Bob’s Jukebox: Sports

It may not be the soundtrack of the 80s, but you’d be forgiven for thinking that it is. Releasing toward the middle of the 80s in of 1983, Sports charted for 160 weeks (that’s three years), hit #1 on the Billboard 200 June 30, 1984, and ranked #2 for that year (and when the album that beats you is Thriller, you still get to hold your head up high).* Personally, I may not be a psychotic killer, but I have to agree with Patrick Bateman when it comes to Hey Lewis and the News: “When Sports came out in ’83, I think they really came into their own, commercially and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He’s been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far more bitter, cynical sense of humor.” (American Psycho, 2000)

So, statistics and dark, satirical references aside, what do I think of the album? I think it’s hard to do much better than this outside of a greatest hits album. Seriously, there are four Top-10 singles on this album, and at least two other songs that I knew as soon as I heard them – and there are only nine songs on the album. Come to think of it, I’ve had “greatest hits” albums that didn’t have that good of a “known to unknown” ratio.

Let’s get the easy and obvious ones out of the way, especially for anyone under the age of forty: the first four tracks (or what we called “Side one” back in the days of things like LPs and tapes) are definitely the best of this album when taken as a set (I’ll get to the very obvious exception to that in a minute). “The Heart of Rock & Roll” is a banger, just good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll. “Heart and Soul” goes a little harder, but still stays comfortable in the realm of rock. “Bad is Bad” goes bluesy in all the best ways, and “I Want a New Drug” goes back to those great rock sounds, although I have to admit there’s something very “80s” about this song to me. Maybe it’s just something about the idea of comparing the object of your desire to a drug rush.

Anyway, moving on. There’s nothing bad about the next five songs (“Side two”), it’s just not as strong as the first four songs, with one caveat. “Walking On a Thin Line” is a good song, and one of the ones I mentioned I recognized right away. I do like it, just not as much as my favorite five. And speaking of my favorite five, the big caveat I mentioned is “If This Is It”, which vies for my favorite song on the album. The music is solid, and the lyrics are a bittersweet gut punch all the way through. Normally I don’t include lyrics (you can look them up yourself), but this is just a sample of how this one hits:

You’ve been thinkin’ and I been drinkin’
We both know that it’s Just not right
Now you’re pretendin’ that it’s not endin’
You’ll say anything to avoid a fight
Girl don’t lie and tell me that you need me
Girl don’t cry and tell me nothin’s wrong
I’ll be all right one way or another
So let me go, or make we want to stay
If this is it please let me know
If this ain’t love you’d better let me go
If this is it I want to know
If this ain’t love, baby, just say so

“You Crack Me Up” is ok. Not great, but in no way objectionable. The same can be said for their cover of “Honky Tonk Blues”. It almost seems as if, having put that one last amazing song out there, they just ease their way on out the rest of the album, which frankly is okay. They certainly earned it by that point.

So clearly, I strongly suggest picking this one up. It’s still a great album, and there’s no bad songs on there. While it doesn’t have every great Huey Lewis and the News track, it has enough of them that you won’t be disappointed.

*Release date and chart information courtesy of Wikipedia