| "Urgent" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Single by Foreigner | ||||
| from the album 4 | ||||
| B-side | "Girl on the Moon" | |||
| Released | June 22, 1981 (US) July 24, 1981 (UK) [1] | |||
| Recorded | 1981 | |||
| Genre | ||||
| Length | 4:29 (album version) 3:57 (single version) | |||
| Label | Atlantic | |||
| Songwriter(s) | Mick Jones | |||
| Producer(s) |
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| Foreigner singles chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Urgent" on YouTube | ||||
"Urgent" is a song by the British-American rock band Foreigner, and the first single from their album 4 in 1981.
Producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange wanted to hear every music idea guitarist Mick Jones had recorded on tape, no matter how embarrassing. One of these ideas was the opening riff for what would become "Urgent". “I had the riff starting out," Jones recalled. "And I said, 'That’s like an experimental instrumental thing that I’m working on.’ He said, ‘No, it isn’t anymore – let’s take that one, because that’s got a lot of potential.’ There wasn’t even a song with it.” He also said, “‘Urgent’ … was a bit of a hybrid. It was a soul song, really – a quirky kind of rock and soul combination. That album had a bunch of different departures on it from the album that preceded it, Head Games . … It was just like a musical journey.” [2] In fact, "Urgent" was recorded with Mick Jones playing lead and rhythm guitar, including a line originally composed for Ian McDonald, who left the band in 1980.
Foreigner went into the Manhattan studio with producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange, best known at the time as producer for hard rock band AC/DC. Foreigner's sound wasn't quite as heavy, and the band worked with then-unknown Thomas Dolby to program and play synthesizer. Dolby's work can be heard on "Urgent." Mark Rivera, Foreigner's regular saxophonist on albums and tours throughout the 1980s, played rhythmic sax on the song, including the recurring siren-like riff. The iconic tenor saxophone solo was performed by celebrated Motown multi-instrumentalist Junior Walker, [3] who was coincidentally performing in New York during Foreigner's album sessions and agreed to contribute.
Lange was a perfectionist with Dolby, making him play some of the simple notes over and over until they were perfect. On the other hand, Dolby recalled Lange using Walker's first take, appreciating its raw, rough edges. Jones stated in an interview his conflicting memory of Lange fastidiously splicing together multiple takes from Walker, who later mimicked the recorded version when performing with the band as a guest on tour. [4] Lange was a fan of Dolby's earlier work, and Dolby had a demo of a song called "Urges" where he sang "urges, urges...". Lange asked Dolby for permission to incorporate this into a Foreigner song, which was then turned into the lyric "Urgent, urgent...". Dolby was a little surprised when he heard the finished song, but later felt glad to have positively influenced the track. "Urges" later appeared on Dolby's 1982 album The Golden Age of Wireless . [2]
Rivera recorded at least 12 versions of the saxophone solo but ultimately the first version was used in the final release, despite some rough edges. [5]
Jones has rated "Urgent" as one of his 11 favorite Foreigner songs, specifically praising Walker's sax solo and Dolby's "freaky" riffs. [6]
Billboard said that "Guitars and keyboards supply the rhythmic punch on this tasty rocker." [7] Billboard reviewer Gary Graff rated "Urgent" to be Foreigner's all-time greatest song, particularly praising Dolby's synthesizer and Walker's saxophone but also saying that the song "would have been killer" even without the sax solo. [8] Record World said that "From the opening keyboard throbs to Lou Gramm's lusty vocal growls to Jr. Walker's sax heat, this rocker...is headed to the top of AOR-pop playlists." [9] Classic Rock History critic Brian Kachejian rated it as Foreigner's 6th best song, saying that the "rowdy bouncy feel...is highly addictive." [10]
The song entered the U.S. pop charts the week ending July 4, 1981, and reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, holding that spot for the entire month of September. [11] "Urgent" hit #1 on the Billboard Rock Tracks chart, a position it held for four weeks. [12]
"Urgent" was the most successful single from the 4 album on album-oriented rock radio, though it was outsold by the album's later single, "Waiting for a Girl Like You", which reached #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 in November 1981 and remained at that spot through the end of the following January, for a total of ten weeks, being certified Gold. 4 went Gold and Platinum during the chart run of the "Urgent" single. The album has since been certified multi-platinum by the RIAA, for selling over six million copies in the U.S. alone. [13]
The song was Foreigner's second-best-selling single (after "I Want to Know What Love Is") in both Canada and Sweden, reaching #1 in Canada in September 1981 and #20 in Sweden in March 1982. [14] In Australia, "Urgent" peaked at #24 in November 1981, but remained in the Top 50 for 24 weeks. In the UK, the song reached only #54 on the UK singles chart upon its first release in 1981. In 1982, after "Waiting for a Girl Like You" went Top Ten there, "Urgent" was re-released, this time reaching only slightly higher, peaking at #45. [15]
Weekly charts
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Foreigner
Additional personnel
Foreigner performs a live version of the song on the 1993 album Classic Hits Live .
A live concert version by the 2005 incarnation of the band, featuring Kelly Hansen on vocals, can be heard on the release Extended Versions .
| "Urgent" | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Single by Shannon | ||||
| from the album Do You Wanna Get Away | ||||
| Released | September 30, 1985 | |||
| Recorded | 1984 | |||
| Genre | Synth-pop | |||
| Length | 5:10 | |||
| Label | ||||
| Songwriter(s) | ||||
| Producer(s) |
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| Shannon singles chronology | ||||
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American singer Shannon recorded a version of the song for her 1985 album Do You Wanna Get Away . Foreigner's label, Atlantic Records, distributed Mirage, the label for the Shannon release. [26] The song was the album's fourth single, peaking at No. 68 for two weeks on the Billboard R&B singles chart in November and December 1985. [27]
12" single
| Chart (1985) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| US Hot Black Singles (Billboard) | 68 |
| UK Singles (OCC) | 84 [28] |
4, also known as Foreigner 4, is the fourth studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on July 3, 1981, by Atlantic Records. The album's name signifies that it is the band's fourth studio album and also the fact that the band's membership had reduced from six to four members. Musically, it showed Foreigner shifting from hard rock to more accessible mainstream rock and pop music.
Foreigner is a British-American rock band formed in New York City in 1976 by guitarist Mick Jones, vocalist Lou Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott, keyboardist Al Greenwood, bassist Ed Gagliardi and multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald, the last of whom was also a founding member of King Crimson. Foreigner is one of the world's best-selling bands of all time, with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records, including 37.5 million in the US.
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"She Blinded Me with Science" is a song by the English musician Thomas Dolby, released in 1982. It was first released as a single in the United Kingdom in October 1982. It was subsequently included on the EP Blinded by Science and the 1983 re-release of Dolby's debut album The Golden Age of Wireless.
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