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

[JIF]

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.

He's on these two songs.

[Vic2012]

I thought he played harmonica on Cowboy Song too. Maybe he just played it on the live version on L&D. I mean, the guy has credits up the wazoo for doing session work but I just can't stand Huey Lewis and The News. If I never hear another "hit" from Sports I'd be more than okay with it.

[JIF]

I thought he played harmonica on Cowboy Song too. Maybe he just played it on the live version on L&D. I mean, the guy has credits up the wazoo for doing session work but I just can't stand Huey Lewis and The News. If I never hear another "hit" from Sports I'd be more than okay with it.

Like I said previously, Huey is only on one song on L&D.

[jkelman]

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.

No offense intended, Kerry, apologize if it seemed so. I, too, love a good pop song (talk to me about Neil Finn/crowded house sometime!)

My comment was really intended to clarify that just because I don't think HL and the Dan are in the same universe, that doesn't make HL bad, only different. He clearly knew how to put together a good pop song or ten
Cheers!
John

[Nearfest2]

I loved these guys back in the day, and also played "Sports" to death. Their best underrated song is unquestionably "Walking on a Thin Line."

[Proglodite]

Funny how this is a prog board, yet no one's name-checked the News' most ambitious album "Small World'. A concept album in the same sense that a lot of Rush albums are concepts; lots of diverse influences (cajun, zydeco, jazz, etc); instrumental tracks. The album was mostly ignored upon release and led to the band breaking up/taking a long hiatus. When the band finally returned to the studio they stripped themselves down to honky-tonk blues and lite-pop sans the energy and inventiveness they displayed even on their debut album. --Peter

[GuitarGeek]

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.

Oh yeah, I remember the video, it was the Heart And Soul clip, I believe. And Chris Hayes definitely has this "Oh, I love my job" look on his face in that bit.

[GuitarGeek]

Huey Lewis never played on a Costello album. Did he?

My understanding it was the rest of Clover (including future Doobie Brothers guitarist John McFee) who backed Costello on My Aim Is True. If I remember correctly, they couldn't be credited for musician union reasons. It was one of those things where the band would have had to paid union scale for appearing as session musicians, and the label couldn't afford to comply, so their names were left off the initial release of the album.

Huey played on Baby Drives Me Crazy because Clover were Thin Lizzy's opening band on that tour, so they'd bring Huey out presumably every night to blow a little harp on that song. And that, in turn, led to him playing on Sarah and With Love.

According to Wikipedia, Huey also appears on one of Phil Lynott's solo records, as well as Nick Lowe's Labour Of Lust and Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary. He's also apparently on one of Dick Dale's comeback albums.

[JIF]

My understanding it was the rest of Clover (including future Doobie Brothers guitarist John McFee) who backed Costello on My Aim Is True. If I remember correctly, they couldn't be credited for musician union reasons. It was one of those things where the band would have had to paid union scale for appearing as session musicians, and the label couldn't afford to comply, so their names were left off the initial release of the album.

Huey played on Baby Drives Me Crazy because Clover were Thin Lizzy's opening band on that tour, so they'd bring Huey out presumably every night to blow a little harp on that song. And that, in turn, led to him playing on Sarah and With Love.

According to Wikipedia, Huey also appears on one of Phil Lynott's solo records, as well as Nick Lowe's Labour Of Lust and Dave Edmunds' Repeat When Necessary. He's also apparently on one of Dick Dale's comeback albums.

According to Wiki, Huey plays on the Dave Edmunds song Bad Is Bad. According to Wiki, it's the same song on Sports(although the writing credits differ from one version to another).

[Scott Bails]

I could see that. "Bad is Bad" has a bit of that Dave Edmunds sound.

[JIF]

I could see that. "Bad is Bad" has a bit of that Dave Edmunds sound.

Strangely, the version by Dave is credited to Huey alone(according to Wikipedia), while the version on Sports is credit to other members of Clover.

[No Pride]

I've never owned a Huey Lewis and the News album, but I always liked their hits when I heard them on the radio. I've played a few of those tunes in cover bands over the years.

I agree that they're no Steely Dan, but there is that r&b connection between the two.