The best place to savor the high-octane, hard -rocking hit-making machine that was
Foreigner
at their prime is the 1982 collection
Records
. Because it was released before their
hard rock
turned soft, it beats out both
Rhino
's
Complete Greatest Hits
and
Warner Music Canada
Essentials
, if all you want is the hard stuff.
focuses mainly on the pre-'84 rockers like
"Urgent,"
"Double Vision,"
"Cold as Ice,"
"Hot Blooded,"
but some synth-infested
ballads
like
"I Want to Know What Love Is,"
"Say You Will,"
"I Don't Want to Live Without You"
creep in and dilute the power of the disc. Of course it works the other way too. If the aspect of the band you like is the romantic,
easy listening
side of the band, the rockers will curl your toes.
is okay if you just want a surface skimming overview of the band, but you can do much better elsewhere. ~ Tim Sendra