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Foreigner: Unusual Heat

 A l b u m   D e t a i l s


Label: Atlantic Records
Released: 1991.06.14
Time:
 51:13
Category: Pop/Rock
Producer(s): Mick Jones, Terry Thomas
Rating:
Media type: CD
Web address: www.foreigneronline.com
Appears with:
Purchase date: 2014
Price in €: 1,00





 S o n g s ,   T r a c k s


[1] Only Heaven Knows (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 4:47
[2] Lowdown and Dirty (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 4:21
[3] I'll Fight for You (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 6:02
[4] Moment of Truth (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 4:25
[5] Mountain of Love (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 4:37
[6] Ready for the Rain (J.Edwards/J.Northrup/M.Jones/T.Thomas) - 5:02
[7] When the Night Comes Down (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 4:43
[8] Safe in My Heart (M.Jones) - 4:32
[9] No Hiding Place (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 3:55
[10] Flesh Wound (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 4:17
[11] Unusual Heat (M.Jones/J.Edwards/T.Thomas) - 4:32

 A r t i s t s ,   P e r s o n n e l


Johnny Edwards - Guitar, Vocals, Background Vocals
Mick Jones - Guitar, Keyboard, Background Vocals, Producer, Mixing
Rick Wills - Bass, Background Vocals
Dennis Elliott- Drums

Tony Beard - Percussion, Electronic Percussion
Angela Cappelli - Background Vocals
Rachele Cappelli - Background Vocals
Richard Cottle - Keyboard
Lani Groves - Background Vocals
Felix Krish - Bass
Ian Lloyd - Background Vocals
Tom Mandel - Keyboard
Mark Rivera - Background Vocals
Terry Thomas - Guitar, Keyboard, Background Vocals, Producer, Mixing
Vaneese Thomas - Background Vocals

Rafe McKenna - Engineer, Mixing
Andrew Scarth - Engineer, Mixing
Bruce Calder - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Michael Gilbert - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
John Herman - Assistant Engineer, Mixing Assistant
Lolly Grodner - Assistant Engineer
Ellen Fitton - Assistant Engineer
Jon Mallison - Assistant Engineer
Bernhard Speyer - Assistant Engineer
Ted Jensen - Mastering
Bob Defrin - Art Direction
Tim White - Photography

 C o m m e n t s ,   N o t e s


1991 CD Atlantic - 7 82299-2



With Rick Willis on bass, Dennis Elliot playing drums, Mick Jones on guitar/keyboards, and the debut of Johnny Edwards from King Kobra and Buster Brown on vocals, the 1991 version of Foreigner actually was better than one would expect. Ten of the 11 songs on the Unusual Heat CD were written by co-producer Terry Thomas, new singer Johnny Edwards, and band mainstay Mick Jones, and they still had that bombast and brash appeal of the group which once featured so many textures brought to life by the voice of Lou Gramm. The unusual thing about Unusual Heat is that it is actually a good product and quite listenable. "Only Heaven Knows" kicks things off, and it could be the second cousin (or sequel) to Lou Gramm's solo smash from four years earlier, 1987's "Midnight Blue." Edwards is a stylish vocalist, and he, like the multiple replacements for Bad Company's Paul Rodgers, the Guess Who's Burton Cummings, and the Jefferson Starship's Grace Slick, has that tonal quality that can keep the public happy by keeping the sound consistent with what came before. "Lowdown and Dirty" actually got onto the band's Rhino double-CD retrospective Juke Box Heroes, and is another solid rocker. Everything here sounds very much like the product Foreigner was known for, but as slick album-oriented rock was fighting other genres vying for the public's attention, it may have been more advisable for the group to go into a slightly different direction -- some acoustic music here might have been a nice break from the generic onslaught. The lone Mick Jones solo composition, "Safe in My Heart," is mellow, but not a dramatic departure needed to establish a new identity. But it's all hooky hard pop, from "I'll Fight for You" to the "Juke Box Hero" clone that is "No Hiding Place" and the title track, "Unusual Heat," a strong chorus surrounded by the thumping hard rock sound. It's a record Johnny Edwards, Mick Jones, and crew can be proud of. Guest appearances by Stories' Ian Lloyd (Mick Jones had, after all, worked on Lloyd's Third World Civilization solo outing), and additional keyboardists Tommy Mandel and Richard Cottle make things somewhat interesting, though the keys take a back seat on this album (you have to strain your ears at some point to hear them, à la when Flo & Eddie called Mountain's Steve Knight "the most useless man in rock & roll"). It may have been funny, but as Corky Laing came to Knight's defense, saying he kept the rhythms going, the rhythm and spirit is prevalent on this interesting addition to the Foreigner catalog. In an ironic turn of events, bassist Rick Willis departed after this for Atlantic labelmate Bad Company.

