Foreigner: It Feels Like the First Time : Rock: Mick Jones says his newly reunited group, which plays in Santa Ana tonight, will rely on its proven strengths.

George Foreman. Larry Holmes. John McEnroe. Bobby Fischer. Mark Spitz. The list goes on and on.

The heroes of the recent past just don’t seem to know when to quit. Rather than basking in past triumphs, they forge ahead--often embarrassing themselves and others.

Mick Jones of Foreigner, which performs tonight and Saturday at the Rhythm Cafe in Santa Ana, is determined not to let that happen to his newly reunited group, champions of grandiose, commercial rock of the late ‘70s and early ‘80s.

“Cold As Ice,” “Double Vision,” “Hot Blooded,” “Waiting For A Girl Like You”--the group still performs them all, along with material Jones is writing for a Foreigner comeback album scheduled for release later this year or early in ’94 on Atlantic Records, the band’s label since its 1977 debut.

According to guitarist-composer Jones, the group will rely on its proven strengths.

“Most of the people that I’ve heard who’ve tried to modernize and make ‘90s albums usually fall flat on their faces,” he said. “I think that to try and compete with the Red Hot Chili Peppers and people like that would be sort of ridiculous. I believe there’s room out there for a real good rock album. The people that like to hear that kind of music have been ignored lately.”

Jones was recently reunited with Foreigner’s longtime lead vocalist, Lou Gramm, following a split of nearly three years. Foreigner never officially broke up, but without Gramm’s high-pitched warble, the sound wasn’t the same.

The group is now centered on Jones and Gramm, with all new backup.

“Lou and I had had our problems, the kind of natural thing that happens when you’ve been together with someone for a long time,” Jones said. The time off “gave us time to reflect and realize that we really had something good going.”

Foreigner suffered as much backlash from critics as it enjoyed support from adult-oriented radio program directors and record buyers, but Jones said the critical slings and arrows don’t faze him. “We came along basically at the dawn of punk, so we had to weather that, disco, new wave--everything,” he said. “We really weren’t critics’ darlings at any time. When you have success, you get tagged with labels like ‘corporate rock.’ But those are just things you live through and get over. . . .

“The things that attracted us to music in the beginning are still there: the thrill of having a ball when you get up onstage and of doing something successfully. So we don’t have any plans except to follow our instincts, and put this band back where it belongs.”

* Foreigner plays tonight and Saturday at 8 at the Rhythm Cafe, 3503 S. Harbor Blvd., Santa Ana. $31.50 to $33. (714) 556-2233.