For whatever reason, your loyal reissue reporter has been listening to a lot of Huey Lewis and The News. No, it's not a Patrick Bateman thing. It's just that The News - that pub-rock ensemble that powered a lot of mid-'80s radio - are just crazy listenable. They really bridged a gap between straight-up blues-rock and synth-driven pop, creating a style that really holds up some 25 years or so later.
It's a style that's kind of underrepresented on CD, though. Sports was expanded in 1999 with live cuts and session outtakes, and a few compilations (most recently Capitol's Greatest Hits & Videos (2006)), but all the other LPs of theirs have been released only once on CD. All of them could use a remastering and expansion, but their first two albums - their 1980 self-titled debut and 1982's Picture This - could use a revisiting on CD. Best of all, the pair of them could both fit onto a CD with a handful of bonus cuts (both of those LPs were in fact released on a single disc as an import, but wouldn't it be nice to see them get a nice treatment Stateside?).
With that in mind, hit the jump for a Reissue Theory look at Huey and The News' first two LPs. Hope you love it like you say you do!
Huey Lewis and The News, Huey Lewis and The News/Picture This
- Some of My Lies Are True (Sooner or Later) - 3:23
- Don’t Make Me Do It - 2:50
- Now Here’s You - 3:31
- Stop Tryin’ - 4:12
- I Want You - 2:48
- Don’t Ever Tell Me That You Love Me - 2:53
- Hearts - 2:51
- Trouble in Paradise - 3:11
- Who Cares? - 3:49
- If You Really Love Me You’ll Let Me - 1:52
- Change of Heart - 3:41
- Tell Me a Little Lie - 3:42
- Tattoo (Giving It All for Your Love) - 3:11
- Hop You Love Me Like You Say You Do - 3:44
- Workin’ for a Livin’ - 2:36
- Do You Believe in Love - 3:30
- Is It Me - 3:01
- Whatever Happened to True Love - 3:14
- The Only One - 4:46
- Buzz Buzz Buzz - 2:29
- Don’t Ever Tell Me That You Love Me (Remix) - 2:59
- Some of My Lies Are True (Sooner or Later) (Remix) - 3:21
- Workin' for a Livin' (Live) - 4:00
Tracks 1-10 from Huey Lewis and The News LP - Chrysalis PV-41292, 1980
Tracks 11-20 from Picture This LP - Chrysalis FV-41340, 1982
Track 21 was the B-side to “Stuck with You” - Chrysalis VS4-43019, 1986
Track 22 was the B-side to “Hip to Be Square” - Chrysalis VS4-43065, 1986
Track 23 was the B-side to "The Heart of Rock & Roll" - Chrysalis VS4-42782, 1984
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Can't believe you left off the terrific live version of Workin' for a Living that was a b-side of "Heart of Rock n Roll."
I was going to save that for a deluxe (well, more deluxe) version of Sports I'd been working on, but it probably makes more sense to have it placed in the context of the original album. Good call on your part, not so much on mine.
These two albums were reissued as a "twofer" by BGO in 1998. No bonus tracks, though.