''On the Beach'' is the eighth 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 1986, and built on the success of the preceding ''

Shamrock Diaries ''Shamrock Diaries'' is the seventh studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1985. This album represents the beginning of a creative and commercial zenith for Rea. ''Shamrock Diaries'' was a huge seller in Europe, reachin ...

''. It reached No. 11 on the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales and (from March 2015) audio streaming in the United Kingdom. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the Official Charts C ...

(and also in Sweden), topped the Dutch charts (where it charted for more than nine months), reached number two in

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

and No. 4 in New Zealand (where is also spent more than nine months in the charts). It also reached the top 10 in Norway. In 2019, a deluxe remastered version of the album was released.

Songs

In an interview for the deluxe edition of the album, Rea said of the song ''Giverny'', written after a visit to

Monet Oscar-Claude Monet (, , ; 14 November 1840 – 5 December 1926) was a French painter and founder of impressionist painting who is seen as a key precursor to modernism, especially in his attempts to paint nature as he perceived it. During ...

's celebrated home, "I didn't want to be there. I was only there because she (his wife, Joan) was there... so there's kinda, a funny twist to it".

Critical reception

AllMusic notes that, "while ''

The Road to Hell ''The Road to Hell'' is the tenth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1989. Coming on the back of several strongly performing releases, it is Rea's most successful studio album, and topped the UK Albums Chart for th ...

'' shows the darker side of Rea's worldview, ''On the Beach'' is an excellent introduction to his brighter, more optimistic songwriting". A retrospective review finds that the album "taps into the same kind of jazzy, introspective pop/soul sound that the likes of

John Martyn Iain David McGeachy (11 September 1948 – 29 January 2009), known professionally as John Martyn, was a Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist. Over a 40-year career, he released 23 studio albums, and received frequent critical acclaim. ...

Joni Mitchell Roberta Joan "Joni" Mitchell ( Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian-American musician, producer, and painter. Among the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her sta ...

and

Van Morrison Sir George Ivan Morrison (born 31 August 1945), known professionally as Van Morrison, is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist whose recording career spans seven decades. He has won two Grammy Awards. As a teenager in t ...

were flirting with in the same period, helped by an excellent band including

Fairport Convention Fairport Convention are an English folk rock band, formed in 1967 by guitarists Richard Thompson and Simon Nicol, bassist Ashley Hutchings and drummer Shaun Frater (with Frater replaced by Martin Lamble after their first gig.) They started o ...

XTC XTC were an English rock band formed in Swindon in 1972. Fronted by songwriters Andy Partridge (guitars, vocals) and Colin Moulding (bass, vocals), the band gained popularity during the rise of punk and new wave in the 1970s, later playing in ...

drummer

Dave Mattacks David James Mattacks (born 13 March 1948) is an English rock and folk drummer. Best known for his work with Fairport Convention, Mattacks has also worked both as a session musician and as a performing artist. Apart from playing the drums, he i ...

", adding that ''Little Blonde Plaits'' is "a vehicle for axMiddleton's expressive Mini Moog, very redolent of his atmospheric playing on John Martyn’s ''

Glorious Fool ''Glorious Fool'' is the ninth studio album by musician John Martyn. After a long association with Island Records, this was Martyn's first of two albums for WEA. The album was produced by Phil Collins and engineered by Nick Launay and Steve ...

''".

Track listing

Personnel

Musicians

– lead and backing vocals, keyboards, acoustic piano, guitars,

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 ...

, fretless bass *

Max Middleton David Maxwell Middleton (born 4 August 1946) is an English composer and keyboardist who was originally a docker on the London docks. Middleton is known for his work on the Fender Rhodes Electric piano, the Minimoog synthesiser and his percussiv ...

– acoustic piano,

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the So ...

Minimoog The Minimoog is an analog synthesizer first manufactured by Moog Music between 1970 and 1981. Designed as a more affordable, portable version of the modular Moog synthesizer, it was the first synthesizer sold in retail stores. It was first popul ...

, synthesizers * Kevin Leach – keyboards * Robert Awhai – guitars * Eoghan O'Neill – bass guitar *

– drums * Adrian Rea – drums *

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 ...

– percussion

Production

* Chris Rea – producer * David Richards – producer, mixing * Stewart Eales – recording engineer *

Stylorouge Stylorouge is a graphic design studio based in Yalding, Kent, formed in London by creative director Rob O'Connor in 1981. Art work created by the studio has included record sleeve designs for bands such as Siouxsie and the Banshees for their 1981's ...

– sleeve design * Ekkeheart Gurlitt – photography * Francoise La Port – photography Studios * Recorded at Anderburr Recording Studios (Bray, England). * Mixed 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 Montreux (, , ; frp, Montrolx) is a Swiss municipality and town on the shoreline of Lake Geneva at the foot of the Alps. It belongs to the district of Riviera-Pays-d'Enhaut in the canton of Vaud in Switzerland, and has a population of approxima ...

Singles

# "It's All Gone" b/w "Crack That Mould", "Look Out For Me", "Bless Them All", "Let's Dance" (original version) # "On the Beach" b/w "On the Beach (special remix)", "If Anybody Asks You", "One Golden Rule" (live), "Midnight Blue" # "Hello Friend" (re-recording) b/w "Driving Home for Christmas" (original version), "It's All Gone" (live), "Steel River"

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Chris Rea albums 1986 albums Albums produced by David Richards (record producer) Magnet Records albums Geffen Records albums