''James Reyne'' is the debut

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 Australian singer-songwriter

James Reyne James Michael Nugent Reyne OAM (born 19 May 1957) is an Australian rock musician and singer-songwriter both in solo work and, until 1986, with the band Australian Crawl. Biography Early years Reyne was born in Lagos, Nigeria. His father, Ro ...

, released in September 1987. It was the singer's first solo venture since the break-up of the band

Australian Crawl Australian Crawl (often called Aussie Crawl or The Crawl by fans) were an Australian rock band founded by James Reyne (lead vocals/piano/harmonica), Brad Robinson (rhythm guitar), Paul Williams (bass), Simon Binks (lead guitar) and David R ...

in 1986. Six singles were released from the album: "

Fall of Rome The fall of the Western Roman Empire (also called the fall of the Roman Empire or the fall of Rome) was the loss of central political control in the Western Roman Empire, a process in which the Empire failed to enforce its rule, and its vas ...

", " Hammerhead", " Rip it Up", "Heaven on a Stick", "

Motor's Too Fast "Motor's Too Fast" is a single from Australian rock musician James Reyne. It was included on the international and Australian 1988 re-release of his debut self titled solo studio album. It was the fifth single taken from the album overall. "Mot ...

" and "Always The Way". The album was re-released on vinyl in January 2017 to celebrate its 30th anniversary.

Review

Tomas Mureika of

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 ...

said, "Reyne uses his voice as an instrument, leaping wildly across complex melody lines littered with hooks" adding the album is "one of the most striking albums of the late-eighties". In a ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', was an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' review, they said "Australian musician's American debut showcasing accessible and intelligent pop/rock and should garner healthy AOR attention immediately."

Track listing

" (Reyne) – 4:57 #" Hammerhead" (Reyne / Hussey) – 4:46 #"Mr. Sandman" (Reyne / Hussey) – 4:25 #"Counting on Me" (Reyne / Sigerson) – 4:29 #"Always the Way" (Reyne / Hussey) – 7:23 #"Land of Hope and Glory" (Reyne) – 4:18 #"Heaven on a Stick" (Reyne / Hussey) – 3:24 #"

" (Reyne / Hussey) – 4:13 (US & European release and 1988 Australian re-release) #" Rip it Up" (Reyne / Scott / Sigerson) – 5:42 #"Burning Wood" (Reyne) – 2:43 #"The Traveller" (Reyne / Scott / Sigerson) – 4:18 #"Coin in a Plate" (Reyne / Hussey) (1987 Australian release only) – 4:14

Personnel

– vocals, guitar * Jef Scott – guitars, bass, vocals *

Davey Faragher David Allen "Davey" Faragher (born August 18, 1957) is an American bass guitarist from Redlands, California. Faragher's career took off and received critical notice as a founding member of the nineties band Cracker, and his subsequent work with ...

– bass * John Watson – drums and percussion

Guests

* Phil Shenale – keyboards * David Baerwald – guitar * David Lindley – lap steel and Hawaiian guitars * Paulinho Da Costa – percussion *

Olivia Newton-John Dame Olivia Newton-John (26 September 1948 – 8 August 2022) was a British-Australian singer, actress and activist. She was a four-time Grammy Award winner whose music career included 15 top-ten singles, including 5 number-one singles on the ...

– backing vocals on "Hammerhead" * Bill Payne – piano * David Ricketts – guitar, keyboards * Peter Snell – guitar * Lee Curreri – keyboards * Bob Thiele – keyboards

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

References

1987 debut albums James Reyne albums Capitol Records albums {{1980s-rock-album-stub