Django
Katmandu Member
Posts: 64
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Post by Django on Feb 21, 2003 13:56:27 GMT -5
Well, I think my new Cat Stevens friends are going to think me a schizo because I really like Foreginer!
It grew on me. I played it all while I cleaned up and cooked, at a good loud volume but yet still in the background.
I'm actually embarrased to admit here how much I like it because of what I said a few days ago. It isn't choppy at all, like say Buddha, it has its own logic and it is clearly deeply personal but it sounds really nice and that is enough.
I think it is something you can't enjoy until you realise it isn't for YOU, it is Cat pleasing himself and then one can relax a little more with.
The Suite has a beautiful range of sounds. It is joyous in tone, all the other tracks sound really fine too.
Later,
Django
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Post by Aisha on Feb 21, 2003 14:09:20 GMT -5
Hey Django, I have secretly inserted subliminal messages in my posts... I see they have worked....  Love, A'isha |
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DJ
Majik of Majik Member
Posts: 475
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Post by DJ on Feb 21, 2003 16:54:42 GMT -5
Glad you came on over and found you did like it after all, Michael.
Those later albums are not very instantanious, and they do need to grow on you.
I'm sure that's why Cat didn't get as favourable reviews for his latter albums, I wonder how many listens music critics gave them at the time they were released.
One of the bootlegs you could search out for when you've completed your official collection is the Quad mix of the 'Foreigner' album, some fans feel the mix is superior to the main released version, with some very subtle differences.
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Post by cristalina on Feb 21, 2003 19:17:04 GMT -5
Glad you are able to appreciate such a brilliant album. |
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Post by Vivian on Feb 21, 2003 21:55:12 GMT -5
Hey, my subliminal messages sure did work! Foreigner is WONDERFUL!!
Peace,Vivian
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Jancat
Majik of Majik Member
"I let my music take me where my heart wants to go..."
Posts: 496
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Post by Jancat on Feb 21, 2003 21:58:09 GMT -5
I don't know about you, Django, but sometimes it's the songs that I have to listen to again and again before I "get" them that make the most lasting impression.
At any rate, I'm glad that you're "getting" Foreigner...
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Post by ocaritas on Feb 21, 2003 22:05:12 GMT -5
Yay, Django!!! We were all sitting here secretly rooting for you -- we just KNEW you'd have to come around sooner or later!!! So glad to hear your news!! ;D   It's one of my absolute favorites! And my husband is just in awe over this suite! Take care, Sue |
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Post by Dusty_Day on Jul 30, 2003 4:29:51 GMT -5
I just love the piano improvisation at the very end of the suite. Keep turning the volume up as it fades out.
It's just magical.
Linda
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Post by Celticat on Jul 30, 2003 6:13:28 GMT -5
I agree Linda, I have been listening to Foreigner a lot lately and am finding it to be a favourite.
Jackie
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Post by Aisha on Jul 30, 2003 10:06:04 GMT -5
I love the part where the piano is playing softly and the Catman belts out with heavy emotion and passion, "There are no words, I can use..." God that part really gets to those old heart strings.
Love,
A'isha
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Post by Vivian on Jul 30, 2003 10:38:43 GMT -5
I love the part where the piano is playing softly and the Catman belts out with heavy emotion and passion, "There are no words, I can use..." God that part really gets to those old heart strings. Love, A'isha Talk about sheer emotion, WOW!! Peace,Vivian |
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Post by cristalina on Jul 30, 2003 18:04:47 GMT -5
I recently posted on CS com that I loved the final line in Foreigner Suite, which I put as "you bring my father a beautiful daughter" which a few members have stated is incorrect. I haven't had time to listen to it since to check, but its what I have always sung after "heaven must've programmed you" as the tune fades away. The line isn't in the lyrics section, so what do the rest of you think the last line is? Am I right? or do I really need to go and get my hearing checked?
