''Dancing with Strangers'' is the ninth studio album by British singer-songwriter

Chris Rea Christopher Anton Rea ( ; born 4 March 1951) is an English rock and blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, fie ...

, released in 1987. It became Rea's first major success in the UK, peaking at No. 2 behind Michael Jackson's ''

Bad Bad or BAD may refer to: Common meanings *Evil, the opposite of moral good * Erroneous, inaccurate or incorrect * Unhealthy, or counter to well-being * Antagonist, the threat or obstacle of moral good Acronyms * BAD-2, a Soviet armored troll ...

'', and spent 46 weeks in the charts before going platinum. The album entered the Top 10 in six other European countries, and topped the chart in

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

. " Let's Dance" was released as the first single and peaked at No. 12 in the UK, and climbed to No. 2 in New Zealand. It was followed by "

Loving You Again "Loving You Again" is a song by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, which was released in 1987 as the second single from his ninth studio album ''Dancing with Strangers''. The song was written and produced by Rea. "Loving You Again" reached No. 47 ...

", " Joys of Christmas" and "Que Sera". The album features renowned Irish

piper Piper may refer to: People * Piper (given name) * Piper (surname) Arts and entertainment Fictional characters Comics * Piper (Morlock), in the Marvel Universe * Piper (Mutate), in the Marvel Universe Television * Piper Chapman, lea ...

Davy Spillane Davy Spillane (born 1959 in Dublin, Ireland) is an Irish musician, songwriter and a player of uilleann pipes and low whistle. Biography Irish music At the age of 12, Spillane started playing the uilleann pipes. His father encouraged him an ...

Production

Rea had put a multi-track recording desk in his garage, and "made the whole album with three microphones. Nobody heard it, nobody witnessed it", he said. "It was just me having fun." It was "the first time Rea had demoed and partly recorded the album at home", which "gave him more control and helped cement his vision". Despite the lead single's success, subsequent singles fared relatively poorly in the UK charts, with "

" reaching No. 47, " Joys of Christmas" making it to No. 67 and "Que Sera" reaching No. 73. The latter shares a verse taken from an earlier song from the eponymous ''

'', called "When You Know Your Love Has Died." ''Dancing With Strangers'', along with four other albums from Rea's commercial peak, was remastered and reissued as a double album, with the first disc consisting of the original LP, and the second containing bonus material including singles, along with alternative and live versions.

Track listing

All songs by

. # " Joys of Christmas" – 5:15 # "I Can't Dance to That" – 4:19 # "Windy Town" – 4:25 # "Gonna Buy a Hat" – 4:25 # "Curse of the Traveller" – 6:26 # " Let's Dance" – 4:07 # "Que Sera" – 5:23 # "Josie's Tune" – 2:19 # "

" – 5:40 # "That Girl of Mine" – 3:41 # "September Blue" – 3:09 # "I Don't Care Any More" – 2:10 # "Donahue's Broken Wheel" – 3:02 # "Danielle's Breakfast" – 4:33 ''Tracks 12, 13 and 14 are bonus tracks not available on the initial LP release.''

Personnel

– vocals, guitar (1, 2, 6),

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

(1, 4, 10),

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

(1, 2, 7), brass (1, 4, 6, 7, 9), acoustic guitar (3), rhythm guitar (3),

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

(3),

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

(4, 10), all other guitars (5, 7), keyboards (6, 7), acoustic piano (7), all other instruments (8), all guitars (9), strings (9), lead guitar (10), all instruments (11-14) * Kevin Leach – acoustic piano (2, 3, 5, 9, 10), organ (2, 5, 7),

Hammond organ The Hammond organ is an electric organ invented by Laurens Hammond and John M. Hanert and first manufactured in 1935. Multiple models have been produced, most of which use sliding drawbars to vary sounds. Until 1975, Hammond organs generated s ...

(4) *

Jerry Donahue Jerry Donahue (born September 24, 1946, Manhattan, New York City) is an American guitarist and producer primarily known for his work in the British folk rock scene as a member of Fotheringay and Fairport Convention as well as being a member of ...

– lead guitar (3, 4, 7), acoustic guitar (3), rhythm guitar (5, 10) * Eoghan O'Neill – bass (1-7, 9, 10), drums (1), percussion (1) *

Martin Ditcham Martin Ditcham is an English drummer, percussionist and songwriter. Ditcham is a prolific session musician, working with artists such as Henry Cow, Status Quo, Elton John, The Rolling Stones, Roger Daltrey, Sade, Mary Black, Nik Kershaw, Chris ...

– drums (2-7, 9, 10), percussion (2, 3, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10) *

–

Uilleann pipes The uilleann pipes ( or , ) are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland. Earlier known in English as "union pipes", their current name is a partial translation of the Irish language terms (literally, "pipes of the elbow"), from their ...

(3, 5, 8, 10),

low whistle The low whistle, or concert whistle, is a variation of the traditional tin whistle/pennywhistle, distinguished by its lower pitch and larger size. It is most closely associated with the performances of British and Irish artists such as Tommy Make ...

(3, 5, 8, 10)

Production

* Chris Rea – producer, mixing * Stewart Eales – engineer * Jean Jacques Lemoine – engineer * Justin Shirley-Smith – engineer *

Jon Kelly Jon Kelly is a British audio engineer and record producer, who began his career as an engineer at Air London Studios. He has produced albums and singles for Chris Rea, the Damned, Kate Bush (where he co-produced with Bush on her third album ...

– mixing * Willie Grimston – coordination * Mark Entwistle – cover illustration * Shoot That Tiger! – sleeve design *

Jim Beach Henry James Beach (born 9 March 1942), known as Jim Beach or "Miami" Beach, is a British lawyer and band manager, best known for being the long-time manager of the rock band Queen, its individual members and the comedy group Monty Python. He ...

– management * Paul Lilly – management ;Studios * Recorded at

Mountain Studios Mountain Studios was a commercial recording studio founded by American singer and composer Anita Kerr and husband Alex Grob in 1975 within the Montreux Casino in Montreux, Switzerland. The studio was under the ownership of Queen and then long ...

(Montreux, Switzerland);

Studio Miraval Miraval Studios is a recording studio located in the Château de Miraval, a 900 hectares estate located in Correns, in the Var department of Provence (France). Founded in 1977 by French jazz pianist Jacques Loussier and sound engineer Patrice Quef ...

(Le Val, France); Hartmann Digital (Bavaria, Germany). * Mixed at Studio Miraval

Production

Track listing

Personnel

Production

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References