Ranking the Albums: Huey Lewis and the News w/Eric Hansen

[@guillermomaldonado6277]

Looong overdue; this band deserves much, much more love. Thanks! 🍺👍

[@Paul_Simon]

Great dive into the catalog, guys! I love it when it's as much a conversation as a ranking!

[@lazarossamaras4427]

Thanks for the ranking. I haven't heard the whole discography of the band. I love Sports which I got a year ago. I listened to Power of love when it came out, I was thirteen and I loved it, still do. I have some greatest hits. Will look for other albums.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Glad you enjoyed!

[@german8402]

Thanks for the video!!! God i love Huey!!❤❤❤

[@pjones8404]

Bill Gibson is an extremely overlooked and underappreciated drummer. His feel was exceptional and a huge contributor to the sound of the band. My sister has had Ménière's disease since the early 80's. No two people are impacted by it the same way. The affects and symptoms can be very hampering and debilitating. It obviously has been a very strong and detrimental impact on Huey Lewis. 1. Sports 2. Hard at Play 3. Fore 4. Small World 5. Picture This 6. Self-Titled I haven't heard anything since "Hard at Play"

[@airock937]

Completely agree

[@rzrbckmz23]

I saw them in end of April 1983 and the opened for Joan Jett and The Blackhearts. Great show! Played most of the Picture This album which is my favorite of theirs.

[@brendankilroy9203]

Love me some Huey!

[@rzrbckmz23]

8. Weather 7. Plan B 6. Small World 5. Hard at Play 4. Fore 3. Huey Lewis and the News (did not buy this until mid 80's and love it. Kind of new wave/power pop masterpiece.) 2. Sports (although I got tired of it and hardly play it anymore) 1. Picture This

[@daveycretin664]

Another excellent entry to the luxurious lineage of The Warehaus, lads. I think that the word that Eric was looking for is “timeless.” Huey Lewis and the News made timeless rock and roll music. I also concur with Eric, Fore! is my personal favorite as well. The reason that “The Power of Love” and “Back in Time” were never - at the time - on any Huey Lewis and the News studio album comes down to three little letters: MCA. Yes folks, MCA Records, the Music Cemetery of America for rock bands. Just ask Triumph, Night Ranger, Kansas, Giuffria, Steve Morse, etc. The label made all their money on pop artists like Tiffany and R&B acts like Mary J. Bilge. Since Huey Lewis actually had a cameo in the intergalactic smash film Back to the Future, the band were contracted to have two songs on the soundtrack. Who released the album? Why the dreaded, shredded and unleaded MCA Records, of course. Knowing they had ensnared a cash cow, the label refused to license the songs to Huey’s American label, Chrysalis Records. (Under the Capitol Records umbrella.) This may have played out differently overseas, but here in the USA, MCA Records wanted all of the money from singles and album sales. Did they clean up? Of course they did. It’s Corporate America, kids! It’s all about the Benjamins, just ask Gene Simmons or Sean Combs. Ooooo, that reference certainly has NOT aged well at all. At any rate, really good rock band. Tight musicianship, catchy songs and hooks for miles. Too many mint tunes to mention. Cheers from The Big Apple. Rock Out, Prog On & Pogo! Your clone and mine, ~ The Dense, Intense, Always Sitting on a Fence, Dopamine Addicted Doppelgänger of Davey Cretin, from CRETIN CLASSICS.

[@triplejazzmusicisall1883]

For acapella lovers HLN have covered either live or in studio or both. I think this is as comprehensive as it gets. 1. Naturally 2. It's All Right (from the Sports Tour and is a Curtis Mayfield song) 3. It's All Right (stuido from tribute album to Curtis Mayfield) 3. Mama Said 4. Um um um um um um 5. So in Love 6. Lookin' for Love 7. Winter Wonderland 8. Chain Gang 9. A Little Bit of Soap 10. Curious Mind 11. Little Bitty Pretty One 12. Bad is Band - if you allow fpr a drum machine it's really acapella 13. Ain't Nothing stopping Us (only intro's on two convert videos - no entire song) 14. Star Spangled Banner 15. Sixty Minute Man 16. Flip, Flop, Fly - great fun

[@wolf1977]

"It's Alright" is really good...

[@airock937]

That's awesome and should be an album by these guys!

