SACD Foreigner – Head Games

Head Games as a hybrid stereo SACD from the Atlantic 75 Series: Foreigner’s third album, the first with Rick Wills and the last with founding members Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood. The ten tracks play in one sequence – from “Dirty White Boy” to “Rev On The Red Line”.

A band at a turning point

When Head Games appeared in September 1979, Foreigner were still a six-piece band. Their third studio album was the first with Rick Wills on bass – and the last with founding members Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood. It captures a line-up on the brink of big change, which gives the album a very special place in the band’s story.

It was recorded in New York and Hollywood in June and July, produced by Roy Thomas Baker – known for his work with Queen – together with Mick Jones and Ian McDonald. Lou Gramm sings, Dennis Elliott plays drums, Jones’s guitar sits next to McDonald’s guitar and keyboards, and Greenwood adds keyboards: six musicians and plenty of instrumental combinations.

Big singles and a different voice

“Dirty White Boy” opens the album, and the title track opened the second half of the original album – both were released as singles and grab you straight away. In between come “Love On The Telephone”, “Women” and “Seventeen”. Across ten songs, the band mostly works in compact forms, letting instrumental passages develop inside the songs instead of stretching into long pieces.

“The Modern Day” has a special twist: Mick Jones sings lead, so the voice at the front of the band changes for one song. The writing credits reveal more contributors too – “Do What You Like” was written by McDonald and Gramm, “Rev On The Red Line” by Greenwood and Gramm. The last two tracks give the soon-to-depart musicians a direct place in the album’s composition as well as its performance.

Listen behind the chorus

Start with the title track or “Dirty White Boy”, then on another pass follow the instruments behind the vocal. Where does a guitar figure lead into the chorus, and what role do the keyboards play? In a six-piece band, not every instrument has to be in the foreground all the time – and the transitions, where one part steps back and another carries the movement on, are wonderfully revealing.

Then compare Gramm’s vocals with Jones’s lead on “The Modern Day”: how does a different voice change your impression of the same band? As the closing track, “Rev On The Red Line” opens one more window onto Greenwood and Gramm’s collaboration. Heard this way, Head Games is the album of this particular line-up – and much more than its two best-known singles.

The Atlantic 75 hybrid stereo SACD

CAPA 068 SA is a hybrid stereo SACD from the Analogue Productions Atlantic 75 Series. The SACD layer plays on SACD-capable players, the CD layer on any conventional CD player. The disc contains the ten tracks of the original album in their original order.

You order from Michael 45 in Germany. We arrange the US import and ship from Hilden.

More from the series: Atlantic 75 Series

Also in another edition: Head Games

More SACDs by Foreigner: Foreigner · 4

Customer question: Buying Analogue Productions records in Europe

Musicians

Documented selection of participating musicians. Personnel may vary by track; this list does not claim to be complete.