"IT WAS PROBABLY OUR BEST ALBUM"

“I’m still incredibly proud of 4. It was probably our best album; certainly it was the one that we had been working towards. It captured the vision I had in mind for the band – that we would be taken seriously.

“With the first three albums we were still desperately feeling our way. Dennis [Elliott, drums] and Rick [Wills, bass] were a very solid rhythm section, and we were going to have to sort out the rest of the line-up. Al [Greenwood, keyboards] and Ian [McDonald, multi-instrumentalist] both felt they weren’t able to contribute enough, and that was starting to fester. Letting them both go was probably the toughest decision I’ve ever had to make.

“‘Mutt’ Lange’s input was fundamental to its success. Having been closely involved in the production of our first three albums, I felt I needed to be relieved of some of that pressure.

Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones on their classic 4.

I needed somebody strong enough to stand up to me… If only I’d known!

“It was the first time I’d worked with a producer who demanded to hear every single track and basic scrap of a song idea. I’d already had years in the business, and viewed that as a terrible invasion of my privacy, but I agreed to it and some great songs came out of that whole brainstorming process.

“‘Mutt’ was very professional; a great, beautiful guy, a bit of an old soul, and he remains somebody I still admire very much. He’s all but retired now. I still harbour a wish to work with him again some day. We haven’t spoken for many, many years, but ‘Mutt’ was a massive part of what became a vital album for Foreigner – maybe the most important one. Even just to meet him and go to dinner again would be great.”