Joe Viglione - All Music Guide



It was the '90s and the gods of rock 'n' roll permitted formerly awesome '70s bands to return to their guitar rock origins... (or in Foreigner's case, formerly sucky '70s bands). However, Foreigner's transition out of the '80s wasn't that abrupt; they were still relying heavy on formulaic power ballads and those loud-ass stadium drums. At least they toned down the keyboards. Whenever you hear them, they're either so faint that you can barely make them out or they're more hardened electric pianos. (I didn't like their bland synthesizer tones all that much in their '80s albums, but the lack of keyboards did make a few of these power ballads seem under-orchestrated. Not that orchestrating them more would have helped matters, because they still would have sucked.)

Unfortunately for Foreigner, and bands like them, they were universally considered dinosaurs by the '90s, which means that there was no way that Unusual Heat was going to generate any mass appeal. This thing only made it to #117 on the charts, which was so much of a fizzle that it probably made their mothers cry. Some critics blame this album's commercial failure over the fact that lead singer Lou Gramm was not present for it, but I'm telling you that he wouldn't have helped at all. The only people who cared about Foreigner's original guitar-rock were people from the '70s who had just undergone a decade of keyboard-driven disillusionment. Newly emerged music fans didn't get this album, because they were well aware from perusing their father's music collection that Foreigner sucked. (By the way Lou Gramm was replaced with the similar sounding Johnny Edwards. I didn't even notice it was somebody else singing until I read that on Wikipedia. I suppose Edwards can't hit some of the notes as well as Gramm, but they're both pretty dastardly.)

This album sucks, too, and in all the usual ways. This is a lot like their '70s albums except it doesn't have any definitive show-stopping hits on it. Sure, there are one or two songs that come close to that (namely “Moment of Truth” and the title track), but they don't quite make it enough to give me the desire to listen to them again after completing this review. “Moment of Truth” uses a generic but somewhat catchy riff, and its chorus generates some steam. The title track easily has the album's best melody, but even that's a far cry from their “Cold as Ice” glory days. Other than those two, the songs range from bland toe-tappers to forgettable power ballads.

The opening song, “Only Heaven Knows” is a good early indication of how lame this album is. It's a completely forgettable but mildly enjoyable polished guitar rocker with lead vocals that are boringly over-sung. Need I say anything else about that? The second song “Low Down and Dirty” is a similar story... Anyone but the most strident fans of '90s guitar-rock from middle-aged men would like these. The rest of us would just yawn.

That said, an album full of forgettable but mildly enjoyable toe-tapping guitar rockers like those should be enough to earn an album an 8, but there was a bit of a surprising over-reliance of power-ballads here. Five of these 11 songs fit that bill. The only one that doesn't bore me to tears is “When the Night Comes Down,” which has a surprisingly energetic chorus. But let's pass on the others.

I'm not sure who to recommend this album to, if anyone. I suppose if you thought I was being rather pigheaded when reviewing their classic '70s albums and you really like their guitar-rock sound, then you might give this a whirl if the mood strikes you. But with the lack of clear hits on it like “Double Vision” and “Cold as Ice,” I doubt even their most faithful fans would find too many occasions to play this. (And their most strident of fans are probably too disappointed over the absence of Gramm........ that I didn't initially notice.) Only get this if you can find it dirt cheap somewhere, if you have to get it at all.

DonIgnacio.com



Unusual Heat is the seventh studio album by American rock band Foreigner, released in 1991. By now original frontman Lou Gramm had parted company with the band and had been replaced by original Wild Horses singer Johnny Edwards. The album was a commercial failure and Gramm returned to the band the following year.

The commercial failure likely was due the general public's in ability to accept Johnny Edwards as the new lead singer. Lou Gramm being the front man for all previous albums. The album carries a harder edge than all albums up to this point. The song writing is strong, melodic, lyrically poignant. Mick Jones knew what he was doing and Johnny Edwards was the perfect replacement. In many instances, very similar to Lou Gramm and at times appears to be a stronger singer. But as the listening public goes, there tends to be a lot of musical ignorance. Johnny lasted only one album

Wikipedia.org
 

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