Mick Jones-lead guitar, keys/ Kelly Hansen-lead vocals/Jeff Pilson-bass, backing vocals/Tom Gimbel-guitars, sax, backing vocals/Michael Bluestein-keyboards, backing vocals/Brian Tichy & Jason Bonham-Drums/Produced by Marti Frederiksen & Mick Jones/"Fool For You"

Produced by Mark Ronson/Mastered by Anthony Focx

Although they've been touring for the last five years you might have thought that Foreigner's visa had expired. The band with only founder/lead guitarist/co-producer/songwriter Mick Jones still remaining. While the band was a worldwide success they had their earliest success in the United States and for those folks born while they were MIA from with new releases, "Double Vision" and "4" were probably their biggest sellers the latter with the hit singles "Urgent" and "Girl on the Moon" driving sales into the multiple platinum range. ***

After a decade lay over the band returns with some of the best material in years minus original singer Lou Gramm. Largely composed of American players now, Foreigner (a name that now has a nice touch of irony because the members are truly multi-national and would have foreigners in almost ANY country) features Hurricane veteran Kelly Hansen as lead vocalist, Dokken and Dio veteran Jeff Pilson on bass & backing vocals and even Jason Bonham on one track (although he's no longer a member of the band). They are one of the tightest units since the original line up. Jones and Hansen along with producer Marti Fredericksen have written the bulk of the new material here and it's killer from the first track "Can't Slow Down" (which they will be performing at various NASCAR shows) which clearly announces that this may not be your father's Foreigner but it's STILL Foreigner. Hansen does a terrific job and ably fills the shoes of Gramm. Pilson a melodic and brilliant bassist (do yourself a favor and pick up his Lynch/Pilson album) does a terrific job. The band really clicks and luckily the material supports their strong playing. Make no mistake while this captures elements of the classic Foreigner sound, it doesn't bow to the past but looks forward. ---

Sound:

I'm not going to lie to you--the mastering by Anthony Focx is solid but it lacks the dynamic range and IS compressed. It doesn't reflect on the quality of the songs and if you like the band you'll like the music on this release even if it could benefit from a better mastering job. Anthony I realize you were doing what your bosses at Rhino told you to do but just a reminder--the volume knob WORKS on most stereos AND it works on mp3 and iPod players as well. ***

The image quality on the DVD included is quite good although I would have liked to have the option to see this on Blu-ray as well. Sound on the DVD is terrific with a nice 5.1 mix.

As mentioned the set has the DVD where the band plays live in top form throughout the set. It's clear from the moment that Hansen hits the stage that he's able to fill Gramm's shoes. ***

The disc of remixed classics has a nice, sharp sheen to it but suffers from the same loudness factor that plagues the title disc. If you've heard "Records" or any variation of the band's greatest hits that Rhino has been pumping out with regularity since they took over the catalogue, you'll notice it's louder and that's not necessarily a good thing. There's also peak limiting applied which is a bad thing when it comes to the dynamics on the recording. There's some noticeable clipping as well meaning that the recordings pop into digital distortion from time-to-time. ---

Final Words:

A terrific new album with a remixed disc of hits and a live DVD from the band, "Can't Slow Down" is a value added package. It's suppose to retail at LESS than $15.99. It's currently only available as a part of an agreement with Wal-Mart stores nationally. I'm not sure what sort of agreement (if any) there is in Europe. ***

Even though the new album is a bit compressed and too loud crimping the dynamic range of the album (that's good for those who only listen to their albums on iPods and MP3 players), it's a VERY GOOD album and worth checking out simply for the quality of the music and playing.