''The Warmer Side of Cool'' is the fifth studio album by Wang Chung released in May 1989 by Geffen Records. The album marked an artistic change from the new wave sound of their previous albums into a more traditional rock sound. Commercially, the album was a disappointment, peaking at #123 on the ''Billboard'' 200 in its sixth and final week on the chart. Despite poor sales, the album managed to provide a minor hit with " Praying to a New God", which peaked at #63 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on May 27, 1989. Praying for a New God Charts on AllMusic.com/ref> Another song, "Swing", was scheduled to be the second single from ''The Warmer Side Of Cool'', but its release was ultimately cancelled.

Reception

The album received 2 of 5 stars from

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 ...

's Kelvin Hayes. Hayes concentrated his criticism's on the band's shift into rock from the band's original sound that had made them popular, and that they focused too heavily on the then contemporary mainstream rock music. Apart from the previous criticism, he did praise several of the album's tracks describing them as 'good melodic rock.'

Track listing

CD

Cassette/LP

''Side One'' ''Side Two''

Chart performance

Personnel

*Lead Vocals:

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 ...

*Additional Vocals: Bill Clift,

Darren Costin Wang Chung are an English new wave band, formed in London in 1980 by Nick Feldman, Jack Hues and Darren Costin. The name Wang Chung is Chinese (, ), meaning "yellow bell" in English, and is the first note in the Chinese classical music scale. ...

, Gary Falcone,

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 ...

, Roger Freeland, Jeff Pescetto,

Joe Pizzulo Joe Pizzulo is an American vocalist best known as one of the lead singers on 1980s hit singles credited to Sérgio Mendes, including " Never Gonna Let You Go" (from Mendes' self-titled 1983 album) and "Alibis" (from the 1984 album ''Confetti''). ...

, Ina Wolf and

Peter Wolf Peter Wolf (born March 7, 1946) is an American musician best known as the lead vocalist of the J. Geils Band from 1967 to 1983 and as a solo artist. Early life and education Peter Wolf was born Peter Walter Blankfield on March 7, 1946 in The ...

*Tribal Vocals: Bill Clift, Allan Ryder and Peter Wolf *Guitars: Jack Hues, Pete McCray and Mikal Reid *Bass Guitar: Nick Feldman *Drums: Michael Baird,

Vinnie Colaiuta Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colai ...

and

Bryan Hitt Bryan Keith Hitt (born January 5, 1954, Center, Texas) is an American rock drummer who is currently drumming for the band REO Speedwagon REO Speedwagon (originally stylized as R.E.O. Speedwagon) is an American rock band from Champaign, Ill ...

*Percussion: Paulinho Da Costa *Vocal Percussion: Jeremy Smith *Trombone:

Bill Reichenbach Jr. William Frank Reichenbach Jr. (born November 30, 1949) is an American jazz trombonist and composer. He is the son of Bill Reichenbach, who was the drummer for Charlie Byrd from 1962 to 1973. He is best known as a session musician for television, ...

*Keyboards:

*Mixed by Jeremy Smith *Engineers: Jeremy Smith and Gonzalo "Bino" Espinoza *Assistant Engineers: Gonzalo "Bino" Espinoza and Carlos Golliher *Management: David Massey *Art Direction/Design: Lynn Robb *Collage by Ron Chadwick *Wang Chung photos: Victoria Pearson-Cameron *Photo of Asian boy: Reed Davis *Photo of Kangaroo: Vitamvas/Camera Agency *Photo of Interior: used by kind permission of Atlantic Antique Centres with thanks to Soho Design *Photo of Dolphin: Julia Whitty *Aerial Photography: from ''The Home Planet'' © 1988 Kevin W. Kelley. Addison-Wesley Pub. Co. *Album mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Precision Lacquer *Cassette and CD mastered by Dan Hersch at DigiPrep, Los Angeles, CA *

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 ...

*Special Thanks to: David Massey, John Kalodner, David Geffen, Ed Rosenblatt and everyone at Geffen Records (especially Al Coury, Marko Babineau, Peter Napoliello, Jonas Livingston, Norman Beil, Eddie Gilreath, Peter Baron, and Robin Rothman). Robin Godfrey-Cass, Ronny Vance, Ken Kraus, Nick Ben-Meir, Sandy Campbell, Lynn Robb, Rob Kline, and Bruce Jackson at 41B. Elaine Black, Debra Shallman, Cathy Woller, Lyn Fey, Roz Schrank, Sigrine Vally, David Chandler, Mikal Reid, Martin Winning (especially for help on "Swing"), Darren Costin, Brian Hitt, Debra Dobkin, and Jeff Naideau. **Thanks too, to: Toru Nittono at L.A. Guitar Works, all at Norm's Rare Guitars, Bill Reim and Chuck Fukagawa at Ibanez Guitars, Chris and Allen at the Bass Centre, L.A., Beverly Lund, Francis and Rick at Bull Hitt Productions, the inventor of 'Asteroids', New England Digital, AKG, Monster Cables, Zildjian Cymbals, and D.W. Drums

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Warmer Side of Cool, The 1989 albums Geffen Records albums Wang Chung (band) albums Albums produced by Peter Wolf (producer)