Agent Provocateur is the fifth studio album by the British-American rock band Foreigner, released on December 7, 1984. The album was the band's first and only number one album in the United Kingdom, and it reached the top 5 in the United States. 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 in the UK and the US, 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. 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. Then, once writing had been completed in September that year, official recording began in early October in London with Horn. Eventually, things started to fall apart around the time of the Christmas holidays – even though co-producer & guitarist Mick Jones recalled that it began after a day of recording – due to Horn being more concerned about the performance of the singles he had produced in Europe (for bands such as Frankie Goes to Hollywood) than the Foreigner record. 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. 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. Sadkin agreed when reminiscing on the project in 1987: 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". 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. A total of nine months had been spent on recording the album. Critical