Sports (Huey Lewis and the News album)
| Sports | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Studio album by Huey Lewis and the News | ||||
| Released | September 15, 1983 | |||
| Recorded |
Fantasy Studios, Berkeley, California; Record Plant, Sausalito, California; The Automatt, San Francisco, California |
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| Genre | Rock, pop rock | |||
| Length | 37:46 | |||
| Label | Chrysalis | |||
| Producer | Huey Lewis and the News | |||
| Huey Lewis and the News chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Sports | ||||
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| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic |   |
| Robert Christgau | B+ |
| The Daily Vault | A− |
| Rhapsody | (favorable) |
| Rolling Stone |  |
| Rolling Stone | |
Sports is the third album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News, released in 1983. It reached number one on the Billboard 200 on June 30, 1984, and catapulted the band to international fame. The album has been certified 7× Platinum by the RIAA. Sports was ranked number 2 on the Billboard year-end album chart for 1984. The album spawned four top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100 and a fifth went top 20. Sports did very well internationally where most of its singles charted in the top 40 or above in multiple countries.
The album was self-produced and recorded promptly after the modest breakthrough success of the band's second album, Picture This. However, due to reorganization and internal issues at the band's label, Chrysalis, the band held back the master tapes, choosing to perform at small venues to showcase the new material while the matters were resolved. Once Chrysalis got their affairs in order and agreement in place by the band's management, the master tapes were handed over for production. Sports was finally released in September 1983 and proceeded a slow climb up the charts throughout late 1983 and early 1984.
In May 2013, a two-disc 30th Anniversary Edition album of Sports was released. The album is now approaching 10 million sales in the U.S. according to the liner notes by Gary Graff and the press release issued prior to release.
A remastered "Expanded Edition" of Sports was released on June 29, 1999, and included the following session takes and live versions of their hit singles as bonus tracks.
On May 14, 2013, a two-disc 30th Anniversary Edition of Sports was released, the first disc being a digitally remastered version of the original Sports album. The second disc includes live tracks as follows:
The lead single, "Heart and Soul", peaked at number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart with its accompanying video containing shots of San Francisco and an appearance by soap opera star, Signy Coleman, who played a blind woman on the soap opera, The Young and the Restless. The album's second release turned out to be the band's second best-selling single. "I Want a New Drug" peaked at number 6 on the Hot 100 and was certified gold with sales of 1 million copies in 1989 (by modern single certification standards this would be considered platinum). The track was also the center of a lawsuit against artist Ray Parker Jr., who was accused of plagiarizing the song for his 1984 hit, "Ghostbusters". The case was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.
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Wikipedia