I don't hate Foriegner at all. I never owned a single one of their albums, but I always admired their craft. Mick Jones is a hookmeister of the first order, and Lou Gramm was a fine singer. At their best they were in a league with Bad Company. I used to think of them as the best of the bad bands. A tier below the great ones.
I was never a fan of their ballads (mostly because my mother was) but I will stand behind debut and the "4" album. The BadCo comparison is valid; also, Mick Jones tended to write songs in unorthodox keys, which set them apart from the arena rock crowd.
Tried 'em out. I find that my mind drifts off about a minute in to each one. Maybe it's the (over-)production.
When I was in high school I went to the Hartford (CT) Civic Center to see a 3-way package with Foreigner, 38 Special, and Skynyrd. I was most def there to see Foreigner. The first album stuff sounds OK to me but I think the music got a bit pompous and overblown. And then "I Want To Know What Love Is" got jammed down our throats for several months back when.
I remember talking to someone back in my college days and he was convinced that this band was led by the guitarist from Grand Funk.
Eels I like quite a bit though. And since it's Valentines Day, let me reiterate how much I love this blog.
Foreigner appealed to me when they had Ian McDonald out front blowing sax ("Long, Long Way From Home") or did the spacey stuff like "Starrider".
Which, I think, limits me to their first album for the most part
Beyond that, they were just one of many 70's rock acts that drifted through my ears on AOR (like BadCo, Styx and the like...) Not good, not bad, just not a band I reach back to when putting something on.
I guess that's damning with faint praise, isn't it?
I think every band is gonna have their "yuck" moments, and some from this era had nothing but. I just think Foreigner gets unfairly lumped in with bands like... say... Styx, because of the time of their popularity. But aside from the overblown crap that is universally cited by the cognescenti, this band were seasoned players who as BBJ pointed out, had songs filled with hooks of the first order.
Their first four albums are no more overproduced than so much of the stuff we routinely praise on these pages.
Lou Gramm had one of the best and most distinctive voices in rock in the 70's and 80's. I still own their first six studio albums and find something to enjoy on each of them. I even like the ballads (except "I Don't Want to Live Without You" which isn't overblown, just dull). Mick Jones' melodic sense generally resulted in expertly-crafted songs that hold up well today.
I will evenotics go so far as to defend the production. It's not overproduced, back in the day it was state of the art. It's just that all the indie bullshit we've listened to since then has severely lowered the bar.
hot blooded cold as ice feels like the first time double vision head games dirty white boy urgent jukebox hero waiting for agirl like u i want to know what love is
never would pay to them, but these r car radio hits,remember car radio?)
HOOKS, SAL, HOOKS
they cranked em'out---- journey is a shell of them
Good call on those 5 songs - there's some straight-up power pop gems in there! I always thought "Blue Morning, Blue Day" was a great song. If it had had ELO's name on it, we'd just know it as a great piece of radio pop, instead of dissin' it. And who doesn't like "Feels Like The First Time"? Camaro rock, baby!
Come on! What's to hate about Foreigner? Commercial success allied to some pretty good songwriting & artistic talent & one of the best rock voices ever in Lou Gramm. They could rock as hard as anybody & were silky smooth on the ballad front. I wore out those first four albums when they came out. Still love 'em!
11 comments:
I don't hate Foriegner at all.
I never owned a single one of their albums, but I always admired their craft. Mick Jones is a hookmeister of the first order, and Lou Gramm was a fine singer. At their best they were in a league with Bad Company. I used to think of them as the best of the bad bands. A tier below the great ones.
I was never a fan of their ballads (mostly because my mother was) but I will stand behind debut and the "4" album. The BadCo comparison is valid; also, Mick Jones tended to write songs in unorthodox keys, which set them apart from the arena rock crowd.
Tried 'em out. I find that my mind drifts off about a minute in to each one. Maybe it's the (over-)production.
When I was in high school I went to the Hartford (CT) Civic Center to see a 3-way package with Foreigner, 38 Special, and Skynyrd. I was most def there to see Foreigner. The first album stuff sounds OK to me but I think the music got a bit pompous and overblown. And then "I Want To Know What Love Is" got jammed down our throats for several months back when.
I remember talking to someone back in my college days and he was convinced that this band was led by the guitarist from Grand Funk.
Eels I like quite a bit though. And since it's Valentines Day, let me reiterate how much I love this blog.
Foreigner appealed to me when they had Ian McDonald out front blowing sax ("Long, Long Way From Home") or did the spacey stuff like "Starrider".
Which, I think, limits me to their first album for the most part
Beyond that, they were just one of many 70's rock acts that drifted through my ears on AOR (like BadCo, Styx and the like...) Not good, not bad, just not a band I reach back to when putting something on.
I guess that's damning with faint praise, isn't it?
I think every band is gonna have their "yuck" moments, and some from this era had nothing but. I just think Foreigner gets unfairly lumped in with bands like... say... Styx, because of the time of their popularity. But aside from the overblown crap that is universally cited by the cognescenti, this band were seasoned players who as BBJ pointed out, had songs filled with hooks of the first order.
Their first four albums are no more overproduced than so much of the stuff we routinely praise on these pages.
Lou Gramm had one of the best and most distinctive voices in rock in the 70's and 80's. I still own their first six studio albums and find something to enjoy on each of them. I even like the ballads (except "I Don't Want to Live Without You" which isn't overblown, just dull). Mick Jones' melodic sense generally resulted in expertly-crafted songs that hold up well today.
I will evenotics go so far as to defend the production. It's not overproduced, back in the day it was state of the art. It's just that all the indie bullshit we've listened to since then has severely lowered the bar.
hot blooded cold as ice feels like the first time double vision head games dirty white boy urgent jukebox hero waiting for agirl like u i want to know what love is
never would pay to them, but these r car radio hits,remember car radio?)
HOOKS, SAL, HOOKS
they cranked em'out---- journey is a shell of them
Good call on those 5 songs - there's some straight-up power pop gems in there! I always thought "Blue Morning, Blue Day" was a great song. If it had had ELO's name on it, we'd just know it as a great piece of radio pop, instead of dissin' it. And who doesn't like "Feels Like The First Time"? Camaro rock, baby!
Come on! What's to hate about Foreigner? Commercial success allied to some pretty good songwriting & artistic talent & one of the best rock voices ever in Lou Gramm. They could rock as hard as anybody & were silky smooth on the ballad front. I wore out those first four albums when they came out. Still love 'em!
I maintain that "Midnight Blue" by Lou Gramm solo is a slice of pop perfection. He had a great rock and roll voice.
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