During my high school and college days, my cassette of ‘Fore’ by Huey Lewis and the News would receive regular playing time on free evenings, mainly for the one song that I loved very much namely Stuck with you. The hard hitting ballad, was a song many other friends of mine loved too and I remember dedicating this song at a youth festival to my then school girlfriend, who loved the slow swing and lyrics.

It was a few years later that I managed to get the album on vinyl and treasure the warm sound emanating from my turntable. The band’s third release ‘Sport’ from 1983 featured infectious hits and ‘Fore!’ released in 1986, had an equal number of top tracks too with signature masterpieces like Stuck with You, Doing It All for My Baby and Hip to Be Square, sealing the band’s ‘80s icon status that made the San Francisco-based band a household name.

The whole album has a clear, crisp sound, releasing undisputed masterpieces Hip to Be Square, a song so catchy most people probably don't listen to the lyrics, 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.

The tempo of ‘Fore! is mostly mid-paced compared to the power-pounding rockers of their third offering ‘Sports’, plus there's more of a polish to the songs on ‘Fore!’. But some songs seem like excerpts from yuppie middle-class suburban family life, so more serious social commentary. The fourth studio album by the American rock band Huey Lewis and the News hit number one on the US Billboard 200 album chart and contained five top-ten Billboard Hot 100 singles, including the number-one hits: Stuck with You and Jacob's Ladder.

The song Stuck with You also had a marvelous video. A crew of 50 technicians flew to the Bahamas for the making of the music video for their first number one single. The making of the film was titled ‘BE – Fore’. The song is very catchy and spoke about a couple deciding to stick together despite the ups and downs and thoughts of breaking up, with some pithy reasons of being bound by the same address and phone number; it was a wise choice to be the first single from ‘Fore1’.

The album also spurned the band’s first #1 hit with The Power of Love from the film ‘Back to the Future’, where Lewis had a cameo playing a high school music teacher holding band auditions.

Vocalist Huey Lewis who along with band members bassist Mario Cipollina, saxophonist Johnny Colla, drummer Bill Gibson, lead guitarist Chris Hayes and keyboardist Sean Hopper not only made numerous successful Huey Lewis/News albums later, but they also brought out the prevailing situation on the struggles of life in the 80's.

The inner album sleeve has all lyrics to the songs on the album, with the reverse of the sleeve detailing the production that went into making the album.

Year: 1986

Genre: Blues Rock, R&B

Label: Chrysalis (UK)

Rating: ****

Reviewed by Verus Ferreira