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Double vision? One is hard pressed to discern even a single vision on the second Foreigner LP, which is one of the main reasons why this group's current ascendancy is so depressing. Whereas their debut album was wholly concerned with the all-too-familiar, hard-rock Pursuit of the Female ("You search through the years," sang Lou Gramm, "to find a woman, not a girl") Double Vision is incredibly self-absorbed and nearly paralyzed by redoubled caution. The same successful riffs are repeated again here, smoothed out but pulsing with that Gothic pseudopassion so popular now among fans of Kansas, Styx, Meat Loaf et al.
Foreigner combines this approach with another, one that apparently taps a dark, neurotic need in the America rock psyche: the unslakable thirst for a loud, simplistic English boogie band. Here the group continues a lineage that can be traced from Ten Years After through early Led Zeppelin to Bad Company, bands whose drone and thump was or is interrupted only by purple phrases and absurd metaphor mongering. Lots of groups have provided serviceable rock & roll from such a formula, but none of them was silly or prideful enough to allow the imagery and metaphors to dominate the music. Yet this is exactly what Foreigner has done on its new record.
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As befits a bunch who, among them, have labored in over sixteen professional bands, Foreigner's collective persona is that of the Great Trod Upon, the nice guy who takes shit from women in heroic amounts. That's what the first album's hit, "Cold as Ice," was about, and Double Vision inundates us with the same rather pathetic theme. Lead guitarist Mick Jones, long since extracted from Spooky Tooth, has written or cowritten every song but one here (the best one, by the way), and his self-pity knows no limit: he's bursting with romantic agony. At least that's what the title metaphor seems to be getting at -- all the pent-up frustration and rage felt by the narrator has found its pernicious outlet in a sort of ocular apoplexy. The rest of Jones' complaint is just incomprehensible: "No disguise/For that double vision...My double vision is the best of me." Huh?
Jones is also capable of quite a nasty vindictiveness on "Back Where You Belong," in which the feebleness of the melody fails to imbue his railing with the redeeming force of catharsis: "You treat me like a fool.../I'm gonna send you back where you belong." Where to, Mick? The dog pound?
Such undisguised bitterness pervades Double Vision, and the record's only good moments arise from spurts of tight ensemble playing. But that's the least we could expect form such grizzled veterans. And songs like "You're All I Am" do gratify in pleasantly odd ways. The surprise influence in this respect is the Beatles: Gramm's McCartney-like coo on "Blue Morning, Blue Day" is charming, while "Love Has Taken Its Toll" surges with a Revolver-era chorus -- all snap and cleverness -- as the guitars of Jones and Ed Gagliardi toss off a kinetic George Harrison/Paul McCartney blend.
But ultimately the group's skill is as mechanical as Mick Jones' paranoid misogyny. An instrumental is normally intended to show off a band's chops and smarts, yet the one provided here, "Tramontane," is puffy, quasi-ominous fluff, relying too heavily on Ian McDonald's spook-house organ effects. The tune's tense chords build but never break, and the accumulated suspense simply fades away.
What is most dispiriting about Foreigner is its patent lack of creative ambition. Not for an instant do we sense that these musicians are pushing themselves or trying to use their expertise to concoct something they find exciting. The emotions and motives asserted in their music are, when not just plain unbelievable, turgid and tawdry. Right now, the group's rhythms and Lou Gramm's singing tickle the ears of a lot of record buyers, but it's difficult to believe that this band will be able to keep its vast audience with more junk like this. We are not as dumb as Foreigner thinks we are.
- Ken Tucker, Rolling Stone, 9/7/78.
Bonus Reviews!
The hard rock group that made a multiplatinum debut last year follows up with another spirited collection of rock'n'roll that perhaps should stand as a model for competitors, so strong is the material. The six-man ensemble of noted English and American musicians has found a successful formula for combining driving rock with a sense of melody and lyrical precision. Guitarist/keyboardist/vocalist Mick Jones has sharpened his writing skills so greatly that they contain more melody and are custom made for the outstanding vocals of Lou Gramm. The rich, textured vocals and harmonies are striking as are the guitar and bass Iines. Keith Olsen moves in as producer here (along with Jones and guitarist Ian McDonald) and draws all of Foreigner's intensity. Best cuts: "Hot Blooded," "Double Vision," "Blue Morning, Blue Day," "Back Where You Belong," "I Have Waited So Long," "Tramontane."
- Billboard, 1978.
I like rock and roll so much that I catch myself getting off on "Hot Blooded," a typical piece of cock-rock nookie-hating carried along on a riff-with-chord change that's pure (gad) second-generation Bad Company. Fortunately, nothing else here threatens their status as the world's dullest group. Inspirational Verse: "She backhanded me 'cross my face." C-
- Robert Christgau, Christgau's Record Guide, 1981.
Building on the success of the first album, this followup yielded the Top 20 hits "Hot Blooded," "Double Vision," and "Blue Morning, Blue Day." * * *
- Donna DiChario, The All-Music Guide to Rock, 1995.
For a taste of the band's status as sorta-metal, sorta classic rockers, try the sophomore album, Double Vision. Fortified with hits such as "Blue Morning, Blue Day" and the title track, it's a prototypical 70s arena rock album. * * * 1/2
- Eric Deggans, Musichound Rock: The Essential Album Guide, 1996.
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