Happy Anniversary: Foreigner, Head Games

36 years ago today, Foreigner released their third studio album, an effort which remains the only occasion that the band worked with producer Roy Thomas Baker.

As artist-producer pairings go, Foreigner certainly could've done a lot worse that Baker, whose greatest fame at the time was - and to some extent remains - from his work with the band Queen, having produced Queen, Queen II, Sheer Heart Attack, and A Night at the Opera, but at the time he was also working with such American artists as the Cars and Journey. Is that what led to this particular teaming? Perhaps so. Is there a reason why the teaming never happened again? Probably, but we don't know what it is, and we're too shy to ask.

That's okay, though: even if Foreigner's work with Baker ended up being a one-off, it still resulted in an album with an absolutely wonderful title track, along with such singles as “Dirty White Boy,” “Love on the Telephone,” “Women,” and “I'll Get Even with You.” And while it's a shame the band never worked with him again, they followed up this album with 4 and found a perfect studio companion with Mutt Lange, which you can't really complain about, now, can you?

Go back and play Foreigner's Head Games. We'll not trying to pull a fast one: it really is a great AOR record.