European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 23, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse New album by Huey Lewis & the news. Never comfortable with being the heart s still beating by . Considine the Baltimore Sun for a Guy with a handful albums to his credit Huey Lewis took a refreshingly casual attitude toward the making of husband s fifth album Small world. While other upwardly Mobile rockers would fuss and fret Over whether the new record was going to satisfy millions of fans anxiously anticipating the next bit of product Lewis thought Only about pleasing himself. The objective was to play for our own selves he said in a Telephone interview. We would either do what we re interested in or we weren t going to make a record. If we had t made this record we probably would have gone to the Beach for a while. Well As it turned out Small world offered Lewis and the news a certain amount of recreation anyway giving the band a Chance to stretch and broaden its musical horizons. The song Small world part two for instance is a four minute instrumental featuring jazz saxophonist Stan Getz while old Antone s is a raucous cajun spiced Rocker and Bobo Tempo a Bass heavy reggae tune. In Short it is not exactly what the average fan would expect from the group and that is just Fine with Lewis. I did t really care this time he said. It was something i really wanted to do and that s it. And it was easy. We sold 15 million records before this so it s not that risky is it if you can t stretch out after 15 million records. Now that the record s made it would be Nice if it s popular and Sells sure he added. And so far it seems to be Selling having entered the billboard charts at no. 23. Still that is hardly Why he is proud of the record. The main fun of the whole thing was that it was challenging musically to actually play different styles go deeper into those hybridized musical styles we d always sort of explored he said. Take the tune the group recorded with Stan Getz. I m not a jazzed at All Lewis said. We Don t want to play jazz or anything. But the Challenge was there for us. You can get Stan Getz to come in and play but if you Don t have a tune that s going to kick Stan Getz s butt then it s not Lewis would not mind challenging his listeners a bit either though he does not really press the Point. It would be Nice if people who Are fans of ours for one reason or another listen to this and and think gosh this old Antone s is interesting and then go Back and listen to a cajun band like Michael Doucet or somebody he said adding although i can t say that s an still he said that s kind of How i got into some of the stuff i got into in the 60s, listening to blues revivalist Taj mahal and realizing that it s based on Sonny boy Williamson which it is. And then go backward and backward and so but whatever kind of music he and the news do he thinks that the most important thing is that the musicians believe in what they Are playing. You know i m never comfortable with being pigeonholed he says. To do anything All the time. I think the key is you have to be True to your songs. You really have to believe what you re saying How do you write songs that Are so True they just come to you Lewis said. You Don t sit Down and say right i m going to write a song about the world or i m going to write a love song you either get the idea or you Don t. Sometimes you have the notion that the heart of Rock & Roll is still beating. Sometimes you have the notion that it s a Small world. One May sound loftier than the other but it in to really. It s just two ideas nothing not surprisingly Lewis concern with artistic integrity makes him extremely wary of the sort of endorsement deals that Are regularly pitched to big name pop groups deals he himself has always turned Down. Although he can appreciate Why a group without significant record sales might be hungry for the Money and exposure that comes with Beer and soda ads he is somewhat less understanding when it comes to established stars. I Don t mean to be pointing any fingers he said but it seems to me when somebody who has just signed a huge record Deal for tons of Money and does t need the bread does t even endorse the product does it obviously just for the Money. I mean it just bothers me. We got offered a huge Deal two or three years ago i probably should t say from who but it was a huge Deal enormous amounts of Money. And geez i knew it was t going to Hurt my career it was going to help my career. I could design the and i could have total control. But Damn it the Only reason to do it was for the Money and i had just never really done anything for Money. I just did t feel Good about Huey Lewis & the news tour Europe this fall. Check the on stage pages in stripes Magazine for dates. Hits