Foreigner - Head Games

Expanded & remastered reissue of their 1979 release. Features the previously unreleased bonus track 'Zalia'. Includes new liner notes written by Jerry McCulley. 2002. Album Description

Head Games

Head Games was Foreigner's third studio album & it went to #5 on the charts. Three singles from the album charted: "Dirty White Boy" (#12), "Head Games" (#14) & "Women" (#41); for the first time they didn't have any singles make it into the Top 10. These weren't the first hints that things were changing for Foreigner; Head Games was the weakest album they had released of their first three. Ed Gagliardi (bass) was now gone, replaced by Rick Wills. This personnel move, in my opinion, was a downgrade.

Head Games doesn't really have any outstanding songs, some of them are very good, but none of them are on the same par of the very best stuff from the first two albums. The album opens with the hit "Dirty White Boy" which is a good start. It's an arena-ready song that gets the fan to moving. "Love on the Telephone" follows which is just as good. The promise developed from the opening two songs falters with "Women", though it was a hit, it's only an average song. "I'll Get Even With You" gets us back on track. "Seventeen" is catchy but it's territory that's been covered lyrically hundreds of times. it's only average. The title song "Head Games" is another song that's not among Foreigner's best. "The Modern Day" has Mick Jones doing the lead vocal but once again the song is average. "Blinded By Science" seems to drag on forever & is below average. "Do What You Like" is a step above the previous one but nothing special though it has a good melody. The original album closes with "Rev on the Red Line" a song about fast cars but fails at being a good song.
The album is an average one; three good songs, six average songs & two sub par songs.

There is but one bonus track, "Zalia", which is an heretofore unreleased outtake. It doesn't rise above the ordinary either. The liner notes are pretty good & lyrics are included. It's unfortunate but Foreigner stumbled badly with this album. They would redeem themselves somewhat with their next release, Four. After that Foreigner, for all intents & purposes, disappeared. June 5, 2008

VERY transitory Foreigner - still, my fave

With Rick Wills on bass, Roy Thomas Baker, the producer, and that GREAT album cover, "Headgames" had a heckuva lot going for it. Unfortunately, this is where Mick Jones' ego began to run rampant (indeed, "Headgames" is the final Foreigner album with keyboardists Al Greenwood and Ian McDonald.) Jones was - and is - a great guitarist, but on keyboards.............EH........ May 19, 2007

FOREIGNER ARE THE GREATEST

Hey hey babe!!

Foreigner are the best! Lou Gramm is the best singer who can sing like a real singer and he can sing a billion times better than Robert Plant who just sounds like a baby.

All their albums are wonderful.

My favorite song of all time is Waiting For A Girl Like You.


Head Games is their best along with 4 Double Vision and debut

Foreigner are the best
December 16, 2006

Foreigner's Heaviest Album

HEAD GAMES is Foreigner's heaviest album ever. Apparently, Lou Gramm and Mick Jones had decided that they shared the views that artist such as Ted Nugent and the Outlaws held on law enforcement, so they decided to incorporate those influences, along with that of the Steve Miller Band, a bit more on this album than they had on the first two. This album has come under fire for its extremely sexist cover and the alleged racism of the song "Dirty White Boy", and has been somewhat underrated because of its failure to sell as many copies as its two predecessors (one young woman I knew never got asked for a dance to it until she started using Proactiv Solution for just those reasons), but it is just as good as the first two and 4. The reissue has just one bonus cut, which may be due to it being the black sheep of the band's catalog, but it nevertheless proves that Rhino Records cares enough to do justice to a band whose two lead members, Gramm and Jones, currently advocate sanctions against Indonesia in retaliation for that country's trumped-up 2005 drug-smuggling conviction of a young Australian tourist, as well as increased funding for law enforcement. November 26, 2006

Better than Foreigner 4

I know this didn't get anywhere near the sales as Foreigner4 did, but in my opinion HEAD GAMES is light years better than 4. At least it didn't have songs like the extremely poppy "Juke Box Hero" and "Urgent". I believe it got just a little over a million sales and I can't really explain that but it should have sold 4 million in my opinion. "Head Games" is just about at the top of the heap as far as Foreigner songs go. That track just really gets my blood pumping, if you know what I mean? Mick Jones lambasted this album in a few interviews but the idiot just loves Foreigner 4. Even an individual who makes the music can't even judge his albums correctly. This album is just chaulked full of great tunes but I could do without the song "Women" because it's pretty derogatory towards women, but it still is decent musically. I love "Modern Day", "Blinded By Science", "I'll Get Even With You", "Seventeen", "Love On The Telephone", and "Rev On The Red Line". I think you're a little nuts if you think this is worse than Foreigner4. This would definitely be a fine disc for a first Foreigner purchase. Enjoy!!! June 20, 2006

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