Huey Lewis and the News - Picture This (35th anniversary)

Today (January 29th) marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Huey Lewis and the News' second studio album Picture This. It spent fifty-nine weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 13.

For my review of this album, please click here.

Back To The Future (soundtrack) (30th anniversary)

Today (July 8th) marks the thirtieth anniversary of the soundtrack from Back To The Future. The record spent thirty-two weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 12.

For my full review, click here.

Huey Lewis and the News - Huey Lewis and the News (35th anniversary)

Today (June 25th) marks the thirty-fifth anniversary of the self-titled debut album from Huey Lewis and the News. The record only spent three weeks on the US Billboard album chart, peaking at number 203.

For my full review, click here.

For even more of Huey Lewis and the News, click here.

USA For Africa - We Are the World

This month marks the thirtieth anniversary of We Are the World, the compilation album from a collection of artists known as USA For Africa that was released to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia. The record was a huge seller the world over; here in the US it debuted at number 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and held that spot for three consecutive weeks. It had an overall run on the Billboard Album chart for twenty-two weeks.

Huey Lewis and the News - Sports (30th anniversary)

Happy 30th anniversary today (September 15th) to Sports, the third studio album from Huey Lewis and the News.

For my complete review of this huge-selling, chart-topping album from 1983, click here.

Huey Lewis and the News - Sports

Happy sixty-second birthday today (July 5th) to American singer, songwriter and actor Huey Lewis.

After the moderate selling self-titled debut album Huey Lewis and the News in 1980 (click here for that review) and the stronger Picture This in 1982 (click here for that review), the San Francisco based band knocked it out of the park with their next release.

Sports hit record stores on September 15th, 1983, and has gone on to be the group's biggest selling album to date. The record went Platinum seven times over in the US and Diamond in Canada. Chart-wise, it went to number 40 in Sweden, number 29 in Germany, number 23 in the UK, number 19 in New Zealand, and number 6 in Norway. In North America, it topped out at number 3 in Canada and number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 200.

Huey Lewis and the News - Picture This (30th anniversary)

Today, January 29th, marks the 30th anniversary of the release of Huey Lewis and the News' second studio album Picture This.

For my review of this album, please click here.

To celebrate, I'm going to cue this one up on my iPod and enjoy.

Happy Birthday, Mario Cipollina and Bill Gibson

Today, November 10th, is the birthday of San Francisco Bay-area bassist Mario Cipollina. He started out his music career in the mid-70's playing with a variety of bands including Stoneground, Freelight, Rocky Sullivan, and Sound Hole. His most famous gig, though, were the years he was part of Huey Lewis and the News (1979 to 1994). In the past he's also worked with Bruce Hornsby, Bruce Springsteen, Foreigner, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Van Morrison, Nick Lowe, Bonnie Raitt and Dave Edmunds. He continues to record and tour with many acts today.

Sunday, November 13th, is the birthday of drummer Bill Gibson who has been with Huey Lewis and the News since the beginning. He's always felt that the highpoint of his career was when the band was asked to be part of the "We Are the World" project in 1985.


Here are the links to the reviews of a couple of albums Mario and Bill did as part of Huey Lewis and the News:

For the band's self-titled debut album Huey Lewis and the News, click here

For 1982's Picture This, click here

Back to the Future (soundtrack)

Welcome to another edition of Soundtrack Sunday.

It was the summer of 1985 and I was working my college co-op job in Randolph, NJ. I spent a lot of my weekends at the local movie complex at the mall in Dover. One of the biggest films was the fantasy comedy-adventure Back to the Future starring Michael J. Fox, Christopher Lloyd, Lea Thompson, Crispin Glover and Thomas F. Wilson. Little did I know then that this was the opening volley of a trio of films that would become all-time favorites of mine.

Huey Lewis and the News - Picture This

After their 1980 debut album (click here for that review), Huey Lewis and the News spent a little time to put together their sophomore release. The extra time seemed to be just what the band needed as Picture This, released January 29th 1982, helped the band breakthrough. With the help of three hit singles and the advent of the video music format on MTV, the album spent thirty-five weeks on the US Billboard album charts, peaking at number 13, and was certified Gold.

The first track on side one is “Change of Heart” This mid-tempo rocker tells the tale of a woman who has decided to end a relationship. Drummer Billy Gibson delivers a nice steady beat here.

Huey Lewis and the News - Huey Lewis and the News

The San Francisco based band Huey Lewis and the News started out as a six piece combo. Huey Lewis lead the group with vocals and harmonica, with Bill Gibson on percussion and Sean Hopper on keyboards. On lead guitar was Chris Hayes, on bass was Mario Cipollina, and on rhythm guitar and saxophone was Johnny Colla.

They recorded their self-titled debut album Huey Lewis and the News in December of 1979 and released it on June 25th of 1980. As such, it straddled two decades - the departing disco-tinged 70's and the growing new-wave 80's. The band had more rock and blues roots, so they really didn't fit either of those styles - though they did try to touch upon the new-wave vein a little with this album.

Huey Lewis and the News didn't chart well in any of the major markets (the US, UK, etc.) but clearly their label Chrysalis Records saw potential in the band. It spent three weeks on the US Billboard Album chart, peaking at number 203.