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Post by hummingbird on Jul 30, 2003 18:10:02 GMT -5
That's how I've always heard it Cristalina ("heaven must of programmed you...) and to be honest I always thought that was a bit below standard for him.  I do like the sentiment though Cat was either into computers way before the rest of us or he was spending to much time programming those synthesizers.... |
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Post by MissKitty on Jul 31, 2003 17:18:38 GMT -5
The last line of Foreigner is "You played my heart like a beautiful guitar". You can really hear it here, on the live version that Chris has. But it clearly is that. Enjoy
~~MK
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Post by ilovemycat on May 26, 2010 22:49:56 GMT -5
I have been playing Foreigner in constant rotation for about the past month, I always thought he was saying "you break my heart like a beautiful doll" which doesn't make any sense. So I checked out what you guys said and Miss Kitty's seemed to make sense to me. So I went and listened to the live version on youtube and i think she is mostly correct. I think he actually says "you play in my heart like a beautiful guitar" which mkes the most sense IMHO. It seems pretty clear to me what he is saying in the live version.
So - I know i dragged up this old thread but I am just really thrilled to finally know what he says. I have been singing the wrong words most of my life!
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valleycreeper
Katmandu Member
I creep through the valleys, still
Posts: 81
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Post by valleycreeper on May 27, 2010 4:17:04 GMT -5
I've always played side two only of Foreigner. Once every few years I start thinking, wow, he did a song stretching over an entire album side, wouldn't it be incredible if it's really great and I just missed it before now? Then I play it and bail out after awhile. It's too "earnest" and straightforward and "wonderful" for me. I don't know how to make that statement make sense, sorry. I need a little conflict and darkness, maybe.
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Post by flemmishfangent on May 27, 2010 9:12:01 GMT -5
I just loved that side one so emotional Regine
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Post by ilovemycat on May 27, 2010 14:35:11 GMT -5
I've always played side two only of Foreigner. Once every few years I start thinking, wow, he did a song stretching over an entire album side, wouldn't it be incredible if it's really great and I just missed it before now? Then I play it and bail out after awhile.  does not compute...does not compute... I have to admit - I only recently fell in love with this CD. And now it just may be my favorite. |
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Post by flemmishfangent on May 28, 2010 4:03:21 GMT -5
BETTER LATE THEN NEVER Regii
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Post by JaneB on May 28, 2010 7:26:41 GMT -5
I have always loved this album - from the day I bought it and played it on my very cheap turntable. "100 I Dream" is one of my favorite songs of his - definitely in my top 5 - and always played at high volume.
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valleycreeper
Katmandu Member
I creep through the valleys, still
Posts: 81
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Post by valleycreeper on May 28, 2010 13:09:41 GMT -5
"100 I Dream" took me years. On the surface, it sounds... well, bad. It sounds like a mistake of some kind. The music sounds as if he's just goofing around, at first. Even some of the lyrics add to that. Various things made me keep going back to it, though. It was showcased as a B-side. It's the last song on Foreigner, a place of honor. I do know that some serious songs have a deceptively absurdist tone to them. I realized that this was true of this song.
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Post by richina on Jun 1, 2010 8:46:15 GMT -5
I've always loved the album and when it got to the "Heaven" part of the suite...nothing to do but crank up the volume and dance!!! I was thrilled when he did "Heaven/True Love Goes", ahhh- the best of both worlds!!
I always thought he said "You play my heart like a beautiful song.." Thanks for clearing it up, yours makes more sense and sounds right.
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Post by JaneB on Jun 1, 2010 12:00:51 GMT -5
"100 I Dream" took me years. On the surface, it sounds... well, bad. It sounds like a mistake of some kind. The music sounds as if he's just goofing around, at first. Even some of the lyrics add to that. Various things made me keep going back to it, though. It was showcased as a B-side. It's the last song on Foreigner, a place of honor. I do know that some serious songs have a deceptively absurdist tone to them. I realized that this was true of this song. Wow - not my take of the song at all. I never thought it sounded bad and certainly never absurd. It was one of my favorites from the very beginning. This is a song that I always have "cravings" to hear. A few months ago I had such a craving. It happened to be at the time when a dear friend of mine who happens to be Iranian was worrying about her friends and family back in Iran. When I got home I put the song on and realized how much of what is said in that song could apply to the Iranian people. When I told her about it and told her to go back and listen to it, she was amazed at how the lyrics matched the way she felt. My favorite lyrics come from this song, found in my signature line: "Wherever you go the world will follow, so let your reasons be true to you." Words to live by. |
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Post by richina on Jun 1, 2010 13:14:47 GMT -5
Well said Jane. I agree, I too have always loved the song! It always gave me inner strength and the ability to be myself (as lots of Cat's music did).
