Review: Foreigner – All Engines On – Live In London
Foreigner – All Engines On – Live In London
Format: CD – Vinyl LP – Digital / Label: earMUSIC
Release: 2025
Text: Martien Koolen
When Foreigner released their debut album in 1977, I was blown away by spectacular songs like Cold As Ice, Feels Like The First Time, Long, Long Way From Home and Starrider, and that was mainly due to the immaculate throat of Loue Gramm! Eight Foreigner albums followed but they never reached that fantastic high musical level of their debut album. Now, forty-eight years after the release of their first album, Foreigner release a remastered version of their iconic live recording ‘All Engines On’ (originally released digitally in 2010) and it is now available for the first time in physical format!
‘All Engines On, Live in London’ was captured during a wonderful gig at London’s legendary Camden Roundhouse and features ten classic Foreigner songs that bring out the explosive energy of this successful rock band indeed. This performance displays Foreigner almost at the peak of their musical prowess as the only thing missing here is the one and only voice of Foreigner, Lou Gramm. Kelly Hansen is the singer on this “new” live album and although he does an incredibly good job here, he cannot meet Gramm’s immaculate, recognisable voice, especially in classic Foreigner songs like Cold As Ice or Feels Like The First Time.
The band, however, especially Mick Jones is in top notch form and songs like Double Vision, Hot Blooded, Dirty White Boy and Urgent certainly stand the test of time and are 100% classic rockers indeed. The well-known and extraordinarily successful ballads Feels Like The First Time and I Want To Know What Love Is, have never been my favourite Foreigner tracks, but songs like Starrider and That Was Yesterday remind me of how good this band actually was indeed.
Overall, my conclusion is that ‘All Engines On’ is a must have album for Foreigner fans and lovers of classic, melodic hard rock, but with Lou Gramm on vocals this album would have been a masterpiece…..
Tracks:
01. Double vision
02. Cold as ice
03. When it comes to love
04. Dirty white boy
05. That was yesterday
06. Starrider
07. Feels like the first time
08. Urgent
09. I want to know what love is
10. Hot blooded
Website: https://www.foreigneronline.com/