The Best That He Can Do: Omnivore Preps Christopher Cross Singles Set

Christopher Cross All Right The Worldwide Singles
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Once in your life you find them: an artist whose impossibly smooth music had a major impact on a generation of listeners. After honoring Christopher Cross’ landmark debut album with an expanded edition earlier this year, Omnivore Recordings will now expand their focus to all of his major label work on a new compilation.

All Right: The Worldwide Singles 1980-1988 offers 20 classic tracks – many in rare single edit or mix form – from Cross’ tenure on the Warner Bros. and Reprise labels, along with a few curios for compilations. The defining hits from his self-titled debut (“Ride Like the Wind,” “Sailing,” “Never Be the Same”) are all here, along with the Oscar-winning “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do),” “All Right,” “Think of Laura,” “Charm the Snake” and “Every Turn of the World.” (True to its name, a few ex-U.S. A-sides are in the mix, like the rare Japan-only track “Mary Ann,” plus deeper cuts like “Deal ‘Em Again,” “That Girl” and “Someday.”) The 2LP set includes all those A-sides, while a 2CD set adds 10 more tracks from the albums included as B-sides (including a rare edit of Christopher Cross closer “Minstrel Gigolo”). Garrett Price, director of last year’s intriguing Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary (in which Cross is featured as an interviewee), provides liner notes to the set, remastered by Michael Graves and produced by Omnivore head Cheryl Pawelski and Brad Rosenberger.

It’s a solid survey of the Texan guitarist born Chris Geppert, who rose meteorically at the dawn of the ’80s with that impeccably crafted, Michael Omartian-produced debut, featuring the smash hits “Ride Like the Wind” (a No. 2 buoyed by a memorable vocal cameo by Michael McDonald of The Doobie Brothers) and the chart-topper “Sailing.” Christopher Cross made music industry history as the first artist to take home the “big four” Grammy Awards: Album of the Year (Christopher Cross), Record and Song of the Year (“Sailing”) and Best New Artist – a moment unmatched until Billie Eilish did so in 2020. Ironically, Eilish and Cross’ next moves were Oscar-winning songs for soundtracks; Cross’ was a stellar collaboration with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager and Peter Allen on “Arthur’s Theme (Best You Can Do),” a No. 1 hit from the soundtrack to the Dudley Moore comedy Arthur.

Though Cross’ lack of visual flair played a part in the cooling of his career – a salient point in the Yacht Rock doc – he continued to charm through the ’80s. Follow-up Another Page (1983) spawned the smash hits “All Right” (a sprightly Top 20 used in CBS’ coverage of NCAA basketball that year) and “Think of Laura” (a Top 10 that became associated with Genie Francis’ character from the ABC soap General Hospital but was actually written to commemorate a friend of Cross’ who tragically died in a shooting). Cross would only have two minor hits for the rest of the decade (1984’s “A Chance for Heaven,” from a compilation album for that year’s Summer Olympics, and the pop/rocker “Charm the Snake” off 1985’s Every Turn of the World) – but he continues to record and tour, overcoming a bout of COVID-19 and Guillian-Barre syndrome that left him temporarily unable to walk in 2020.

All Right will be available November 14 and can be pre-ordered below. (As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.)

All Right: The Worldwide Singles 1980-1988 (Omnivore OVCD/LP-609, 2025)

2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

CD 1/LP 1-2: The A-Sides

  1. Ride Like the Wind (Single Edit)
  2. Sailing
  3. Never Be the Same (Single Edit)
  4. Mary Ann
  5. Say You’ll Be Mine
  6. Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)
  7. All Right (Single Edit)
  8. No Time for Talk
  9. Deal ‘Em Again
  10. Think of Laura
  11. A Chance for Heaven (Swimming Theme)
  12. Talking in My Sleep
  13. Charm the Snake (Single Edit)
  14. That Girl
  15. Every Turn of The World (Remix)
  16. Love is Love (in Any Language) (Single Edit)
  17. Loving Strangers (David’s Theme from Nothing in Common) (Single Edit)
  18. Someday
  19. I Will (Take You Forever) (Duet with Frances Ruffelle) (Single Edit)
  20. Swept Away (Fade)

CD 2: The B-Sides

  1. Minstrel Gigolo (Single Edit)
  2. Poor Shirley
  3. The Light is On
  4. Spinning
  5. Long World
  6. Words of Wisdom
  7. Baby Says No
  8. Open Your Heart
  9. Love Found a Home
  10. Just One Look

