Customer Reviews

Fore

5 star:		(33)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consimante professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humor. In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.

In eighty seven, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is hip to be square, a song so catchy, most people don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's a personal statement about the band itself.

Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83,I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consimante professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour. In '87, Huey released this, Fore, their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself.

I first came across Huey Lewis & the News after listening to "The Power of Love" and "Back in Time" on the hit movie "Back to the Future". After taking an immediate liking to their music, I knew I had to find their album. So I picked up "Huey Lewis & the News: Fore!" and I will never part with it! The 80's have certainly had a great number of music artists and bands, including one of my favorites, "The Bangles".

Originally was called "American Express", the band played at a Marin County bar. The members were Huey Lewis (main vocals, harmonica), Sean Hopper (keyboards, vocals), Mario Cipollina (bass), Johnny Colla (saxophone, guitar) and Bill Gibson (drums). In 1980, lead guitarist Chris Hayes was added to the group and the band was offered a contract by Chrsalis. When requested that the band change their name, that was when the members chose the name of "Huey Lewis & the News". Their debut album was recieved with little attention but it was their second album, "Picture This" in 1982 which began to get some notice with songs "Do You Believe in Love" (top 10 single) and minor hits "Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do" and "Workin' for a Livin'".
Sports, the group's third album, was released in 1983 and became a multi-platinum success. "Heart and Soul" (number eight, 1983), "I Want a New Drug" (number six, 1984), "The Heart of Rock & Roll" (number six, 1984) and "If This Is It" (number six, 1984) all became Top Ten hits, and Sports climbed to number one in 1984. Later on it would eventually sell over seven million copies. Their first number one single was "The Power of Love" (1985) from the soundtrack of "Back to the Future".
Then came in 1986 their album Fore! which became number with five Top Ten singles "Stuck With You" (#1, 1986), "Hip to Be Square" (#3, 1986), "Jacob's Ladder" (#1, 1987), "I Know What I Like" (#9, 1987), and "Doing It All for My Baby" (#6, 1987). But after such a huge success, the band never really afterwards made any hits. Huey Lewis did appear in a few movies though, including very small parts ("Sphere"), uncredited parts ("Back to the Future"), and major roles ("Duets").

Here's my song by song review:
1) *JACOB'S LADDER* - A steady rock song, the beat is very cool, especially the bass. The lead guitar is something to listen to, too. (9/10 points)
2) *STUCK WITH YOU* - All together a pretty slow rock song, easy listening and great for slow dancing. I really like the background harmonized vocals! (9/10 points)
3) *WHOLE LOTTA LOVIN'* - Don't be a bit put off by the beginning, I assure the song picks up in a bit. Again some pretty nice background vocals and Huey Lewis can certainly play the harmonica! Groovin' music! (10/10 points)
4) *DOING IT ALL FOR MY BABY - Nice brass and keyboard work. A relatively slower song. ~doing it all for my baby!~ (8/10 points)
5) *HIP TO BE SQUARE* - Definitely my FAVORITE song on this album! Cool beginning to an incredibly cool, funky, hip, and groovy song! GREAT sax! I guarantee, you won't be able to stop from starting to dance! Didn't you know?... it's hip to be square! (10/10 points)
6) *I KNOW WHAT I LIKE* - Leaning towards heavy rock, I love the guitar work in this song. (9/10 points)
7) *I NEVER WALK ALONE* - Another of my favorite songs. The synthesizer is light and blends in great with the beat. The chorus is fun and the harmonizing is perfect! (10/10 points).
8) *POWER OF LOVE* - The hit song from the movie "Back to the Future", another of my favorites. ~that's the power of love!~ (10/10 points)
9) *FOREST FOR THE TREES* - A song for easy listening, the harmonizing is very pretty, the best part of the song. (10/10 points)
10) *NATURALLY* - A bit different from the rest of the songs on the album. I must admit the vocals are terrific, the effect is great since no instruments are used. But the song is just isn't my cup of tea. (7/10 points)
11) *SIMPLE AS THAT* - An ok song, very light with a minimum amount of instruments, some drums, guitar, and synthesizer are lightly played. (8/10 points)

So, if you're a fan of good 80's music, check out "Huey Lewis & the News". I guarantee you'll love them! "Huey Lewis & the News" have also made a few music videos including "Bad is Bad", "Hip to Be Square", and "Couple Days Off". The music video "Cruisin'" from the movie "Duet" is also great, with Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow doing a beautiful duet.

