Agent Provocateur (album)

{{safesubst:#invoke:Unsubst-infobox||$params=italic_title,name,type,longtype,artist,cover,border,alt,caption,released,recorded,venue,studio,genre,length,language,label,director,producer,compiler,chronology,prev_title,prev_year,year,next_title,next_year,misc|$extra=italic_title,longtype,border,caption,language,director,compiler,chronology,year,misc|$aliases=italic title>italic_title,Italic title>italic_title,Name>name,Type>type,image>cover,Cover>cover,Border>border,Alt>alt,Caption>caption,Longtype>longtype,Artist>artist,Released>released,Recorded>recorded,Venue>venue,Studio>studio,Genre>genre,Length>length,Language>language,Label>label,Director>director,Producer>producer,Compiler>compiler,Chronology>chronology,Misc>misc|$flags=override|$B={{#ifeq:{{#invoke:Is infobox in lead|main|[Ii]nfobox [Aa]lbum}}|true|{{#if:Template:Has short description | |{{#if: December 14, 1984 | Template:Short description}}}}}}{{#invoke:Infobox|infobox}}Template:Template otherTemplate:Category handlerTemplate:Main other{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:Infobox album with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|ignoreblank=y|italic_title |type |name |image |cover |border |alt |caption |longtype |artist |released |recorded |venue |studio |genre |length |language |label |director |producer |compiler |prev_title|prev_year|next_title|next_year|chronology|year|misc}}{{#if:{{#invoke:String|match|error_category=Music infoboxes with Module:String errors|A|1=Records1982Inside Information1987AlbumAgent ProvocateurForeigner - Agent Provocateur.JPGForeignerDecember 14, 1984October 1983−July 1984The Hit Factory and Right Track Recording (New York, NY)Rock42:17AtlanticMick Jones

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Agent Provocateur is the fifth studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on December 14, 1984.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The album was the band's only number-one album on the United Kingdom Albums Chart, and it reached the top five on the United States Billboard 200. Although album sales were lower than their previous work in the US, it contains the band's biggest hit single, "I Want to Know What Love Is", which is their only #1 single on the UK singles chart and the US Billboard Hot 100, staying at the top spot for three and two weeks, respectively. The follow-up single, "That Was Yesterday", also proved to be a sizeable hit, peaking at #12 in the US. The album was certified Platinum in the UK by the BPI, and triple Platinum in the US by the RIAA.<ref>RIAA database Template:Webarchive</ref>

Recording

Within nearly two years of releasing 4, writing and preproduction for this album began as early as June 1983 in New York, with producer Trevor Horn.<ref name=Sacramento>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name='whatsinaname'>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Then, once writing had been completed, official recording began in early October in New York with Horn.<ref name=Sacramento/><ref name='whatsinaname'/> Eventually, things fell apart around Christmas that year when Foreigner had joined him in England to resume the recording: Horn soon backed out of the project, feeling that he and the band were heading in different directions and that it was not going to work out.<ref name=Sacramento/><ref name='whatsinaname'/><ref name='IMRW'>Template:Cite magazine</ref><ref name='Horn'/> However, it was also acknowledged that Horn chose to work with Frankie Goes To Hollywood on the follow-up single to Relax.<ref>The ZTT Box Set: Paul Morley on BBC 6Music (Part 1) (around 4:25 mark)</ref><ref>Classic Pop: Trevor Horn interview</ref> In hindsight, the band recognised that Horn's production style wasn't really suited to their music, according to drummer Dennis Elliott: "he tried to make us more electronic than we wanted to be".<ref name='IMRW'/> Eventually, another month was spent trying to look for another producer to fill his shoes, subsequently hiring Alex Sadkin, who was busy finishing the Thompson Twins' Into the Gap album.<ref name=whatsinaname/><ref name='Billboard260185'>Template:Cite magazine</ref> Sadkin helped rekindle the project when it was on the verge of total collapse, but despite that, according to Jones, recording still never seemed to end: the sessions had been dogged from the very start and continued to remain unfocused.<ref name=whatsinaname/> Sadkin agreed when reminiscing on the project in 1987: Template:Quote

