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Thread: Huey Lewis And The News-Sports:30th Anniversary Edition

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    Huey Lewis And The News-Sports:30th Anniversary Edition

    Another CD I got from Wal-Mart. I was never a big fan of this group, but you can't go wrong for $7.99. I started to appreciate this group when I saw them profiled on Behind The Music. I dismissed them as an ordinary "pop" group. Now, I like them because of their mix of rock, blues, and r&b. I have Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True, featuring future News member Sean Hooper on keys. I used to have Thin Lizzy's Live And Dangerous on CD. Of course, Huey himself is featured on Baby Drives Me Crazy(playing harmonica). Any fans of this group, or this seminal album? Btw, I love Huey's cameo on Back To The Future.

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    WeatherWiseCDC
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    I saw them live a few years ago. They put on a very good show. You're definitely spot on about their music incorporating rock, r&b and blues influences. Sports is a very good album, and it charted at #1 in the US for good reason. One of my favorite songs by the band is actually "Do You Believe in Love" from their previous album, though Sports is certainly their best. The song itself borrows from ELO's "Sweet Talkin' Woman," which is icing on the cake for me because I enjoy both compositions.

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    Quote Originally Posted by WeatherWiseCDC View Post
    I saw them live a few years ago. They put on a very good show. You're definitely spot on about their music incorporating rock, r&b and blues influences. Sports is a very good album, and it charted at #1 in the US for good reason. One of my favorite songs by the band is actually "Do You Believe in Love" from their previous album, though Sports is certainly their best. The song itself borrows from ELO's "Sweet Talkin' Woman," which is icing on the cake for me because I enjoy both compositions.
    Do You Believe In Love is actually one of my favorites by them, too. I like it because, it was written by "Mutt" Lange.

  4. #4
    In some ways they were the Steely Dan of the 80s just in terms of craft- extremely tight players, impeccable production. The songs, unfortunately were so-so, but pleasant.

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    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Man, I played this album to death when it came out, and learned most of it on guitar. Such a tight band, with fantastic doo-wop harmonies that all of my friends and I loved at the time. They'd often do a cappella doo wop arrangements in concert of songs such as Curtis Mayfield's "It's Alright" and "So in Love" by The Tymes.

    Always thought they were a very underrated band.
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

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    Yeah, the vocals too- they were like The Little River Band or The Eagles where pretty much every member could have been a lead singer.

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    Member sdavmor's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by trurl View Post
    Yeah, the vocals too- they were like The Little River Band or The Eagles where pretty much every member could have been a lead singer.

    That's a very good observation.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by trurl View Post
    In some ways they were the Steely Dan of the 80s just in terms of craft- extremely tight players, impeccable production. The songs, unfortunately were so-so, but pleasant.
    Yikes, please don't compare them to the Dan! Other than tight playing and impeccable production, you couldn't have two more different groups. First, Dan was always jazz-informed in its harmonies and that distinguished it from most pop groups of the day; second, they brought in HEAVY players - Larry Carlton, Steve Gadd, Wayne Shorter, Steve Khan, etc - and that made a massive difference in the result. The players in HL&TN were good rock players, but that's as far as it goes; the Dan brought in heavy players in the jazz world, resulting in thoroughly memorable, deep and engaging songs played with the kind of expansive stylistic breadth that only players familiar with the jazz vernacular could navigate. Their changes were often complex both in their movement and their individual vertical harmonies; HL&TN was nowhere near that, I'm afraid.

    I saw them in the day, that said, and enjoyed the show tremendously. They were fun, self-effacing and definitely tight. But I always considered them more pop confection, and have had no desire (ever) to own any of their records; the Dan? I'll buy anything with their name attached (or individually, though I prefer Fagen's solo work to Becker's), because even though some records are definitely better than others (Much prefer Two Against Nature to Everything Must Go, for example), they're all still well worth hearing...and owning.

    Sorry, don't want to dis HL fans, only wanted to point out that any comparison to the Dan is relatively superficial.

    cheers,
    John

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    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    No dis, but you really just re-iterated what trurl said - similarities in tight playing and production. He never said anything about jazz pedigrees, etc. Although, I believe their original guitarist, Chris Hayes, came from a jazz background.
    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

  10. #10
    Jefferson James
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    I've always loved the guitar break in "If This is It". Well crafted, my friends -- well crafted.

