Retro Spins: Foreigner - 4



Foreigner
4
1981

Color me surprised! I didn't expect to enjoy any Foreigner album as much as I enjoyed 4. No, not four albums, but literally the album entitled, 4. The album is not only their fourth album to be released, if that wasn't obvious from the title, but was also their first entry in the 80's.

My dabbling in the band was limited to 80's hit radio and greatest hits compilations and quite honestly I expected, much like Journey, that the hits would be sufficient. Boy, was I wrong.

4 delivered track after track that got added to my iTunes shuffle, all starting with track two. Jukebox Hero, Break It Up, Waiting For A Girl Like You, Luanne, Urgent, I'm Gonna Win, Woman in Black, all these tracks were fantastic.

If this is how good all the Foreigner albums are, sign me up! Good thing I already have a fair share of them at my disposal to jump right into. I can't wait to hear prior albums, Foreigner, Double Vision and latter albums Agent Provocateur and Inside Information. I may even have to track down Head Games, the only other album post 1990's that I don't already own. Boy, I sure hope this pays off as I'm really excited to hear more.

Obviously Foreigner is no stranger to hits and / or success. I mean, they've been releasing albums since 1977 and though they took a hiatus in the mid 90's, came back for one more album to date in 2009, they continue to tour living comfortably off the hits which put them on the charts.

However, I will say this. Two albums in between those dates don't feature lead singer Lou Gramm...So, what's the point? When will bands learn you can't replace the lead singer? It's literally only worked at best a handful of times. Good thing Gramm has since rejoined the band to tour.

Speaking of bands changing singers, Genesis and Fleetwood Mac are the only two bands which come to mind that pulled this off and actually became more successful. Can you think of any others?

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2 comments:

  1. Great post , I would add AC/DC to that list , not sure if Van Halen was more successful ,prob not , but had a lot of success with Sammy after Dave left , love your blog !

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    1. Oh, I forgot about that! Brian Scott stepped in when Bon Scott tragically passed away. Good call on remembering that one! As for Van Halen, I definitely prefer David Lee Roth over Sammy Hagar. That's just my personal preference though.

      Believe it or not, I just recently, within like two weeks, got my very first ACDC studio album, Back In Black. Other than that, the only album I've had from them is the Maximum Overdrive soundtrack, Who Made Who.

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