After the monstrous success of Sports, Huey Lewis & The News followed it up with the equally catchy and appealing Fore. The album sticks to the straight ahead, no nonsense approach of their previous efforts and the results are fruitful. "Stuck With You" is a light and airy song build around a casual guitar riff that has a tropical sound to it. It became the band's second number one single. "Hip To Be Square" has a pulsating beat and perfectly plays on the band's average guy persona and spawned a popular catch phrase. "Doin' It All For My Baby" has gorgeous harmonization by the band and a Stax/Volt sound. "I Know What I Like" is a solid rocker as is "Forest For The Trees". "Jacob's Ladder" has a soaring melody and was written by Bruce Hornsby. The song became the second number one single from the album and third and final one of the band's career. "Naturally" is a wistful acapella number that gives the band a chance to show off their vocal chops. Fore was their second straight number one album and though it didn't sell as many copies as Sports it did best it in one regard as it produced five top ten singles. Albums by Michael Jackson, Bruce Springsteen (7 top ten singles each) and Janet Jackson (6 top ten singles), but Fore holds the record as most top ten singles from an album by a band.

Fore! was the album that really turned me on to Huey Lewis back in 1987. Songs like Hip to be Square and Stuck With You would still fit in today, while Jacob's Ladder is a forgotten smash with a soaring tempo. Filled with memorable radio-friendly tunes that dominated Top-40 radio back in 1986/87, Fore! remains a very worthy follow-up to Sports, and I highly recommend it to any new (or veteran!) HLN fan.

One question though: Where is the rest of the band? The cover photo for the CD was cut in half compared to the original cassette release in 1986. I couldn't help but notice that.

Sports is a true 5-star CD, but this one is still an essential part of any Huey Lewis collection. There are some great party/driving songs here, especially "Whole lotta lovin'", but the best songs on this CD are "Doing it all for my baby" and the huge radio hit "Happy to be Stuck With You." Those two alone are worth the price of the CD. This album went all the way to number one in 1986 and produced two number one singles and unlike most of the other popular CD's of its era it truly deserved its fame and status. It never gets old. Those who wish to begin a definative collection of Huey Lewis' work should start with Sports and Fore!

It took three years for Huey Lewis and the News to come out with the followup to their multiplatinum hit album Sports, Fore! Inbetween that time, though the News made their first #1 hit with "The Power of Love" from Back To The Future, where Lewis had a cameo playing a high school music teacher holding band auditions. The tempo of Fore is mostly mid-paced compared the power-pounding rockers of Sports, plus there's more of a polish to the songs. But some songs seem like excerpts from yuppie middle-class suburban family life, so more serious social commentary here.

Take for example the acapella doowop of "Naturally," where despite hardships, things will eventually work out: "you know that love is a struggle/and only the strong survive/so it's up to me and you/to do what we've got to do to keep our love alive." And the philosophical "Simple As That" traces the life history of the working man, from working all day, paying bills, fighting the high cost of living, trying to get a loan for the house, and seeing one's children married with their own children, with a humorous aside of being left with one's wife, dog, and cat.

Fore! though yielded two more #1 hits for HL&N. In fact it would be their last two #1s. The first was "Stuck With You," three weeks on the top spot and on the adult contemporary charts, a leisure, mid-paced Beach Boys-type pop song with doowop harmonies and organ in the chorus. A catchy song about deciding to stick together despite the ups and downs and thoughts of breaking up, with some pithy reasons of being bound by the same address and phone number, it was a wise choice to be the first single from Fore!

