When reviewing the career and discography of the band Foreigner, their 1987 album ‘Inside Information’ is an album that appears to have been criminally ignored by all and sundry.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Foreigner
ALBUM: Inside Information
LABEL: Atlantic
SERIAL: 81808-1 (LP), 81808-2 (CD)
YEAR: 1987
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: USA
LINEUP: Lou Gramm – vocals * Mick Jones – guitars, keyboards, vocals * Rick Wills – bass, vocals * Dennis Elliott – drums, vocals
Additional Musicians: Hugh McCracken – guitar * Kevin Jones – synclavier * Peter-John Vettese – keyboards * Sammy Merendino – percussion * Ian Lloyd, Mark Rivera, Tom Bailey – backing vocals
TRACK LISTING: 01 Heart Turns To Stone * 02 Can’t Wait * 03 Say You Will * 04 I Don’t Want To Live Without You * 05 Counting Every Minute * 06 Inside Information * 07 The Beat Of My Heart * 08 Face To Face * 09 Out Of The Blue * 10 A Night To Remember
WEBLINKS: Site Link
Background
When reviewing the career and discography of the band Foreigner, their 1987 album ‘Inside Information’ is an album that appears to have been criminally ignored by all and sundry. Sure, their two prior albums during their 80’s period contained some of the biggest hits of the decade, and it would’ve been hard to compete against.
Given the band’s three year hiatus, combined with Lou’s first solo album ‘Ready Or Not’ also released in 1987, it would be easy to say that the band were not totally committed to this record. Whatever the case, the album is no throwaway – containing some of the smoothest songs the band have ever released. Foreigner released this at the tail end of 1987, and toured to select locations around the world during 1988, with the exception of the USA.
The Songs
AORsters should get a pleasant surprise with the fantastic urgent (excuse the pun) delivery of the opener ‘Heart Turns To Stone’. Listening to this, one gets an idea where the future sound of Gramm’s 90’s band Shadowking would come from. Less inspired is the uneven ‘Can’t Wait’, which fuses near ballad oriented verses with crashing choruses.
Much better are the two highlights on the album: ‘Say You Will’ and ‘I Don’t Want to Live Without You’. Both songs reaching high into the Billboard charts, at #6 and #5 respectively. Both are super smooth tracks typical of Foreigner’s 80’s radio format. Changing tack is the excellent aggressive guitar rock of ‘Counting Every Minute’. This one takes us back to the ‘Double Vision-Head Games’ era, with its focus on a grunty riff with very little in the way of keyboards to soak up the excess.
The title track ‘Inside Information’ is an unusual attempt by the band to mix up hi-tech and 80’s pop, a la Phil Collins. Its fast and funky overtones don’t really suit Foreigner, but at least they attempted it! ‘The Beat Of My Heart’ starts off with a warm welcoming flamenco, before blazing into another Mick Jones fuelled guitar rocker. Like ‘Can’t Wait’, this one didn’t do a lot for me. Just when they lose me on one track, they drag me back in with another pearler.
‘Face To Face’ makes for compelling listening, Gramm’s vocal is on-song here, while the keyboard rich arrangement is a winner! Keeping up the good work is ‘Out Of The Blue’ which is on an equal footing with the best tracks on this album. Mick Jones rocks out on the closer ‘A Night To Remember’, reminding us all that this band was able to crank it up with the best of them on their day.
In Summary
The album did reasonably well on the charts (reaching #15 on the Billboard 200), obviously not as successful as ‘4’ or ‘Agent Provocateur’, but still healthy nonetheless, with two hit singles. Gramm would leave the band in 1990, to focus on his burgeoning solo career, plus his 90’s stint with the aforementioned Shadowking.
Mick Jones would release a solo album in 1989 which got roundly panned in the press (the Metal Forces review was particularly scathing), but I thought it was an OK album. Foreigner didn’t disappear off the map completely, returning in 1991 for the excellent ‘Unusual Heat’ album, while Gramm would return for 1994’s ‘Mr Moonlight’ album, and they continue on to this day, with Mick Jones the only original member left.
Video
Heart Turns To Stone
Say You Will
I Don’t Want To Live Without You
Entire Album (Select Tracks)
