4 (Foreigner album)

4, also known as Foreigner 4, is the fourth studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on July 3, 1981, on Atlantic Records. Several singles from the album were hits, including "Urgent", "Waiting for a Girl Like You" and "Juke Box Hero".

4
Studio album by
Foreigner
Released3 July 1981 [1]
RecordedDecember 1980 − April 1981
StudioElectric Lady (New York)
GenreRock, pop
Length42:10
LabelAtlantic
ProducerRobert John "Mutt" Lange, Mick Jones
Foreigner chronology
Head Games
(1979)		 4
(1981)		 Records
(1982)
Singles from 4
  1. "Urgent"
    Released: June 22, 1981
  2. "Waiting for a Girl Like You"
    Released: October 1981 (US)[2]
  3. "Juke Box Hero"
    Released: January 21, 1982 (US)
  4. "Break It Up"
    Released: May 11, 1982
  5. "Luanne"
    Released: July 1982
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Q[4]

The album name represented the band's fourth studio album and also the band's reduction from six to four members. Musically, it showed Foreigner shifting from hard rock to more accessible mainstream rock and pop music.[5]

The album was a success worldwide, holding the #1 position on the Billboard album chart for a total of 10 weeks. It eventually sold over six million copies in the US alone.

Background and writing

The album was originally titled Silent Partners and later was changed to 4,[6] reflecting both the fact that it was Foreigner's fourth album and that the band was now down to four members. In 1981, art studio Hipgnosis was asked to design a cover based on the original title, and they developed a black and white image of a young man in bed with a pair of binoculars suspended in the air overhead.[7] The resulting design was rejected by the band as they felt it was "too homosexual".[6] The replacement cover for 4 was designed by Bob Defrin and modeled after an old fashioned film leader. Hipgnosis is still credited with designing the record labels.

Both Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood had left before the recording of 4, part because they wanted to take a more significant role in writing songs, while Mick Jones wanted to control the songwriting along with Lou Gramm.[8][9] As a result, all of the songs on the album are compositions by Jones and/or Gramm. McDonald and Greenwood had played saxophone and keyboards, respectively, and so several session musicians were needed to replace their contributions, among them Junior Walker, who played the saxophone solo in the bridge of "Urgent", and a young Thomas Dolby, who soon leveraged this collaboration into a successful solo career.

The album took 10 months to produce.[8] During that time they went from starting work at the recording studio around noon to starting around midnight.[8] This changing schedule helped inspire the opening song on the album, "Night Life."[8] According to Jones "The later it got at night, the bigger the buzz got, and a lot of weird characters, some of them hookers, would appear. It was a big mixture of a lot of different characters – so that was the inspiration for opening song, 'Night Life.'”[8]

Reception

The editors of Classic Rock called 4 Foreigner's "masterpiece."[10] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Matt Wardlaw rated four of the songs from 4 - "Juke Box Hero," "Waiting for a Girl Like You," "Urgent" and "Night Life" among Foreigner's top 10 songs.[11] Ultimate Classic Rock critic Eduardo Rivadavia rated two of the songs from 4 - "Girl on the Moon" and "Woman in Black" among Foreigner's 10 most underrated songs.[12] Classic Rock critic Malcolm Dome also rated two songs from 4, but two different ones, as being among Foreigner's 10 most underrated – "I’m Gonna Win," which he compares to "Juke Box Hero," at #8 and "Night Life," – which he praises for its " confident energy," at #1.[13]

Jones has rated three of the songs from 4 ("Urgent," "Juke Box Hero" and "Girl on the Moon") as being among his 11 favorite Foreigner songs.[14]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Mick Jones, with additional songwriting by Lou Gramm on tracks 1-2, 4-5 and 9-10.

No.TitleLength
1."Night Life"3:48
2."Juke Box Hero"4:18
3."Break It Up"4:11
4."Waiting for a Girl Like You"4:49
5."Luanne" (On some vinyl editions, "Luanne" is listed as 3:11[15])3:25
6."Urgent"4:29
7."I'm Gonna Win"4:51
8."Woman in Black"4:42
9."Girl on the Moon"3:49
10."Don't Let Go"3:58
Bonus tracks on 2002 reissue, recorded in 1999
No.TitleLength
11."Juke Box Hero" (Nearly unplugged version)3:06
12."Waiting for a Girl Like You" (Nearly unplugged version)2:50

Personnel

Foreigner
  • Lou Gramm – lead vocals, percussion
  • Mick Jones – keyboards, guitars, backing vocals
  • Rick Wills – bass, backing vocals
  • Dennis Elliott – drums, backing vocals

