Foreigner

When I heard about this album, all I could think of was Mick Jones sitting around thinking about Journey.

New album with a singer nobody's really heard of - Check
Let's make it a double CD - the second album we'll redo our popular songs - Check
Oh, let's throw in a live DVD of the current incarnation of the band too - Check
Let's sell it only at Walmart - Check
We'll make a million!

Well, OK, the guy who is the incumbent singer in Foreigner has been there since 2005, so it's not like NOBODY has heard of them, but your average music buying fan won't have heard of him. But he certainly sounds like Lou Gramm. That was probably intentional. When I put this on, I had that feeling I had with Journey and Steve Augieri & Arnel Pineda - they sounded like the signature singer in the band's history.

The thing is, this album is nowhere near as good as the Journey album. It's OK, there's a handful of songs on Can't Slow Down that aren't bad - the best one is probably the first one, and I enjoyed "In Pieces" and "Give me a Sign". The rest of the album is mostly forgettable, though. I expect this will only be for the most die hard Foreigner fans. Those who are into only the huge hits will probably find this a disappointment.

The remix CD? Eh. I enjoyed the Journey one because they totally re-recorded them, so you could get the new take. This is mostly the same stuff just on a forced "Greatest Hits" package. The live DVD? Again - Foreigner hardcores only, I think.

This is something I've been searching for for awhile. This covers all of Foreigner's career from the early days through their last studio album (Mr. Moonlight in 2000). While I enjoyed the old Records greatest hits, I'm always more partial to a package that covers all of a band's career. If all you like are the usual Foreigner hits, this might not be for you. All of those songs are here, but there's a LOT more that isn't of interest to a casual Foreigner fan.

A brilliant album. It's most known for the uber-ballad "I Want to Know what Love is", but has some great rockers like "Tooth & Nail". I saw Foreigner on this tour (with Joe Walsh), and it was awesome - one of the better concerts I went to. This is a band that I like singles from, but this album sticks with me all these years later. Can't go wrong here. There were some albums released later on that were midly OK (like 2000's Mr. Moonlight), but for the most part, I'll probably stick with these two.

When this album originally came out in the summer of 1981, I remember it being massive. This album got boatloads of radio play, and I think every friend of mine in high school owned a copy of this. It's one of the more solid albums from front to back I own, but there are a few standouts. The standouts are "Juke Box Hero", "Waiting for a Girl Like You", "Luanne", and of course "Urgent". As all of those were on other compliations I used to own, I never actually bothered to get 4 on CD by itself until 2007.

I got a copy for free from a friend at Rhino records which is the primary reason I have this. But I couldn't pass up the chance for something else, as it is a really great record. One I hadn't listened to in ages since I stopped playing vinyl eons ago.

While I think the compilation I have (The Foreigner Anthology) is a good place to cover all of Foreigner, 4 is outstanding, and should be checked out.

The 2002 remaster of the album has a couple of "unplugged" versions of Juke Box Hero & Waiting for a Girl.. as the bonus tracks.