posted by all-musicrecords
The Road to Hell is the tenth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1989. Coming on the back of several strongly performing releases, it is Rea's most successful studio album, and topped the UK Albums Chart for three weeks.
Hailed as a "modern masterpiece", it was certified 6× Platinum by BPI in 2004.
The album demonstrates a thematic cohesion previously absent from Rea's work, with the majority of the tracks containing strong elements of social commentary, addressing alienation, violence and redemption.
The second part of the two-part title track, "The Road to Hell (Pt.2) ", is one of Rea's most famous songs, and his only single to reach the UK Top 10.
Throughout the album there are repeated references to increasing societal dissolution and rising violence, including riots, murder and their irresponsible depiction on television news (You Must Be Evil), and "the perverted fear of violence" on city streets (The Road to Hell (Part 2)), where "it's all gone crazy" amid fears that "someone's gonna get killed out there" (Texas).
Rea also targets industrial polluters' destruction of rivers (which "boil" with "poison"), and Thatcherism (which he also criticised on Shamrock Diaries' Steel River), dismissing notions of an "upwardly mobile freeway", or that promises will be delivered on (That's What They Always Say).
A sense of suffocating doom suffuses the title track. Rea cries "We gotta get outta here!" (Texas) and "I'm getting out!" (That's What They Always Say), and struggles to find an escape in Texas and Looking for a Rainbow.
A prominent theme is the impact all of this is having on his daughter, who was six at the time (You Must Be Evil, Tell Me There's a Heaven).
Track listing
1. The Road to Hell (Part 1) - 4:52
2. The Road to Hell (Part 2) - 4:32
3. You Must Be Evil - 4:23
4. Texas - 5:12
5. Looking for a Rainbow - 8:02
6. Your Warm and Tender Love - 4:33
7. Daytona - 5:07
8. That's What They Always Say - 4:29
9. I Just Wanna Be with You - 3:41
10. Tell Me There's a Heaven - 6:06
All tracks are written by Chris Rea
Personnel
- Chris Rea – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, guitars
- Kevin Leach – keyboards,
- Max Middleton – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, string arrangements
- Robert Ahwai – guitars
- Eoghan O'Neill – bass
- Martin Ditcham – drums, percussion
- Gavyn Wright – concertmaster and conductor
- Karen Boddington – additional backing vocals
- Carol Kenyon – additional backing vocals
- Linda Taylor – additional backing vocals
Production
Companies, etc.
- Record Company – Warner Communications
- Phonographic Copyright ℗ – Magnet Records Ltd.
- Copyright © – Magnet Records Ltd.
- Manufactured By – Record Service GmbH
- Distributed By – WEA Records Ltd.
- Pressed By – Record Service Alsdorf
- Made By – WEA Musik GmbH
- Published By – Magnet Music Ltd.
- Recorded At – Studio Miraval
Notes
Released: 2 October 1989
Recorded: Miraval Studios, France
Genre: Blues rock, soft rock
Length: 50:53
Producer: Jon Kelly, Chris Rea
Label - WEA Records
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