''To Live and Die in L.A. '' is the third

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 new wave band Wang Chung. It was released on 30 September 1985 by Geffen and is their first recording as a duo of lead vocalist

Jack Hues Jeremy Allan Ryder, better known as Jack Hues, (born 10 December 1954) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician, who is best known for forming and fronting the 1980s English new wave band, Wang Chung. Hues was also a member of the one-o ...

and bassist

Nick Feldman Nicholas Laurence Feldman (born 1 May 1955) is an English musician best known for forming the British new wave band Wang Chung in 1980. Feldman was half of the duo Promised Land, which also featured Jon Moss of Culture Club. He was a founding i ...

following the departure of drummer Darren Costin. The album served as the

soundtrack A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...

for the 1985 film '' To Live and Die in L.A'', directed by

William Friedkin William "Billy" Friedkin (born August 29, 1935)Biskind, p. 200. is an American film and television director, producer and screenwriter closely identified with the "New Hollywood" movement of the 1970s. Beginning his career in documentaries in t ...

. Instead of following up the success that ''

Points on the Curve ''Points on the Curve'' is the second studio album by English new wave band Wang Chung, released in July 1983 by Geffen Records. Background ''Points on the Curve'' is Wang Chung's first studio album since changing their name from Huang Chun ...

'' (1983) had provided them, the band switched gears to produce an original motion picture soundtrack. The switch allowed for them to experiment with different styles of music from the more conventional

pop music Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form during the mid-1950s in the United States and the United Kingdom. The terms ''popular music'' and ''pop music'' are often used interchangeably, although the former describe ...

found on their previous studio album. The album peaked at No. 85 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 but it failed to chart in their home country. The album's title track, " To Live and Die in L.A.", was released as the first single from the album and it peaked at No. 41 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. " Wake Up, Stop Dreaming" was the second single to be released from the album but it failed to chart. In 1996, Geffen Goldline re-released the album on CD but all CD versions of the album have remained

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book ...

since.

Universal Music Enterprises Universal Music Enterprises (UME, stylized as UMe) is the catalogue division of Universal Music Group. It includes Hip-O Records, Universal Chronicles, and UM3 or UMC (which is the international division of the company). Under various divisions, ...

re-released the album on vinyl in 2015.

Background

According to

, director of the film '' To Live and Die in L.A.'', the main reason he chose Wang Chung to compose the soundtrack was because the band "stands out from the rest of contemporary music... What they finally recorded has not only enhanced the film, it has given it a deeper, more powerful dimension.

This, of course, was his response after listening to the band's previous studio album, ''Points on the Curve'' (1983). In fact, he loved the album so much, that he took two of the songs straight off of the album, " Wait (Wang Chung song), Wait", and "

Dance Hall Days "Dance Hall Days" is a song by English new wave band Wang Chung. It was originally released as a single in 1982 when the band was called Huang Chung, then it was re-recorded and re-released a year later in 1983 for the studio album ''Points on ...

" and used them as part of the soundtrack. "Wait" plays at the end credits of the movie, and is their only song to appear on two different non-compilation albums. Every song on the soundtrack, excluding the title song, "Dance Hall Days" and "Wait", was written and recorded within a two-week period. Only after Wang Chung saw a rough draft of the film did they produce the title son

On the original vinyl and cassette release, side one was all vocal tracks, side two all instrumental.

Critical reception

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 ...

, critic Kelvin Hayes wrote that "''To Live and Die in L.A.'' will appeal to those who enjoy the more dramatic spheres of Wang Chung's music." Concluding that the album is "a good budget-priced recording for those with the right set of ears."

Track listing

All songs written and composed by Wang Chung; all songs produced by Wang Chung, except where noted.

Credits

*All songs published by Chong Music Ltd., adm. by Warner-Tamerlane Publishing Corp. BMI. *Executive

producer Producer or producers may refer to: Occupations *Producer (agriculture), a farm operator *A stakeholder of economic production *Film producer, supervises the making of films **Executive producer, contributes to a film's budget and usually does not ...

John Kalodner John David Kalodner is a retired American A&R (artists and repertoire) executive. History John David Kalodner was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and was a writer and photographer at ''Concert'' magazine. He went on to be a photographer for v ...

, David Massey *

Arranged In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestra ...

by William Friedkin *Music

supervision Supervision is an act or instance of directing, managing, or oversight. Etymology The English noun "supervision" derives from the two Latin words "super" (above) and "videre" (see, observe). Spelling The spelling is "Supervision" in Standard E ...

: John Kalodner *Production supervisor: Bob Weiner *"Lullaby"

engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...

ed by Brad Davis *

Mastered Mastering, a form of audio post production, is the process of preparing and transferring recorded audio from a source containing the final mix to a data storage device (the master), the source from which all copies will be produced (via meth ...

Greg Fulginiti Gregory Fulginiti (born February 13, 1951 in Cape May Court House section of Middle Township, New Jersey) is an American recording and mastering engineer. Fulginiti grew up in Wildwood, New Jersey and graduated from Wildwood High School in 1969 ...

Artisan Sound Recorders Artisan Sound Recorders was one of Southern California's premier disk mastering facilities. It was founded by Robert M. MacLeod Jr. in the 1960s, and acquired by Kent Duncan in 1979 when MacLeod retired. In the early 1990s, it was sold to Jon Lo ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

Art director Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and ...

design A design is a plan or specification for the construction of an object or system or for the implementation of an activity or process or the result of that plan or specification in the form of a prototype, product, or process. The verb ''to design'' ...

: Steve Gerdes *

Graphic design Graphic design is a profession, academic discipline and applied art whose activity consists in projecting visual communications intended to transmit specific messages to social groups, with specific objectives. Graphic design is an interdiscipli ...

Pablo Ferro Pablo Ferro (January 15, 1935 – November 16, 2018) was a Cuban-American graphic designer, film titles designer, and founder of Pablo Ferro Films. Childhood Born in Antilla, Oriente Province, Cuba, he was raised on a remote farm before emigrat ...

*Thanks to William Friedkin, Bud Smith and all at Todd A.O., Maggie Abbott and all at Triad, Bob Weiner, Ed Rosenblatt and Elaine Black. *

Management Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities o ...

: David Massey at Domino Directions, Ltd.,

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Chart performance

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:To Live and Die in L.A. (soundtrack) Wang Chung (band) albums 1985 soundtrack albums 1980s film soundtrack albums Geffen Records soundtracks