Additional personnel
  • Thomas Dolby – main synthesizers
  • Larry Fast – sequential synthesizer (2, 3, 10)
  • Bob Mayo – keyboard textures (3, 4)
  • Michael Fonfara – keyboard textures (6, 9)
  • Hugh McCracken – slide guitar (9)
  • Mark Rivera – saxophone (3, 6), backing vocals
  • Junior Walker – saxophone solo (6)
  • Ian Lloyd – backing vocals
  • Robert John "Mutt" Lange – backing vocals

Production
  • Produced by Robert John "Mutt" Lange and Mick Jones
  • Recorded and engineered by Dave Wittman (chief engineer) and Tony Platt (basic tracks).
  • Second engineer – Brad Samuelsohn
  • Assistant engineers – Edwin Hobgood and Michel Sauvage
  • Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound (New York, NY).
  • Art Direction – Bob Defrin
  • Design – Hipgnosis
  • Management – Bud Prager

Surround releases

4 was released in 2001 in multichannel DVD-Audio,[16] and on September 14, 2011, on hybrid stereo-multichannel Super Audio CD by Warner Japan in their Warner Premium Sound series.[17] June 2015 saw its re-release on Atlantic Records premium 180-gram vinyl with its original 1981 classic track listing.

Charts

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[29] Platinum 50,000^
Canada (Music Canada)[30] 4× Platinum 400,000^
France (SNEP)[31] Gold 100,000*
Germany (BVMI)[32] Platinum 500,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[33] Gold 100,000^
United States (RIAA)[34] 6× Platinum 6,000,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "RIAA certifications for Foreigner".
  2. "Foreigner singles".
  3. Rivadavia, Eduardo. Foreigner: 4 at AllMusic. Retrieved April 29, 2020.
  4. Taylor, Sam (March 1996). "Foreigner". Q: 114.
  5. "Foreigner 4". Classic Rock. July 10, 2016. Retrieved May 2, 2022.
  6. "Anecdotes, "Curio Corner" - Foreigner - Silent Partners". Archived from the original on 2012-02-26. Retrieved 2009-08-13.
  7. "Hipgnosis' mind-bending album art – in pictures".
  8. Jeffries, Neil (July 2, 2016). "The Strange And True Story of Foreigner 4". Classic Rock. Louder Sound. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  9. Eric Minton (September 19, 1981). "Rick Wills of Foreigner is happy to be a juke box hero". The Sun. p. 18. Retrieved 2022-06-18 – via newspapers.com.
  10. "Foreigner - Foreigner 4: Album Of The Week Club Review". Classic Rock. Louder Sound. October 9, 2018. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  11. Wardlaw, Matt (May 2, 2015). "Top 10 Foreigner Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  12. Rivadavia, Eduardo (May 2, 2013). "Top 10 Underrated Foreigner Songs". Ultimate Classic Rock. Retrieved 2022-01-08.
  13. Dome, Malcolm. "The Top 10 Most Underrated Foreigner Songs". Classic Rock. Louder Sound. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  14. "Mick Jones' 11 Favourite Foreigner Songs". Classic Rock. Louder Sound. April 26, 2017. Retrieved 2022-06-17.
  15. "Foreigner - 4". Discogs.com. Archived from the original on 23 June 2009. Retrieved 2009-06-18.
  16. Audio Revolution review Archived 2016-03-04 at the Wayback Machine of Foreigner’s 4 DVD-Audio.
  17. Warner Premium Sound 14 September releases Archived August 13, 2011, at the Wayback Machine (in Japanese). Retrieved 2011-11-03.
  18. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 116. ISBN 0-646-11917-6.
  19. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0430". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  20. "Dutchcharts.nl – Foreigner – 4" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  21. "Le Détail des Albums de chaque Artiste – F". Infodisc.fr (in French). Archived from the original on 22 October 2014. Retrieved 9 June 2012. Select Foreigner from the menu, then press OK.
  22. "Offiziellecharts.de – Foreigner – 4" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  23. "Charts.nz – Foreigner – 4". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  24. "Swedishcharts.com – Foreigner – 4". Hung Medien. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  25. "Official Albums Chart Top 100". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  26. "Foreigner Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  27. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1981. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  28. "Top 100 Album-Jahrescharts" (in German). GfK Entertainment Charts. 1982. Archived from the original on 19 October 2021. Retrieved 3 April 2022.
  29. "Foreigner is no stranger Down Under" (PDF). Cash Box. September 3, 1983. p. 17. Retrieved December 7, 2021 – via World Radio History.
  30. "Canadian album certifications – Foreigner – Foreigner 4". Music Canada. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  31. "French album certifications – Foreigner – 4" (in French). InfoDisc. Retrieved 9 September 2021. Select FOREIGNER and click OK. 
  32. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Foreigner)" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  33. "British album certifications – Foreigner – 4". British Phonographic Industry. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
  34. "American album certifications – Foreigner – 4". Recording Industry Association of America. Retrieved 1 May 2021.
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