from an overdose of ecological sincerity compounded by tired rhythms and a conspicuous lack of hooks.

But hard as it is to root for a group that's amassed as much precious metal as this one (at last count, Foreigner and Double Vision had sold a total of 9 million copies), Head Games presents a very persuasive case that these guys can rock with spirit and conviction. Powered by guitarist-songwriter Mick Jones' jackhammer riffing and Dennis Elliott's ham-fisted drumming, "Dirty White Boy," "Seventeen" and the presumably tongue-in-cheek misogynous chant, "Women," are refreshingly free of the pomp-art, heavy-metal flourishes that made the band its fortune. Punchy organ fills, spare vocal harmonies and fast, guerrilla guitar breaks challenge but rarely upstage the cock's crowing of lead singer Lou Gramm.

After reaffirming their roots with a passing nod at the New Wave forces yapping at their heels, Foreigner trots out the English art-rock trappings that have always worked for them in the past. But the difference between Double Vision or Foreigner and the new LP's "Love on the Telephone." "Rev on the Red Line" or even the surprisingly poppish "Do What You Like" is an urgency that transcends the group's reliance on the tried-and-true. "Love on the Telephone" may bear more than a distant resemblance to "Cold as Ice" in Al Greenwood's rhythmic and melodic deployment of synthesizers against the tune's guitar-piano axis, yet its crisp and immediate "live" sound (the contribution of co-producer and sonic architect Roy Thomas Baker) is a real attraction.

There are still some chinks to be hammered out in Foreigner's armor. Jones' boyish tenor in "The Modern Day" is no match for Gramm's throaty howl, and the clichéd macho stance of songs like "I'll Get Even with You" and "Seventeen" intimate an underdeveloped lyrical imagination. But Head Games is Foreigner's best album because they're finally willing to admit there can be a distinction between making hit records and making good rock & roll, platinum be damned. (RS 305)

DAVID FRICKE