Music reviews. CD reviews. Critically hip!

It really is the influence of those around us that propels us forward.  I was elated when I found out I was going to get to review this album.  When I got said albums in my hands, I thought ‘What did I get myself into?’  I felt a bit more than over my head.  I was going to review Foreigner. I was.  That sort of thing is reserved for Rolling Stone  When I told my aunt about this trepidation, she cast a very cynical eye on me and quite decisively said ‘Yeah right.’ And headed for the beach.  With this newfound faith behind me, I popped Disk One (there’s two, giving the collection a total of 32 tracks) into my stereo and sat down with some lemonade for an afternoon listen.  vets, not 21 year-old newbies to the music reviewing world,(an opportunity I thank both m-r.com’s chief editor Robert, and the lovely people at APEXexposure).

You know Foreigner’s awesome.  You don’t need me to tell you that.  If you’ve got any sense in your head, you know they have talent by the buckets.  You know, those big, 55-gallon ones.  So reviewing the album for their musical quality is somewhat of a moot point.  But, like many British bands of the era, Mick Jones, founder of Foreigner, cites American R&B and blues as one of his main influences, and you can hear said influences incorporated into the band’s sound, lyrics and look throughout their career.  So I started reviewing this album focusing on their influences and how, as a listener, you can hear the band digest, change and develop their influences into their own sound. 

Because of the way this collection was arranged, this development is particularly apparent.  There are many, many different ways No End In Sight could have been arranged.  They could have arranged the tracks so that one disk was more rock and the other a much slower, softer rock.  They could have arranged the tracks by their recording dates.  Which sounds like chronologically, but The Rolling Stones’ ‘Child of the Moon’ has only ever been released as a B-side of the US ‘Jumping Jack Flash’ single, and never officially on a full-length album.  But Foreigner seems to have arranged the songs chronologically.  At least, chronologically in terms of album release date.  Down to the point that on their 1977 self-titled release, Feels like the First Time comes before Long, Long Way from Home, and on this most recent release, the former is the very first track, and the latter is the second.  Because of this attention to detail in the placement of the tracks, the listener can hear not only the band’s development throughout their career but also how, once they clearly define their sound, they perfected it. 

In addition to the music, No End in Sight provides an insightful cover sleeve as well as live tracks, and one previously unreleased song.

The cover sleeve is also a great look into the band and their influences, from their time working for the Beatles in France, to short anecdotes, like the one concerning the birth of the song Jukebox Hero.  Perhaps stories diehard fans already know, but for the rest of us, the several-paged cover sleeve is a short, sweet look into the lives of the band and their inspirations.    

Three live tracks (well, actually, four, counting a cover of Led Zepplin’s Whole Lotta Love which is segued rather awesomely from a live version of Jukebox Hero), are a perfect addition at the end of the second disk that pumps the listener up –much like, I’m sure, encores at their concerts do.  The live tracks, with the exception of Jukebox Hero/Whole Lotta Love, where you can hear the crowd interaction with the band; are a testament to the band’s experience, talent, and respect from their fans: you can hear a pin drop, and the sound is perfectly polished and crisp.  A last, lovely tidbit on the album that precedes the live tracks is a previously unreleased track titled Too Late.  It’s a brand new song from the band, and it’s as good as anything Foreigner released in their prime.  It does have a bit of a newer sound, though.  Something about it makes me think of the Kaiser Chiefs –or, maybe it’s the Kaiser Chiefs that make me think a little bit of Foreigner, but with some newer, younger members in the band, maybe it really is the former.  Either way though, it’s an infectious song proving, much as the title of the album, that there is no end in sight for Foreigner.