Rocks In The Attic #136: Huey Lewis And The News - ‘Sports’ (1983)

There’s an amusing spelling mistake on the cover of this album. You don’t tend to see typos like this on album covers, and probably for a good reason given the amount of money it takes to get an album out, and the considerable sum it is then expected to make back. On the album credits, the album is listed as being ‘recored’, instead of ‘recorded’ by Jim Gaines. Oh dear, I’m sure a young executive at Chrysalis Records felt the heat the day this record was pressed.

In the wake of Back To The Future, and their hit-single The Power Of Love, Huey Lewis And The News were my favourite band - at least for a few years until they fell of my radar and were replaced by the 1987 version of Michael Jackson. To my ears at least, their brand of rock n’ roll doesn’t sound too dated - even though on paper they should.

Any rock album of the mid-‘80s, especially one with saxophone and keyboards, runs the risk of now sounding irrelevant, but on this album, and it’s follow up, Fore!, they don’t sound too bad. Huey Lewis’ vocals soulful vocals definitely help, but perhaps it’s also because of Lewis’s background with ‘70s San Fransisco band Clover, and the fact that he was already an established recording artist, working through the ‘80s, not as a product of the ‘80s, and able to cleverly sidestep any of the now-dated clichés from that decade. I’m sure that the fact that this album was self-produced didn’t hurt either - away from the influence and gimmickry of the latest hot-shot ‘80s producer.

Hit: I Want A New Drug

Hidden Gem: Bad Is Bad