Ian McDonald (Foreigner) dies

[matt1]

Ian McDonald (Foreigner 1976 - 1979) has died at 75 years old. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ian_McDonald_(musician)

[kager]

Foreigner's 1st two albums did have more sax/horns in the mix. Seemed like the intro of RTB into production of Head Games made much of that no longer a thing.

[learn to fly]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/In_the_Co ... imson_King

[Bobbert]

Foreigner's 1st two albums did have more sax/horns in the mix. Seemed like the intro of RTB into production of Head Games made much of that no longer a thing.

Head Games is my favorite Foreigner album because of the hard rock sound that RTB created. After that, they started doing more ballads and I lost interest in them.

[matt1]

2 of the members of Foreigner (without Ian McDonald) formed The Spys on EMI America & released 2 albums in 1982 & 1983 & then quit. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spys_(band)

[Musicrewired]

I'm guessing Mick Jones wanted more control over Foreigner's direction, and McDonald was a bit more versatile and involved in his musical, production and songwriting contributions than Jones may have preferred. Having been an original member of King Crimson was a decent resume entry prior to Foreigner, and that might have worked against Jones' ideas for the band. Notice that it's McDonald standing next to Jones on the Double Vision album cover close-up shot, not vocalist Lou Gramm.

Being a multi-instrumentalist, Ian was a valuable contributor in the first two albums, and was the other guitar player besides Jones on "Head Games". Plus, he was the sole writer on one of Foreigner's most underrated songs, "Love Has Taken Its' Toll" from Double Vision:

https://youtu.be/PGMREB0ZgUM

Jones had some some nice words about Ian McDonald:

https://www.blabbermouth.net/news/forei ... rsatility/