BURNING THE GROUND EXCLUSIVE 1984

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Originally posted August 18, 2011

“I Want to Know What Love Is” is a 1984 power ballad recorded by the British-American rock band Foreigner. The song hit #1 in both the UK and the U.S. and is the band’s biggest hit. It remains one of the band’s best known songs and most enduring radio hits, charting in the top 25 in 2000, 2001 and 2002 on the Billboard Hot Adult Contemporary Recurrents chart.

Written by Mick Jones, and produced by Jones and Alex Sadkin, it was the first single released from the album Agent Provocateur (1984). The song features backing vocals from the New Jersey Mass Choir (of the GMWA), Dreamgirls star Jennifer Holliday, and the Thompson Twins. The choir appears in the song’s music video.

“I Want to Know What Love Is” reached number one in the UK Singles Chart on 15 January 1985 and stayed there for three weeks. It reached the top of the US Billboard Hot 100 on 2 February 1985 where it stayed for two weeks. It was Foreigner’s first and only pop chart topper in either country, although the band had four #1 Mainstream Rock and one #1 Adult Contemporary radio hits in the US. This was the band’s third of four #1 singles on the mainstream rock chart. The song spent five weeks at #1 in Australia and also hit the top of the charts in Canada, Norway, and Sweden, peaking at #2 in Switzerland and South Africa.

The song was also issued as a 12″ single with a slightly longer time length of 6:21. This version contains a slightly longer intro and an extended vocal chorus/fadeout ending.

The single’s B-Side “Street Thunder (Marathon Theme)” is an instrumental track originally appearing on The Official Music of the XXIII Olympiad – Los Angeles 1984 and later on the band’s 2-CD compilation Jukebox Heroes: The Foreigner Anthology in 2000.

Soon after Foreigner’s single topped the charts, the New Jersey Mass Choir released its own similar-sounding version of the song on an album also titled I Want to Know What Love Is. Their single peaked at #37 on the Hot Black Singles chart and #12 on the Hot Dance Music/Maxi-Singles Sales chart.

The Foreigner song was ranked by Billboard as the number four Hot 100 single of the year 1985. It was the band’s fourth Gold single in the U.S. and their first and only Gold single in the UK.

In 2004 “I Want to Know What Love Is” was voted #476 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 500 greatest songs of all time. In 2006 this song was included on VH1’s program “Top 100 Songs of the 80’s” at #65.

SIDE A:
I Want To Know What Love Is (Extended Version)
Producer – Alex Sadkin, Mick Jones (2)

SIDE B:
Street Thunder
Producer – Alex Sadkin, Mick Jones (2)

Urgent
Producer – Mick Jones (2), Robert John “Mutt Lange”*

VINYL GRADE:
Vinyl: Near Mint
Sleeve: Near Mint

U.S. CHART HISTORY:

RELEASE INFORMATION:
Label: Atlantic – A 9596 (T)
Format: Vinyl, 12″, 45 RPM
Country: UK & Europe
Released: Dec 1984
Genre: Pop, Rock
Style: Soft Rock, Classic Rock

CREDITS:
Written-By – M. Jones*

NOTES:
“I Want To Know What Love Is” from the forthcoming album “Agent Provocateur”.

“Urgent” from the album “4”

Find The 12″ On DISCOGS

EQUIPMENT USED:
Turntable: Pro-Ject Debut Carbon (DC)
Cartridge: Ortofon 2M
Stylus: Ortofon OM Stylus 30
Platter: Pro-Ject Acryl-It platter
Stabilizer: Pro-Ject Record Puck 
Phono Pre-amp: Bellari VP130 Tube Phono Preamp
Tube: Tung-Sol 12AX7ECC803-S Gold Electron Tube
Soundcard: ESI Juli@
Record Cleaning: VPI HW 16.5 Record Cleaning Machine
Artwork Scans: Brother MFC-6490CW Professional Series Scanner

SOFTWARE USED:
Recording/Editing: Adobe Audition 3.0 (Recording)
Down Sampling: iZotope RX Advanced 2
Artwork Editor: Adobe Photoshop CS5
Click Removeal: Manual
FLAC/MP3 Conversion: dBpoweramp
M3U Playlist: Playlist Creator

RESTORATION NOTES:
All vinyl rips are recorded @ 32bit/float
FLAC (Level Eight)
MP3 (320kbps)
Artwork scanned at 600dpi