Foreigner – Four

Biography
Foreigner is an English-American rock band, originally formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran English musician Mick Jones and fellow Briton and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald along with American vocalist Lou Gramm. Jones came up with the band’s name as he, McDonald and Dennis Elliott were British, while Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were American.Their biggest hit single, “I Want to Know What Love Is”, topped the United Kingdom and United States charts among others. They are one of the world’s best-selling bands of all time with worldwide sales of more than 80 million records,including 37.5 million records in the US. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreigner_(band)

Album & Cover
4, also known as Foreigner 4, is the fourth studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on July 2, 1981 on Atlantic Records. Several singles from the album were hits, including “Urgent”, “Waiting for a Girl Like You” and “Juke Box Hero”. The album was a success worldwide, holding the #1 position on the Billboard album chart for a total of 10 weeks. It eventually sold over seven million copies in the US alone. The album was originally titled Silent Partners and later was changed to 4, reflecting both the fact that it was Foreigner’s fourth album and that the band was now down to four members. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/4_(Foreigner_album)

Hipgnosis were asked to design a cover based on the original title, and they developed a black and white image of a young man in bed with a pair of binoculars looming overhead as shown. The resulting design was rejected by the band as they felt it was “too homosexual”. The replacement cover for 4 was designed by Bob Defrin and modelled after an old fashioned film leader. Hipgnosis is still credited with the design on the record labels. So, it is not a Hipgnosis designed cover but included here for information purposes.

Cover Location: Hipgnosis Studio, London, UK
Who Did What: Art Direction – Bob Defrin
Label: Atlantic SD16999, Atlantic K11728(UK)
Source: Vinyl. Album. Cover. Art, The Complete Hipgnosis Catalogue: Aubrey Powell

Tracklist

Credits
Backing Vocals – Ian Lloyd, Mark Rivera, “Mutt” Lange
Bass Guitar, Backing Vocals – Rick Wills
Drums, Backing Vocals – Dennis Elliott
Engineer [Assistant] – Edwin Hobgood, Michael Sauvage
Engineer [Basic Tracks] – Tony Platt
Engineer [Chief] – Dave Wittman
Engineer [Second] – Brad Samuelsohn
Lead Guitar, Keyboards, Backing Vocals – Mick Jones
Lead Vocals, Percussion – Lou Gramm
Management [For E.S.P. Management, Inc.] – Bud Prager
Mastered By – George Marino
Producer – Mick Jones , Robert John “Mutt” Lange
Synthesizer [Main] – Tom Dolby