• AllMyVinyl #137
• Band: Foreigner
• Album Title: Inside Information
• Release Date: 7 Dec 1987
• Date purchased: Unknown
• Location purchased: Unknown
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

In 1984, Foreigner followed up their “4” album with one that while perhaps not as notable, I found to be musically just as good – that’s “Agent Provocateur”.  I loved that album (Tooth and Nail, That Was Yesterday, Reaction to Action).  It of course spawned an ultra hit – that being “I Want to Know What Love Is”.  I saw the tour for this album, and they did a bang up job with that live (with a live chorus and everything).  The problem si I think they fell in love with that popularity a bit too much, because when it came time for their next album – and the one I’m doing today, they leaned in that direction far too much.  I’m speaking of 1987’s “Inside Information”.

The band on this album is the same as on the prior two (4, Agent Provocateur).  That’s Lou Gramm on vocals, Mick Jones on guitar and keyboards, Rick Wills on bass, & Dennis Elliott on drums.   So these guys know how to write some good shit.  Plus there’s the pre-4 albums when there was a different lineup, but these four know what they’re doing.  I remember being really disappointed when this album came out, because I was expecting more rock stuff.  It’s the same kind of thing that happened to Night Ranger – they became known for being “The Sister Christian” band, and couldn’t escape that.  Foreigner leaned into it – this album is overall far more mellow than the ones before it, and honestly was boring.

The copy I have today is one or the rescues from my mom’s basement, and one I would have bought back in the day.  I must have really been into Foreigner then, because when this came out (Dec 1987) I was deep in my cassette/walkman era, and starting in on CD’s.  I didn’t get my first CD player until 25 Dec 1987 (Christmas present), so I had mostly stopped buying vinyl at this time.  I don’t remember buying this, but it’s here, so I did.  I am a bit surprised I didn’t buy it on cassette though as that was my main driver then.  Oh well.  :)

Full disclosure, I wasn’t planning on writing an album today as I have a bunch of other things going on.  I initially started this series as a daily thing, but as these articles evolved, they have morphed into these 2,000 (or more) word long essays, and pumping those out daily became a grind, so I moved to a couple a week.  I bring this up because today when my daughter woke up she came by my office and asked “What’s today’s album, Dad?”  Apparently my vinyl series has wormed into the brain of my family too, so because she asked me, I was determined to get an album in today.  That’s this one.  :)

As I sit down to write this thing today, I can honestly say I remember ONE song from this thing by title.  That’s the lead single – “Say You Will”.  Literally nothing else from this album jumps to mind, and that’s sad.  Foreigner is one of my all time favorite bands, but I have to say I have a huge feeling of trepidation leading into today’s listen, I’m expecting nothing – even the one song I know is pretty down there by their standards.  How can this be the same four guys who wrote Urgent & Juke Box Hero?

When I was getting the links and info for the header here, I ran across an article called “Why Foreigner went soft with Inside Information“.  That this turns up in a google search for “Foreigner Inside Information” is kind of telling.

Heart Turns to Stone – This song starts off with a guitar riff that sounds like good old traditional Foreigner.  In the first notes out of the gate, it shows promise, but it ends quickly.  Before the vocals start you hear that insidious mid 80’s synth sound that permeated rock at the time.  When the vocals start, you can hear flashes of the old Foreigner here, but the bulk of the track is the kind of slower stuff that makes you go “Yeah, this isn’t great”.  That opening riff that I liked does make an appearance again a few more times, but this sounds like so much of the era (that isn’t good), it’s a rather weak way to open the album.  It was also the third single off the album, but man, it definitely falls under “three strikes and you’re out”.

Can’t Wait – Things don’t start off much better with the second song, it’s super slow at the start, which is more “ughhh”.   It does however change gears when we get to the chorus as it has a big rock sound, which I quite liked.  That part of the song is quite good – I wish the entire thing was.  When we go back to the verse, it’s super slow again.  What a tease.  The chorus part is quite good.  The verse isn’t.  Kind of makes me think Gramm & Jones both had different ideas on what to do with this song and this is what we got because of it.  The guitar solo is quite good, however.  This song tried to be a good classic Foreigner song, but it was drug down by the keyboard influence of this era.

