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I had my doubts about getting the "Anthology: Jukebox Heroes"
album, I thought "do I really need another compilation?", finally I got it
and tried to hear it trying to enjoy it.
Only 10 songs are noted as edited versions, however there are some other tracks
that are edited too: shorter intros, lines changed or completely "erased",
echos, etc., however the main difference among these tracks and the originals is the sound
quality and ecualization. While the most of the Foreigner CD's have an excellent
sound quality, the "Head Games" and "Inside Information"
CD's (and their songs on every compilation) seems to lack of "definition". Now
on "Anthology" I think all those songs have that extra dimension they needed.
I can hear on those songs a lot of sounds and effects that I was never able to hear on other
albums.
Of course, the song selection is impressive, it really takes you to the
Foreigner world, however it misses Black Sheep songs, specially when two
current Foreigner members were part of that band (Gramm and Turgon).
Well, the highlights of the collection are the Spooky Tooth, Lou Gramm and
Mick Jones songs, specially the tracks taken from the albums out of print
("Mick Jones" and Lou's "Long Hard Look"),
considering that they are really hard to find. "All Sewn Up", a light rocker,
is highly enjoyable, a little bit soft to me but great in music and more yet in lyrics, I think
almost every Foreigner fan would like it; "The Hoofer" is a little
bit faster, heavier and harder to assimilate, more complete instrumentally but weaker in lyrics;
musically both songs have a similar style to the Foreigner's self-titled album but lead
vocalists are far away from Lou, being a Foreigner fan one ends being extremely
demanding about vocalists!
It is very notable that songs like "White Lie" and
"Rain" were left out, which are as distinctive as the greatest hits of the
70's. And if they were going to include rare tracks, it could have been razonable to include
"Crash And Burn", one of the greatest rockers of the band. Finally, the most
memorable item is definitely the booklet, a book full of comments provided by Mick
himself, comments that fill up some holes in the band history. There are also a couple of great
pictures. The best rock band, the best music and magistrally packed, but the informational
mistakes in the notation of song versions and the terrible omission of Mark on the
discography credits (page 45) reduce the overall quality. Recommended to die hard
Foreigner fans, new fans and everyone who wishes to know what this band is.
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