Foreigner, one of the world’s best-selling bands, has teamed up with an orchestra to present all of their hit songs, including “I Want To Know What Love Is,” “Cold As Ice,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You,” “Hot Blooded,” and “Juke Box Hero.” The band and the 58 -piece orchestra and a 60-piece choir joined together for Foreigner with the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus. The album will be available on April 27 from earMUSIC.
Guitarist Mick Jones said in a press release: “I could never have imagined when I set out to create Foreigner 40 years ago, that we’d still be touring around the world and performing the music we love all these years later. Dave Eggar and Chuck Palmer’s orchestral arrangements have shown us a new symphonic dimension of our music, which I hope our fans will enjoy.”
Foreigner performed two sold-out shows in Lucerne, Switzerland, in May 2017 with the 21st Century Symphony Orchestra & Chorus, conducted by Ernst van Tiel. The album is a result of the two groups’ year-long collaboration. It’s not the first time Eggar, a cellist/pianist/composer, and Palmer, a producer/writer/percussionist, have teamed up with rock musicians. They have also performed and recorded with artists such as Paul Simon, James Taylor, Patti Smith, and Coldplay.
Foreigner formed in New York City in the mid-70s with Jones, Ian McDonald, Lou Gramm, Dennis Elliott, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi. The current line-up includes Jones (guitar), Kelly Hansen (lead vocals), Jeff Pilson (bass and vocals), Tom Gimbel (guitar, sax, vocals), Michael Bluestein (keyboards), Bruce Watson (guitar) and Chris Frazier (drums).
The group’s self-titled debut album sold more than four million copies in the United States in 1977 and included the hits “Feels Like the First Time, “Cold as Ice” and “Long, Long Way From Home.” Their second album, Double Vision, sold five million copies and featured “Hot Blooded,” “Double Vision” and “Blue Morning, Blue Day.” Album number three, Head Games, sold three million copies.
Other albums include 4, Agent Provocateur, Inside Information, Unusual Heat, Mr. Moonlight, and Can’t Slow Down. Acoustique features their favourite songs performed acoustically. They released a limited-edition vinyl EP, The Flame Still Burns, in 2016 to commemorate Foreigner’s 40th anniversary.
