Simply titled 4, Foreigner’s 4th full-length record was published back in 1981, a year before I started to listen to rock music. Just entering my teenage years, I was more into harder and heavier sound, as you can imagine, so Foreigner’s 4 hasn’t really crossed my path in the 80’s. As a matter of fact, I bought my first Foreigner record (Agent Provocateur) already in 1984, but at that time it didn’t reach very high on my personal music chart.
A title 4 has a dual meaning – it is the band’s 4th album, and it reflects that the group was down to four members.
I came in contact with Foreigner 4 relatively late, about 15 years after it’s release. In 90’s I started to listen more and more to all those AOR bands, such as Foreigner, Journey, Survivor, etc. And then I finally bought myself a Foreigner’s 4. It literally knocked me down, and I started to ask myself, why on earth I used to consider Foreigner a pop-rock band.
From the first to the last note, Foreigner 4 is a full blown hard rock record that excels with first-class riffs, outstanding vocals, and straight-forward arena songs.
Night Life is a straight rocker, pretty typical Foreigner opener, a perfect invitation to listen to the whole album.
Next song, Juke Box Hero, is one of the Foreigner’s milestones – and if you ask me, it’s my all-time Foreigner fave. Its passages between mid-tempo bass/vocals intro and up-tempo guitar driven bridge are simply history, and the solo is an homage to the biggest hard rock band of all times. When played live, band often transitions it to Whole Lotta Love, and it sounds so natural.
Ballads shouldn’t be missed in this music genre – and they aren’t. Waiting For A Girl Like You is one of the most famous Foreigner’s ballads, that managed to win people’s hearts way beyond rock fan community.
The biggest hit on the album is Urgent. No surprise, it is a pop-rock song, that stretched way beyond rock boundaries, and fitted perfectly into 80’s pop world, mainly due to a greasy saxophone solo, that is a pretty unusual thing in the hard rock world.
Also, other, less exposed songs on the album, don’t fall behind. My hidden tips are Luanne; Woman In Black and I’m Gonna Win.
As I wrote before, 4 is a full blown hard rock record that stretches way beyond the boundaries of the genre. But not because it would lack rock flavor, but because it’s so good.