All Right: The Worldwide Singles 1980-1988

Christopher Cross

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

It’s more than All Right: Omnivore Recordings has revisited Christopher Cross’ early years for a first-ever collection of his original single releases from the U.S. and beyond. The Worldwide Singles 1980-1988 offers 31 cuts on 2 CDs – many in new-to-CD single edit or mix form – from the singer-songwriter’s tenure on the Warner Bros. and Reprise labels, along with a couple of cuts from soundtracks (Arthur, of course) and compilations (The Official Music of the XXIIIrd Olympiad Los Angeles 1984) for good measure. The A-sides are on Disc 1, with the B-sides on Disc 2. Cross’ 1979 self-titled debut was the rare album in which virtually every song was ready-made for single release; Warner Bros. duly obliged with the irresistible and enduring likes of “Ride Like the Wind,” “Sailing,” “Never Be the Same,” “All Right,” and the Nicolette Larson duet “Say You’ll Be Mine” on 45. (Shameless plug: TSD and Cherry Red’s Lemon Recordings have just issued Look in My Direction, a comprehensive set of all of the late Larson’s star-studded Warner Bros. albums.) Cross picked up an Academy Award with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen for “Arthur’s Theme (Best That You Can Do)” and five (!) Grammy Awards for his debut album including Album of the Year, Song of the Year, and Record of the Year. Though Cross’ subsequent releases weren’t met with the same success, his impeccable songcraft and musicianship remained intact. Naturally, both are in abundance on this set. (Co-writers here include John Bettis, Will Jennings, Michael Omartian, Steve Dorff, and Patrick Leonard.) Among the lesser-known highlights of this crackling collection are “I Will (Take You Forever),” a duet with Les Miserables star Frances Ruffelle; “A Chance for Heaven,” the Olympics Swimming Theme that reunited Cross with Bacharach and Sager; and “Swept Away,” from a memorable, Hawaiian-set episode of ABC-TV sitcom Growing Pains. Garrett Price, director of last year’s Yacht Rock: A DOCKumentary (in which Cross is prominently featured), provides liner notes to the collection, remastered by Michael Graves and produced by Omnivore’s Cheryl Pawelski and Brad Rosenberger. For all of the hits plus, you can’t do better than All Right.