The second was the Bruce Hornsby-penned "Jacob's Ladder," a commentary on religious hucksters, be it the man chasing the fan dancer in Birmingham per the song, or televangelists. "Hey mister I'm not in a hurry and I don't wanna be like you/All I want from tomorrow is to get it better than today," sings Lewis, true to his artistic temperament. Well, given the performance of the singles, Fore! did make it better than Sports.

The #3 single and #1 mainstream rock hit "Hip To Be Square" is the most energetic song on Fore! This song about letting go of one's renegade ways, such as cutting one's hair and playing it straight, may raise eyebrows to those wanting to be different, but when he mentions working out and watching what he eats, well, when one things about it, eating and living healthy seems renegade in today's "supersize me" fast-food society, so maybe this song embraces some hip values after all. The News has football players singing backups on this song, BTW.

If "I Want A New Drug" was slowed down, it'd probably sound close to the #9 "I Know What I Like." "Doing It All For My Baby" was the fifth single and peaked at #6. A rocking piano and guitar ballad with backing from the Tower of Power horns section, this is a tribute to soulful 60's and 70's music. With the silly Frankenstein-influenced music video overplayed on MTV, it didn't take me too long to get sick of this song, but now, it's like welcoming an old friend back to the fold.

"Whole Lotta Lovin',"-no, not the Fats Domino song, but an original by Lewis, owes a nod back to 50's style Elvis or Little Richard style rock, and darned if Lewis doesn't get the genre nailed down! The best non-single here, with Huey doing a harmonica solo in the middle. Huey plays counselor here in displaying old-fashioned wisdom in the good-natured "Forest For The Trees," where things are that fuzzy gray and not black and white, and a need for sitting back and thinking things out will do a world of good: "and if you're not afraid to open your eyes, you may be pleasantly surprised things are never as bad as they seem. You just gotta learn to see the forest for the trees."

Fore is not only a successful Huey Lewis/News album with a combination of hit singles and sobering but ultimately optimistic commentary on the struggles of life in the 80's.

In the 1980s and 1990s, the music landscape has taken on a "regional theme". We've heard references to the "L.A. Scene" (hard rock), Seattle (grunge), Arizona (Alternative Rock), and many other places. In 1984, San Francisco made it back on to the music map with a breakthrough album by Huey Lewis and the News called "Sports". This would be the third album by Huey Lewis and the News. "Sports" provided a unique mix of pop, rock, honky-tonk, new-wave, and retro sounds that made it one of the 1980s most successful albums. As Huey Lewis and the News would prepare to release their follow-up to "Sports", they would face what many breakthrough artists face - the pressure of having that successful follow-up. The follow-up album would be the band's fourth album - appropriately titled "Fore!". While "Sports" is a landmark album for the 1980s, "Fore!" falls short. Despite falling short, "Fore!" does have some moments. In fact, it's the lesser commercially known songs that shine.

One thing that "Fore!" lacks is the unique flavor that "Sports" brought to the table. The unique mix of sound that "Sports" had doesn't really exist on "Fore!". The one positive area is that "Fore!" does continue the retro sound that "Sports" had - this is something has become a staple of Huey Lewis and the News' career. This retro sound is highlighted by Johnny Colla's saxophone. On "Sports", I felt that "If This Is It" was one of the weaker tracks. I felt it was too "pop" sounding. Unfortunately on "Fore!", Huey and the boys seem to try to build a sound more geared toward pop audiences.

Here is a song-by-song synopsis:

"Jacobs Ladder": This is a Bruce Hornsby penned song. It would later appear on Hornsby's "Scenes From the Southside" album. Huey had worked on Hornsby's debut "The Way It Is" album, so these guys had a working relationship. Huey does a very good job (although the Hornsby version is superior). Huey's vocals carry this song. In fact, I consider this "San Francisco Sound" meets "Virginia Sound".

"Stuck With You": This was a very successful commercial song from the collection. This song does have touches of those retro-sounding vocals, but to me this was always just an average song that was put in place to be played on commercial radio..

"Whole Lotta Lovin": This has a very 50s retro-sound. The first 20 seconds are a cappella, then it takes on a Blues song. This is not a bad song.

