''Huey Lewis and the News'' is the debut

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 American

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

band

Huey Lewis and the News Huey Lewis and the News are an American rock band based in San Francisco, California. They had a run of hit singles during the 1980s and early 1990s, eventually achieving 19 top ten singles across the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, Adult Contempora ...

, released in 1980.

Background

In 1979, the band's name was Huey Lewis and the American Express. Under this name they released a single and secured their recording contract with

Chrysalis Records Chrysalis Records () is a British record label that was founded in 1968. The name is both a reference to the pupal stage of a butterfly and a combination of its founders' names, Chris Wright and Terry Ellis. It started as the Ellis-Wright Ag ...

at the end of the year. The album was recorded within three weeks and the producer was

Bill Schnee William S. Schnee (born July 4, 1947) is an American musician, music producer, and audio engineer. Schnee has been nominated 11 times for the Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical Grammy Award and worked on a multitude of other Grammy nominated an ...

, who had produced for

Boz Scaggs William Royce "Boz" Scaggs (born June 8, 1944) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. An early bandmate of Steve Miller in The Ardells and the Steve Miller Band, he began his solo career in 1969, though he lacked a major hit until h ...

and

Pablo Cruise Pablo is a Spanish form of the name Paul (name), Paul. People *Pablo Alborán, Spanish singer *Pablo Aimar, Argentine footballer *Pablo Armero, Colombian footballer *Pablo Bartholomew, Indian photojournalist *Pablo Brandán, Argentine footballer * ...

. Chrysalis did not like the addition 'American Express' to the band's name, fearing that the credit card company of the same name could sue them. In January 1980, the band changed their name to 'Huey Lewis and the News'. The album reached No. 203 on the ''Billboard'' album chart. Prior to the album's release, the track "Who Cares?" was used in the 1979 motion picture ''

Rock 'n' Roll High School ''Rock 'n' Roll High School'' is a 1979 American musical comedy film directed by Allan Arkush, produced by Michael Finnell, and starring P. J. Soles, Vince Van Patten, Clint Howard, and Dey Young. The film featured the punk rock group Ramone ...

''.

Reception

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' states that producer Bill Schnee mastered the "clean, sparse rock" that every rock band was trying to achieve at the time by "skinning the uptempo, light rockers down to basic guitars and vocals." Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in a 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 ...

, says the News turn out "hard-driving covers and originals in a workmanlike fashion" but their "debut suffers from an uneven selection of material." ''

Record World ''Record World'' magazine was one of the three main music industry trade magazines in the United States, along with '' Billboard'' and '' Cashbox''. It was founded in 1946 under the name ''Music Vendor'', but in 1964 it was changed to ''Record Wo ...

'' called the lead single "Some of My Lies Are True (Sooner or Later)" a "fun rocker" in which "the driving rhythm guitars buttress strong lead and harmony vocals."

Track listing

Singles

"Some of My Lies Are True (Sooner or Later)" was written in San Francisco by the band and recorded in Los Angeles within three weeks, and the track was released as the album's first single. The song is about people betraying other people, including friends, old friends, and enemies. The

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

for the single was "Don't Ever Tell Me That You Love Me". The songs failed to chart, despite early support from the then-brand-new channel MTV. Videos were shot for both songs and were later included on the band's 1985 VHS compilation, ''Video Hits''. In 1986, remixes of the songs were included as B-sides to the singles "

Hip to Be Square "Hip to Be Square" is a song by Huey Lewis and the News, written by Bill Gibson, Sean Hopper, and Huey Lewis, and released in 1986 as the second single from the multi-platinum album ''Fore!''. The song features Pro Football Hall of Famers and t ...

" and "

Stuck with You "Stuck with You" is a song by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, written by guitarist Chris Hayes and lead singer Huey Lewis. Released in 1986, it was the first single from the band's fourth album, ''Fore!''. The song spent three weeks ...

", respectively. A live recording of the song "Trouble in Paradise" was later included on the charity album ''

We Are the World "We Are the World" is a charity single originally recorded by the supergroup USA for Africa in 1985. It was written by Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie and produced by Quincy Jones and Michael Omartian for the album ''We Are the World''. Wit ...

''.

Personnel

Huey Lewis Hugh Anthony Cregg III (born July 5, 1950), known professionally as Huey Lewis, is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. Lewis sings lead and plays harmonica for his band, Huey Lewis and the News, in addition to writing or co-writing many o ...

– vocals, harmonica * Chris Hayes – lead guitar, backing vocals *

Johnny Colla John Victor Colla (born July 2, 1952) is an American musician (playing the guitar and saxophone), singer and songwriter. He is a founding member of the American rock band Huey Lewis and the News. He has been heavily involved in the San Franci ...

– rhythm guitar, saxophone, backing vocals * Mario Cipollina – bass * Bill Gibson – drums, percussion, backing vocals * Sean Hopper – keyboards, backing vocals

Production

– producer, engineer, mixing * Kirk Butler – assistant engineer * Bill Cooper – assistant engineer * Tim Dennen – assistant engineer * Studio 55 (Los Angeles, California) – mixing location *

Doug Sax Doug Lionel Sax (April 26, 1936 – April 2, 2015) was an American mastering engineer from Los Angeles, California. He mastered three of The Doors' albums, including their 1967 debut; six of Pink Floyd's albums, including ''The Wall''; Ray Charles ...

– mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, California) * Billy Bass – art direction, cover concept *

Rod Dyer Rod Dyer (born in South Africa) is an American graphic artist, illustrator, photographer and restaurateur. Career Dyer has been described as a "prominent graphic designer who created many of the album covers for Capitol Records in the 1960s." L ...

– design * Bill Murphy – design *

Ron Slenzak Ronald J. Slenzak (born January 29, 1948) is an American photographer, best known for photographing record album covers. Some of the album covers that he has photographed include ''Spitfire'' (Jefferson Starship), ''Huey Lewis and the News'' (the ...

– photography * Chris Welch – liner notes * Bob Brown – management

References

{{Authority control 1980 debut albums Huey Lewis and the News albums Albums produced by Bill Schnee Chrysalis Records albums