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Feels Like the First Time
Cold As Ice
Starrider
Headknocker
The Damage Is Done
Long, Long Way From Home
Woman Oh Woman
At War With The World
Fool For You Anyway
I Need You
In his early career, Mick Jones tasted the high life as a backing musician for French superstar Johnny Hallyday, and enjoyed some success as a member of Spooky Tooth. But it was with Foreigner that he came of age as a songwriter and leading figure.
Foreigner’s first album was launched at an opportune time. While punk rock was big news in 1977, the year’s biggest-selling acts included Fleetwood Mac, Peter Frampton and Boston; the radio-friendly rock of Foreigner was a perfect fit.
The LP yielded two US Top 10 hits in Feels Like The First Time and the spine-tingling Cold As Ice. Along with Boston’s debut, released a year earlier, it’s a seminal AOR album.
Every week, Album of the Week Club listens to and discusses the album in question, votes on how good it is, and publishes our findings, with the aim of giving people reliable reviews and the wider rock community the chance to contribute.
Other albums released in April 1981
- Max Webster - High Class In Borrowed Shoes
- Quiet Riot - Quiet Riot
- Status Quo - Live!
- T.Rex - Dandy In The Underworld
- The Band - Islands
- Emerson, Lake & Palmer - Works Volume 1
- Iggy Pop - The Idiot
- AC/DC - Let There Be Rock
- Paice Ashton Lord - Malice In Wonderland
- Jesse Winchester - Nothing But A Breeze
- Can - Saw Delight
- Procol Harum - Something Magic
- Kraftwerk - Trans Europe Express
- Starz - Violation
What they said...
"The album spawned some of the biggest FM hits of 1977, including the anthemic Feels Like the First Time and Cold as Ice, both of which were anchored – like most of Foreigner's songs – by the muscular but traditional riffing of guitarist Mick Jones, the soaring vocals of Lou Gramm, and the state-of-the-art rock production values of the day, which allowed the band to sound hard but polished. As pure rock craftsmanship goes, Foreigner was as good as it got in the late '70s." (AllMusic)
"You've heard of Beatlemania? I propose Xenophobia." (Robert Christgau)
"At their best, Foreigner struck a balance between hard-rock braggadocio (e.g., Bad Company) and celestial synthesisers (e.g., Kansas, or at least the Steve Walsh side of Kansas). That said, their first album showed impressive range, reflecting the diversity of the band itself. Fool for You Anyway, for example, is more suited to a soft-rock group. Starrider is borderline prog. Woman Oh Woman could have walked from a Wings album." (Progrography)
What you said...
Mark Herrington: 1977 provided stiff competition for Foreigner with legendary albums at the harder rock end of the spectrum, and the irresistible pull and dazzle of punk. But, despite the musical headwinds, their debut sold in large quantities, particularly in the US.
Half the album is stone-cold classic, and the other half is fairly pedestrian fare, only highlighted by the killer tracks alongside them. More consistent and crunchier albums lay ahead.
A great double-barreled opening with Feels Like The First Time and Cold As Ice. Starider sounds like a Jefferson Starship/ Styx refugee and is pretty good. Headknocker is a plodding, more glam-sounding track. Things don’t really pick up until classic Long, Long Way From Home. War isn't bad, but it suffers from cringeworthy lyrics.
Fool is almost an Eagles track, and a bit flat. The album closes out with I Need You, which is ok, but in terms of running order, a stronger track is usually better to end on. Overall, half here is legendary AOR, alongside some middling tracks that probably sounded better in 1977.
Evan Sanders: Foreigner's debut album got many spins on the turntable during my teen years, and it was well worth it. It's been years since I've listened to the whole album, as I have since found Foreigner more enjoyable by making a playlist from the first four albums, and that playlist has a concert's worth of strong songs.
Going back to the debut, I agree that the first two songs are a knockout punch, and I like Starrider and Headknocker as the next two, with The Damage Is Done feeling like an obligatory slowdown to close the first side. Compared to my teen self, I now find the second side to be weaker, starting off great with Long, Long Way From Home, but then finishing with four songs that aren't quite B-sides but would probably be called deep cuts if they showed up in concert. 7/10.
Chris Elliott: I liked this more when I was younger. Now it's a couple of great tracks, and the rest is fine. In reality, I'd play 4 or Records (their first greatest hits - just the first four albums) if I get a Foreigner urge. Records is just perfect AOR/FM rock without the dull album tracks.
Chris Downie: Few bands come fully-formed straight out of the box, but while there's a compelling case to say their best was yet to come – a pub argument for another day, perhaps – Foreigner certainly knocked it out of the park on their excellent debut.