[@triplejazzmusicisall1883]

@@wolf1977 Absolutely thoroughly agree. I remeber the Power of Love Cassingle and that being th middle track and loving it. The studio version is cool too with that count in. I love the group. I might copy and paste something I wrote to myself last night about all the confusion between two sing titles of which this is one. Have an awesome week. ____________________________________________________________________________________________________ Is this Alright or All Right? This causes so much confusion. HLN over their career released two cover songs with very similar titles and to complicate things rereleased versions on different singles. One is correctly title is ‘It’s All Right’ a classic by Curtis Mayfield. The other is a song by J.Jackson called ‘But It’s Alright’ The Curtis Mayfield song "It's All Right" (Top 10) The Power of Love (cassingle and 12 inch) included the Curtis Mayfield Song called’ It’s All Right’ Live version from the Sports Tour’. That is the song’s correct title Then with the release of Four Chords and Several Years Ago HLN put out the cd single ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ which featured bonus tracks including the same song, but MISTAKINGLY titled ‘It’s Alright’. The J.Jackson song ‘But It’s Alright? Then from the same album came the release of another single ‘But It’s Alright’ both a LP version and a live take. This is not the Curtis song. The inclusion of ‘But’ makes this simple and clear. Yet to make it weirder a live version of the other single, ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ was included as well. Ouch! It’s a ripper version though. The Curtis Mayfield track should be called It’s All Right (which made the top ten). Even though on the tribute album Huey plays on called People Get Ready a Tribute to Curtis Mayfield " they MISTAKENINGLY call it, It’s Alright The confusion is also caused by people calling it It’s Alright. There shouldn’t be the abbreviation that misleads so many. KZbin is a shocker for this.

[@wolf1977]

@@triplejazzmusicisall1883 I'm sure you're correct - I'm looking at my downloaded music files (I no longer do physical media) & it's definitely (apparently incorrectly) listed as "It's Alright" as part of the Greatest Hits package & also on Live At 25 (not really that surprising - I do find occasional errors like release years & such). The really weird part is that when you search for that song on the web that same incorrect title also appears on LOTS of different sites even when referring to the original Mayfield song - confusing indeed!

[@triplejazzmusicisall1883]

@@wolf1977 I am sincerely very grateful for your thoughtful and kind reply. Part of me was saying to myself that I was waffling over nothing important but then my other half was saying that it is important to point out how something that seems as insignificant as an abbreviation of a word such as It's Alright from It's All Right can have consequences for another purchasing an album or single. And as you also point out on KZbin this error occurs almost 50% of the time. I admit I am possibly nit-picking, but I just can't grasp how errors like this can be included on not just the internet but physical formats including CDs and singles. I hope you have an awesome and happy week.

[@pop-optic9620]

Coincidentally, Huey Lewis is ready to give fans a glimpse into his life, Curb Your Enthusiasm-style. The rock and roll star is set to headline and executive produce Whatever Happened to Huey Lewis, a comedic half-hour mockumentary in which he will play a fictionalized version of himself.

[@rickrobb6546]

Huey Lewis and The News ...................... Rules

[@rogerbell8429]

Really liked the single 'Do you believe in love?' The first verse was very similar to 'Sweet talkin' woman' by ELO. Can't remember if this was ever mentioned at the time.

[@LonnieViarIII]

Huey Lewis and The News were a fantastic rock band. My first song by them I ever heard was their cover of "I Hope You Love Me Like You Say You Do' off of Picture This. A really good album. Sports obviously was a monster record (btw, Bad Is Bad DOES use a drum machine on it cause thats the way they played it in concert) I saw the band on The Fore tour and they were great, but they did not play "I hope you love me..." live Dang.On the Fore tour, in Memphis at least, the opener was The Robert Cray band, which was actually a very good double bill.

[@AnnieT63]

I don't believe I own a Huey album. I enjoy their hits.

