Loading AI tools
1981 studio album by Gerard McMahon & Kid Lightning From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Blue Rue is an album by singer/songwriter Gerard McMahon and Kid Lightning. It was released on the ARC/Columbia label in January 1981 as NJC 36986 (LP) and NCT 36986 (cassette).[1] It was distributed internationally by CBS as catalog no. 84880 (LP).
| Blue Rue | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by Gerard McMahon & Kid Lightning | |
| Released | January 1981 |
| Genre | Rock |
| Label | ARC/Columbia |
| Producer | Gerard McMahon, Kid Lightning |
In 1978 McMahon was chosen by Jerry Bruckheimer to provide the original songs (not the score) for the movie Defiance and when the movie was in post-production there was speculation that the project had potential for a soundtrack album.[2] When the movie premiered in February 1980 – its release was delayed to avoid possible competition with The Warriors[3] – the poster and some ads had the text “Original songs by Gerard McMahon”.[4] One of the songs McMahon wrote for the movie, “Bad Times”, was recorded by Tavares and became a minor hit peaking at number 47 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 64 on Cashbox Top 100 Singles in late February, 1980,[5][6] and managed a peak of number 61 on the Record World Singles chart in early March.[7] McMahon also managed to get the song “Is That You” recorded by KISS for their 1980 album Unmasked. These relative successes led to a publishing deal with the newly formed Amazin’ Music run by former Billy Joel manager Irwin Mazur and, shortly thereafter, a record deal with ARC.[8]
Critical reception of the album was varied. Some saw “the most intense, exceptional album of mainstream rock of the year”, one which contained “a hot string of hits”,[9] and featured the “mostt [sic.] ambitious writing heard this year from anybody”.[10] Others called it “a blustering, hollow debut […] a formula effort that fails to find the spark to catch fire”,[11] and a syndicated review from Rolling Stone claimed that the album showcased an “utter lack of emotion”.[12] Most reviewers mentioned a stylistic debt to Bruce Springsteen and/or Tom Petty.[9][13][14] Both Billboard and Cashbox noted that the material on the album should be accessible to both Top 40 and AOR radio formats,[15][16] and critic Robert Hilburn included the album track “Town Girls” on his Alternative Top 10.[17] Despite this the album managed only minor airplay[18][19][20][21] and several radio appearances in early April, 1981, failed to improve that.[22][23] The album failed to chart on the Billboard Top 200.
Seamless Wikipedia browsing. On steroids.
Every time you click a link to Wikipedia, Wiktionary or Wikiquote in your browser's search results, it will show the modern Wikiwand interface.
Wikiwand extension is a five stars, simple, with minimum permission required to keep your browsing private, safe and transparent.
