Retro Spins: Lou Gramm - Long Hard Road

Yesterday, I took a listen to Foreigner singer, Lou Gramm's first solo outing, Ready Or Not (1987). While I may have come off critical of the album, I want to reiterate that I didn't think it was bad. I just expected better, and something which sounded a bit more unique to that of your average Foreigner album.

By 1989, both Mick Jones (guitarist for Foreigner), and Gramm were releasing studio albums. For Jones, it would be his first, for Gramm, his second. After completing his tour for the album, Long Hard Road (1990), Gramm would make the decision to leave Foreigner, prompting Jones to recruit new singer, Johnny Edwards for the band's 1991 Unusual Heat.

But, let's stop the tape, and rewind a bit to 1989 to have a listen to the second album, which apparently was so good that it convinced Gramm to go it alone.

Long Hard Road was led by the single, Just Between You And Me, which would reach number six on the Billboard Hot 100, just one place behind his prior hit, Midnight Blue, which reached number five. It would also spawn the minor hit, True Blue Love, which peaked at forty.

Playing through it, the two above noted hits are definitely the standout tracks. I did also grab Angel With A Dirty Face, and I'll Know When It's Over for my shuffle. However, as a whole this record falls right into the category of mediocre at best. It has the benefit of familiarity from Gramm's vocals, but this isn't enough to push the songs over the top. Everything is just okay, and at the end of the day, that's not okay. We're talking about an artist who once sold platinum albums, and had consecutive number one hits.

Again, I go back to what I said yesterday about his first solo outing. Just because you can go solo, doesn't mean you should. Artists need that yin and yang. Someone to say this is good, but this not. Try something different here, abandon this, or run with that. Without that feedback, you end up with something the artist themselves love, but as a whole is just...well, mediocre.

It's not that the effort isn't there. It's that you don't have enough creative juice in the room to take an okay thing and make it good, or to make a good thing great. That about sums up my perspective on Long Hard Road. I don't know, maybe I'm just not a big Lou Gramm fan, so I'm being over critical. Maybe I just expect more than I should based on his name and history.

Gramm returned to Foreigner in 1994 to release Mr. Moonlight. However, the album would far worse than the band's 1991 outing (with new singer Edwards). Despite this, things seemed back on track for the band. That is until 1997 when Gramm underwent surgery to remove a brain tumor. The unfortunate side effects of the procedure and medications to get him back on his feet resulted in severe weight gain, as well as weakening his voice. Though he was able to resume touring in 1998, he visibly struggled for several years on

Though the group would continue through 2002, Gramm would once again leave the band from continued communication issues with Jones. He'd release his final studio album to date, Lou Gramm Band in 2009, and briefly reunite with Foreigner for shows in 2013. Gramm remains active, and even promised new music. However, as of this writing, January 2025, that has not come to fruition.

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Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
July 8, 1989

 

Retro Spins: Lou Gramm - Ready Or Not

By 1986, touring for Foreigners platinum hit Agent Provocateur had come to a close, and lead guitarist and founder, Mick Jones left for a seven month trip around the world with his wife. Finding this out, singer Lou Gramm went to the head of Atlantic Records and said during Jones' absence that this would be the perfect time for him to release a solo album. The end result was 1987's Ready Or Not.

Upon its release, Gramm was invited to head out on tour with Steve Miller as his opening act. While his plan was to complete the entire series of shows, an unceremonious call from Jones would interrupt this indefinitely. From the mouth of Gramm himself, Jones gave him an ultimatum of either coming back to record an album, or Jones would find another singer to front Foreigner.

Unhappy, Gramm returned to the studio. The singer felt his bandmate had intentionally sabotaged the success of his solo album by all but forcing him to cut his promotion short. Allegedly, Jones also went to the head of Atlantic himself, and informed him that if the label continued to promote Gramm's solo work that Foreigner would be done. Without warning, the label cut all support. Ready Or Not was 15,000 sales away from going gold.

Back in the studio, Gramm remained unhappy with Jones, not only for his disruption of the album, but because the guitarist had taken more of an interest in keyboards, adopting the synthesizer as a core part of the song structures. Gramm told Jones flat out that this wasn't the type of band he wanted to be in. Regardless, Gramm stayed the course, which ultimately led to the album, Inside Information.

But, let's take a step back to Ready Or Not. Not only to listen to it, but to dive look a little more at the lead single, Midnight Blue. Though he stated he couldn't remember anymore what album Foreigner were working on, Gramm has noted that he initially offered the song to Jones to be included. After hearing it, and even attempting to play it, the song was declined, something Gramm was secretly happy about.

Ready Or Not opens with the title track, which sets a solid tone of hard rock, a sound very reminiscent of prior Foreigner work. In fact, as a whole, the album sounds like it could easily be tucked into the Foreigner catalog.

To pause for a moment, that's one thing I've never understood about artists who go solo from their bands, only to make album that sound equivalent to the group they desperately wanted a break from. Steve Perry did this, as did Gloria Estefan, Debbie Harry, and Ric Ocasek, to name a few. To me, when you take the time to go solo, it should be to express yourself artistically in a different way. Otherwise, what's the point?

Something else that stands out amongst the songs is the heavy use of keyboards. I find it ironic that one of Gramm's biggest gripes with Jones was the excessive use of synthesizers, yet they are a very clear aspect of his solo work. Yes, there is a mix of solid guitar work, and perhaps I'm missing the full story. It was, after all, just a quick statement he made during an interview, without deep diving into the whole scenario. This, however, is just an observation, and not a dig at the album.

Another thing I noticed, and probably the biggest aspect, was that the majority of the songs were just okay. This is another flaw I've seen with artists who decide to go solo. When nobody is there to tell you no, try something different, or that something simply isn't the best, you end up releasing mediocrity. Prince immediately comes to mind as the biggest offender of this one, but Lou Gramm isn't exempt.

As a whole, Ready Or Not is simply not that good. If this solo effort were the world's introduction to Gramm, I have doubts that it would have impacted as big as it did. While I don't hate this album, I will say his solo effort for The Lost Boys soundtrack, also released in 1987, is better than any of the hits on here.

I did grab a few tunes for my shuffle list, which included Ready Or Not, Midnight Blue, If I Didn't Have You, Chain Of Love, and Lover Come Back. However, if you were to ask me how any of those went, with exception of Midnight Blue, I wouldn't be able to tell you. They piqued my interest at the time, as many songs so often do that get added to my shuffle, but quickly left my mind.

Again, I didn't hate this album. I just felt it could have been better, and more unique from the familiar Foreigner sound it adopts.

Click "HERE" to go back to the home page. For more posts related to this one, please click the labels below. 

Disclaimer: They Toy Box does not endorse or contribute to piracy. Retro Spins posts are intended for educational and entertainment purposes only. None of the music discussed here is available for sale, downloading or distribution.

THIS WEEK ON THE CHARTS
July 7, 1984