Thursday, 6 November 2008

Review - Foreigner - No End In Sight: The Very Best Of Foreigner

Foreigner - No End In Sight: The Very Best Of Foreigner

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8 out of 10

I know it's not trendy, I know it's cheesy but I do love Foreigner. So a 2 disc B/O was greatly looked forward to by these ears at least. And I know more people will tap their feet and sing along to this than would admit it. Shame on you.

Best Of’s, Compilations, Greatest Hits discs always either smell of cash in on recent interest or as a prelude to a band releasing an album. Cynical maybe (and to their credit, a live version of Foreigner have been doing the rounds for a few years now) but it rings true more often than not. But despite this slightly sour taste you can’t knock Foreigner. Disc 1 features the best tracks from the bands inception up till "4", the fourth album coincidently.

Kicking of with classic "Feels Like The First Time" and following with "Cold As Ice", "Doublevision" and "Headknocker" proves Foreigner had a unfair ride by most people as a soft rock/cheese ballad band. These tracks throw that idea out the window. You can’t fault them, big riffs, catchy melodies and vocal hooks that won’t let go. What’s wrong with you people? They rock, big time.
I would have been happy with a CD of just those tracks but as we move through the back catalogue in chronological order you realise that Foreigner had a talented grasp on dynamics and the knack of writing awesome tunes.

It's disc 2 that loses it somewhat. More the period when they descended into ballad territory a bit too much. Opening with their biggest hit (or at least the one everybody remembers ) " I Want To Know What Love Is". But don’t worry, once you get that out the way then you have "Reaction To Action", "Say You Will" and "Tooth And Nail". More classics.

Topping this all off with a few live tracks, and a NEW TUNE! Well, previously unreleased. I think it's a new tune. Sounds a little too close to Scissor Sisters playing stadium rock. You don’t really want new Foreigner; you want classic, rock-kicking, soft cheese wizardry Foreigner don’t you? I do.

Listen: www.myspace.com/foreigner

Tracklist:
Disc 1:
1. Feels Like The First Time
2. Long, Long Way From Home
3. Cold As Ice
4. Headknocker
5. Starrider
6. DoubleVision
7. Blue Morning, Blue Day
8. Hotblooded
9. Dirty White Boy
10. Headgames
11. Women
12. Night Life
13. Break it Up
14. Juke Box Hero
15. Urgent
16. Waiting For A Girl Like You

Disc 2:
1. I Want To Know What Love Is
2. Down On Love
3. Reaction To Action
4. That Was Yesterday
5. Say You Will
6. I Don’t Want To Live Without You
7. Can’t Wait
8. Tooth And Nail
9. Heart Turns To Stone
10. Low Down And Dirty
11. I Will Fight For You
12. Until The End Of Time
13. To Late
14. Say You Will (live)
15. Starrider (live)
16. Jukebox Hero/ Whole Lotta Love (Live)

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