"Huey Lewis & The News's "Sports",released October,8 1983,was a #1 smash thanks to the catchy hook-filled hit tunes that are contained in this package such as "I Want A New Drug","The Heart Of Rock N Roll","Heart And Soul","If This Is It" and "Walking On A Thin Line",all which would saturate the Top 40 and MTV during 1983/84.The album tracks got major AOR airplay as well like "Bad Is Bad" and "Finally Found A Home".For someone like me,this brings back special childhood memories of summer 1984 having fun listening to the radio with my brothers and friends.This Expanded Edition contains two "session takes" and three live performances from the "Sports" tour."
Good Sports
Tim Brough | Springfield, PA United States | 04/10/2009
(4 out of 5 stars)
"The album that made Huey Lewis and the News into stars was almost unavoidable from 1984 through '85, when five of these songs became huge hits (and overseas, you could have added "Bad is Bad"). That Huey was Hollywood photogenic didn't hurt during the peak years on MTV, making the videos for the songs fun to see (you can find them on The Greatest Hits CD + DVD Combo), but the band's slick combination of Pop Rock and R'n'B should not be underestimated.
Huey's gruff but lovable voice carries the charm on much of his best work, and that made songs like "Heart of Rock and Roll" and "Heart and Soul" irresistible. They even found themselves in an unwarranted controversy when "I Want a New Drug" rankled the ire of some parent's groups. (And what sells records better?) They also had a great ear for covers, as they do a slick version of Hank William's "Honky Tonk Blues."
Slick is the operative word here. "Sports" was the pinnacle of Huey Lewis and The News' rough and cuddly period, still coming on like a hungry bar band. By Fore!, the band had lost their fight and had become the smooth pop band favored by yuppies everywhere. That is not to say that The News weren't capable of taking a poke at themselves and their new-found status, one of the best hits from "Fore" was "Hip to Be Square." But for sheer party-album thrills, "Sports" was hard to beat in the mid-80's."
Do you like Huey Lewis and The News?
Kelsey | 07/02/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"Do you like Huey Lewis and the News? Their early work was a little too new wave for my tastes, but when Sports came out in '83, I think they really came into their own, commercial and artistically. The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, and a new sheen of consummate professionalism that really gives the songs a big boost. He's been compared to Elvis Costello, but I think Huey has a far much more bitter, cynical sense of humour...In '87, Huey released this, "Fore," their most accomplished album. I think their undisputed masterpiece is "Hip to be Square", a song so catchy, most people probably don't listen to the lyrics. But they should, because it's not just about the pleasures of conformity, and the importance of trends, it's also a personal statement about the band itself."
One Of The Best!
C. Weaver | Rusk, Texas United States | 10/11/2009
(5 out of 5 stars)
"There are a few music CDs that almost all the tracks are great on and this is one of them. Every track is great. I fell in love with it the first time I heard it and have brought a number of new copies when the old ones worn out. A good album!!!"