Atlantic 16999
Producers: Robert John “Mutt” Lange and Mick Jones
Track listing: Night Life /Juke Box Hero / Break It Up / Waiting for a Girl Like You / Luanne / Urgent / I’m Gonna Win / Woman in Black / Girl on the Moon / Don’t Let Go
August 22, 1981
10 weeks (nonconsecutive)
The title of Foreigner’s 4 didn’t only refer to the band’s fourth album — it also reflected the band’s pared-down ranks, says singer Lou Gramm.
Formed in early 1976 by guitarist Mick Jones (a member of Nero & the Gladiators in the early ’60s, and later Spooky Tooth and the Leslie West Bad), Foreigner’s original lineup was six members strong. The band went on tremendous success with its hard-rocking self-titled 1977 debut, which peaked at number four and spawned the top 10 singles “Feels Like the First Time” and “Cold as Ice.” Its follow-up, 1977’s Double Vision, fared even better, climbing to number three with two top five singles, “Hot Blooded” and the title track. Yet by 1979’s Head Games, Foreigner had seemingly run out of gas.
“After Head Games, we all felt we needed to do something a little different and a little more quirky,” Gramm says. “No one was really satisfied with Head Games. That was the album that got away.” Original bassist Ed Gagliardi had left the band in 1979 and was replaced by Rick Wills, and after early sessions for 4, guitarist/keyboardist Ian MacDonald and keyboardist Al Greenwood also departed.
With drummer Dennis Elliot still on board, Foreigner worked on 4 for eight long months. “We were very hard on ourselves, because of the standards we set,” Gramm says. “We had a number of extremely diverse ideas and we wanted to keep the creative spark of these ideas intact while we continually crafted songs. It was really painstaking, because the songs went through so many changes.”
“Urgent,” which climbed to number four, was the album’s first single. “It was very up tempo when we first wrote it,” Gramm recalls. “It sounded more akin to ‘Papa Was a Rolling Stone’ by the Temptations. But we tried it several different ways before we finally settled into this really hot and nasty groove that was just screaming for the type of sax that Junior Walker played. Leafing through the Village Voice, we found him playing at the Lone Star, where we buttered him up and asked him to play with us.”
The four-man lineup also allowed Foreigner room for other guests, including keyboardist Thomas Dolby, who became a successful solo artist a year later. Dolby’s keyboards graced several tracks, including “Urgent” and the ballad “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” which spent 10 weeks at number two.
One of the most memorable songs on 4 was not a hit. During the recording sessions, held mostly during late 1980 at Electric Lady Studios in New York, Gramm was stricken by a virus, which left his voice sounding ragged on the song “Girl on the Moon.” Says Gramm, “We were going to do it again, but it sounded so haunting and so weird, we decided to keep it. On that night John Lennon was assassinated. I drove by and saw the sirens and had not a clue what it was all about. Now when I hear that song, I think of him and that night.”
THE TOP FIVE
Week of August 22, 1981
1. 4, Foreigner
2. Precious Time, Pat Benatar
3. Bella Donna, Stevie Nicks
4. Escape, Journey
5. Long Distance Voyager, Moody Blues