SEEING THE WAY CLEAR TO AOR SUCCESS
Double Vision by Foreigner
Foreigner's success in 1977 caught most of the music industry by surprise. The band had formed in New York in 1976 with Mick Jones (from Spooky Tooth, not The Clash) and a bunch of New Yorkers, at the time most notably King Crimson's Ian McDonald. The critic's consensus was that the hard-working band played well and its two front men, Jones and lead singer Lou Gramm, were a more pop-oriented version of Page and Plant.
The band scored three Top 20 singles off its debut album (Feels Like The First Time, Cold As Ice, and Long, Long Way From Home) and was hurriedly rushed into the studio for a follow-up. This maneuver can often be a disaster, particularly if the band doesn't have fresh material or is still buoyed from the previous album's success.
For example, while Double Vision was being recorded, Long, Long Way From Home was still climbing the charts, eventually peaking at #20 on the Billboard Top 40 chart. Luckily, Mick Jones has always been a prolific songwriter and Lou Gramm contributed several of his own to create a follow-up album even stronger than the band's breakthrough debut. Let's listen:
Dropping The Needle, Cut by Cut
Hot Blooded - Gramm and Jones co-wrote what became the band's biggest hit of its first four singles. Released into the summer when AM still ruled the airwaves, this pop rocker was Foreigner's first gold single. Gramm's vocals are a treat, raw but in tune, and never unrestrained. The band is tight on this cut - as on most - and Dennis Elliott's big drum work provided a thumping beat that was heard all summer long. The single never got beyond #3 because this was the year of the Gibb Brothers juggernaut when they had their own songs, Grease, and younger brother Andy's second album in the #1 spot for 24 of the year's first 32 weeks.
Blue Morning, Blue Day - This song was also released as the third single from the album. Gramm and Jones again collaborated on the tune, which had story-song quality lyrics and the by-now familiar Foreigner backing vocals. There is a truly excellent guitar solo here that either belongs to Jones or Ian McDonald and some deft arranging by Jones.
You're All I Am - If you believe in band's foreshadowing their future directions, then listen to this and remember that Mick Jones would write I Want To Know What Love Is seven years later. I always found that song to be far too overproduced, but this simple quiet ballad is one of the album's hidden gems. Again, Elliott's drumming underscores the crescendos that lead to the song's chorus. The arpeggiated guitars are also very reminiscent of Jimmy Page's style. This song should have been released as a single, but we were still in the days of 3 per album Michael Jackson and the Gibbs would reset everyone's expectations over the next two years by releasing 4 and 5 singles per album. The song also contrasted so much with Foreigner's sound that there may have been a label decision to hold the single back. Pity.
Back Where You Belong - What the Beach Boys would have sounded like if they knew how to rock. Or what Zeppelin would have sounded like if they knew harmony. I have not decided whether it fits in as a filler cut on Pet Sounds or House of the Holy, but this song would not be jarring on either. This song has some terrific guitar work, terrific production (let's name check producer Keith Olsen now - you're probably more familiar with his work with Lindsey Buckingham on Fleetwood Mac's Rumors as well as his work with The Scorpions and Night Ranger). Bottom line - this cut was unfortunately buried on a strong album.
Love Has Taken Its Toll - This song is a weaker version of the preceding cut. McDonald finally gets a songwriting credit and Gramm sings the song well enough, but the entire tune is bland, especially in context of the entire album.
Double Vision - A perfect example of 1970s AOR. Double Vision supplanted Hot Blooded as Foreigner's highest charting single and stayed there until I Want To Know What Love Is. Tremendous guitar work and a powerful vocal mark this band's signature rock cut. Listen closely for the keyboard work from Mick Jones and Alan Greenwood that props the swirling guitars. This was really a textbook example of the sound that Foreigner, Styx, Kansas and all the other power pop bands created.
Tramontane - Alan Greenwood and Ian McDonald collaborated with Jones on this instrumental that owes more to McDonald's progressive roots than anything Foreigner was doing. The song is too short to be an ELP or Yes cut (I think they required 5 minutes plus for anything they did), but is pleasant enough despite Jones and Olsen pushing a sonic wall on the main theme. Considering that the keyboards were recorded more than 20 years ago, I would not call this cutting edge, but the sound was advanced for its time.
I Have Waited So Long - Mr. Jones, a Mr. McCartney is holding on line two. He is calling about back royalties. This is another pleasant song with Beatlesesque harmonies and hooks. The song is more acoustic than most of the album, and has the same flavor McCartney put in his early solo efforts from the farm. There's nothing bad or even weak about the song; it's simply formula but formula done well.
Lonely Children - Segueing right from that derivative cut is the album's most ambitious song, Lonely Children. This song is edgier and more complex musically, with a nod toward what was beginning to evolve as 1980s metal pop a la Poison.
Spellbinder - This is a British bluesy number complete with Clapton-like guitar that one would think was penned by Jones. That's when you can never judge a song by it sound because Lou Gramm wrote this number. His vocal is solid and at its most understated here. The song is fun to listen to, although devoid of hooks, and seems more a journeyman's effort to cap the album. In terms of sequence, Lonely Children might have been a more appropriate cut with which to end the album.
The Bottom Line, Skips and All
Foreigner was the workingman's band, rarely blazing new trails, but creating new songs based on tried and true sounds. The band featured a solid core of musicians, a strong producer coming off work with one of the world's most demanding bands, a prolific and smart songwriter in Mick Jones and a good vocalist. What's not to like?
Picked apart, cut by cut, the album seems weaker than the sum of its songs. Classic rock staples such as Double Vision and Hot Blooded automatically bounce an album's listenability up a notch. There is still some filler, though, so this can't be a 5 star album in my book. I would urge listeners new to Foreigner to try this album out first. Later efforts were more geared toward radio and uneven (except for Foreigner 4, which is their 5 star album) and the first album, while an exciting debut, is not as strong as Double Vision.
The songs do withstand the test of time. I saw the reunited Foreigner about 18 months ago, and while Lou Gramm's voice is gone at the top of his old register, the music was still strong, still pleasant, still listenable. What more could you ask for after 22 years and only a few months in the studio?