"Doing it All For My Baby": Johnny Colla's Sax bits and Sean Hopper's keyboard will highlight this song. I put this song in the same category as "Stuck With You". Decent song, but an average one that seems geared for commercial radio.

"Hip to Be Square": This is one of the more catchy songs. I would say it's good, but not great. Huey and the Boys break the mold on this song as they seem to try a different sound. The title says it all as it basically tells the story of a "60s renegade" who has grown up and now dabbles in "Real Estate" and "watches what he eats". Johnny Colla's Sax bits midway through the song is a highlight. There are some terrific background vocals - especially toward the latter part of the song. The surprise is that these background vocals are performed by several members of the San Francisco 49ers. These members include Joe Montana, Dwight Clark, Ronnie Lott, and Riki Ellison. Surprisingly, the players do a great job on the vocals.

"I Know What I Like": This is a song that got some attention. This might be the most underrated track on the collection, but probably is the strongest track on the collection. This song is highlighted by some great guitar work by lead guitarist Chris Hayes. Huey gets a major assist on the background vocals by the San Francisco 49ers again. On this song, Huey and the 49ers really blend nicely. When Huey sings "Well What About You" - it reminds you a bit of "I Want a New Drug". It is worth noting that Hayes and Lewis are the songwriters on this song, so they really designed a song that fits their styles well.

"I Never Walk Alone": This is another lesser-known song. It has a very 80s sound. Once again - nice song, but not a great one. Sean Hopper has some very nice keyboards again in this song. While it's The News doing the retro sounding background vocals this time - it still has a very nice sound.

"Forest From the Trees": I put this song in the same category of many of the other songs. Good - but not great. You'll hear touches of the retro sound throughout this song. This is highlighted by the part "And if you're not afraid to open your eyes..."

"Naturally": This is a classic Doo-Wop a cappella song done by Huey Lewis and the News. This isn't something that would be played on commercial radio, but it does have a terrific sound. You won't hear instrumentation on this track - it's strictly vocals all the way. They deserve a lot of credit for this song.

"Simple as That": This might be the strongest song from a lyrical and musical standpoint. Although Huey Lewis and the News didn't write this song, they do it justice by delivering a very strong performance. Once again they find a way to integrate the retro sound in perfectly. This is definitely one of the band's stronger numbers - and one of their most underrated songs.

The liner notes include all of the lyrics, musician, and production credits. As mentioned above, this album isn't as strong as "Sports". It doesn't have any bad tracks, but most of them fall into the category of "average". The deep Huey Lewis fan will appreciate this collection. Borderline fans might find some moments on this collection. Overall, this album is probably worth getting for the lesser-known tracks.

Once Huey Lewis and The News took control of their sound on Sports, their canny blend of R'N'B, Rock and Pop made them superstars. They established themselves as a first-class live act, their videos were polished and clever, and as a front man, Lewis had become a star in his own right. The follow-up was "Fore," an album that seems a bit caught up in its own desire to please and sound serious, losing some of the fun of "Sports" but still having enough ace craftsmanship that two of the songs went to number one.

Lewis and the band were far from over-night sensations, so the musicianship was already focused and top-notch. But the album sounds a bit too professional at times, stuck in the "everyman" mold a bit too obviously to sound like the hungry happy-go-lucky's that "Sports" made them out to be. Two of "Fore's" biggest singles lay that point on pretty thick. The number one "Stuck With You" is a smart and somewhat cynical look at romance where the couple stays together not out of love, but because it's easier not to break up. Then there's "Hip To Be Square" where, without a trace of irony, the band extols the virtues of conformity while backed up with a chorus of pro football players. It's catchy and funny, but it is hard to be a "square" when you're hamming it up with Super Bowl champs.

However, talent wills out all the way through "Fore." The pop of "Doing It All For My Baby" is terrific, as is the acapella "Naturally." "Simple as That" is corny but closes the album on a solid note. And as cynical as I am about "Hip To Be Square," there is no way to get caught up in just how fun and catchy the thing is. "Fore" is the sound of a band seizing their moment in the sun and enjoying the heck out if it. There's no reason you shouldn't enjoy it as much as they are.