It's hard to know what motivates someone like Lou Gramm to make a solo record. In this instance, both the crasser and the more high-minded impulses can probably be dismissed. As lead singer and one of the main songwriters of Foreigner, Gramm must have garnered as much money and ego gratification as he could ever want. Self-expression can probably be discounted as well, because most of the songs on Ready or Not could very easily have been Foreigner songs.

Which leaves family loyalty. On Ready or Not, Gramm recruited his brother Ben Gramm on drums and trumpet, his brother Richard Grammatico on guitar on two tracks and his father, Ben Grammatico Sr., on trumpet. In addition, Gramm called on bassist-guitarist Bruce Turgon, who played in a pre-Foreigner band with him when they both lived in Rochester, New York, in the early Seventies. The two men co-wrote nine of the ten tracks on the LP.

Even with all this new, thicker-than-water blood, the most obvious points of departure from Foreigner's signature sound are provided by Nils Lofgren, who plays lead guitar on eight tunes, and keyboardist Philip Ashley. Ashley's synthetics are omnipresent – both as coloration and as lead parts. Lofgren's playing is more jagged and rough edged than the melodic arena-rock excursions of Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones, while Turgon's rhythms shimmer in contrast with Foreigner's crunch.

As a singer, Gramm still seems ever on the verge of snapping his vocal cords, whether in torment at the hands of a faithless woman (as on the ballads "If I Don't Have You" and "Lover Come Back") or in lustful longing ("Ready or Not," "Arrow thru Your Heart") – the two emotions he taps most often. The arrangements on this LP also recall Foreigner, with their emphasis on big hooks and lots of drama.

For what it's worth, Ready or Not establishes that Gramm is perfectly capable of making a middleweight Foreigner album without Foreigner – nothing on this LP ranks with such classic hits as "Feels Like the First Time," "Hot Blooded," "I Want to Know What Love Is" or "Waiting for a Girl Like You." Foreigner fans probably won't be disappointed, but it's unlikely that Ready or Not will extend Gramm's ready-made audience much – and it certainly fails to extend his aesthetic reach. (RS 498)

ANTHONY DECURTIS