Foreigner - "Live on Stage" DVD Review (XXL Media)

Prior to watching Foreigner’s forthcoming live DVD “Live On Stage”, I had completely forgotten about Japan’s Super Rock Festival. After doing some on-line searches, my best guess is that the festival ran two years - 1984 and 1985. This live set is from Foreigner’s appearance on August 10, 1985 and the band was touring behind their fifth disc, Agent Provocateur, at the time. The festival lineup appears to have been pretty eclectic as Foreigner played alongside Dio, Rough Cut, Mama’s Boys and Sting.

Foreigner’s performance runs sixty minutes and, while the set is weighted more toward AOR material from Foreigner 4 and Agent Provocateur, the band doesn’t ignore its older material and touches on songs from all of their albums. This DVD also marks the release of the first full-length concert by the Lou Graham fronted lineup of Foreigner. While Classic Hits Live also featured Lou Graham, it compiled tracks from shows between 1978 – 1988 and seems more weighted to the guitar-rock of Foreigner’s early days.

Super Rock Festival 1985 Set List:
1. Long, Long Way From Home
2. Head Games
3. Waiting For A Girl Like You
4. Luanne
5. That Was Yesterday
6. I Want To Know What Love Is
7. Reaction To Action
8. Urgent
9. Dirty White Boy
10. Hot Blooded
11. Juke Box Hero





While the AOR sound and synthesizer-driven power ballads of the 80’s may sound a bit dated today, bands like Van Halen (with Sammy Hagar), Night Ranger and Foreigner dominated FM-radio at that time. The overall performance is solid as the band had completed their evolution into an arena rock band with Agent Provocateur and any of the rough-edges from the band’s early days were long smoothed over.



The band hit their commercial peak with Foreigner 4 but any fans of the band will want to check out Live On Stage. This tour was the “last hurrah” for this lineup of the band as they ran out of gas two years later on Inside Information (1987).

Looking now at the audio and video quality - this show was broadcast on Japanese TV so all the footage is pro-shot and multi-camera. This brings up my one complaint with this disc as it looks like a VHS tape was used as the source that was one or two generations from the master. The audio portion of the show though sounds perfect.

Lou Graham is currently fronting The Lou Graham Band, who released a Christian rock album in 2009. Mick Jones and the Kelly Hansen-fronted lineup of Foreigner are currently on tour with Journey and Night Ranger.

Foreigner 2011 Tour Dates:
September 21, 2011 - San Antonio, TX - AT&T Center
September 22, 2011 - Austin, TX - Frank Erwin Center
September 24, 2011 - Dallas, TX - Gexa Energy Pavilion (SOLD OUT)
September 25, 2011 - Houston, TX - Cynthia Mitchell Woods Pavilion
September 27, 2011 - Oklahoma City, OK - Zoo Amphitheater
September 28, 2011 - Kansas City, MO - Starlight Theatre
September 30, 2011 - Albuquerque, NM - Hard Rock Casino presents the Pavilion
October 01, 2011 - Englewood, CO - Comfort Dental Amphitheatre
October 04, 2011 - Santa Barbara, CA - Santa Barbara Bowl
October 05, 2011 - Concord, CA - Sleep Train Pavilion at Concord
October 07, 2011 - Chula Vista, CA - Cricket Wireless Amphitheatre
October 08, 2011 - Las Vegas, NV - MGM Grand Garden Arena
October 11, 2011 - Los Angeles, CA - Hollywood Bowl
October 12, 2011 - Fresno, CA - Save Mart Center
October 14, 2011 - Wheatland, CA - Sleep Train Amphitheatre
October 15, 2011 - Mountain View, CA - Shoreline Amphitheatre
October 19, 2011 - Portland, OR - Rose Garden
October 21, 2011 - Seattle, WA - Key Arena

Links:
Foreigner

Samantha Ronson Plays Bowery Electric on September 9th

This show is sure to draw an eclectic crowd...

Uber-DJ Samantha Ronson (who is the one-time girlfriend of Lindsay Lohan, step-daughter of Foreigner's Mick Jones, sister of producer Mark Ronson, etc.) has started to play some live dates with her new band Samantha Ronson and the Undertakers. According to Huffington Post, the band played their first "real show" in July at the Blue Note Jazz Club and the "audience responded well to Ronson's songs and banter, and though the singer seemed a bit nervous at times, the show seemed to go off without a hitch... those who see her live will be shocked at the transition from chronic photographer-flipper-off-er to gentle love song crooner."

Ronson's album, Chasing The Reds, was co-written with Jimmy Messer (from Kelly Clarkson's band) and, while that says a lot for the musical direction of the album, Ronson also co-wrote the song "Save Me" from the new Foreigner album.



Tickets are $13 and Ronson is sharing the bill with indie-punkers The Happy Problem and Brooklyn What.

Links:
Samantha Ronson

Foreigner - Can't Slow Down CD Review (Rhino/Atlantic)

When I was a teenager, 70's rock bands like Foreigner, Styx, Van Halen and Aerosmith were staples of FM radio. I haven't actively listened to Foreigner in almost twenty years but those first 3 - 4 albums were such a part of my youth that I still know the words to every song on each of these albums. I lost touch with what Foreigner was doing in the mid-80's as I couldn't get into the keyboard-heavy sound that the band started embracing with Agent Provocateur (1984) and I only heard a bit of Mr. Moonlight (1994) which didn't do much for me. As such, I didn't have high hopes for Foreigner's first new studio album in fifteen years - Can't Slow Down. I'm happy to say that my fears were unfounded - Can't Slow Down is a great AOR album fits right in with the first four Foreigner albums.