Even though the extent of Horn's contributions to the record is unclear, he claims to have done most of the backing tracks, including for "I Want To Know What Love Is".<ref name='Horn'>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> According to singer Lou Gramm, owing to the difference in production styles between Sadkin and Horn, only two of the tracks that had been cut with the latter were kept on the record, though it is unclear which ones.<ref name=Sacramento/> A total of nine months had been spent on recording the album.<ref name=Billboard260185/>

Critical reception

Template:Album ratings By the time of Agent Provocateur, Foreigner was frequently savaged by the contemporary rock music press. A review in Creem read: "On this, their latest excursion into the gaping jaws of pulverizing mediocrity, our boys continue to wrestle with an all-too-turgid identity crisis — they still can't decide whether it's stupider to aspire to poor man's Led Zep status or settle for being a weightier version of Chicago. Some swinging choice, huh? Either way they lose and this record is simply jammed with one dull defeat after another."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Ultimate Classic Rock critic Eduardo Rivadavia rated "A Love in Vain" as Foreigner's fifth-most underrated song, calling it a "synth-powered cry of desperation" and a "dark-horse favorite of fans."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Classic Rock critic Malcolm Dome rated two songs from Agent Provocateur as being among Foreigner's 10 most underrated – "Stranger in My Own House" at #6 and "Tooth and Nail" – which he describes as "the antidote to 'I Want to Know What Love Is'" – at #2.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Billboard said that in "Tooth and Nail" the band flex "post-punk power chords with gusto."<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

Personnel

Foreigner

• Lou Gramm – lead vocals, percussion
• Mick Jones – keyboards, synthesizers, guitars, bass, backing vocals
• Rick Wills – bass, backing vocals
• Dennis Elliott – drums

Additional personnel

• Wally Badarou – analogue and digital synthesizers
• Tom Bailey – synthesizers on "I Want to Know What Love Is"
• Brian Eddolls – synthesizers
• Larry Fast – synthesizers
• Dave Lebolt – synthesizers
• Bob Mayo – keyboards, acoustic piano, backing vocals
• Jack Waldman – synthesizers
• Mark Rivera – saxophone, backing vocals
• Thompson Twins – backing vocals
• Ian Lloyd – guitar, keyboards, backing vocals
• Don Harper – violin on "I Want to Know What Love Is"
• Jennifer Holliday – backing vocals and arrangement on "I Want to Know What Love Is"
• New Jersey Mass Choir of the GMWA – backing vocals on "I Want to Know What Love Is"

Production

• Producers – Mick Jones and Alex Sadkin
• Chief Engineer/Mixing Engineer – Frank Filipetti
• Additional Engineers – Josh Abbey, Larry Alexander, Jason Corsaro, Joe Ferla and Howie Lindeman.
• Assistant Engineers – Bobby Cohen, Tim Crich and Scott Mabuchi.
• Original Mastering and Digital Remastering – Ted Jensen at Sterling Sound, NYC.
• Art Direction and Design – Bob Defrin
• Management – Bud Prager, E.S.P. Management Ltd.

Charts

Weekly charts

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Chart (1984–1985)	Peak position
Australia (Kent Music Report)<ref name=aus>Template:Cite book</ref>	2
Finnish Albums (The Official Finnish Charts)<ref name=FINI>Template:Cite book</ref>	5
French Albums (SNEP)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} Select Foreigner from the menu, then press OK.</ref>	15
Italian Albums (Musica e Dischi)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }} Set "Tipo" on "Album". Then, in the "Artista" field, search "Foreigner".</ref>	20
Japanese Albums (Oricon)<ref name="JPN">Template:Cite book</ref>	6

Year-end charts

Chart (1985)	Position
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation	CitationClass=web }}</ref>	34