SACD Foreigner – Foreigner

Six musicians and a shared beginning

Feels Like the First Time opens a debut backed by considerable experience. Mick Jones had played with Spooky Tooth, Ian McDonald was a founding member of King Crimson, and Lou Gramm came from Black Sheep. Alongside keyboard player Al Greenwood, bassist Ed Gagliardi and drummer Dennis Elliott, they formed a new band in New York in 1976. Three Englishmen and three Americans gave the name Foreigner its meaning. Their backgrounds remained different, while the ten songs released on the 1977 debut show how quickly they could establish a shared musical language.

The beginning was not a straightforward success story. Jones needed the right line-up and, especially, a voice able to give his songs a distinct personality. He knew Gramm through Black Sheep recordings. At the audition, that voice met material already taking shape in Jones’ imagination. Both musicians later recalled this significant moment of connection in interviews. The group initially used the name Trigger before appearing on Atlantic as Foreigner.

John Kalodner championed the band at the label, with Feels Like the First Time making a particular impression. The song later reached number four on the American singles chart, followed by Cold as Ice at number six; the album itself also reached number four on the Billboard 200. Those songs became familiar enough to overshadow the rest of the record. Yet hearing all ten tracks is especially worthwhile. Flute, saxophone, piano, additional vocal parts and the players’ different musical histories expand the picture of an apparently straightforward guitar band.

Making a record between songs and the mixing desk

Gary Lyons and John Sinclair, both associated with London’s Sarm Studios, joined the project as producers. Recording took place in New York in late 1976 and early 1977. Atlantic Recording Studios is a documented location; memories and subsequent accounts disagree about another early studio. More significant to the album’s story is the work devoted to its final shape. An initial mix made in London was rejected. The released mix was created at Atlantic with Jimmy Douglass, Mick Jones and Ian McDonald.

Cold as Ice was a relatively late addition. Jones later described finding its defining riff at the piano at home. According to the participants’ recollections, the song was then recorded during a single night at Atlantic. That small story suits a piece whose piano figure immediately establishes a distinctive temperature and motion. It also cautions against assigning contributions according to an assumed division of band roles: Jones’ account does not attribute the famous figure to keyboard player Al Greenwood.

The six members offer more colours than a short list of voice, guitar, bass and drums would suggest. McDonald is credited with guitars, keyboards, horns and vocals; Greenwood with keyboards and synthesizers. Jones plays guitar and also takes vocal parts. Gagliardi and Elliott provide the rhythmic foundation, with Ian Lloyd contributing additional vocals. The album credits do not support a precise track assignment for every part. They do establish that a versatile group of musicians stands behind the songs’ direct impact.

Familiar choruses and less familiar voices

Starrider provides a particularly appealing change of perspective. Jones sings the verses while Gramm takes the choruses, an arrangement Gramm also described for Woman Oh Woman. Listeners who associate Foreigner primarily with a single commanding rock voice encounter another kind of vocal partnership here. The flute part in Starrider, attributed to McDonald in supplementary documentation, opens a space beyond the stronger guitar emphasis of the album’s opening tracks.

Headknocker and The Damage Is Done complete the first half before Long, Long Way from Home begins the second. McDonald’s songwriting contribution to that song is specifically credited, and supplementary personnel information also identifies his saxophone. The interest lies in how a horn colour becomes part of a concise rock song. It belongs within the movement of voice, keyboards and rhythm section. Even with a familiar track, following those instrumental answers to the singing can reveal another route through it.

At War with the World, Fool for You Anyway and I Need You carry the record’s changing emphases through to its conclusion. For collectors, the debut therefore offers more than several successful singles placed beside one another. It documents the first Foreigner line-up and its six distinct personalities. The melodies’ immediate impact belongs with the smaller characteristics of the arrangements. Giving the album its full running time allows the familiar songs to become parts of a larger sequence again.

The Atlantic 75 edition on hybrid SACD

This edition carries catalogue number CAPA 008 SA and belongs to Analogue Productions’ Atlantic 75 Series. It contains the original debut album’s ten tracks in stereo. The hybrid SACD combines a high-resolution SACD layer for compatible equipment with a CD layer playable on ordinary CD players. Demos included on subsequent reissues do not form part of this programme. This edition does not offer a multichannel version either.

Ryan K. Smith at Sterling Sound is responsible for the mastering. The publisher identifies the original master tape as the source. That attribution conveys the published information for this particular edition; it does not constitute independent verification of every intermediate technical step. The SACD must also be distinguished from other digital releases of the album. Details attached to earlier multichannel versions or a Mobile Fidelity edition cannot be transferred to this Atlantic 75 release.

The packaging is described as a Super Jewel Box. For collectors seeking the album in a digital format, the programme, mastering and edition are consequently defined. Alongside the separately available double LP running at 45 RPM, this release presents the same original musical sequence on one disc. Features of the vinyl edition, including record weight, lacquer cutting, pressing plant and numbered sleeves, do not apply to the SACD.

At the centre remain six musicians who brought their different experiences into a new band identity in 1977. Beyond the familiar singles, the shared vocals and the colours Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood contribute to the arrangements reward renewed attention. You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and dispatch from Hilden.

Also in another edition: Foreigner

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Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Participants and documented credit status. Track references correspond to the tracklist.

• Lou Grammlead vocals; choruses (verses sung by Jones) (3, 7); percussionParticipation: Album personnel
• Mick Joneslead guitar, vocals; lead vocals, verses (3, 7); piano (2)Participation: Album personnel
• Ian McDonaldguitar, keyboards, horns, vocals; saxophone (6); flute (3); keyboards (2, 6)Participation: Album personnel
• Al Greenwoodkeyboards, synthesizersParticipation: Album personnel
• Ed Gagliardibass, vocalsParticipation: Album personnel
• Dennis ElliottdrumsParticipation: Album personnel
• Ian Lloydbacking vocalsParticipation: Album personnel

Album credits do not mean that every instrument appears on every track. Documented track assignments are given beside the relevant roles; further assignments remain unconfirmed.