Foreigner

There are many compilations released in the run up to February 14th, but this year there are also some big names looking to tap into the Valentine's Day spending with albums of their own. Tina Turner has a love songs collection out and here Foreigner look to make hay while the love hearts rain down.

The album features fourteen tracks from the band's extensive back catalogue, only that they are all sung by Kelly Hansen, who took over the vocals from Lou Gramm a decade ago. While he has a classic rock voice, Hansen doesn't have the same gravitas as Gramm, and reworkings of I Want To Know What Love Is and Waiting For A Girl Like You sound thin. They are not help with an attempted updating of the production, which only goes to make them sound strangely older than the originals.

There are acoustic versions of other Foreigner classics - with an impressive Feels Like The First Time working much better than Say You Will and Double Vision. Newer songs from the band's catalogue also feature, including When It Comes To Love from 2009, where Hansen's hushed, slightly husky, vocal sounds more at home.

There is also a limited edition double CD which features An Acoustic Evening With Foreigner from a German radio show. The release comes ahead of a UK tour in the spring - for those fans that have stuck with the band through all the line up changes (founding member Mick Jones remains). As for Foreigner collections, there are better ones than this if you want an overview of one of the best architects of FM radio rock.