from Hel they just never go away by . Considine and Kasey Jones the Baltimore Suny of know the singles. The ones that make your skin crawl your eyes Bug and your mind turn to murderous thoughts when you hear them. Singles that can instantly empty a nightclub the songs that cause your car to swerve into oncoming traffic As you lunge for the radio dial to switch it off. Singles that make you doubt the existence of god but Are proof that satan is alive and Well and programming Rock n Roll stations. They Are the hits from hell. We mean singles that have actually incredibly reached the top 10. Hits by legitimate sometimes even respectable artists some of which May have sold millions of copies yet still boast that fingernails on a blackboard Quality. We do not mean songs by acts that you hate such As kiss or Barry Manilow or even musical styles that you hate like disco although some of them May be Here anyway. No what we mean Are records that suck All the Joy out of music making three minutes of radio time seem like six weeks on the rack. We Are talking records that even frighten your pets. We recognize that genuine artistic differences exist. Even we two professional journalists who have the utmost respect for each other s taste almost Carne to blows Over what to include on this list. But because there is no end to the number of horrible singles released mostly we disagreed on How bad a song had to be to get on the list. Here then is our list in no particular order of the worst hits from hell with suitably respectful analyses in parentheses Are the highest Chart listings and the years the songs hit billboard s charts. Honey Bobby Goldsboro no. 1,1968. This song tops just about everybody s list As the song most Likely to make you tear the radio out of the dash. Songs in which a character Dies for no Good reason Are always the most hated if Only because they leave the listener fuming Why her and not him feelings Morris Albert no. 6, 1975. A song that was born to be Muzak. Whether Sung in English portuguese or urdu it is guaranteed to induce sleepiness irritability and nausea in any listener. No wonder that it is the record you Are most Likely to hear when stuck on hold. You Light up my life Debby Boone no. 1,1977. Our Debby really hit the pits when she Sang it or rather simmered like a Puppy denied its Kal Kan during an Academy awards show with deaf children on hand to Echo the lyrics in sign language. A violation of child abuse Laws maybe but the poor kids at least were spared having to listen. You re having my baby Paul Anka no. 1, 1974. A More effective curb against pregnancy than most birth control pills. Not to mention that this song stirred up More feminist ire than a Phyllis Schlafly lecture. The Candy Man Sammy Davis or. No. 1,1972. Talk about sugar Shock this Little ditty is so Sappy and Sweet it is enough to make you want to beat up smurfs which come to think of it is not such a bad idea. Teen Angel Mark Dinning no. 1, 1960. Teen agers have always been suckers for songs about undying love but this gratuitously Soppy Ballad about the girl who would rather die than risk losing her Boyfriend s High school ring is a bit much. But having her get hit by a train could t he have been at least a Little subtler wildfire Michael Murphey no. 3, 1975. More gratuitous death this time of a girl who did t have sense to come in out of the rain and her runaway horse. Saturday in the Park Chicago no. 3, 1972. With its grating Melody moronic arrangement and stupid lyrics it is the sort of single that makes you Rush to change the Channel. The fake italian is a particularly annoying touch. The night Chicago died paper lace no. 1,1974. Don t get your Hopes up they Are singing about the City not the pop group. On the whole this Dippy ditty about the St. Valentine s Day massacre is enough to leave any radio listener wishing Capone s boys took requests. In the year 2525, Zager and Evans no. 1, 1969. And you wonder Why science fiction gets sneered at. Ode to Billy Joe Bobbie Gentry no. 1, 1967. While everybody else was asking what really happened in the song we were wondering who really cares what is this adolescent obsession with death we were kids when this song hit no. 1, and had far More important things such As How to get a Date with a cute classmate on our minds. Once again the wrong person jumped especially when you consider that Gentry currently is pulling Down six figures a year As a lounge Lizard in Las vegas. Song Sung Blue Neil Diamond no. 1, 1972. That Neil Diamond is one of the whitest Rock singers in All history is no secret but this Little Beauty deserves special mention for trying to sell the notion that the blues sound essentially the same As a Mcdonald s Jingle. Tuesday August 23, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 17
