The Morning Call from Allentown, Pennsylvania • 58

EEIl I fclHI AIIMIV2EIrT THE M0RNING CaLL FRIDAY; SEPTEMBER 11.1981 D8 Mick Jones gets rid of some Foreigners Foreigner at Fairgrounds Foreigner, currently on the top of the record charts with its new album "4," will appear in concert at 7:30 p.m. Sunday at the Allentown Fairgrounds Grandstand. The group, founded by Mick Jones, has sold close to 1 6 million records worldwide with albums as "Foreigner," "Double Vision" and "Head Games," as well as singles like "Hot Blooded" and "Cold As Ice." Tickets are on sale at all Ticketron outlets, Laneco record departments. Record City in West-gate and South malls, Variety Photo in Whitehall, Palmer and Stroud malls, and at Speedy's in Allentown. For more information, call Linda Lytle at Makoul Productions at 821 -0906.

MWSgm WmlSk jiff McDonald and Greenwood contended that lack of communication made the situation even worse: "We weren't fighting because we talking to each other. Greenwood said. "If we had been talking to each other we certainly would have been fighting." McDonald: "We were isolated from each other. The tension was very heavy. The situation became very ugly." Since the firings a year ago.

McDonald and Greenwood haven't spoken to Jones or Gramm. Despite the absence of McDonald and Greenwood, the "4" sessions were still rather tumultuous. Jones, the band's co-producer, likes to work with a new producer on each album because "one album isn't enough time for a producer to inflict his style on us." On "4" his co-producer was Robert John "Mutt" Lange, who Jones erroneously expected to be a meek "yes" man. "He's very frank and one of the first people who could stand up to me," said Jones who, according to Greenwood, is very tough and forceful despite his quiet, gentle manner. "Mutt was used to being in charge totally," Jones said.

"At times it was very difficult. In the early stages we almost came to blows but we eventually worked things out. "We started with a bunch of songs and threw half of them out. Mutt had the courage to tell me some of the stuff I was doing wasn't really good enough. It had to be someone I respect to tell me that.

I realized he was right and I started to look for other material." Lange's tough stance pushed Jones into changes he had been considering anyway. "We had exhausted our original musical concepts and we were starting to stagnate," Jones admitted. "It was time for some kind of change. I was disappointed with the band that had started out with so much potential and yet didn't seem to be realizing it. We needed a stronger sound." Though the "4" sessions were much tougher than he had expected, Jones is pleased with the results.

"It's more aggressive than anything we've done before," he said. "It has a harder rocking feeling. That's what we wanted." Foreigner recently completed a series of European concerts. They were-adjusting to the quartet concept and breaking in three new backup musicians hired just for this tour. Jones' answer to the inevitable question "Will Foreigner remain a quartet?" was predictably vague.

"We don't want to rush into anything," he replied. try this situation for a while and see what happens. Right now all we want to do is.enjoy the peaceful atmosphere in the band. I had really missed that." Judging from comments by McDonald and Greenwood, Foreigner isn't really a quartet now anyway. Apparently "4" should have been entitled "2." By DENNIS HUNT Of The Los Angeles Times HOLLYWOOD Foreigner, the pop-rock supergroup, always seemed to be the epitome of bliss and unity.

During its first three years, appearances didn't lie. But by early last year all that harmony was just a facade. Behind it, a storm was raging. Tension, anger and resentment were eating away. Its leaders, Mick Jones and Lou Gramm, defused this volatile situation by expelling two dissatisfied members, keyboards players Ian McDonald and Al Greenwood.

That's why Foreigner's fourth album also its fourth Top 10 album, featuring the Top Five single, "Urgent" is called Firing the "dissidents" reduced Foreigner to a quartet-guitarist-songwriter Jones, lead singer-songwriter Gramm, drummer Dennis Elliott and bassist Rick Wills. After eight weeks on Billboard's Top 200, the LP is No. 3. The single is No. 4 in the Top 100 after 11 weeks on the chart.

"It wasn't a nice thing to do," Jones concluded about the purge, "but it had to be done. It was for the good of the band." In separate interviews, McDonald and Greenwood described their dismissal as unnecessary and unfair. They were somewhat hesitant to talk about it; neither had discussed it publicly. "It's been swept under the rug," Greenwood observed. "Conflict isn't good for the Foreigner image." Both said they had been suffering from creative frustration.

They wanted Foreigner to record more of their songs but couldn't crack the Jones-Gramm composing monopoly. Only a few songs on the group's four albums weren't written by Jones or Gramm. Yet Jones insisted the selection process was very democratic: "We don't vote on which songs to record. We just play them and use the ones that sound the best. We are open to songs by anybody in the band.