Say You Will – The first single from the album is the one song I knew before sitting down today.  If people know any song off this album, it’s this one, as it was the one that got the biggest push back in the day.  It’s “ok”.  I don’t hate it, but man, it’s such a let down from the stuff we got on the two albums before this with the same lineup.  Even though I listen to the song now, there’s nothing in that makes you think “I’ve got to listen to that again”.

I Don’t Want to Live Without You – The second single from the album was IMO definitely designed to capture the “I Wanna Know What Love Is” crowd.  Only this one is a pale comparison of that song.  It’s easily the slowest most sappy ballad thing I can think they’ve done.  It’s borderline unlistenable.  Ugh.

Counting Every Minute – Side one of the album closes out with a song that finally remembers what Foreigner is supposed to be. This starts off with a good guitar riff, and a fast beat.  Totally stomps on the three song that precede it on the album.  Shockingly it doesn’t deviate from that, and remains like that through the entire rest of the song.  I have absolutely forgotten about this song, as it’s something that definitely would have fit in on the albums before this. Even found myself tapping my feet to the beat like I was playing the drums, so that’s a good sign.  This is a GOOD song, I wish there was more like this on the album, I would have remembered it far more fondly.

Inside Information – The title track sounds like something we’d get out of Genesis around this time.  It’s written solely by Mick Jones, but isn’t oddly guitar dominated because of that.  It’s not a ballad.  It’s not a fast rocker like the song right before this on the album.  It’s got a fair enough beat to it.  A little too keyboard influenced, it’s tolerable.  A decent enough Foreigner song.  Definitely better than the ballad stuff that permeates most of this album.

The Beat of My Heart – A song with a more guitar oriented feel.  Not a fast one, but still has a beat I enjoyed.  Anything that’s got a guitar oriented sound will stand out on this album.  If you put this back on the 70’s era Foreigner albums it probably would get overlooked, but it stands out here simply because it has a guitar sound.  Lyrics are a bit repetitive too.  Oh well.  Guitar sound isn’t bad – at least it’s not another ballad.

Face to Face – This isn’t a slow sappy Foreigner song, but it commits a cardinal sin with me by being boring.  Has a keyboard solo.  Jon Lord they are not.

Out of the Blue – The only song on the album credited to all four guys, and if I’m reading right, the only song in the entire history of the classic era of Foreigner to be written by all of the guys.  Uh, it sounds like everything else (that’s not good) on the album.  I wonder why this one was credited to all of them.  I thought about making a joke about “too many cooks”, but I can’t even go there as why you’d want to be credited with a weak ballad song that’s not great…

A Night To Remember – This album’s closing song starts with a riff that sounds ripped right out of the first two Foreigner albums – their rock first era.  This reminds me a bit of some of the stuff I liked from the Agent Provocateur album at times.  But while I like the faster pace and the opening guitar riff, it still feels like it’s missing something – I can’t quite put my finger on it, which is a shame as I really wanted to like this.  Definitely better than most of the stuff on the album, however.   A fair album closer, but not killer.    Take the keys out, I might have enjoyed it more.

This review ended up being far shorter than most of my recent output, but that’s got a lot to do with the fact that I didn’t really care for it to much.  :)

Inside Information was the last time this combination of members would play together, as on the album after this (1991’s Unusual Heat) Lou Gramm left and they had a different singer. They had another in 1994 (Mr. Moonlight) which had Gramm return, but it was just he & Mick Jones with a bunch of other guys. Their final studio album in 2009 had just Mick Jones on it from the OG Foreigner.  So Inside Information brings to an end what most people consider to be “Original Foreigner”.  It’s such a disappointing way to go out.

I was hoping for so much more with this, and today’s listen didn’t change anything in that regard (except for one song – Counting Every Minute).

This might be the final time I ever play this album from start to finish.

P.S.  After I published this, I mentioned the line right above this to my wife, who responded with “Have you ever thought about getting rid of any of your albums?”  I just chuckled and said “It doesn’t work that way.”  :)