• AllMyVinyl #92
• Band: Huey Lewis & The News
• Album Title: Fore!
• Release Date: 20 Aug 1986
• Date purchased: Unknown
• Location purchased: Unknown
• Color of vinyl: black
• Number of discs: 1
• Links: [ Wikipedia | Discogs | Band Website | Complete album on Youtube ]

Huey Lewis will always hold a special place in my heart.  That’s because HL & the News was the first ever band I saw live.  My first concert was a festival show in Jun 1982 in Philly, and Huey was first out for the day, so by them choosing that order of the lineup it made them my first ever live band.  At that time they were still pre-Sports.  Had some mild success, but basically were first out at like noon on a festival show.  Then a year or so after that they had their Sports album which was a monster hit for them, and broke the band – everywhere.  So of course the record label wants them to do it again, and the “do it again” is the album “Fore!”.

As I thoroughly enjoyed the Sports album, the followup was going to be an immediate purchase.  So I bought “Fore!” when it came out in 1986 – and enjoyed it.  It wasn’t the mega hit that Sports was, but it had a few really big hits and several good album cuts on it.  In other words, a good solid rock album.  Given the era it came out in, most of the stuff I was listening to was tainted by the influence of synths – which was a monster thing in 86 or so.  The News here didn’t succumb to that.  They pretty much kept the sound they had prior to that, and that’s a good thing.  As their existing sound didn’t need any updating.

As I mentioned I bought this vinyl back in the day – it’s another survivor of my mom’s basement.  The vinyl itself was oddly dirty – to some extent most of the ones in my mom’s basement are – I mean 30+ years in a basement that got flooded at one point.  Sure.  But this one had more general dirt than most.  Still seems to play OK, though.

I do have a vague memory of being slightly disappointed in this album as compared to Sports – but simply because it was NOT Sports.  A stupid reason, mind you – but the 2020’s version of me will definitely have a more open mind than the 1980’s version of me did at the time. Which isn’t to say I didn’t like it – I did.  But I always felt it should have been bigger either way.

All told this has the late 70’s feel to it in one way – 10 songs and the entire album is 37 minutes long.  To the tracks (as I don’t have a ton of intro for this one).

Jacob’s Ladder – This song was originally written by and for the artist Bruce Hornsby, but he wasn’t happy with where the song was going, so he gave it to Huey.  It worked quite good here, IMO, and was one of the bigger hits on the album for me.   It was the third single off the album (of 6), but oddly didn’t get a music video made from it that I recall.  Always loved the lyrics “Step by step – run by rung”.  There’s a guitar solo in here, but it’s restrained.  This band never really goes balls out rock guitar, and that’s fine, it’s a great accent here.  Good song to start the album.

Stuck On You – The first single from the album.  It probably is the most well known track by those.  It’s a pretty “safe” song, in that it doesn’t vary far from its basic sound.  It’s catchy for sure, but I always felt it had a bit of a “sweet candy” feel to it.  That make any sense?  I struggle to think of what to write about it.  I don’t dislike it at all, but it’s not the most musically deep song either.  Was a monster hit on the radio, however.  Radio hits – that’s something that’s long dead in 2024.

Whole Lotta Lovin’ – Nothing to do with the Led Zep song with a similar name – ha.  It starts off and really reminds me of the old school song “Rockin’ Robin”.  It’s actually a bit faster, and is a song that’s more up my alley musically than the first two.   That “robin” vibe I mentioned continues into the fast part of the song, but it’s not the dominant sound it is at the start when it’s all just vocals with no instruments.  Great solid rock & roll tune.  One of those ones that falls under the banner of “quality album track”.  Saxophone solo is quite nice too – everything about this one screams old time rock – a great feel to this tune.

Doing it All For My Baby – Sounds a bit like something the band Chicago would do.  That’s not bad, as I love me some Chicago, but this really sounds like them to my ears.  Was a huge hit for HL/News for sure.   Good solid beat, nothing elaborate, nothing too simple – just right.  Nice guitar solo in here with some horns mixed in too.  Great sound. Good solid track. There was a music video for it too which is twice as long as the song – it’s got a Frankenstein story to it.   As the song ended, I realized I found myself singing it in my head, so yeah – that’s the mark of a good track, if you don’t realize you’re getting into it.

Hip to be Square – Now I like this song a lot.  On the faster side of the things (for HL), love the beat to the song.  In reading about this album today I see a lot of discussion about the lyrics and the meaning.  Huey said a few things about it too, but I’ve never really cared about the lyrics – in all these years.  It’s just one of those songs that while you know what the lyrics are, I don’t care. They just exist to service the song, meaning be damned.  Cool saxophone solo.  The video however I have issues with.  I’m not one to have attacks from visual stimuli – but this one I never cared for.  The visual style of the video (with the band in your face the entire time) didn’t do anything for me.  Was a big hit for them.

I Know What I Like – I like the vocal delivery of the chorus here, and I really like the guitar solo – it has a nice smooth sound.  But the bulk of this song doesn’t do a ton for me.  Not bad, but not as good as some of the other stuff on this album.

I Never Walk Alone – This one has the same feel through the entire song, sometimes that works for me.  It didn’t here.

Forest For the Trees – It’s really odd as this one has the same kind of thing as Walk Alone, but I like this one.  Really weird, but I just like the guitar sound on this one and it elevates the song a bit for me.  It’s more middle of the road like Walk Alone was in terms of tempo of the song, but this time around it works for me.   Once it gets to the chorus the guitar sound was quite pleasing.  Not loud, not too soft, “just right” – like the three bears porridge.  Yeah, OK that’s an out of left field comparison, but I really did like it.

Naturally – From what I read it was the last thing recorded for the album.  It’s got no instruments at all, it’s just acapella.  They did Straight No Chaser long before SNC did their thing – ha. But seriously, it’s a great sound for them, I’m glad they did this.  They pull off the totally acapella track quite well.  Excellent sound here, and a track I enjoyed VERY much.  There’s a short post on Facebook by one of the band members (Johnny) who details some behind the scenes stuff if you care to read it.

Simple as That – The album closes out with this song that can be called a “ballad” or “soft rock”.  I do like the background singing during the chorus singing the title of the song. In reading about it “The song emphasizes the importance of accepting one another for who they truly are”.  It’s got a nice horn section in the middle that doesn’t QUITE bring back the Chicago sound from earlier on the album, but it’s a nice mix of sounds here.  Sax, horns, vocals, some light guitar work.  It’s not the most well known track, but a nice enjoyable song to close the album out.

Overall, except for a little sag on Side 2, I enjoyed this more than I remembered.  It’s not Sports – nothing can be.  But it’s got quite a few good tracks on its own.  Some are well known, a couple are not.  Bottom line if I’m reaching for Huey, I’m probably going for Sports.  Or even his final album, Weather.  It’s been ages since I listened to Fore! in full.  Enjoyed it, but perhaps not the best album they’ve ever done.  It sold a ton though – went triple platinum back in the day.