Foreigner’s Lou Gramm Revisits The Band’s Classic ‘4’ Album, Now Reissued

American-based rock band Foreigner performs onstage at the Rosemont Horizon, Rosemont, Illinois, November 8, 1981. Pictured are, from left, Mick Jones, on guitar, and vocalist Lou Gramm. (Photo by Paul Natkin/Getty Images)

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Singer Lou Gramm has a vivid memory of recording the ballad “Waiting for a Girl Like You” at New York City’s Electric Lady Studio for his band Foreigner more than 40 years ago. Gramm was adding his vocals for the track in the control room on the other side of the glass when he noticed a beautiful woman walking through the door. “She sits on the sofa in front of the board,” he says. “She looked at me while I was singing. And every now and then, she had a little smile on her face. I’m not sure what that was, but it was driving me crazy.

“And at the end of the song, when I’m singing the ad-libs and stuff like that, she gets up,” he continues. “She gives me a little smile and walks out of the room. And when the song ended, I would look up every now and then to see where Mick [Jones] and Mutt [Lange] were, and they were pushing buttons and turning knobs. They were not aware that she was even in the room. So when the song ended, I said, ‘Guys, who was that woman who walked in? She was beautiful.’ And they looked at each other, and they went, ‘What are you talking about? We didn’t see anything.’ But you know what? I think they put her up to it. Doesn’t that sound more like them?”

“Waiting for a Girl Like You” became a massive hit in 1981 for Foreigner off their album 4, which peaked at number one on the Billboard chart for 10 weeks and eventually sold six million copies in the U.S. This past Friday, 4 was reissued as a deluxe edition featuring a new stereo remix of the original album plus previously unreleased demos and live performances. “I think it was the band at its best,” Gramm says of 4. “The best songwriting, the best playing, and Mutt Lange’s production. We were at the top of our game.”

By the time Foreigner started working on what would become their fourth studio album, founding keyboardist Al Greenwood and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald exited the band, resulting in the lineup of Gramm, guitarist Mick Jones, drummer Dennis Elliott and bassist Rick Wills. The group’s previous record, 1979’s Head Games, was a commercial success, but in the eyes of Jones and Gramm, it was somewhat of a letdown.

“We wanted to do something different. I think our first three albums [Foreigner, Double Vision and Head Games] were a progression for a new band, and then settling into growing as a band. But after the Head Games album, Mick and I knew it was time to hit a home run or go home. We spent a lot of time working hours and hours on songs, writing songs. And then after Ian and Al left, we spent a lot of time trying to find different players who could suit the role that they once had. We wanted different people and different shades of the color. I think we were very successful in finding that. It was a joy to record.”

A major reason for 4’s sleek rock and New Wave sound was the addition of Robert John “Mutt” Lange as producer; his other credits at the time included Def Leppard and AC/DC. “I think it was brought up by somebody at the record company who mentioned him because they knew we were looking for a producer,” Gramm remembers. “We had interviewed other producers before, and we weren’t quite set on anybody. But when we talked him up, he seemed to know what we were after and how to get it for us. With his track record, it was just a natural fit.”

Gramm recalls spending long days at the recording studio, then going home for a couple of hours’ sleep, and then returning to the studio to resume the sessions for 4. “I remember going into the control room and we put the songs on, and we immediately were hit right between the eyes with the dynamics. Mutt did an incredible job of producing and mixing. And the songs had all different shades of gray and light, some of them very gritty, and some of them were just so soulful. So we walked out of there knowing that we had written and recorded our best work.”

The album contained tracks that would become Foreigner staples on rock radio and the stage, starting with the stone-cold rocker “Urgent,” which featured a memorable sax solo by R&B musician Junior Walker. “It was very different from anything else we had done,” Gramm says. “It walked the line between soul and hard rock. Junior Walker’s solo and the attitude of the band made that a very special and infectious song.”

