The Very Best and Beyond (1992)
1. Soul Doctor
2. Prisoner of Love
3. With Heaven on Our Side
4. Jukebox Hero
5. Hot Blooded
6. Cold as Ice
7. Head Games
8. Waiting For a Girl Like You
9. Urgent
10.Double Vision
11.I Want To Know What Love Is
12.Say You Will
13.That Was Yesterday
14.I Don't Want to Live Without You
15.Rev on the Red Line
16.Dirty White Boy
17.Feels Like the First Time
In the era of the compact disc boom, it was only a matter of time before Foreigner revisited the “greatest hits” well. Records, their 1982 collection, had served its purpose at the time, but the band hadn’t exactly gone quiet in the years that followed. A few major hits from Agent Provocateur and Inside Information—most notably I Want to Know What Love Is and Say You Will—had since become fixtures on rock radio, and deserved inclusion in any retrospective. The Very Best and Beyond arrives, then, as something of an updated snapshot of the band’s commercial legacy.
The collection mostly sticks to the script: you get all the major hits from 1977 through 1987, and for the casual fan, that’s really all that’s needed. There’s one curious inclusion in Rev on the Red Line, a deep cut from Head Games that was never a single and, truthfully, never really earned classic status. Why it’s here instead of something like Blue Morning, Blue Day or even Break It Up is anyone’s guess.
But what makes this release notable—even essential to longtime fans—is the “beyond” part of the title. Three new songs, all recorded with the returning Lou Gramm, round out the package. And unlike most tacked-on “bonus” cuts that pad out these types of compilations, these tracks are genuinely strong. Soul Doctor, With Heaven on Our Side, and Prisoner of Love may not have charted, but they absolutely sound like they could have in an earlier decade. All three capture the same balance of hook and heft that defined the band’s best work, and Gramm, despite some years away from the fold, sounds as good as ever.
Unfortunately, these new tracks were quickly lost in the shuffle. As the years went on, Foreigner’s catalog became one of the most frequently repackaged in rock history. Budget compilations, themed anthologies, and digital-era playlists largely ignored the three additions here, making this one of the few places where they remain officially available. It's a shame, really—these weren’t throwaways, they were legitimate efforts that just arrived a few years too late to make much of a dent.
Still, for all its minor quirks, The Very Best and Beyond does what it sets out to do. It captures the highlights of Foreigner’s hit-making years, adds a small but worthwhile postscript, and gives Lou Gramm one last moment in the spotlight before the band’s output would slow to a near halt. If you’re looking for a single-disc overview of what made Foreigner matter, this is still one of the better options available—even if the “beyond” part has since been forgotten by most.
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