Anyone with even a passing interest in the band knows Feels Like The First Time, but perhaps the finest quality they had, as a band, was their ability to meld Bad Company-style bluesy rock with an AOR sheen akin to REO Speedwagon, while displaying musicianship and vocal quality on par with Boston, who debuted in such mind-blowing fashion a year before.
It's all too common to dismiss the AOR genre as saccharin-sweet pop fodder, and Foreigner themselves didn't do it any favours during their mid-80s detour with Agent Provocateur, during which the likes of Toto and Survivor had creatively eclipsed them. Nevertheless, this debut is a confident step that showcases their definitive sound from the off and represents the start of an excellent four-album run that stands out as a pinnacle of its era. 8/10.
Bill Griffin: Arguably the best Foreigner album, when it was the full band and before they decided to chase hit singles. Lou Gramm has a great voice, and there isn't any filler on this one. A bona fide master recording of hard pop.
Martin Cross: It's solid enough for a debut. On first listen it suffers from the first two tracks, but it gets better with a couple more spins. Long Long Way From Home is my favourite - Lou's vocals are the standout. 6/10.
Mike Canoe: Dear God, sometimes I don't know who I am anymore. Upon listening to Foreigner's self-titled debut in its entirety for the first time in several decades, it was yacht rocker Fool for You Anyway that resonated with me the most on my drive into work this morning. It was one of the few tracks I previously had no memory of. Next, I'll be recommending (and preemptively defending) Hall & Oates as a club pick.
Again, it's been a while, but I was today years old, as the kids say, when I realised Lou Gramm didn't sing lead on Starrider, (or Woman Oh Woman, apparently, but I was almost nodding off at the wheel during that one). I always liked Starrider as a kid because it reminded me of Styx.
In fact, I loved Foreigner and this album, in particular, when I was a young teen, and I prided myself on listening to "grown-up music." Revisiting it wasn't nearly as cringey as I thought it would be. The three hits still hit, and I still like album tracks like the aforementioned Starrider, as well as Headknocker and At War With the World. The lyrics are kind of silly now, but boy, are they played and sung with immaculate precision.
It seems like Foreigner (the album) used to come up in "best debut album" discussions, but time has apparently diminished its clout since the focus tends to be on other 1977 debut albums by the Sex Pistols, the Clash, Talking Heads, Television, or Elvis Costello. Punk (whether UK or NY) may have changed the world more in the long run, but, in the US anyway, bands like Foreigner weren't going anywhere but up.
Henry Martinez: Which is the better debut album? Bad Company (1974) or Foreigner (1977)? I ask this with purpose, because Foreigner was lumped in with Boston, Van Halen, Heart and others who were disparaged at the time as being Zeppelin imitators of some degree or another. But Foreigner's fine debut really harks back to Bad Company. Terse, compact guitar riffs. Catchy choruses. Radio-ready songs without a hint of indulgence. And a powerhouse lead singer at the fore.
I'd argue that Mick Jones used Bad Company as the starting point, and certainly by Foreigner 4, with Mutt Lange on board, they were on a different cruise. But I love the immediacy of both of those debut records, with few weak spots. I'd give Bad Company's debut the slightest edge, but hey - they're both in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame now, making the institution a bit more legit.
John Davidson: Opener Feels Like The First Time sets out the stall. Powered by Lou Gramm's soulful vocals, Foreigner established themselves as the next Bad Company. Cold As Ice follows, and it remains a great single.
After that, the album loses shape, flirting with Moody Blues-style psychedelic pop, white soul and a second-rate glam stomp in Headknocker. Things pick up again with At War With The World and closer I Need You has a good mix of bass and keyboards.
Other than Lou Gramm's vocals, there isn't much to hang an identity on. At their best, they sound a lot like Bad Company, but for the rest of the album it feels to me like Jones and Gramm hadn't settled on what they wanted the band to be yet. That would come later (the answer being a bit bland, but phenomenally successful).
Thankfully, on this album, they weren't yet the AOR kings, nor dare I say it, the Coldplay of their day.
Philip Qvist: Over 50 years of listening to music (mainly rock) has taught me two things: Ignore what the critics say - it's the fans who count. The AOR genre has had more than its fair share of haters, from music critics and listeners alike, but it still didn't stop fans buying albums by the shipload from the likes of Toto, Boston, Journey and Foreigner.
And this brings us nicely to Foreigner's debut album, which came to my attention in mid-1978, about nine months or so after it had been released; thanks to hits such as Cold As Ice and Feels Like The First Time. Lou Gramm was a powerful singer in his prime, and it shows here, even if band leader Mick Jones felt the need to sing lead on the tepid Woman Oh Woman and the deep album cut Starrider.