Vocalist Kelly Hansen has been fronting Foreigner for four years now and his voice sounds like an edgier, more emotive Lou Graham. Hansen paid his dues in the LA club scene fronting bands like Hurricane (which included Robert Sarzo and Tony Cavazo, younger brothers of Quiet Riot's Rudy Sarzo and Carlos Cavazo). The other musicians in Foreigner include Brian Tichy (who has toured/written with Velvet Revolver, Slash's Snakepit, Billy Idol, etc.), Jeff Pilson (Dokken, Dio), Thom Gimbel (Aerosmith, Jon Butcher) and Michael Bluestein (who comes from a jazz background).

The thirteen songs on Can't Slow Down include rockers, power ballads and a remake of "Fool For You Anyway" (which was originally on Foreigner's debut CD). The disc starts out strong with the title track "Can't Slow Down", which was written as a salute to NASCAR in celebration of Foreigner’s appearance at the Samsung 500 at the Texas Motor Speedway. Some of the other strong rockers include "Give Me A Sign" and "Too Late" (which appeared on last year's best-of compilation and it is the only cut to feature the now-departed Jason Bonham on drums).



The slower songs are predominately power ballads that (thankfully) don't fall into the schmaltz/syrupy trap that some of the 70's rock have fallen into in recent years. These songs have some "teeth" to them and should keep the lighters in the air during the band's live set. Two of the stronger power ballads are "When It Comes To Love" and "I'll Be Home Tonight".


What really impressed me with this package is that it is a 2CD/1DVD set that retails for $12 at Walmart. Disc 2 contains 10-tracks of Foreigner's greatest hits. This isn't a re-recording of these songs - Anthony Focx (Guitar Hero) and Marti Frederiksen (Aerosmith) have remixed the original songs (with Lou Graham on vocals) to give them a bit more edge and punchiness. The last disc is a live DVD that shows the band performing new and classic Foreigner while on tour in Europe earlier this year. What stuck me right away is that Kelly Hansen shows he can seamlessly deliver both the old and new material. Long-time fans may end up saying "Lou who?" over time.

Foreigner are playing some California dates to wind out the year and then are back on the East Coast in January. There aren't any NYC dates scheduled right now but there are some holes in the tour schedule so a New York/New Jersey date would seem likely. Here are the current tour dates:

1/15/10 -- Tampa, FL, Ruth Eckerd Hall
1/16/10 -- Silver Springs, FL, Silver Springs Twin Mansions Theater
1/21/10 -- St. Charles, MO, Bottleneck Blues Bar @ Ameristar Casino St. Charles
1/22/10 -- Paducah, KY, Carson Four Rivers Center
1/23/10 -- French Lick, IN, French Lick Resort Casino
2/18/10 -- Troy, OH, Hobart Arena
2/19/10 -- Rama, Ontario, Casino Rama
2/20/10 -- Rama, Ontario, Casino Rama
2/21/10 -- Kingston, NY, Ulster Performing Arts Center
2/24/10 -- Lancaster, PA, American Music Theatre
2/26/10 -- Harris, MI, Island Resort & Casino
2/27/10 -- Harris, MI, Island Resort & Casino

Links:
Foreigner's Website

Foreigner Release New 2CD/1DVD Set "Can't So Down" on 9/29/09 (Rhino)

STREAM: Foreigner - Seven Tracks from "Can't Slow Down" (Rhino)

I lost track of Foreigner for a number of years but they came back onto my radar when they opened for Led Zeppelin's reunion show in late 2007. The reconstituted band has been getting some great reviews for their live shows over the past few years and seem to be regularly selling out 1,000 - 1,500 capacity auditoriums.

Later this month, Foreigner is putting out their first dic of new material since 1994's Mr. Moonlight. The band is releasing the 2-CD/1-DVD set, Can't Slow Down, exclusively through WalMart on 9/29 for the price of $12. (Getting off-track for a moment, I have to applaud the band for the price point for this set. The iTunes AppStore has sold a ton of apps by keeping the price point low and it is nice to see some parts of the music industry follow suit.)

Can't Slow Down contains thirteen new songs (disc one), ten remixes of Foreigner's greatest hits (disc two) and a live DVD with performances from the band's recent European tour.

For anyone who hasn't been keeping with Foreigner, principal songwriter/guitarist Mick Jones is still the driving force behind the band. For the last few years, Kelly Hansen (from the late-80's blues/hard rock band Hurricane) has been on vocals and he hits the old and new material perfectly.

Foreigner is in town for a couple area shows in early October:
10/1/09 -- Westbury, NY, Capitol One Bank Theatre
10/2/09 -- New York, NY, Nokia Theatre
10/3/09 -- Lakewood, NJ, FirstEnergy Park
10/4/09 -- Torrington, CT, The Warner Theatre
10/6/09 -- Englewood, NJ, Bergen Performing Arts Center

Links:
Foreigner