4 (Foreigner album)
4, also known as Foreigner 4, is the fourth studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on July 2, 1981 on Atlantic Records. Several singles from the album were hits, including "Urgent", "Waiting for a Girl Like You" and "Juke Box Hero".
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 seven million copies in the US alone.
Background and writing
The album was originally titled Silent Partners and later was changed to 4, 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. The resulting design was rejected by the band as they felt it was "too homosexual". 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.The album marked the completion of the band's shift to hard rock, begun in Head Games. Both Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood had left before the recording of 4. As a result, all of the songs on the album are compositions by Mick Jones and/or Lou 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 would later have a successful solo career.
Track listing
Personnel
Foreigner
- Lou Gramm – lead vocals, percussion
- Mick Jones – guitar, backing vocals, keyboards
- Rick Wills – bass guitar, backing vocals
- Dennis Elliott – drums, backing vocals
Additional personnel
- Hugh McCracken – slide guitar
- Thomas Dolby – main synthesizers
- Larry Fast – sequential synthesizer
- Bob Mayo – keyboard textures
- Michael Fonfara – keyboard textures
- Mark Rivera – saxophone, backing vocals
- Junior Walker – saxophone solo
- 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 and Tony Platt.
- Second engineer – Brad Samuelsohn
- Assistant engineers – Edwin Hobgood and Michel Sauvage
- Mastered by George Marino at Sterling Sound.
- Art Direction – Bob Defrin
- Design – Hipgnosis
- Management – Bud Prager
Surround releases
June 2015 saw its re-release on Atlantic Records premium 180-gram vinyl with its original 1981 classic track listing.
Certifications
Charts
Album – BillboardSingles – Billboard
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
| 1981 | "Juke Box Hero" | Mainstream Rock | 3 |
| 1981 | "Night Life" | Mainstream Rock | 14 |
| 1981 | "Urgent" | Club Play Singles | 32 |
| 1981 | "Urgent" | Mainstream Rock | 1 |
| 1981 | "Urgent" | Hot 100 | 4 |
| 1981 | "Waiting for a Girl Like You" | Adult Contemporary | 5 |
| 1981 | "Waiting for a Girl Like You" | Mainstream Rock | 1 |
| 1981 | "Waiting for a Girl Like You" | Hot 100 | 2 |
| 1982 | "Break It Up" | Hot 100 | 26 |
| 1982 | "Juke Box Hero" | Hot 100 | 26 |
| 1982 | "Luanne" | Hot 100 | 75 |