Foreigner | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | July 1973 | |||
Recorded | March 1973 | |||
Studio | Dynamic Studios, Kingston, Jamaica Atlantic Studios, New York | |||
Genre | Soft rock, blue-eyed soul, folk rock, art rock, progressive rock | |||
Length | 36:09 | |||
Label | Island (UK/Europe) A&M (US/Canada) | |||
Producer | Cat Stevens | |||
Cat Stevens chronology | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Foreigner is the seventh studio album released by British-Emirati singer-songwriter Cat Stevens in July 1973. In addition to the minor hit "The Hurt", which received a moderate amount of airplay, Foreigner also included such songs as "100 I Dream" and the 18-minute-long "Foreigner Suite", which took up the entirety of side one.
It is the first album written and produced solely by Stevens.
In Canada, the album was ranked at #100 for its first 3 weeks before jumping to #48. It reached its peak of #5 in the 9th week, ranking #5, 5, 6, 5, 5, 6 before going down. [2]
At the pinnacle of Stevens' success with four consecutive platinum and gold albums: Mona Bone Jakon , Tea for the Tillerman , Teaser and the Firecat , and Catch Bull at Four , Stevens had a dedicated audience and fan base who wanted more. However, he himself thought his music too predictable, leaving him in a creative rut. He decided to write and produce his next album himself, surprising many others, given that Alun Davies, his close friend and first guitar in his backing band, and his producer, Paul Samwell-Smith (formerly of The Yardbirds) in particular, were instrumental in assisting Stevens to form the definitive signature sound that had brought Stevens to the height of his stardom. Seeking an alternative, he focused on the kinds of music that had begun to inspire him, which he heard on the radio: R&B music.
Bands that moved him included The Blue Notes and Stevie Wonder. Stevens came to realise that the music that he had always loved originated not as rock and roll, but what he had been introduced to as "black music". Lead Belly instantly came to mind, who had been one of his favourites. In his mind, he'd learned about "black music" almost through the back door, while also being moved toward both musicals and acoustic folk music. In deciding to drop all the musical influences in his band, he hoped to foster those early soulful sounds himself. In an interview with Circus Magazine , Stevens said: "If black music was happening, I decided to just get down to it. And because I was a stranger in the world of black sounds, I called the album Foreigner." [3]
Stevens additionally named the album Foreigner because he took up residency in Brazil as a tax exile. He recorded Foreigner in Jamaica. On 9 November 1973, Stevens performed the song on ABC's In Concert , a 90-minute program they named the Moon & Star, including the full 18-minute "Foreigner Suite" without commercial interruption. [4]
Although Foreigner sold well, with the album reaching No. 3 on both sides of the Atlantic, it was not favourably reviewed, and its release was not followed by a tour.
In 2009, Stevens (now known as Yusuf Islam) entered into legal proceedings alongside Joe Satriani in a lawsuit against the band Coldplay, alleging that they had (at least unintentionally) plagiarised respective works by both artists ("If I Could Fly" by Satriani and Stevens' "Foreigner Suite") for the melody to Coldplay's "Viva la Vida" from their Grammy Award winning album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends . [5] Yusuf added that he has forgiven Coldplay and would love to sit down and have a cup of tea with them. The section that resembles "Viva la Vida" begins at about 14:30 until the end of the 18-minute song.
Likewise, the same song segment may have unintentionally been sourced for "Hold Me 'Til the Mornin' Comes," a 1983 song from Paul Anka and Peter Cetera.[ citation needed ]
All tracks written by Cat Stevens.
=== Side One
=== Side Two
Chart (1973) | Peak position |
---|---|
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report) [6] | 4 |
Canada Top Albums/CDs ( RPM ) [7] | 5 |
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista) [8] | 9 |
German Albums (Offizielle Top 100) [9] | 18 |
Italian Albums ( Musica e Dischi ) [10] | 5 |
Norwegian Albums (VG-lista) [11] | 1 |
UK Albums (OCC) [12] | 3 |
United States (Billboard 200) | 3 |
Joseph Satriani is an American rock guitarist, composer, and songwriter. Early in his career he worked as a guitar instructor, with many of his former students achieving fame, including Steve Vai, Larry LaLonde, Rick Hunolt, Kirk Hammett, Andy Timmons, Charlie Hunter, Kevin Cadogan, and Alex Skolnick. Satriani went on to have a successful solo music career, starting in the mid-1980s. He is a 15-time Grammy Award nominee and has sold over ten million albums, making him the bestselling instrumental rock guitarist of all time.
Yusuf Islam, commonly known by his stage names Cat Stevens, Yusuf, and Yusuf / Cat Stevens, is a British singer-songwriter and musician. He has sold more than 100 million records and has more than two billion streams. His musical style consists of folk, rock, pop, and, later in his career, Islamic music. Following two decades in which he performed only music which met strict religious standards, he returned to making secular music in 2006. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2014. He has received two honorary doctorates and awards for promoting peace as well as other humanitarian awards.
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"Peace Train" is a 1971 song by Cat Stevens, taken from his album Teaser and the Firecat. The song climbed to No. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart during the week of November 6, 1971, becoming Stevens' first US Top 10 hit. The song also spent three weeks at No. 1 on the adult contemporary chart. It is also featured on The Very Best of Cat Stevens compilation album. He re-recorded the song for the charity War Child in 2003.
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"Here Comes My Baby" is a song written by British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens. It is well known for being an international hit for the Tremeloes in 1967.
"The First Cut Is the Deepest" is a 1967 song written by British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, originally released by P. P. Arnold in April 1967. Stevens's own version originally appeared on his album New Masters in December 1967.
Izitso is the tenth studio album by the British singer-songwriter Cat Stevens, released in April 1977. After the lacklustre Numbers, the album proved to be his comeback. The album updated the rhythmic folk rock and pop rock style of his earlier albums with the extensive use of synthesizers and other electronic music instruments, giving the album a more electronic rock and synthpop style, and anticipating elements of electro.
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An Other Cup is the twelfth studio album by Yusuf, released on 10 November 2006 in Germany, 13 November in the UK and the US and worldwide on 14 November. It is Yusuf's first Western pop album since Back to Earth, which was released in 1978 under the name Cat Stevens. An Other Cup is the artist's first studio album under the name Yusuf. It heralded his return to Western pop music.
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"Violet Hill" is a song by British rock band Coldplay. It was written by all members of the band for their fourth album, Viva la Vida or Death and All His Friends (2008). Built around a repeating guitar sound, it utilises a marching tempo, supported by the pianos and rhythms that accompany the song's lyrics. The song was initially made available as a free download on the band's website and was downloaded more than two million times.
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Alun Davies is a Welsh guitarist, studio musician, recording artist, and composer who rose to fame primarily with his supporting guitar work and backing vocals as accompanist for English musician Cat Stevens, from early 1970 to 1977.
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