Though it's arriving to market four years after its companion DVD, Alive & Rockin' is the CD version of Foreigner's hot set at the 2006 Band Your Head!!! festival in Balingen, Germany. Featuring a line-up of founding member & guitarist Mick Jones, vocalist Kelly Hansen, drummer Jason Bonham, keyboardist Jeff Jacobs, multi-instrumentalist Tom Gimbel (guitars, saxophone, flute) and bassist Jeff Pilson (a line-up that has since changed obviously), the band fire off 9 classic Foreigner tracks from throughout their career in front of a very appreciative crowd.
If you've already seen the DVD, you already know how energetic the band were here and how completely rocking this set was. Hansen, much like Arnel Pineda with Journey, has proven that he truly belongs in this band and can really do the Lou Gramm material well, as evidenced by his powerful renditions of "Head Games", "Dirty White Boy", "Double Vision", and "Feels Like the First Time". Plenty of hard rock muscle to be heard throughout from Jones, as his crunchy riffs on "Cold As Ice", "Juke Box Heroes" and all the already mentioned songs take these songs up a notch. Having Jason Bonham on board to add some drum thunder certainly doesn't hurt, and the band even get into a little Led Zeppelin with "Whole Lotta Love" as a tribute to his late father John. Gotta love also that the band dug out the classic prog track "Starrider" at this show, a real hidden gem in their back catalog.
So, pop this CD in your car stereo, open the sunroof and windows, crank up the volume, and go out for a ride with Foreigner and revisit some of the classic songs of the '70s & '80s.
Track Listing
01. Double Vision
02. Head Games
03. Dirty White Boy
04. Cold As Ice
05. Starrider
06. Feels Like The First Time
07. Urgent
08. Juke Box Hero / Whole Lotta Love
09. Hot Blooded