sure to love the entire album and not just the radio staples that are present here. July 4, 2007

An All Time Classic Album, Plus Some!

Foreigner is a band that has some of the elements of your great instrumental bands like Steely Dan, Yes, Styx, ELO, Queen, and Boston, but manages to be more commercial. The strength of Foreigner is that the band does not over-dominate the vocalist, as well as stronger lyrics.

This CD adds four demos to the mix, including of the classic "Feels Like The First Time." The differences are obvious to even the undiscerning ear (such as the acoustic intro rather than the traditional electric, or the change in the group's melody on the chorus). I can see why the changes were made, but it was enjoyable to hear the differences.

My favorite tracks are "Feels Like The First Time", "Starrider", "Long, Long Way From Home", "Woman Oh Woman", and "I Need You." December 17, 2006

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