"Night Games" is a song by British singer

Graham Bonnet Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal bands including Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Alcatrazz, and Impellitteri.Pr ...

released as a single in March 1981 from his third solo album '' Line-Up''. It peaked at number 6 on the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Background and release

"Night Games" was written by Edwin Hamilton and was first recorded in the mid-1970s by rock band Fast Buck, for whom Hamilton was the lead vocalist and also guitarist. However, the band's version remained unreleased until the release of the

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''Night Games – The Complete Recordings'' in 2019. Graham Bonnet had been the lead vocalist for the British rock band

Rainbow A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...

between 1979 and 1980, recording one studio album, '' Down to Earth''. After leaving the band and whilst staying in

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Bonnet's then manager David Oddie gave him a tape of "Night Games". Bonnet thought "it was perfect, coming across as the sort of poppy hard rock tune that I should be doing. It seemed to follow on from what I had done in Rainbow". It was then recorded in early 1981 with many well-known musicians playing alongside Bonnet and was planned to be released as a single at the end of February, though it was pushed back a week to the beginning of March. The single was co-produced by

Status Quo is a Latin phrase meaning the existing state of affairs, particularly with regard to social, political, religious or military issues. In the sociological sense, the ''status quo'' refers to the current state of social structure and/or values. W ...

lead singer and guitarist

Francis Rossi Francis Dominic Nicholas Michael Rossi, (born 29 May 1949) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. He is the co-founder, lead singer, lead guitarist and the sole continuous member of the rock band Status Quo. Early life Rossi was born o ...

and producer John Eden, who had also worked on Bonnet's first two solo albums. Rossi has said that Oddie wanted "a 'face' to produce Night Games" someone to help with the profile and marketing" and Rossi agreed so long as he had a "good engineer with me in the studio, because I had no experience in the role", so Eden was also brought in. After the single's release, Bonnet went on to record the album ''Line-Up'', with "Night Games" and the B-side "Out on the Water" both included on it. Reviewing for ''

Record Mirror ''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Re ...

'', Simon Tebbutt wrote that the song has "a clever contradiction of lyrical pessimism and musical optimism with a driving chorus which overcomes Francis Rossi's somewhat melodramatic production".

Track listing

7": Vertigo / VER 1 # "Night Games" – 3:25 # "Out on the Water" – 3:27

Personnel

– lead vocals, harmony vocals *

Micky Moody Michael Joseph "Micky" Moody (born 30 August 1950) is an English guitarist, and a former member of the rock bands Juicy Lucy and Whitesnake. He was also a founder-member of Snafu. Together with his former Whitesnake colleague Bernie Marsden h ...

– electric guitar, acoustic guitar * Gary Twigg – bass guitar *

Andy Bown Andrew Steven Bown (born 27 March 1946) is an English musician, who has specialised in keyboards and bass guitar. He is a member of the rock band Status Quo. Career Bown's first major band was The Herd, along with Peter Frampton. After The H ...

– piano, organ *

Cozy Powell Cozy Powell (born Colin Trevor Flooks; 29 December 1947 – 5 April 1998) was an English rock drummer who made his name with major rock bands and artists such as The Jeff Beck Group, Rainbow, Michael Schenker Group, Gary Moore, Robert Plant, ...

– drums *

–

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, synthesizer

Charts

References

{{authority control 1981 singles 1981 songs Vertigo Records singles