The best tracks are the rockers such as Long, Long Way From Home and Headknocker. Even if the ballads would eventually bring in the big pay cheques for the band, Foreigner were always better when they produced the rocking tracks, the songs that attracted my attention in the first place.
It is a very good debut album, but I think the band would get even better with their next three releases. Probably an 8 from me this week.
Eric Schornhorst: 10 out of 10. This and the first Boston album are both near-perfect debuts.
Greg Schwepe: While Foreigner probably can’t lay claim to creating the album-oriented rock or arena rock genres, they certainly might have had a hand in drafting up the blueprints. And any list of those AOR bands (both positive and negative!) will always include Foreigner. With the vision of Mick Jones, the voice of Lou Gramm, and the songwriting skills of both of them, Foreigner put the band on the map to stay. And the rest of the band wasn’t too shabby either.
You’d have to be living under a rock (where FM radio waves couldn’t be picked up) back in 1977 to not have heard the anthemic Feels Like The First Time and the hypnotic keyboard intro featured in Cold As Ice. All. Over. The. Radio.
Once you get past the first two blockbuster songs, you still have eight left that are no slouches. The slightly trippy Mick Jones sang Starrider, the muscular Headknocker, the slightly autobiographical Long, Long Way From Home, the riff-heavy At War With The World, and the acoustic-tinged Fool For You Anyway. And there are a few more I didn’t even name!
I use my own made-up term, “musical velcro” in my reviews a lot. And for me, that’s when the song sticks with you long after it's over. Foreigner contains a lot of those. And that concept continued throughout their catalogue. Yeah, it’s about the songs. You don’t have those…there’s no Velcro!
I had also mentioned the voice of Lou Gramm. You’re introduced to him here, but by the end of the 80s, he (along with Steve Perry) was one of the preeminent voices of the genre. And if you don’t believe me, just go online today and you’ll read “No Lou, no Foreigner” type comments on any Foreigner-related post somewhere.
On a Saturday night in August of 1978, in a sweltering, smoky, hazy minor league hockey arena in the Midwest U.S., I witnessed my very first rock concert. I heard a setlist full of songs from this debut and the follow-up, Double Vision. And thanks to that experience, Foreigner is now to blame for me spending thousands upon thousands of dollars (easily!) on concert tickets in the ensuing years. Sometimes you have those bands that you align yourself with that you follow through thick and thin, good albums and so-so albums, and lineup changes that cause some fans to bolt.
9 out of 10 for me on this one. An album I never tire of from a band that showed me how a live concert experience can be pretty damn incredible. And the band was just getting started.
Gary Claydon: I make no apology for the fact that I make no attempt to hide my complete disdain for much of the AOR/pop-rock/MOR that frequently crops up in this group, and it would be perfectly reasonable to assume it's because I simply don't like that style of rock. And dead wrong.
Sure, I have little time for many of the seemingly endless stream of boringly generic, run-of-the-mill bands that make one think there must be an AOR production line somewhere - probably the North Pole & manned by elves - the likes of which would make Henry Ford green with envy. But when it's done well, I like AOR just fine and, let's be honest, there are few, if any, that do AOR better than Foreigner. Which is probably due to the fact that they were 50% British, but I digress.
I like Foreigner. Or, more accurately, I liked Foreigner, right up to the point when they inflicted the godawful Agent Provocateur on the world, in particular the abominable I Want To Know What Love Is. As history has shown us, there are some crimes that should never be forgiven.
Prior to that, Foreigner produced a string of top-notch, high-class albums with enough of a hard edge to keep them from sliding into wimpy pop-rock (that'd be the Brit influence, of course). And their debut is as good as anything else they ever did, possibly even better.
Foreigner is tight and slick (oo-err matron!) and crisply produced. The whole band is rock solid, but the vocals and guitars are particularly outstanding. Lou Gramm would probably be my choice of vocalist for my fantasy AOR band, even ahead of Steve Perry. Yes, I rate him that highly. In addition to his six-string prowess, Mick Jones sure knows how to write a hook, even if he (and Gramm ) tend towards cheesy lyrics and soppy ballads (both of which often go with the territory).
Highlights? Take your pick. The opening salvo of Feels Like The First Time and Cold As Ice is a knockout combination. Headknocker, At War With The World and I Need You keep the good stuff coming, while Long, Long Way From Home is possibly my personal favourite Foreigner track. There are a couple of missteps, in particular the execrable Woman Oh Woman, but these can almost be forgiven, such is the quality elsewhere. Classy.
Final score: 8.50 (82 votes cast, total score 697)
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