''Water Sign'' is the fifth 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 1983. The album reached No. 64 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 ...

. "

I Can Hear Your Heartbeat "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat" is a song by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1983 as the second single from his fifth studio album ''Water Sign''. It was written by Rea, and produced by Rea and David Richards. "I Can Hear Your Heartbe ...

" was released as a single, initially peaking 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 ...

at No. 60, while a re-recorded version for Rea's 1988 compilation album, ''

New Light Through Old Windows ''New Light Through Old Windows'' is the first compilation album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1988. The album consists primarily of re-recordings of songs from Rea's earlier albums, as well as the new track "Working on It" ...

'', reached No. 74. The album contained three singles which includes several none album B-sides. ''Water Sign'' reached No. 36 in New Zealand. It sold well in Ireland, prompting Rea to mount an extensive tour there, which marked the beginning of an upswing in the musician's fortunes.

Production and impact

According to the sleeve notes in the 2019 deluxe version of ''

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 ...

'', the record company would not fund ''Water Sign'', "forcing eato use tracks that had been intended as demos". As a result, Rea plays most instruments on the album, and – unusually – drum machines feature. In an interview for

Q magazine ''Q'' was a popular music magazine published monthly in the United Kingdom. It was founded in 1986 by broadcast journalists Mark Ellen and David Hepworth, who were presenters of the BBC television music series ''The Old Grey Whistle Test''. '' ...

, Rea told

Paul Du Noyer Paul Du Noyer (born Paul Anthony Du Noyer; 21 May 1954) is an English rock journalist and author. He was born in Liverpool, Lancashire, and educated at the London School of Economics. He has written and edited for the music magazines ''NME'', '' ...

, "I turned in the Water Sign tapes as demos. And they said, that's it, put them out. And it looked like once they'd released that album they were gonna drop us." In a fresh interview for the ''Shamrock Diaries'' sleeve notes, Rea recounts how – at that time – he was ready to throw in the towel, quit the music business and open an Italian restaurant. "Then a guy from Ireland phoned Magnet Records and said, 'I really like ''Water Sign''. Will Chris come over and do a concert?'", which was the beginning of a change in his fortunes. "Then it all started to come good in Ireland," he said. "I went over there, it was like Beatlemania! So I stayed there a while, did a large tour." The founder of the

Montreux Jazz Festival The Montreux Jazz Festival (formerly Festival de Jazz Montreux and Festival International de Jazz Montreux) is a music festival in Switzerland, held annually in early July in Montreux on the Lake Geneva shoreline. It is the second-largest annual ...

Claude Nobs Claude Nobs (February 4, 1936 – January 10, 2013) was the founder and general manager of the Montreux Jazz Festival. Biography Nobs was born in Montreux, Switzerland. After apprenticing as a cook, Nobs worked in the Tourism Office of Montreux. ...

, plays harmonica on the opening track, which is his only appearance on a studio album.

Track listing

All tracks written by

. # "Nothing's Happening by the Sea" – 4:18 # "Deep Water" – 4:06 # "Candles" – 4:40 # "Love's Strange Ways" – 3:38 # "Texas" – 3:58 # " Let It Loose" – 3:35 # "

" – 3:28 # "Midnight Blue" – 4:50 # "Hey You" – 4:00 # "Out of the Darkness" – 3:27 ("Texas" is the 1983 song, not the better known 1989 song from ''

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 ...

''.)

Personnel

Musicians

– vocals, all other instruments (1, 5, 6, 7, 10), all instruments (3, 4, 8, 9), guitars (2), keyboards (2) * Ian Hawkins – guitars (2, 7, 10), bass (2, 7, 10) *

–

harmonica The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica inclu ...

solo (1) * Kevin Leach – saxophone solo (2, 10), acoustic piano (7) * David Richards – horns (5),

sequencing In genetics and biochemistry, sequencing means to determine the primary structure (sometimes incorrectly called the primary sequence) of an unbranched biopolymer. Sequencing results in a symbolic linear depiction known as a sequence which succ ...

(6), additional drums (10), additional percussion (10)

Production

* Chris Rea – producer * David Richards – producer, engineer * Shoot That Tiger! – design *

Daniel Kleinman Daniel Kleinman (born 23 December 1955) is a British television commercial and music video director who has designed every title sequence for the ''James Bond'' series of films since ''GoldenEye'' (1995), with the exception of '' Quantum of ...

– hand tinting * Fin Costello – photography

Singles

# " Let It Loose" b/w "Sierra Sierra", "Urban Samurai" # "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat" b/w "From Love to Love" # "Love's Strange Ways" b/w "Smile"

Charts

References

{{Authority control Chris Rea albums 1983 albums Albums produced by David Richards (record producer) Magnet Records albums