[@triplejazzmusicisall1883]

Perfrect World actually made number 3 not 4 on the Billboards chart. Small World was a new and brave direction and was not that commerical. I love it for all the reasons the masses don't. It is an album for musicians. I don't really give rankings based on commercial sales. For me it's all the music and not much else. Old Antone's is great fun, Small World's 1 and 2 are jazz/pop crossover with the gret Tower of Power Horns. It's Slammin'. It's one of Huey's favourites. This is an album for lover of genre varitions. 1. Fore (In Australia and most of Europe, The Power of Love was included which due to timing with the BTTF movie relese was not on the US release). The album went to 1 in Australia very quickly. 2. Small World (yep!) I never get bored with it. Perfect World - brilliant and what a video. 3. Sports (send hate mail - great but overplayed to now judge fairly). Actually a little too commercial for me. Still cool. I agree with all of Erics comments - two tracks were ordinary where all the tracks on Fore! are great- and no Eric's not out of his mind) 4. Picture This - a silver armadillo 5. Weather (so hard due to the seven songs only) Why didn't they include 'They Come to Suzie' and 'Lookinf for Love' which they already had done and mayb a live version of another song. It so easily could have been a ten track album. When asked about why they didn't include 'They Come to Suzie' he said because they had forgotten about the song - which they considered a great song) How's that for a casual approach). 6. Plan B 7. Four Chords and Several Years Ago (I want to include it so I will) 7. Hard at Play (Couple Days Off, It Hit Me Like a Hammer, some of it is just ordinary fodder) 8. Self-titled album. I have noted this year that Chris Hayes is no getting some greater attention, recognition and appreciation. He is these days pretty much a pure lover of jazz. He always loved jazz where Johnny was more country/doo-woop and Huey the Blues (big generalisations but generally true).

[@airock937]

I appreciate the comment and glad you enjoyed it triplejazz!

[@ZRATAN69]

Phil lynott had a strong influence on Huey, especially when he was touring with clover his first band...

[@wolf1977]

Yeah some good Clover stuff out there - also played on Lizzy's Live And Dangerous & Lynott's Solo In Soho

[@rafaelcruz4176]

My ranking 8. Plan B (2001) 7. Weather (2020) 6. Huey Lewis & The News (1980) 5. Hard At Play (1991) 4. Small World (1988) 3. Picture This (1982) 2. Fore ! (1986) 1. Sports (1983)

[@brianmcpherson1083]

Very close to mine!

[@rickrobb6546]

Put Huey Lewis and the News in The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@wolf1977]

Better that he's not in - almost gives him MORE credibility...

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

I can't disagree!

[@wolf1977]

Love me some Huey - but TBH album-wise end-to-end there aren't that many really top notch albums. It's more about the individual tracks really. My album ranking: 1. The s/t debut - 7 really good tracks, definitely a very solid debut 2. Hard At Play - really solid album 3. Sports - the News album most people own (and for good reason) & Fore! 4. Picture This 5. Small World & Plan B 6. Four Chords & Several Years Ago 7. Everything else...Weather was an unfinished album (due to Lewis' hearing loss) & a bit too 'rootsy' for me - still on a good day I might move it up one slot...Agreed on the covers album Soulsville - it has to be on the bottom ranking-wise but I do like "Respect Yourself", "Never Like This Before" & "Don't Let The Green Grass Fool You" so in some respects it's probably just as good as Four Chords (or better). If these were originals this one'd be sitting in a two-way tie at #4... One of their best tracks "Back In Time" is of course from the Back To The Future film soundtrack but not on an original News album (the great "The Power of Love" is too but was also included as a bonus track on 1986's Fore!). The acapella track "It's Alright" is another excellent tune not on a News album (other than a greatest hits package), same with "When The Time Has Come". Not the News (just Huey) but I also like "Cruisin", a Smokey Robinson cover done as a duet with Gwyneth Paltrow (on the Duets soundtrack although the version I have is shorter & on a News Greatest Hits package) along with Huey's version of "Feeling Alright" & "Lonely Teardrops". Finally you've got Live At 25 from 2005 with some good live versions of their biggest tunes, there's also Super Selection (I have the Japanese version from '89) that contains a few live cuts as well... Picks for 'dark horse' tracks = "Jacob's Ladder" (Fore!) & "Who Cares?" (debut-a real early rocker)...Haven't watched the video yet so not sure if it got mentioned but Huey played in the band Clover (which also contained John McFee/Doobies & Jeff Porcaro) & appeared on George Hatcher Band's 1977 Talkin' Turkey (pretty good album) & The Don Harrison Band's 1976 s/t album (also not bad - this was a CCR splinter group). As well as playing on Thin Lizzy's wonderful Live and Dangerous & Lynott's Solo In Soho. And performing live with Umphrey's McGee (one of the better jam bands out there)

[@antonnee]

This band has been around for a LONG while; shouldn't it be now called Huey Lewis and The Olds? Great show, by the way.

