''Enemy Within'' is the seventh solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as Digital distribution#Music, digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early ...

by English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English musician, singer, guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his st ...

. The album was originally released in October 1986, on the label New Rose Records in France, and in Germany on

Date Records Date Records was a sub-label of Columbia Records which had two different incarnations. The first incarnation was a short-lived rockabilly label in 1958 which included a release by Billy "Crash" Craddock. The more significant incarnation was relau ...

. The album was recorded over a period of three years starting in 1982, at three different recording studios. It was the six-year follow-up to his 1980 album ''I'm Not Like Everybody Else''. The album features contributions from Tom Finn,

Anton Fig Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952 in Cape Town, South Africa), known as "The Thunder from Down Under", is a South African session drummer, perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Ba ...

Jimmy Zoppi James Carter Cathcart (born March 8, 1954) is an American voice actor, script adaptor, voice director, pianist and vocalist known for providing the English voice for James, Meowth and Professor Oak in the ''Pokémon'' franchise since 2005. Ca ...

David Van Tieghem David Van Tieghem (born April 21, 1955) is an American composer, percussionist and sound designer, best known for his philosophy of utilizing any available object as a percussion instrument and for his collaborations with the experimental artists ...

, and Keith Lentin. The album was his last recording of original material for four years, until he released ''Cafe Days'', in 1990. When the album was released in late 1986, it received mixed reviews, and went largely unnoticed by the public, being a commercial disappointment, and even missed the album charts worldwide, alike all of his solo albums (to date). It was later picked up for release by

Repertoire Records Repertoire Records is a German record label from Hamburg, Germany, specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 1970s. The chairman is Thomas Neelsen. See also * List of record labels File:Alvino ...

in 2001, featuring rare bonus content. With the original album digitally remastered from the original 1/2" mix tapes; the bonus content consists of one outtake, and one live track.

Critical reception

Retrospective review

''Enemy Within'' received mixed reviews from contemporary

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on w ...

. In his retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databas ...

, Mike DeGagne rated the album two and a half stars out of five. He praised the album for containing "enough fragments of mild rockabilly, pop, and traditional rock & roll." They also added that that made him sound "an awful lot like

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler (born 12 August 1949) is a British singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. Born in Scotland and raised in England, he was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits. He pursued a s ...

". However, they commented that "Spedding fails to unleash any real surprises"

Track listing

All tracks composed by Chris Spedding; except where indicated. ;Additional tracks

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. * Chris Spedding - lead vocals; lead guitars; bass guitars; Casio synthesizer *

- drums; percussion * Carter Cathcart - bass guitar; keyboards * Amanda Blue - backing vocals ;Additional musicians * Keith Lentin - bass guitar and backing vocals on "Hologram" * Cedric Samson - backing vocals on "Hologram" * Diane Murray - backing vocals on "Hologram" *

- drums on "Go West" * David Leboult - keyboards on "Go West" * Chris Bishop - bass guitar and backing vocals on "Go West" * Tom Finn - backing vocals on "Go West"

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1986 albums Chris Spedding albums