Luanne

1982 single by Foreigner
"Luanne"
Single by Foreigner
from the album 4[2]
B-sideHot-Blooded (live)[3]
ReleasedJuly 1982 (US) [1]
RecordedEarly 1981
Genre
  • Hard rock
  • power pop
Length3:25 (album version)
3:11 (single version)[4]
LabelAtlantic
Songwriter(s)
  • Lou Gramm
  • Mick Jones
Producer(s)
Foreigner singles chronology
"Break It Up"
(1982) 		"Luanne"
(1982) 		"I Want to Know What Love Is"
(1984)

"Luanne" was the fifth and final single taken from the album 4 by the band Foreigner, and the second to feature a B-side that was not available on one of their albums, a controversial live version of their hit, "Hot Blooded". The song was written by Lou Gramm and Mick Jones and reached number 75 in the U.S. charts, but was a live staple for years to come.[5] The live version of "Hot Blooded" was later placed on the international release of their retrospective, Records, but in subsequent re-releases has been dropped in favour of the original album version due to a couple of choice words spoken in ad lib during the song's performance by its singer, Lou Gramm.

Rolling Stone contributor Kurt Loder felt the song sounded like it could have been written by John Fogerty.[6] Berkeley Gazette critic Robert Blades said it has "a mesmerizing pop hook uncommon to most of Foreigner's material" and shows "a breadth of style the band hasn't revealed before."[7] Hartford Courant critic Colin McEnroe called it a "first-class driving rock 'n' roll melody."[8] WCSC-TV music director Chris Bailey praised it, saying that it sounded like songs from REO Speedwagon's Hi Infidelity album.[9] Cash Box said that it's a "pleasant departure," with a "rumbling drum fill reminiscent of 'Peggy Sue' [by Buddy Holly]" and with an emphasis "on melodically twangy guitar hooks rather than sheer rock force."[10] Billboard said that it was a throwback to the "crisp guitar base" of earlier Foreigner hits, rather than the "synthesizer-tinged melodic pop" of their more recent hits, "Lou Gramm's vocal readings and the spare production" were consistent with their recent successful charting songs.[11]

References

  1. ^ "Foreigner singles".
  2. ^ "Foreigner - 4". Discogs.
  3. ^ "Foreigner – Luanne (1982, Vinyl)". Discogs.
  4. ^ "Foreigner - Luanne". Discogs.
  5. ^ "Foreigner Hot 100". Billboard. Retrieved 2020-06-08.
  6. ^ Loder, Kurt (October 15, 1981). "Foreigner: Mass-Appeal Rock in a Post-Golden Age". Rolling Stone Magazine. Retrieved 2018-05-04.
  7. ^ Blades, Robert (February 10, 1982). "Foreigner's too familiar sounds finally dying out?". Berkeley Gazette. p. 15. Retrieved 2022-06-21 – via newspapers.com.
  8. ^ McEnroe, Colin (October 20, 1981). "Foreigner's Repertoire Nothing Exotic". Hartford Courant. p. C6. Retrieved 2022-06-22 – via newspaper.com.
  9. ^ Sacks, Leo (July 10, 1982). "Out of the Box" (PDF). Billboard. p. 20. Retrieved 2020-06-10.
  10. ^ "Reviews" (PDF). Cash Box. July 10, 1982. p. 8. Retrieved 2022-07-07.
  11. ^ "Top Single Picks". Billboard. July 10, 1985. p. 65. Retrieved 2022-07-29.
  • v
  • t
  • e
Foreigner
Studio albums
  • Foreigner
  • Double Vision
  • Head Games
  • 4
  • Agent Provocateur
  • Inside Information
  • Unusual Heat
  • Mr. Moonlight
  • Can't Slow Down
Compilations
Live albums
Singles
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