  11. #11
    I always liked this one:



    BTW, a little bit of trivia: their original bass player, Mario Cippolina, was the brother of John Cippolina of Quicksilver Messenger Service fame.

    I remember seeing a thing on VH-1 years later and they were talking about making videos, and I forget which band member who sort of commented about how in the one video, he got to dance with a 6 foot woman with huge breasts, than sort of smirked, like he was saying "Yeah, the videos were silly, but we had fun".

    Wasn't Huey Lewis another of the title character's favorite artists in American Psycho?

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    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    Huey also played Gwyneth Paltrow's father & singing partner (Cruisin') in the movie Duets.

    Because of the News previously correctly mentioned affinity for doo-wop, I always liked them (at least enough to own "Best Of' now).
    "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"

    President Harry S. Truman

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Scott Bails View Post
    No dis, but you really just re-iterated what trurl said - similarities in tight playing and production. He never said anything about jazz pedigrees, etc. Although, I believe their original guitarist, Chris Hayes, came from a jazz background.
    My problem is that if those are the only similarities I can list plenty others...and I'd still not compare them to the Dan simply on those criteria alone. There were and are plenty of groups who are tight and well-produced. But they ain't the Dan, and that's too general a comparison, especially from the time period involved, where producers were ensuring those qualities in many cases.

  14. #14
    Quote Originally Posted by KerryKompost View Post
    I've always loved the guitar break in "If This is It". Well crafted, my friends -- well crafted.
    Absolutely. I meant no disrespect to HL&TN in my previous comments; only that they are not comparable to the Dan, barring two criteria that are just too general to tie them together.

    But, like i said, when I saw them, i enjoyed them immensely - but the songs didn't make me want to run out and buy one of their records ;(

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    Geriatric Anomaly progeezer's Avatar
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    I forgot to mention that imho, comparing HLATN to Becker-Fagen (& remember, I like Huey etc.) is analogous to comparing ground round to filet mignon.
    "My choice early in life was either to be a piano player in a whorehouse or a politician, and to tell the truth, there's hardly any difference"

    President Harry S. Truman

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    Jefferson James
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    Quote Originally Posted by jkelman View Post
    Absolutely. I meant no disrespect to HL&TN in my previous comments; only that they are not comparable to the Dan, barring two criteria that are just too general to tie them together.

    But, like i said, when I saw them, i enjoyed them immensely - but the songs didn't make me want to run out and buy one of their records ;(
    Hey man, I was just commenting about that particular song; I make no secret of my love for poppy melodies and trite fluff, and tho' I have never owned a Huey Lewis album -- with our without the News -- I've always liked hearing "If This is It" in the grocery store or the hardware store or the strip club. That said, I would never, in a million years, compare Huey Lewis and the News to Steely Dan - there is no comparison.

    Quote Originally Posted by progeezer View Post
    I forgot to mention that imho, comparing HLATN to Becker-Fagen (& remember, I like Huey etc.) is analogous to comparing ground round to filet mignon.
    This!

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    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

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    Studmuffin Scott Bails's Avatar
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    Music isn't about chops, or even about talent - it's about sound and the way that sound communicates to people. Mike Keneally

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    Quote Originally Posted by GuitarGeek View Post
    I always liked this one:



    BTW, a little bit of trivia: their original bass player, Mario Cippolina, was the brother of John Cippolina of Quicksilver Messenger Service fame.

    I remember seeing a thing on VH-1 years later and they were talking about making videos, and I forget which band member who sort of commented about how in the one video, he got to dance with a 6 foot woman with huge breasts, than sort of smirked, like he was saying "Yeah, the videos were silly, but we had fun".

    Wasn't Huey Lewis another of the title character's favorite artists in American Psycho?
    It was a Behind The Music episode, and the member in question is Chris Hayes. BTM actually showed a clip of that vid, and you can clearly see a wide grin on Chris' face as his head is lying in between the woman's breasts.

