Records (1982)
1. Cold as Ice
2. Double Vision
3. Head Games
4. Waiting for a Girl Like You
5. Feels Like the First Time
6. Urgent
7. Dirty White Boy
8. Jukebox Hero
9. Long, Long Way From Home
10.Hot Blooded
At this point, it’s almost a rite of passage: make a few hit records, dominate rock radio for a half-decade, and then—like clockwork—issue the inevitable greatest hits package. Records, released in 1982, was Foreigner’s first entry into the retrospective market. And while it’s now mostly obsolete (thanks to countless more expansive compilations since), at the time, it served its purpose reasonably well.
To be fair, by 1982 Foreigner had more than earned a hits album. Three multi-platinum studio releases and a growing catalog of instantly recognizable songs meant they had the track record to justify it. And on paper, Records checks most of the boxes: Cold As Ice, Feels Like the First Time, Waiting for a Girl Like You, Urgent, Double Vision, and so on. It’s all here—or at least, most of it is.
But even back then, the package showed a few quirks. For one, some of the tracks aren’t presented in their original, definitive versions. Cold As Ice, for reasons known only to the producer, is adorned with an added string section—subtle, but enough to raise an eyebrow. More puzzling is the inclusion of a live version of Hot Blooded. At the time, this might have felt like a bonus—a little something extra for fans who already owned the studio albums. But with hindsight, it seems like an odd detour. If you’re assembling a single-disc “essentials” collection, shouldn’t the goal be to present the songs in their most iconic, familiar form?
Later pressings (and certainly the digital versions) quietly corrected these issues, reverting back to the proper versions of the singles. Which is telling in itself: even the band—or the label—realized that when it comes to greatest hits, familiarity tends to win out over novelty. Still, Records was successful in its time, and for many casual listeners, it became the default Foreigner album—a tidy, no-frills collection of the songs everyone knew. And for that era, with vinyl and cassettes still dominant, the idea of packing nine hits onto one disc felt like good value.
Today, of course, it’s been eclipsed by more comprehensive compilations that cover the full arc of the band’s career. And rightly so—Foreigner’s run of hits extended well past 1982. But as an early attempt at a summation, Records is a serviceable snapshot of Foreigner’s radio reign during their prime years. It’s not perfect, but it’s hard to fault too much. Just don’t mistake it for the final word.
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