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Is Chris Rea Really That Underrated?

B

Barry williams

Banned
I am playing On The Beach now.
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First time for ages.
Its still imo a brilliant album.
 
muzzer said:
He's a good slide player.
Prefer Road to Hell myself.
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I think many millions at the time around the world also did.
It was the album that cracked it for him and launched him into the big time.:cool:
Good job it did because he would of been dead years ago if he hadn't sold shed loads of albums.
 
This brilliant book CD set i bought years ago when it was released is still one of my favourites.
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The DVD of how all the albums were recorded is outstanding.
The Microphone room still gives me a better than sex feeling every time i see the collection.:cool:
I have been trying for years to get Marc Park to get back together again and record over there.:mad:
 
That blues set is an absolute cracker.

Delighted to have been given a heads-up when it was superb value.

Rea is massively under-rated. Imagine if he was American ...........
 
I recall going to a 'bakeoff type' get together in Texas when visiting family. My contribution was Road to Hell on my (then new) Red Wine modded iPod.
Chris Rea caused a bigger stir than the gear - no one had apparently heard of him!
So far as I'm aware he never did make it in America - their loss for sure.
Great live show as well when he tours.
Jim
 
A great slide-guitar player. "On The Beach" is one of my favourite albums - recall listening to it through my Panasonic personal CD player, lying on a greek beach after a boozy lunch. Lovely...
 
jimpey said:
I recall going to a 'bakeoff type' get together in Texas when visiting family. My contribution was Road to Hell on my (then new) Red Wine modded iPod.
Chris Rea caused a bigger stir than the gear - no one had apparently heard of him!
So far as I'm aware he never did make it in America - their loss for sure.
Great live show as well when he tours.
Jim
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Road To Hell was big in the US.
As was Gods Great Banana Skin and people by then had started to look at his other albums.
His music has been used in shed loads of american movies.
Driving Home For Christmas still gets played every year on radio and in stores over the pond like here in the UK.
If Chris ran out of money tomorrow?
Christmas royalties cheque would keep him going.:cool:
 
Barry williams said:
I think many millions at the time around the world also did.
It was the album that cracked it for him and launched him into the big time.:cool:
Good job it did because he would of been dead years ago if he hadn't sold shed loads of albums.
Click to expand...

I always thought that it was the album before Road to Hell called Dancing with Strangers that launched into big time ,it contains Lets Dance etc ...
Check out Wired to the Moon album as well!
 
Yep, Wired to the moon was my starter, kind of saterday afternoon music...
 
This thread prompted me to give On the Beach a spin this evening. I enjoyed playing it, first time in some years I have to say.

I have a few others lurking; Road to Hell, Auberge, Blue Cafe? I shall be digging them out in due course too.
 
mickyricky said:
I always thought that it was the album before Road to Hell called Dancing with Strangers that launched into big time ,it contains Lets Dance etc ...
Check out Wired to the Moon album as well!
Click to expand...
I was lucky a few years ago (Just After Roger Waters Played DSOTM At Earls Court) to buy someones whole mint condition vinyl collection from my local charity shop .
Three for a pound all in poly outers.:cool:
 
mickyricky said:
I always thought that it was the album before Road to Hell called Dancing with Strangers that launched into big time ,it contains Lets Dance etc ...
Check out Wired to the Moon album as well!
Click to expand...

Don't forget he'd already had a massive hit with "Fool (If You Think It's Over)" from his first album in 1978. Unfortunately, it featured very little of his guitar playing and set him up as another singer / songwriter that made 'grown up, dinner pary' albums typical of the late 70s a la Gerry Rafferty / Judy Tzuke / Chris de Burgh ' Joan Armatrading.

Fair play to Magnet, they stuck with him through a lot of poorly selling albums (I remember a lot of his CDs were being sold as 'value' £6.99 discs when most mid-price were £9.99) until "Wired to the Moon" sort of sold OK-ish with "I Don't Know What it Is" and "Ace of Hearts" selling a few copies.

It was "Shamrock Diaries" that did it for him. It came along at the same time as the Q-Magazine reading public were getting really into buying Dire Straits CDs when CDs were new and shiny and the lifestyle accessory to have. Want more mid-tempo, bluesy ballads with a slightly American feel but you have all of Dire Straits and Eric Clapton's (post 1980) CDs ? Look no further than Chris with "Stainsby Girls" and "Steel River".

By the time "Road to Hell" came out, with it's hi-fi demo quality sound and it was gonna sell shed-loads.
 
I have a good many of his albums. Difficult to say which I would choose as his best. I find them rather patchy, containing some excellent work but a lot of filler too. In my opinion of course.
 
I've always been a big fan although was never quite so keen on his blues stuff. Also, on one or two albums (such as The Road to Hell Part 2 and The Blue Café IIRC), he appeared to swap a real drum kit for a Fisher Price 'My First Drum Machine' which I found very irritating.

Saw him live a couple of years ago and he was superb. A very hard-rocking version of 'Stainsby Girls' was the highlight of the night for me!
 
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