CD and Inserts are in Excellent Like New condition!!!
Jewel case has normal wear.
Overall, Agent Provocateur is a noteworthy Foreigner album. It may not be as hard rocking as some of their earlier 70's
albums, but it is still a strong collection of rockers and ballads
which offer a bit of variety throughout the disc.
TRACK LISTINGS
1) Tooth And Nail- Excellent mid-paced rocker which kicks off the album. Comparable to some of the band's earlier material. 9/10
2)
That Was Yesterday- The album's sleeper hit, a very melodic mid-paced
semi-ballad, which contains a strong synth melody. Excellent. 10/10
3)
I Want To Know What Love Is- Foreigner's very first #1 single. A slow
ballad which builds up the background vocals as the chorus draws in.
Nicely done. 10/10
4) Growing Up The Hard Way- One of my two
favorite rockers off the album. Mostly a synth/rock number, but it's
still very underrated in Foreigner's catalogue. 10/10
5) Reaction
To Action- My other favorite rocker here. The keyboards take backseat
to an all out classic electric guitar anthem. Also very underrated.
10/10
6) Stranger In My Own House- Here's where the album takes a
slight downhill turn. This song is slower, but still rocking, similar
to what the band Loverboy would do. 8/10
7) Love In Vain- Another mid-paced keyboard driven tune, almost like the track "Growing Up The Hard Way". Very catchy. 9/10
8)
Down On Love- This track is more of an optimistic ballad, which stands
out a little from some of Foreigner's sad ballads. Not bad. 8/10
9) Two Different Worlds- Yet another ballad, but more mellow like "I Want To Know What Love Is". Good, but not outstanding. 8/10
10)
She's Too Tough- The album closes with a faster pop rock track which
also sounds like a Loverboy song. Upbeat and catchy. 9/10
Product Details
- Audio CD (September 19, 1995)
- Original Release Date: 1984
- Number of Discs: 1
- Format:Original Recording Remastered
- Label: Atlantic / Wea
Foreigner Biography
While quite a few arena rock acts of the '70s found the
transformation into the '80s quite difficult, several acts continued to
flourish and enjoyed some of their biggest commercial success: Journey,
Styx, REO Speedwagon, and especially Foreigner. Foreigner's leader from
the beginning has been British guitarist Mick Jones, who first broke
into the music biz as a "hired gun" of sorts, appearing on recordings
by George Harrison and Peter Frampton, and as part of a later-day
version of hard rockers Spooky Tooth. By the mid-'70s, Jones had
relocated to New York City, where he was a brief member of the Leslie
West Band and served as an A&R man for a record company. But it
wasn't long before Jones felt the urge to be part of another rock
outfit as he sought to put together a band that would be able to
combine elements of rock, progressive, R&B, and pop into a single,
cohesive style.
Jones soon assembled a group consisting of
ex-King Crimson sax player Ian McDonald and ex-Ian Hunter drummer
Dennis Elliot (both of whom were British), along with New York
musicians Al Greenwood (keyboards), Ed Gagliardi (bass), and Lou Gramm
(vocals), the latter of which was previously a member of an obscure
'70s outfit called Black Sheep. Jones found immediate songwriting
chemistry with Gramm (one of the first songs they wrote together was
the eventual hit "Cold As Ice"), resulting in the newly formed band
taking the name Foreigner and signing a recording contract with
Atlantic Records. Foreigner's self-titled debut was issued in 1977 and
became an immediate hit on the strength of the hit singles "Feels Like
the First Time," "Long, Long Way From Home," and the aforementioned
"Cold As Ice," as the album would eventually go platinum five times
over.
Foreigner avoided the dreaded sophomore slump with an even
stronger follow-up release, 1978's Double Vision, which spawned such
further hit singles as "Hot Blooded" and its title track, and the album
stayed in the Top Ten for a solid six months. As a result, the album's
success established the sextet as an arena headliner and would go on to
become Foreigner's best-selling album of their career (selling seven
million copies in the U.S. alone by 2001). The group's third release
overall, Head Games, followed in 1979 and marked the first of many
subsequent lineup changes for the group, as Gagliardi was replaced by
ex-Peter Frampton and Roxy Music bassist Rick Wills. While the album
was another big seller and turned out to be their most straight-ahead
musically, both Gramm and Jones felt that the album failed to break any
new ground, something that they sought to correct on their next album.
