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Foreigner – Urgent

6:01 pm

An evening pause: Performed live 1982, with a truly great sax solo by Mark Rivera.

Hat tip Ferris Akel.

Genesis cover

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10 comments

10 comments

  • Blair Ivey
    January 20, 2026 at 9:28 pm

    Possibly the greatest sax solo in rock history.

  • Dick Eagleson
    January 22, 2026 at 3:16 am

    Blair Ivey,

    Uh, no. Just no. Compared to Phil Kenzie’s work on ‘The Year of the Cat’ or Raphael Ravenscroft’s work on ‘Baker Street’ this out of tune and badly played effort is embarrassing.

  • Blair Ivey
    January 22, 2026 at 6:49 am

    Dick Eagleson: are you trolling me?

    I did say ‘possibly’. I am familiar with both cited examples: I have the albums, and I disagree. The works you cite are understated professionalism, while the Mark Rivera effort is pure, raw, rock n roll. Sorry, man.

  • wayne
    January 22, 2026 at 12:00 pm

    Neutral on the saxophone.
    I do recall a made-up brew-ha-ha concerning the drumbeat being implicated in the death of teenage partygoers.

    https://behindtheblack.com/behind-the-black/the-evening-pause/al-stewart-year-of-the-cat-2/

  • Blair Ivey
    January 23, 2026 at 2:26 am

    Dick Eagleson: Just for you. Sax solo thrown in.

    I need a surgeon
    A surgeon
    You know, a surgeon
    I want to tell you it’s an emergency
    A surgeon
    Just you wait and see
    A surgeon can take care of me
    A surgeon

  • Dick Eagleson
    January 25, 2026 at 5:18 am

    Blair Ivey,

    It’s still out of tune and it’s still badly played. I will readily grant that it is enthusiastically played, but enthusiasm is no substitute for skill. If “understated professionalism” is not your thing, there are many examples of overstated professionalism anent rock and saxophones that could be substituted. This is, at best, a C+/B- performance.

    The song is not great either. Very forgettable compared to other numbers by the same band.

  • Blair Ivey
    January 25, 2026 at 10:21 pm

    Dick Eagelson: Let us go to the People.

    You are in a bar, ‘Year of the Cat’, or ‘Baker Street’ come up. “Yeah, that’s a cool song, I remember . . . ” A safe bet that no one is talking about the sax work. ‘Urgent’ comes up. I guarantee without reservation that no one has ‘forgotten’ this song. People look forward to the sax solo. If they are drunk enough; may try to emulate it. Won’t see that on another song.

    ‘Urgent’ No. 1 on Billboard 4 weeks

    “Year of the Cat” No. 8 on Billboard

    “Baker Street” No. 2 on Billboard, and beat out by Sir Rod Stewart’s “Shadow Dancing”, for crying out loud.

  • Dick Eagleson
    January 27, 2026 at 4:23 am

    Here’s a video by a guy who agrees with both of us, but more with me than you. He rates Urgent No. 6 and Baker Street No. 1.

    Here’s another that has a fair amount of overlap with the first, but on which Urgent does not appear, though Year of the Cat and Baker Street are rated No.3 and No. 2, respectively.

    Urgent, by the way, was never No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100. It peaked at No. 4 where it stayed for four weeks. Baker Street peaked at No. 2 and stayed there for six weeks.

    I listened to quite a few “best sax riffs” videos and a lot more of them include Baker Street than Urgent. But Urgent does get some love. Upon repeated listenings, I find the riff growing on me a bit. But I suspect that’s because it’s being played by better musicians than Mark Rivera on these videos. The original of the Urgent riff was evidently played by Junior Walker. I’m entirely prepared to believe his rendition was a lot better than the one on the linked live performance.

    For whatever you may find it to be worth, the sax riff from Baker Street is far from the only such that appears in these “best of” videos more often than Urgent. Among those are riffs from Sade’s Smooth Operator, Whitney Houston’s I Will Always Love You, Bob Seger’s Old Time Rock ‘n Roll, Bruce Springsteen’s Born to Run and George Michael’s Careless Whisper.

  • Blair Ivey
    January 31, 2026 at 7:55 am

    Dick Eagleson:

    We are arguing about angel pin-head dancing. Ask any random person about the argued solos: defense rests.

  • wayne
    January 31, 2026 at 12:50 pm

    Urgent (1981)
    Extended Re-Mix (2017)
    https://youtu.be/rpko5y1lR1s
    8:23

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