Foreigner - Cold As Ice (2009)



Video: NTSC, MPEG-2 at 7 000 Kbps, 720 x 480 at 29.970 fps | Audio: AC-3 2ch. at 192 Kbps, AC-3 6ch. at 448 Kbps, DTS 6ch. at 1 510 Kbps
Genre: Rock | Label: Phantasm Imports Inc | Copy: Untouched | Release Date: 6 Jan 2009 | Runtime: 36 min. | 2,32 GB (DVD5)

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 (fresh off
late-'70s success with AC/DC) 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.

Tracklist:
01. Cold As Ice
02. Double Vision
03. Dirty White Boy
04. Women
05. Head Games
06. Juke Box Hero
07. I Don't Want to Live Without You (Jones)
08. I Want To Know What Love Is
09. Say You Will

Features:
- Direct Scene Access
- Interactive Menu








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