The
band's lineup was cut back to just a quartet consisting of Jones,
Gramm, Elliot, and Wills as super-producer Mutt Lange (who was fresh
off the success of AC/DC's classic Back in Black) was enlisted to
oversee the proceedings. The ploy worked and the resulting 1981
release, 4, was another massive seller, spawning such further hit
singles as "Urgent" (which featured a blazing sax solo from Motown vet
Junior Walker), "Jukebox Hero," and the power ballad "Waiting for a
Girl Like You." Although the latter tune was a massive hit, it confused
some of the band's following as to whether Foreigner was a hard rock
band or balladeers. In 1982, a stopgap best-of set, Records, was
released and featured ten of band's biggest hit singles, remaining a
steady seller to this day (becoming Foreigner's second album to achieve
sales of seven million by 2001).
It took Foreigner three years to
complete a follow-up to 4 with Agent Provocateur being issued in 1984.
The band made the transition to the MTV video age without a hitch with
the over-the-top, gospel-inflected ballad "I Want to Know What Love Is"
(which featured the New Jersey Mass Choir) becoming one of the biggest
MTV and radio hits that year. But despite the single's success, there
was a noticeable dip in sales for Agent Provocateur when compared to
their earlier albums due to the fact that the album wasn't as focused
and strong overall as their previous recordings. After a mammoth
nine-month tour wrapped up a year later, both Jones and Gramm focused
on non-Foreigner projects during 1986. Jones produced Bad Company's
Fame and Fortune and co-produced Van Halen's hit debut recording with
Sammy Hagar, 5150, while Gramm worked on a solo debut. The release of
both Gramm's solo album, Ready or Not, as well as Foreigner's sixth
studio album overall, Inside Information, came in 1987. While both were
successful and spawned Top Ten hits (Gramm with "Midnight Blue" and
Foreigner with "Say You Will"), tension between Gramm and Jones came to
a head regarding the singer's desire to focus on his solo career, which
led to Gramm's split from Foreigner in 1989.
The same year as his
split from Foreigner, Gramm issued his second solo album, Long Hard
Look, which proved to be not as successful as its predecessor, while
Jones produced Billy Joel's Storm Front and issued a star-studded
self-titled solo debut. Jones, Elliot, and Wills tried to keep
Foreigner afloat with a new singer, Johnny Edwards, issuing a largely
ignored album in 1991, Unusual Heat, while Gramm fared no better with a
new outfit, Shadow King, issuing a forgotten self-titled debut the same
year. Seeing the error in their split, both Jones and Gramm listened to
the advice of Atlantic Records and reunited for the recording of three
all-new tracks to be included on a more extensive "hits" collection.
Issued in 1992, the 17-track The Very Best...And Beyond was Foreigner's
most commercially successful release in several years along with the
band's first live release, Classic Hits Live, issued a year later.
The
Gramm/Jones reunion soon turned permanent and new members Bruce Turgon
(bass) and Jeff Jacobs (keyboards) were welcomed on board. The latest
version of Foreigner issued an all-new studio recording in 1995, Mr.
Moonlight, which failed to return the group to the top of the charts.
Foreigner remained a popular concert attraction, but the band's future
was thrust into doubt in 1997 when Gramm was diagnosed with a brain
tumor. Luckily, the tumor was non-cancerous and was removed shortly
thereafter. Gramm's recovery was slow and painful, but by 1999, the
singer was well enough for Foreigner to team up with Journey for a
summer tour. The early 21st century saw the release of several archival
collections courtesy of the Rhino label: a pair of additional
collections, Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthology and Complete
Greatest Hits, as well as reissues of the group's self-titled debut and
4, both of which included extra bonus tracks. Can't Slow Down, a
three-disc set that included a new studio album, a disc of remixed
versions of the band's biggest hits, and a DVD documentary, arrived in
2009.
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