Unusual Heat

Foreigner: Johnny Edwards (vocals, guitar), Mick Jones (guitars, keyboards, background vocals), Rick Wills (bass, background vocals), Dennis Elliott (drums). Additional personnel: Terry Thomas (guitar, keyboards, background vocals), Richard Cottle, Tommy Mandel (keyboards), Tony Beard (electronic percussion), Ian Lloyd, Mark Rivera, Rachele Cappelli, Angela Cappelli (background vocals). All songs written or co-written by members of Foreigner. 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, ISBN13: B000002IRR ISBN10: B000002IRR Material Type: audioCD