Runaway (Bill Champlin album)

Runaway is an album by Bill Champlin, released on Elektra Records in 1981. It is notable as containing "Tonight Tonight", Champlin's major hit as a solo artist, as well as "Sara", which also achieved a degree of chart success.

Runaway
Studio album by
Bill Champlin
ReleasedDecember 1981
Recorded1981
StudioSunset Sound Studios, Santa Monica Sound, Monterey Sound, Davlin Studios, Sound Labs
GenreRock, adult contemporary
Length39:22
LabelElektra
ProducerDavid Foster, Kenny Loggins
Bill Champlin chronology
Single
(1978)		 Runaway
(1981)		 No Wasted Moments
(1990)

History

The album was released as component of Champlin's development of his solo career, following his longtime association with the Sons of Champlin. Champlin's first solo album, Single, had been released in 1978, on Full Moon Records, following Champlin's departure from the Sons of Champlin in 1977. Runaway was also released in the same year that Champlin commenced a near thirty-year association with Chicago. According to Champlin, Runaway prompted his decision to join Chicago, due to the record executive overseeing his project leaving Elektra on the day of its release.[1]

The album received mixed reviews, based on critics viewing it as a weaker version of Chicago material that Champlin was contributing to at the same time. The album has been described as an "historic curio, a period artifact, and not much more".[2]

The album was primarily produced by David Foster, who had also produced Champlin's previous solo album, Single, in 1978. The album also featured production by Kenny Loggins on "Take It Uptown", co-written by Loggins and Champlin. One of the comparatively rare songwriting collaborations with Alan Thicke is also included on the album--"Sara", co-written with Champlin. The single "Tonight, Tonight" was originally composed as the ballad "My Everlasting Love" on the self-titled second album from Ray Kennedy, a song which Champlin contributed background vocals on.

The album entered the Billboard album chart on February 6, 1982. It spent 4 weeks on the chart, peaking at #178.

Despite initially mixed critical reaction, the album was re-released on CD by Warner Bros. in 1996, and as a Japanese export as of 1998.[3]

The album track "Gotta Get Back to Love" would later be covered by R&B group Sister Sledge on their 1983 George Duke produced album Bet Cha Say That to All the Girls. Champlin's last solo album for a major label, No Wasted Moments (Elektra), was released in 1990.

Track listing
  1. "Runaway" (Bill Champlin, Steve Lukather) (3:58)
  2. "One Way Ticket" (Champlin, George Sopuch) (3:03)
  3. "Sara" (Champlin, Alan Thicke) (3:15)
  4. "Tonight Tonight" (Champlin, David Foster, Raymond Louis Kennedy) (3:47)
  5. "Runaway Reprise" (Champlin, David Foster) (0:47)
  6. "Take It Uptown" (Champlin, Kenny Loggins) (4:24)
  7. "Satisfaction" (Champlin, Richard Page) (3:42)
  8. "Stop Knockin' on My Door" (Barron Abramovich, Champlin) (4:16)
  9. "Gotta Get Back to Love" (Kerry Hatch, Tom Kelly) (3:30)
  10. "Without You" (Champlin, Amber DiLena) (4:05)
  11. "The Fool Is All Alone" (Champlin, David Foster) (4:29)

Personnel

References
  1. "Bill Champlin: The ATV Interview". addictedtovinyl.com. Addicted To Vinyl. Retrieved 2016-07-26.
  2. Stephen Thomas Erlewine, Review of Runaway; www.allmusic.com.
  3. Release history of Runaway; www.allmusic.com.
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