No End In Sight: The Very Best Of Foreigner

Foreigner was an unlikely marriage of British rock sensibilities and American hard rock roots that, surprisingly, made the band one of the biggest stadium attractions of the 1980s. Formed by ex-Spooky Tooth guitarist Mick Jones, Foreigner originally included former members of King Crimson and Ian Hunter's band, as well as stateside garage rock veterans like vocalist Lou Gramm. The outfit recorded its self-titled debut in 1977, scoring immediately with guitar-driven hits like "Cold As Ice," "Feels Like The First Time," and "Long, Long Way From Home" that pushed the album to #4 on the Billboard charts and launched Foreigner's future prospects into the stratosphere.

While the band's debut would eventually sell five million copies, they followed it up almost immediately with the following year's best-seller Double Vision, a seven-times-Platinum behemoth. A fine showcase for the songwriting skills of Gramm and Jones – the album included the Top Five singles "Hot Blooded" and "Double Vision" – the band's sound was propelled by Gramm's hearty, soulful vocals and Jones' larger-than-life guitar riffs. As Foreigner moved from clubs to larger venues to headlining arenas, they knocked out Platinum discs with ease, releasing Head Games (5xPlatinum) in 1979, topping it with the pinnacle of the band's rock success, the 4 album (6xPlatinum) in 1981.

By the time that 1984's Agent Provocateur was released, tensions had begun to grow within the Foreigner as Gramm and Jones disagreed over the band's move towards a more pop-oriented sound. Following up on a blockbuster effort like 4 is difficult enough for any band and sales suffered slightly for the creatively-uneven Agent Provocateur ("only" 3xPlatinum), in spite of the presence of the chart-topping single "I Want To Know What Love Is." The band's slide continued with 1987's Inside Information album, which still sold in excess of a million copies and spawned a minor hit with "Say You Will." It was clear that the Gramm-Jones relationship had run its course, however, and the vocalist left the band to pursue a solo career.

King Kobra vocalist Johnny Edwards replaced Gramm on the road, and for the recording of 1991's Unusual Heat. Unlike Foreigner's earlier efforts, the album failed to excite all but the most loyal of the band's fans, and it didn't even break the Top 40 as had every other Foreigner album previous. As Gramm's solo career sputtered to an ignominious conclusion, he kissed and made up with Jones, the reunited band delivering the lackluster 1995 album Mr. Moonlight. Terribly miscast during the grunge decade of the '90s, Foreigner's amazing commercial run came to a rapid close.

No End In Sight: The Very Best Of Foreigner is the umpteenth "greatest hits" compilation created to cash in on Foreigner's long-standing success (1982's Records has moved over 7 million copies alone), its release seemingly timed to accompany a 2008 Foreigner tour. To entice fans and casual hangers-on to put down coin for the two-disc No End In Sight, the label has streamlined 2000's Jukebox Heroes comp to include just Foreigner tracks instead of all the other chaff, and put it out with an affordable list price. Among the 32 tracks included on No End In Sight, you'll find all of the recognizable hits – "Feels Like The First Time," "Cold As Ice," "Double Vision," "Head Games," "Juke Box Hero," "Urgent" and, of course, "I Want To Know What Love Is," among others.

Pulling its material from all eight of Foreigner's studio albums, as well as the 2006 live afterthought Extended Versions, the No End In Sight collection also includes a number of lesser-known, but worthy Foreigner tracks: the swaggering stomp-n-smash "Headknocker," the Asian-tinted pomp-rock grandeur of "Starrider," or the strident rocker "Blue Morning, Blue Day." Even a number of late-period Foreigner tracks are deserving of another listen. Aside from the effervescent "Say You Will" and the synth-fueled "That Was Yesterday," songs like the crunchy, riff-o-riffic "Tooth And Nail" or the '70s-era throwback rock vibe of "Hearts Turn To Stone" are evidence of the band's acute eye for hard-edged pop-rock fusion.

No End In Sight also includes a trickle of previously unreleased stuff, including the newly-recorded "Too Late." Although new Foreigner frontman Kelly Hansen's pipes approximate Lou Gramm's quintessential howl, he's lacking in the soulful bluster inherent in Gramm's best performances. Hansen's take on the unreleased "Say You Will," taken from a live XM Satellite Radio broadcast, is accorded a slightly different arrangement that takes better care of his throaty vocals. A live reading of "Starrider" – replete with enough synthesizer washes to fill a Rick Wakeman album – completely lacks the magic of the original version, which competes on disc one, but the live medley of "Juke Box Hero" and Zeppelin's "Whole Lotta Love," also taken from 2006's Extended Versions, rocks the house to the rafters.

Truthfully, eight albums in eighteen years isn't an overwhelming output for a band of the "classic rock" era. Part of Foreigner's legacy, and the band's long-standing appeal, is the stripped-down, efficient, carefully-constructed hard rock that populates much of the band's milieu. A musical machine that cranked out hit singles, Foreigner's album tracks – especially those from the first four records – were equally powerful expressions of blues-influenced hard rock.

As the band is introduced to new, young fans through video games like Guitar Hero III, Rock Band and Grand Theft Auto, a new generation is discovering what many of us knew 30 years ago – Foreigner rocks! Get No End In Sight: The Very Best Of Foreigner for the hits, stick around for the songs that could have been contenders…. (Rhino Records)

(Click on the CD cover to buy No End In Sight from Amazon.com)