  20. #20
    I think Duets is one of the best movies no one has ever seen.

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    Quote Originally Posted by fiberman View Post
    I think Duets is one of the best movies no one has ever seen.
    ????????? Wasn't that a popular movie?

  22. #22
    you got me there, I liked it though

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    Member Burble's Avatar
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    Big fan of Sports here, even though I don't really ever pull it out and listen to it.

    Sports was a really weird album. I was in a college party band, playing keggers and frat parties when it came out, and we did maybe three songs off it and they were sleeper hits at the gigs we did. Lost of people had heard the songs and wanted to hear them, but the band still wasn't a big deal. Maybe half a year later, I started working in a different top-40 club band, and suddenly (I think because of the MTV surge of the time), the same songs were now "new" top-40 hits, and they had a whole new lease on life. I dug it, because they were poppin', hooky tunes, but it was like they got two lives out of that album: the college-station pre-phase, and then the full-blown, rock star top-40 phase.

    What trurl said about them singing, too, was a big deal. Huey was off his run with Clover and the Elvis Costello guest spot, and I think he had license from the label to go out and build a band. Making sure that everyone you hire in the band can sing is an underrated tactic. Anyone can cobble together a bunch of vocals in the studio, but being able to go out and run that shit live is a different story. I was watching some ESPN coverage of a Warriors game back then, I think, when they came out and did their "It's Alright to Have a Good Time" thing, and I was totally impressed. It wasn't even a music event; it was just an auxiliary sporting event thing, but it raised my opinion of them considerably.

    Plus, Sean Hayes is really a super player. Not groundbreaking or inventive, but really good chops and ALWAYS super tone and could pop in the de rigueur 16-bar solo that was always in place, never too indulgent, and usually not overly simplistic. I think the clip for "Sooner or Later" is in this thread twice already; not a typical solo for him, but really super melodic and well-constructed. For covering the job as a guitar player in a hit-making `80s band, I thought he did a super job.

    All told, not my regular style, but a really, really great '80s pop album.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Burble View Post
    Big fan of Sports here, even though I don't really ever pull it out and listen to it.

    Sports was a really weird album. I was in a college party band, playing keggers and frat parties when it came out, and we did maybe three songs off it and they were sleeper hits at the gigs we did. Lost of people had heard the songs and wanted to hear them, but the band still wasn't a big deal. Maybe half a year later, I started working in a different top-40 club band, and suddenly (I think because of the MTV surge of the time), the same songs were now "new" top-40 hits, and they had a whole new lease on life. I dug it, because they were poppin', hooky tunes, but it was like they got two lives out of that album: the college-station pre-phase, and then the full-blown, rock star top-40 phase.

    What trurl said about them singing, too, was a big deal. Huey was off his run with Clover and the Elvis Costello guest spot, and I think he had license from the label to go out and build a band. Making sure that everyone you hire in the band can sing is an underrated tactic. Anyone can cobble together a bunch of vocals in the studio, but being able to go out and run that shit live is a different story. I was watching some ESPN coverage of a Warriors game back then, I think, when they came out and did their "It's Alright to Have a Good Time" thing, and I was totally impressed. It wasn't even a music event; it was just an auxiliary sporting event thing, but it raised my opinion of them considerably.

    Plus, Sean Hayes is really a super player. Not groundbreaking or inventive, but really good chops and ALWAYS super tone and could pop in the de rigueur 16-bar solo that was always in place, never too indulgent, and usually not overly simplistic. I think the clip for "Sooner or Later" is in this thread twice already; not a typical solo for him, but really super melodic and well-constructed. For covering the job as a guitar player in a hit-making `80s band, I thought he did a super job.

    All told, not my regular style, but a really, really great '80s pop album.
    Huey Lewis never played on a Costello album. Did he?

  25. #25
    Member Vic2012's Avatar
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    Never cared for this band or the music. If I happen to be listening to one of the oldies stations and a song from Sports comes on I usually hit the switch. But, I will say that Huey has my respect as a musician and entertainer. He played harmonica with Thin Lizzy, so on that alone he gets my respect. I know he appears on Live And Dangerous, but I think he does some spots on a studio album or two.

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