Then there’s the blistering “Juke Box Hero,” an archetypal and semi-autobiographical song about a person’s journey to becoming a rock star. Says Gramm: “It had a rough symmetry to my own life early as a young kid living in Rochester, and my parents not wanting me to go downtown by myself. I got angry when they told me I couldn’t go. So I ran upstairs to my room. Meanwhile, I was putting on my clothes and my boots and making sure my hair looked all right. And I ran down the steps, pushed the door open, and ran out the door.

“In the distance, I could hear, ‘Louis, I’m going to kill you!’ [from my dad]. And I started laughing. Then I thought, ‘He means it. I hope I know what I’m doing.’ I got to a main road. I stuck my thumb out. And the first car that went by pulled over and picked me up. They had a bunch of kids in the car. They were going to the same place I wanted to go. And it was raining that night.”

“Waiting for a Girl Like You” was the biggest hit from 4 — it spent 10 weeks at number two on the Billboard chart, but it was held off from the top spot mostly by Olivia Newton-John’s “Physical.” “It’s one of those talking points of music,” Gramm says. “And it is. A lot of people mention that.” Looking back on that encounter with the mysterious woman in the recording studio, Gramm credits her for his vocal performance in the song. “It sounds like a great trick [by Mick and Mutt]. And I loved it. I know because she was there, I put more emotion in the song. How could you not?”

Along with the original album and bonus material, the new deluxe version of 4 contains several previously unreleased songs left off the final tracklist, including “Fool If You Love Him,” which now has a new verse written and recorded by Gramm.

“I hadn’t thought about it in a long time,” he says of that track. “It was brought to my attention by one of the guys in the band as something that we could redo. We could finish the lyrics, re-sing the lead vocals, and put it on the album. And I thought for a second, I went, ‘What a great idea.’

“I would say half of the vocals we kept because they were just fine. Then I had to write the words of the last verse. We recorded that. It was the same tone that I had when I sang that song 40 years ago. When I listened to it after I put the finishing touch on it, it sounded like the song had been finished all that time ago.”

Several tracks from 4 will be the focus of the group’s upcoming tour, Foreigner 4 Deluxe, with Gramm joining in as a special guest vocalist, ahead of the 50th anniversary of the band’s formation. He had previously performed with the current Foreigner lineup earlier this year in Latin America. “It’s great,” he says of the experience. “They’re a fine band, and they represent who Foreigner was and is in an exemplary manner. They know how to rock. They know how to kick back. They play ballads beautifully. It’s a very, very proficient band, and I have a lot of fun singing with them.”

During those shows, Gramm worked with the band’s guitarist, Luis Maldonado, who recently took over the lead vocals from the departing Kelly Hansen. “I think he’s awesome,” Gramm says about Maldonado. “He’s a great guy. He’s very talented and a great guitar player, which surprised me because at first, I just heard him sing, and he’s got a wonderful voice. And we dide some things on stage together, like a duet type thing. He’s terrific. Then I saw him pick up a guitar, and I almost fell over.”

The reissue of 4, the Foreigner 4 Deluxe tour, the band’s induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year, and the upcoming musical Feels Like the First Time are examples of the continued popularity of Foreigner’s music — a testament to the songwriting chemistry between Gramm and Jones, the sole member from the original lineup (Earlier this year, Jones publicly announced he was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and stopped perfoming onstage with the band as a result).

“Before we even wrote a note together,” Gramm says of Jones, “we talked about what we listened to and what we liked as we were growing up and stuff. And although he was on the other side of the ocean, I was the first British wave guy all the way: the Beatles, the Stones, the Searchers, the Animals, the Zombies and the Kinks – all that stuff. I loved it all. Particularly, I was an insane Beatles fan. So when he heard that and we began to write, the flames ignited. I don’t want to use a hackneyed phrase, but the rest is history. It really is.”

Foreigner’s Foreigner 4 Deluxe tour, with special guest Lou Gramm, begins Dec. 3.