The Road to Hell

The Road to Hell is the tenth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1989. Coming on the back of several strongly performing releases, it is Rea's most successful studio album, and topped the UK Albums Chart for three weeks.[2][3] It was certified 6x Platinum by BPI in 2004.[4] The album demonstrates a thematic cohesion previously absent from Rea's work, with the majority of the tracks containing strong elements of social commentary, particularly concerning alienation and violence, and contains lyrics which reference an ongoing search for escape/redemption. The second part of the two-part title track, "The Road to Hell (Pt. 2)", is one of Rea's most famous songs, and his only single to reach the UK Top 10. Geffen Records released the album in the US, adding the 1988 re-recording of Let's Dance. Allmusic describes the album as a "modern masterpiece".[5]

This article is about the 1989 Chris Rea album. For the song from that album, see The Road to Hell (song). For all other uses, see Road to Hell.
The Road to Hell
Studio album by
Chris Rea
Released2 October 1989
RecordedMiraval Studios, France
Genre
Length50:53
Label
Producer
Chris Rea chronology
New Light Through Old Windows
(1988)		 The Road to Hell
(1989)		 Auberge
(1991)
Singles from The Road to Hell
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]

Production

The album built on the upswing Rea had experienced in the previous few years, starting with a surge of popularity in Ireland. "Without the Irish and Shamrock Diaries there would have been no Road To Hell," Rea said.[6] He had a lot of trouble with the album arising out of the attitude of his record company, and he "recorded the next album – Auberge – before, as an agreement with Warner Brothers. So if Road To Hell didn’t work – and they said it won't – we would jump straight away to Auberge and forget about it. Of course, the beginning to Road To Hell is a gospel blues thing. Warner Brothers went, ‘This is going to be over in five minutes’. But I did stand me ground, and it went No.1".[7]

Songs

Throughout the album there are repeated references to increasing societal dissolution and rising violence, including riots, murder and their irresponsible depiction on television news (You Must Be Evil), and "the perverted fear of violence" on city streets (The Road to Hell (Part 2)), where "it's all gone crazy" amid fears that "someone's gonna get killed out there" (Texas). Rea also targets industrial polluters' destruction of rivers (which "boil" with "poison"), and Thatcherism (which he also criticised on Shamrock Diaries' Steel River), dismissing notions of an "upwardly mobile freeway", or that promises will be delivered on (That's What They Always Say). A sense of suffocating doom suffuses the title track. Rea cries "We gotta get outta here!" (Texas) and "I'm getting out!" (That's What They Always Say), and struggles to find an escape in Texas and Looking for a Rainbow. A prominent theme is the impact all of this is having on his daughter, who was six at the time (You Must Be Evil, Tell Me There's a Heaven).[8]

In an interview for the deluxe edition of the album (2019), Rea said the song You Must Be Evil was inspired by a journalistic friend of his recounting that a report on someone having been necklaced in riots in South Africa would only make the television news if footage of the horrific event was obtained. "You start to see news as pornography," Rea said. "'If we have something horrible, it's news!'... And I hate it, to this day."[9] He recounts how his daughter saw the television report, and how his father-in-law tried to console her by saying that there is a heaven, which prompted Rea to write the song, Tell Me There's a Heaven, which was subsequently used in a 1991 public information film for the NSPCC. Over the years, Texas has been played on classic rock/AOR radio stations in Texas, and is sometimes played as background music before Texas Rangers baseball games at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Daytona is about the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 Daytona (Rea races a different model Ferrari), in which he sings about the car metaphorically, with the engine and tyre noise from the car fading out toward the end of the song.[10]

Cover art

The Leisure Process was commissioned to produce the artwork for the album cover by Max Hole. Creative Director John Carver personally handled the project. John commissioned and art directed the illustrator, Adrian Chesterman

The album cover features art by the English commercial artist, Adrian Chesterman,[11] who was also responsible for creating cover art for, amongst others, Motörhead's 1979 Bomber album.

Track listing

Original album

All songs by Chris Rea.

