Remembering my first album, seeing the band that made it

If you are a music fan, then chances are you probably remember the first real music album or LP (long play), that you ever got. I’m not talking about something like Barney the Dinosaur’s greatest hits, but your first real album or LP.

I remember mine.

When I was a kid, my dad and I were at I think Newberry’s department store in downtown Corbin as it was having a going out of business sale. We were looking at the selection of discounted music, and I saw an 8-track tape that caught my attention. It basically just had “4” on the cover of it.

It looked kind of cool, and I asked my dad to buy it for me. It was only a buck and change. He said yes without any argument.

The LP was Foreigner 4 by the musical group (yeah, you guessed it), Foreigner.

It came out 40 years ago, and featured such rock and roll classics as “Urgent,” “Waiting for a Girl Like You,” and the iconic rock anthem “Jukebox Hero.”

Suffice it to say that I became a really big Foreigner fan not too long after that. I mowed yards when I was a teenager in high school, and had this personal cassette player that I could fit into my back pocket. I used to listen to cassettes from some of my favorite groups while I mowed. It helped pass the time, and a Foreigner greatest hits album and Agent Provocateur, which came out in 1984, were two of the cassettes that I frequently listened to.

I greatly enjoyed it when original Foreigner lead singer Lou Gramm performed at NIBROC in 2010. As you might expect, I really enjoyed the Foreigner concert at The Corbin Arena Thursday evening. Make no mistake. This isn’t the ‘original’ band, but the music is timeless and they still put on a pretty darn good show.

While current lead vocalist Kelly Hansen, who has been with the group for about 15 years, doesn’t have Gramm’s singing voice, he is a great front man.

I loved the concert but could have done without the embellishment on “Jukebox Hero.” This is one rock and roll classic that doesn’t need much, if any, help.

If you get the chance, I would recommend checking this band out in concert if you are a classic rock fan.

Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to hear the Williamsburg High School Choir perform Thursday, although I had been hoping to do so. They won a contest to be able to open up for Foreigner. I don’t know if I wasn’t in the arena yet when they performed, or I missed it be-cause I was in the back and couldn’t hear it. I was told that they performed three songs, but sung from a corner off to the side of the stage. I was told a couple of folks sitting in the sixth row weren’t even aware that they had sung so I don’t feel so bad about missing it.

I think Foreigner has the right idea of getting local high school choirs to serve as an opening act at their concerts, but I think the group would be better served advertising that those choirs are going to be performing earlier and utilizing them better. I also think it would be a great idea to let them up on the main stage to do their performance too.

I have seen Foreigner concerts on television, including some with a huge choir backing them, and the music is fantastic in that format. In particular, the song “I Want to Know What Love Is,” is perfect for a backing choir.

If you put a high school choir on stage or to the side of the stage, put a spotlight on them and a couple of microphones and advertised that they would be playing a song in concert with a well-known band for one song, then I think you could probably sell out the venue pretty easy with parents and family members flocking to see it. I’m not talking about selling out some place like Rupp Arena, but the Corbin Arena most definitely. While there was a good sized crowd for Thursday’s concert, there were definitely some empty seats.

This would also be a great chance for a group like Foreigner, which hasn’t had a hit song in over 30 years, to expand its fan base to young people. You know the members of the choir would be psyched to check out Foreigner music before and after playing with the band, and if they became fans, a few of their friends might also hear the music and become fans.