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Post by ilovemycat on Jun 1, 2010 22:01:12 GMT -5
It's funny - some of the most deceptively simple sounding lyrics of Cat/Yusuf become more profound the more and more you play the song over. For example All Kinds of Roses sounded so repetitive/mudane to me at first. Now I cannot hear the song without getting choked up. In fact, I just dried a tear in the parking lot of Target a few minutes ago ;D One of my favorite Cat lyrics is in 100 I Dream: Bluebird on a rock, slow wind blowing soft Across the bare face of the sleeping lake It's so poetic to me another favorite "and the whirling wind turns to song, why it sets my soul free" Who writes this stuff??? |
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Post by richina on Jun 2, 2010 9:42:20 GMT -5
"Who writes this stuff?", you ask....  who else but a genius singer/songwriter?  ;D What's not to love??  |
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Post by downunder72 on Jun 2, 2010 10:15:15 GMT -5
"Who writes this stuff?", you ask.... who else but a genius singer/songwriter? ;D What's not to love?? Yes Rechina, I agree 100%. I'm not idolizing anyone, but the truth must be said, Yusuf, 'heaven must have programmed' you!!! ;D |
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Post by tiffany on Jun 2, 2010 12:32:18 GMT -5
Well, in all honesty to me, Cat Stevens is a singer, songwriter, poet and hero of our time. He has written songs that perfectly caught the mood of all generations. Songs that were about ecology, peace and understanding and love. I think that what really beguiled us the most, was his good looks, voice, image and the time when he was youthful and handsome. We all loved those Cat days then, and even as we age now, the voice still sounds as mellow as it ever did back in the 70s
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valleycreeper
Katmandu Member
I creep through the valleys, still
Posts: 81
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Post by valleycreeper on Jun 12, 2010 1:03:54 GMT -5
The two songs I was never in doubt about were The Hurt and Later, both played a lot on the radion then. They're great. How Many Times I can ceretainly identify with (I think Lennon did a song about the same thing... the tedium of the same small tasks every day to keep yourself alive etc), but still, the subject seemed a bit on the trivial side (and yet not).
Maybe it's mostly the beginning of 100 I Dream that threw me. It's not what you expect for a serious song, sort of loud, drum-heavy, 7th chords probably...
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Post by ilovemycat on Jun 12, 2010 10:31:43 GMT -5
When I first heard the Suite again recently -while I could not deny the brilliance of the suite, I just found it sounded a bit dated - kind of Hawaii Five-O themish - like a theme song to some drama series from the 70's. But once I played through it several times - mostly to get to the Heaven part - I began to fall in love with it, and then strangely - I don't even hear Hawaii Five O anymore in it.
So - after many plays, it is probably my #1 Cat song. I can't sit still when it is on. I whistle through all the 1970's drama happily and think it is so amazing. The arrangement of the horns in that song are awesome too - I think Roussel arranged them if I'm not mistaken. Amazing.
Not trying to change your mind or anything - but truly that song takes a few plays before it gets inside your brain/soul. Today is is maybe one of my favorite tunes in the entire world.
Your task...if you are willing to take the challenge...is to sit through it five times straight and report back (just kidding - sort of). Some music takes listening more than a few times before it hooks you in. Sorry for trying to be persuasive (aka controlling) but I just hate for anyone to be missing out. Or maybe I am offended that anyone could dislike this song ;D (kidding again)
But seriously...I wonder how much it must have hurt Cat's heart when the reviews to Foreigner were so lukewarm.
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I do like the sentiment though 
does not compute...does not compute... 
;D 