It's just that the songs Lou and I write have turned out to be the best ones." Again McDonald and Greenwood dissented. "I wrote 10 songs for the last album and they were passed over," Greenwood said. "I didn't feel they were given a chance. Echoed McDonald, "I didn't get a fair shot at getting songs on the album. I was angry about it." McDonald was particularly frustrated since he helped create Foreigner and, as one of its founders, figured he should be one of its powers and not, as he put it, just a sideman.

Early in 1976, Jones, a Spooky Tooth alumnus, wanted to start a band and discussed the idea with ex-King -Crimson member McDonald when both were backup musicians at a recording session. Later they recruited four other musicians and signed with Atlantic Records. As the band evolved, Jones, always the unofficial leader, began to share the power with Gramm who, as lead singer and the other major songwriter, received a lot of media attention. "It became a two-man band," FROM SHOP-WELL! Foreigner: (Clockwise, from top left) Lou Gramm, Mick Jones, Dennis Elliott and Rick Wills. 1 14-16 LB.

TURKEY WITH TAPES VALUING $1000 10-12 LB. TURKEY WITH TAPES VALUING $750 $500 OFF ANY TURKEY WITH TAPES VALUING $500 YES! YOU CAN APPLY CREDIT TO A LARGER TURKEY I STi IS lid-SlTM PKNN HU.HmY 6. STONKi AlJ.KNTiittV IMI Mb -sT BtTHl.KHKM M)(tt RS AT KU. OPEN SUNDAY 9-4 DP. ML WE ACCEPT GpVT.

FOOD STAMPS WE RESERVE THE RIGHT TO LIMIT QUANTITIES. PRICES VALID SEPT. 11-12-13. 1981 IN OUR MEAT DEPT. charged.

"You expect all the songs will get 100 percent from all concerned. When that doesn't happen things get nasty. "The problem with them extended into the tour. That's when things started to fall apart. I wasn't satisfied with the tour musically.

Lou and I were getting more and more frus- -trated with the situation. That's when we started to ask ourselves if we really needed six people in the band any more." When Foreigner was preparing to record the latest LP, Jones and Gramm decided to act. "The bad situation was getting worse," Jones recalled. "It was just very tense and not a good atmosphere for recording. So Lou and I told them they had to go.

It was a terrible emotional situation to deal with." Recalled Greenwood, "I was very, very bitter about it. I was told by the manager I was no longer needed. It was a very cold and businesslike way to do things. I thought I meant more to the band, but I was wrong." McDonald charged. "The rest of us were squeezed out." You can hardly blame McDonald and Greenwood for wanting a share of the creative control over a pop-rock juggernaut whose first two albums, "Foreigner" and "Double Vision," sold a combined total of 9 million copies.

According to Jones, the pair's disenchantment with their roles affected their performances "Their input into the band wasn't what it should have been. And I was really expecting a lot more from Ian and it didn't seem to be forthcoming." Replying to this accusation, McDonald countered, "My involvement was always 100 percent. It just wasn't recognized as such." Greenwood said: "I found it hard to work under those conditions. I felt castrated, cut off from everything." What had been an undercurrent of discontent erupted during the sessions for the last Foreigner album, "Head Games," released in 1979. "There was little contribution from Al and Ian on that album," Jones SIRLOIN STEAKS PORTERHOUSE OR T-BONE lb IN Ottt DELI DEPT.

HATFIELD COUNTRY STYLE RING BOLOGNA "1 ss JLX LB. i ti MATTRESSES A u.s. i Vn WHITE ti 2q POTATOES a 10LB" BAG Mo(SeaiyrosturepedlC IN OUR GROCERY DEPT. i 3 (ei i ui it SQUIRT 6PKX16 OZ. BOTTLES PLUS TAX DEPOSIT IN OUR MEAT DEPT.

vim raas BONELESS ROLLED PORK ROAST 48 LB. LU-97 I sew. ML We're headquarters for the best Seally SHOP-WELL'S ZV1E CHECK 5PECQAB. MYSTERY F4ttniiepedlnc iuurui ATSHOP-Wta ONLY SEPT. 1MMJ, il WTHI COIPOS DED FRAMES SPECIAL SINGLE TO DOUBLE QUEEN 11 95 Value ICING -6Vw ziKisX i IN OUR FROZEN DEPT.

TURKEY HILL ICE TI SS WITH COUPON ROUND GAL. fAHUiHfuN AT SHOP WELL ONLY SEPT. II 12 13. 19X1 I 52.95 $)(i))95 Value IN OUR DELI DEPT. LJJ-95 sen DID trail IMPORTED WS4 79 PORK LOIN I HTHiKT OH.

HON 1, ii-ft im 'a LB. AT SHOP-WELL 0LY SEPT. IMZ-IJ. 19KI WITH 1 01 PON ami ftt!.