Unusual Heat : Foreigner : Review : Rolling Stone

Hammering out such cunning stompers as "Lowdown and Dirty," "Mountain of Love" and "Flesh Wound," Foreigner seems hellbent on convincing us that there ain't nothing soft about its new songs. While the occasional slow number on Unusual Heat proves that Mick Jones and crew haven't completely forsworn the arena balladry of their epic 1984 single "I Want to Know What Love Is" – which convinced skeptics that Foreigner wasn't, say, merely a seasoned Mötley Crüe – the band's first release in four years harks back to the muscle flexing of "Dirty White Boy" and "Cold as Ice." The eleven tunes on Heat are sleek, hook-heavy, tried and true. Relentlessly focused, the album steers clear of the determined artfulness of Agent Provocateur (1984) and Inside Information (1987): This year's model is near-solid rock.

Clearly marking the directional shift is the absence of Foreigner's original front-man, Lou Gramm. Spurred by the urge for new blood that prompted his late-Seventies firing of multi-instrumentalist Ian McDonald and keyboardist Al Greenwood, Mick Jones has replaced Gramm with veteran singer Johnny Edwards. Edwards's clean delivery, alternately recalling Paul Rodgers and John Waite, easily sends home the straight-ahead fare. Ever dependable, bassist Rick Wills and drummer Dennis Elliott (a real standout when laying down the Bonham-like syncopation of "Ready for the Rain") keep things simple – providing tasty backdrops for Jones's guitar.

Jones has become pop metal's answer to R&B's Steve Cropper – both guitarists seldom squander a note – and on Unusual Heat he delivers a primer in the tactics of the big, bold riff. With remarkable efficiency, he embellishes the staple song structures with nifty twists that recall hard-rock glories reaching back to Free or earlier, but that somehow come off fresh.

With Unusual Heat, Foreigner demonstrates once again the joys of canny refinement, the certain pleasures of craft.