[@wolf1977]

They can go on tour with OKOTB (Old Kids On The Block) & BSM (Backstreet Men)...😎

[@thelonestranger4226]

For starters, to those who've gave Huey Lewis And The News a hard time over the years, I say if they're good enough for Patrick Bateman, they're good enough for me. Still can't for the life of me understand why they've never been considered for induction in the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, but that's another story for another time. As for ranking their entire catalogue, hard for me to do so when I only have their first 6 albums but I will say of those 6, credit indeed for making Small World a departure from the 2 biggies that preceeded it, but its at the bottom, Hard At Play's at 5 (its getting back to their winning formula but as you both said, it suffered the same thing Small World did ie. changing musical climate), Picture This at 4 (odd that it was through Do You Believe In Love from this album they first came to prominence in Australia, but for me at least, trying to track this album down took forever), the self titled at 3 (this and the next 2 were heard in my first year of high school which was a special time for me, so thats one reason why I rate it highly. Oh, and a special mention to Mario Cippolina for that killer bassline in Who Cares? too) and at the moment, I can't decide which way Sports and Fore! should go in the top 2 'cause they're both chock full of great stuff. Lastly, my Australian copy of Fore! has The Power Of Love on side 2 between I Never Walk Alone and Forest For The Trees. Cheers and keep up the great work.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

Thanks for the kind words!

[@davidstuart1756]

I'm only going for a top three as some of the others I haven't heard too much. So top for me is Picture This, then Sports and then Fore. I started working in 1980 but by 1983 was made redundant and never worked for another three years. So in that former space I bought about 500 albums that sustained me through the tough years as such. The only Huey Lewis one I had was Picture This and it's one of those albums I know back to front. It must have been played 100 times around that time or so whereas the others not so much. Anyhoo, keep up the good work.

[@rzrbckmz23]

Agree 100%! I bought it after hearing "Do You Believe in Love" and love the album. Maybe on my all time top 10 records. Change of heart is an under the radar classic and Buzz, Buzz, Buzz is a great sing along. Hope You Love Me Like You Say You do was a mistake as the second single. that's one of the lesser track on the album IMO.

[@Michael_Birk]

'Tell Me a Little Lie to Remember You By'. Can't believe you guys didn't mention that song. 🤔🤥

[@triplejazzmusicisall1883]

Is this Alright or All Right… This causes so much confusion. HLN over their career released two cover songs with very similar titles and to complicate things rereleased versions on different singles. One is correctly title is ‘It’s All Right’ a classic by Curtis Mayfield. The other is a song by J.Jackson called ‘But It’ Alright’ The Curtis Mayfield song "It's All Right" (Top 10) The Power of Love (cassingle and 12 inch) included the Curtis Mayfield Song called’ It’s All Right’ Live version from the Sports Tour’. That is the song’s correct title Then with the release of Four Chords and Several Years Ago HLN put out the cd single ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ which featured bonus tracks including the same song, but MISTAKINGLY titled ‘It’s Alright’. The J.Jackson song ‘But It’s Alright Released as the first single from the same album came the single ‘But It’s Alright’ both a LP version and a live take. This is not the Curtis song. The inclusion of ‘But’ makes this simple and clear. Yet to make it weirder a live version of the other single, ‘Some Kind of Wonderful’ was included as well. Ouch! It’s a ripper version though. The Curtis Mayfield track should be called It’s All Right (which made the top ten). Even though on the tribute album Huey plays on called People Get Ready a Tribute to Curtis Mayfield " they MISTAKENINGLY call it, It’s Alright The confusion is also caused by people calling it It’s Alright. There shouldn’t be the abbreviation that misleads so many. KZbin is a shocker for this. Stay hip and square!

[@truckerkevthepaidtourist]

There's a good nice choice not all five star albums are pretty solid for the most part

[@keithleeuwen877]

If this is it,please let me know...

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

haha

[@jasongaylor2232]

You like Huey Lewis and the News? ALLEN: Um, they're okay. Their early work was a little too new wave for my taste. But when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. 🤣

[@brianpirie5490]

Sorry Grant...they were just so utterly bland..sometimes the UK gets it right and ignored them largely.. To be fair Huey seemed like a decent guy and was a great harmonica player.

[@GrantsRockWarehaus]

It's all good! It's all about talking music in the Warehaus!

[@brianpirie5490]

​@@GrantsRockWarehaus I should have added that it's a great show!!