Original versions of Disc 1, Tracks 1-3 and 5 and Disc 2, Tracks 1-4 released on Christopher Cross – Warner Bros. BSK 3383, 1979

  • Disc 1, Track 1 and Disc 2, Track 1 released as Warner Bros. single WBS 49184, 1980
  • Disc 1, Track 2 and Disc 2, Track 2 released as Warner Bros. single WBS 49507, 1980
  • Disc 1, Track 3 and Disc 2, Track 3 released as Warner Bros. single WBS 49580, 1980
  • Disc 1, Track 5 and Disc 2, Track 4 released as Warner Bros. single WBS 49705, 1980

Disc 1, Track 4 released on Warner Bros. Japanese single P-641W, 1980
Disc 1, Track 6 released on Arthur: The Album – Warner Bros. BSK 3582, 1981
Original versions of Disc 1, Tracks 7-10 and 12 and Disc 2, Tracks 5-7 released on Another Page – Warner Bros. 23757, 1983

  • Disc 1, Track 7 and Disc 2, Track 5 released as Warner Bros. single 7-29843, 1983
  • Disc 1, Track 8 and Disc 2, Track 6 released as Warner Bros. single 7-29662, 1983
  • Disc 1, Track 9 and Disc 2, Track 7 released as Warner Bros. European single W9640, 1983
  • Disc 1, Track 10 and Disc 2, Track 6 released as Warner Bros. single 7-29658, 1983
  • Disc 1, Tracks 12 and 9 released as Warner Bros. Philippines single 7-29212, 1983

Disc 1, Track 11 released on The Official Music of the XXIIIrd Olympiad Los Angeles 1984 – Columbia BJS 39322, 1984
Original versions of Disc 1, Tracks 13-16 and Disc 2, Tracks 8-9 released on Every Turn of the World – Warner Bros. 25341, 1985

  • Disc 1, Track 13 and Disc 2, Track 8 released as Warner Bros. single 7-28864, 1985
  • Disc 1, Track 14 and Disc 2, Track 8 released as Warner Bros. U.K. single W8834, 1985
  • Disc 1, Track 15 and Disc 2, Track 8 released as Warner Bros. single 7-28804, 1985
  • Disc 1, Track 16 and Disc 2, Track 9 released as Warner Bros. single 7-28761, 1985

Disc 1, Track 17 released on Arista single AS1-9530, 1986. Original version released on Nothing in Common (Original Soundtrack) – Arista AL9-8438, 1986
Original versions of Disc 1, Tracks 18-20 and Disc 2, Track 10 released on Back of My Mind – Reprise 25685, 1988

  • Disc 1, Track 18 released on Reprise Spanish promo single 1.017, 1988
  • Disc 1, Track 19 and Disc 2, Track 10 released on Reprise single 7-27795, 1988
  • Disc 1, Track 20 released on Reprise single 7-27673, 1988
Mike Duquette
Mike Duquette

Mike Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he was a teenager. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, having written at and worked for all three major catalogue music labels and contributing to Allmusic, Billboard, Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Classic Rock. He's penned liner notes for Verve, Chess, Mondo and Soul Music Records.

Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with his wife, a cat named Ravioli, twin daughters and a large yet tasteful collection of music.

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11 thoughts on “The Best That He Can Do: Omnivore Preps Christopher Cross Singles Set”

  1. Apart from a few single edits that have never been released on CD (and which I have never heard before), the main attraction here is the first digital remaster of the 1985 US single remix of ‘Every Turn of the World’.

    Overall a great package with a nice cover!

  2. Has anyone who ordered this from Amazon received a delivery delay notification? Per the e-mail, there is a supply chain issue and no estimated delivery date. Wonder if I should start looking elsewhere for this.

  3. I have as well, SC. And even worse, the link provided to approve the delay doesn’t work. The item itself is proving very elusive to find elsewhere as well. Good luck.

  4. Thanks, Bruce – at least I’m not the only one. I also struck out trying to find this elsewhere. I’m surprised since Cross even did some publicity for this. I saw on an article about this CD on billboard.com and he even appeared on “Jimmy Kimmel.” Not bad for an artist who has not appeared on the Hot 100 for nearly four decades!

      1. I was glad to find this in my local independent record store, as Amazon was unable to ship it. I can also confirm that disc 2 has 11 tracks.

  5. Has anyone found this for sale in Europe or the UK?

    I could order from Amazon US but the shipping is $20 plus import duty

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