Customer Reviews

Hard at Play

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Whatever happened to bands with original numbers and powerful, smart horn sections?!?! Call off the dogs - the search is over! I've followed HLN since its inception with the self-titled album in 1980. These guys come from humble garage band/bar room beginnings and really get back to their roots with this 1991 effort. I really think they hit their sophomore slump with Small World (which wasn't all that bad), but it looks like they're back on track. Can't wait to get my mits on Plan B, their latest installment. Get this album - it's gold!

I love SPORTS, but you can't beat HARD AT PLAY... I found this sitting on the shelf at a local used CD store, so I decided to pick it up since Sam Goody had informed me that it has been long out of print. Anyway, this is an incredible album, and I'm only 16 and not a big fan of this genre, I like metal, rock and grunge... my favorite bands are Puddle of Mudd, Nirvana, Socialburn, Staind, Godsmack, Pantera, Bleeding Through, etc... and still this album catches my attention!!

ROCK ON, HUEY BUDDY!!

This was Huey Lewis and the News going "back to basics" after their experimental album "Small World," which dabbled in Soft Rock, Jazz and Zydeco. Hard at Play is all R&B based Rock n' Roll, with good riffs, great horns and top-notch writing all the way around. This album is almost ten years old and still sounds as fresh as ever.

Standout tracks include "It Hit me Like a Hammer", "Couple Days Off", "He Don't Know" and "Best of Me." Highly Reccomended!

I picked up this album on a whim, and I have since come to love it. It is one of the greatest albums I've ever heard and all the tracks are great. Buy it. You'll love it.

Excellent album. Its to bad these guy's got labeled an 80's band, because there 90's stuff is great. Take for instance this album. Classic mix of slow and fast songs by HLN. I've seen these guy's live a few times out in Las Vegas the last few years, and they play songs from this album all the time. Great album to buy and when you get it play the song A Couple Of Days Off on your way home from work on a Friday evening, and you'll ask yourself why didn't I buy this before!!!

I bought this CD when it first came out in 1991. I was expecting "Sports" or "Four". I liked it but sold it after I had it for a year. Well, I took a Couple Years Off, more like 14 years and rediscovered the brilliance of this CD. HLN were graduating from pop to being a band and I just didnt see it back in 91. Now i respect the musical move they made to still make them relivant in 2006. "It hit me like a hammer", "Build me up", and "Do you love me, or what?" are great. "Couple days off" never gets old and you still hear it played at ballgames. Dont think too HARD, give it another PLAY!

How would Heuy Lewis sounds like during 90s? Well, Hart At Play released in 1991 is a bit more refined than hard-edged Sports and returns with the flavor of good ol' blues-rock. It became plainer but gives us more comfort like coming back to the hometown. "It Hits Me Like Hammer" is the most commercial track among this album along with "Couple Days Off". "Build Me Up" the opening track is a fun pop song with jazzy flavor. Although this CD didn't produce so much hits as previous albums did, it is a fine album to add for music fans that love blues flavored mainstream American pop such as Bruce Springsteen, John Mellencamp, Bruce Hornsby and the Range, Bob Segar and the Hooters.

this is the ultimate feel good album, from the opening track to a couple of days of you are on a high . the bands energy and class shine through on this album. Each track is very different from the next but combined you can tell huey was definetly hard at play.

"Hard At Play", from Huey Lewis was the last album of original material, and while this album peaked at #11, back in 1991, the album didn't seem to catch on the way it should have. The first single "Couple Days Off", was a great lead off single, but failed to reach top 10 status, hitting #13, I personally love the song, and I absolutely love the album, next comes the song "Hit Me Like A Hammer", great song, simply put one of Huey Lewis' best and there are alot of them, but once again failed to hit the top 10 hitting #23, and then this album started to fizzle out, which is a shame, because with songs like "Build Me Up" and "Attitude", this album is a winner, this album just further proved that Huey Lewis was one of the best at that time, but time finally caught up to the band after this album and little has been heard from this classic band. Maybe just maybe there is a comeback.

Really the only thing I can say about this album is that I thought it was superb, second only to the band's 1984 release Sports. After about 8 years it still sounds great, I wish that the group would release some new material. This album has everything, and shows that a great band can reinvent themselve, yet still keep their sound unique.