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14 of 16 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Ambitious effort of variable quality, 8 Nov 2003
By A Customer
For his fifth Island Records album after reinventing himself as a more poetic and philosophical singer-songwriter, Cat Stevens made some significant changes in his recording methods. Dispensing with Paul Samwell-Smith, who had produced his highly successful albums of recent years, he took on production duties himself, and went to Jamaica to record with a new group of seasoned session musicians (several from the USA) replacing most of the players from his previous albums. Perhaps Stevens considered that this new direction would give him a more 'serious', less overtly commercial identity than his preceding albums, and if so the experiment probably achieved its objectives. However, it is notable that for his next album after 'Foreigner', Samwell-Smith was back on board and the recording again largely returned to the more concise and accessible style of albums such as 'Tea for the tillerman' and 'Teaser and the firecat'. And although the new remastering compensates to some extent, the overall production sound of 'Foreigner' lacks something of the polish and cohesiveness of the Samwell-Smith productions.The first half of the album (the original LP side 1) is occupied by the 18 minute 'Foreigner suite', which is one continuous musical piece essentially comprising variations on three undistinguished songs, with short musical interludes. The title 'Foreigner' seems to have no relevance to the lyrical content of the suite, and the whole concept is in reality much more lightweight than its title and length suggest. However, it gives Stevens the opportunity to experiment with more meandering arrangements, incorporating strings, brass and various keyboards and synthesizers, than was possible within the confines of his previous shorter pop songs (of his earlier pieces, '18th avenue' from the 'Catch bull at four' album, with its contrasting moods and extended instrumental section, probably comes closest to the style of the 'Foreigner suite'). The suite is a bit of a challenge to listen to because of its length, but with repeated listening its appeal does grow and it probably contains just enough variety to keep a committed Cat fan interested. If the second half of 'Foreigner' had contrasted strongly with the lengthy Suite and contained more immediately appealing music, the album might have been counted as a complete success; however, the second half remains relatively undistinguished and uncommercial. The opening track 'The hurt' is a pleasant, mid-tempo, sparsely arranged song in the classic Cat Stevens style, though based round the electric piano rather than acoustic guitars. Despite being a minor hit in summer 1973, this track has undeservedly always been omitted from Cat's compilation albums, and is in my opinion the best song on 'Foreigner'. It is followed by 'How many times', a painfully slow ballad with at times anguished vocals, which has a few appealing touches. But by this point little of what really made Stevens a hit artist at the start of the 70s has evaporated, and the closing two tracks are little more than uninspired 'filler'. So whilst this album certainly marks a stylistic departure for Cat Stevens, and undoubtedly has some reasonable musical moments, it can't be regarded as one of his most memorable recordings. It is unfortunate to have to say that the beautiful colour photo of the beach on the back cover is one of the most appealing aspects of this album.
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