  1. "The Road to Hell (Part 1)" - 4:52
  2. "The Road to Hell (Part 2)" - 4:30
  3. "You Must Be Evil" - 4:20
  4. "Texas" - 5:09
  5. "Looking for a Rainbow" - 8:00
  6. "Your Warm and Tender Love" - 4:32
  7. "Daytona" - 5:04
  8. "That's What They Always Say" - 4:27
  9. "I Just Wanna Be with You" - 3:39
  10. "Tell Me There's a Heaven" - 6:00

(The 1989 US Geffen CD issue also includes the 1988 re-recording of "Let's Dance" slotted between tracks 8 and 9 listed above).

In 2019 the album, along with others in Rea's back catalogue, was remastered and reissued with a second CD of B-Sides, remixes and live tracks.

2019 remaster bonus disc
  1. He Should Know Better (B-Side of Road To Hell single) - 4.38
  2. That's What They Always Say (Rainbow Mix) - 6.41
  3. 1975 (B-Side of That's What They Always Say single) - 4.47
  4. The Road To Hell Parts 1 & 2 (Live At Wembley Arena March 1990) - 6.59
  5. Working On It (Live At Wembley Arena March 1990) - 6.26
  6. Let's Dance (Live At Wembley Arena March 1990) - 7.34
  7. Daytona (Live At Birmingham NEC November 1991) - 6.36
  8. Working On It (Extended Mix) - 5.56
  9. Josephine (US Version from New Light Through Old Windows) - 4.16
  10. Let's Dance (from New Light Through Old Windows) - 4.15
  11. You Must Be Evil (Live In Stuttgart 1991) - 4.36
  12. I Can Hear Your Heartbeat (from New Light Through Old Windows) - 3.25
  13. Working On It (from New Light Through Old Windows) - 4.26

Certifications
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Austria (IFPI Austria)[12] Platinum 50,000*
Canada (Music Canada)[13] Gold 50,000^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[14] Gold 45,000[14]
France (SNEP)[15] Platinum 300,000*
Germany (BVMI)[16] 3× Gold 750,000^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[17] Platinum 50,000^
United Kingdom (BPI)[18] 6× Platinum 1,800,000^

* Sales figures based on certification alone.
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Personnel
  • Chris Rea – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, guitars
  • Kevin Leach – keyboards,
  • Max Middleton – acoustic piano, Fender Rhodes, string arrangements
  • Robert Ahwai – guitars
  • Eoghan O'Neill – bass
  • Martin Ditcham – drums, percussion
  • Gavyn Wright – concertmaster and conductor
  • Karen Boddington – additional backing vocals
  • Carol Kenyon – additional backing vocals
  • Linda Taylor – additional backing vocals


Production
  • Chris Rea – producer
  • Jon Kelly – producer
  • Neil Amor – engineer
  • Diane BJ Koné – engineer
  • Willie Grimston – coordinator
  • The Leisure Process – artwork, sleeve design
  • Jim Beach – management
  • John Knowles – management
  • Paul Lilly – management

References
  1. AllMusic review
  2. Neil Cossar (2010). This Day in Music: An Every Day Record of Musical Feats and Facts. Omnibus Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-0-85712-362-6.
  3. "Official Charts > Chris Rea". The Official UK Charts Company. Retrieved 9 January 2017.
  4. "Chris Rea - The Road To Hell". BPI. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  5. "Road to Hell - Chris Rea | Songs, Reviews, Credits | AllMusic" – via www.allmusic.com.
  6. "ShieldSquare Captcha". www.songfacts.com.
  7. Henry Yates (1 December 2015). "An Interview With The Straight-Talking, No-F**ks-Given Chris Rea". TeamRock. Retrieved 13 December 2017.
  8. "ShieldSquare Captcha". www.songfacts.com.
  9. "Chris Rea on "The Road to Hell"". 2019. Retrieved Jan 9, 2021.
  10. YouTube. youtube.com.
  11. "Website of the artist, www.adrianchesterman.com".
  12. "Austrian album certifications – Chris Rea – The Road to Hell" (in German). IFPI Austria.
  13. "Canadian album certifications – Chris Rea – The Road to Hell". Music Canada.
  14. "Chris Rea" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
  15. "InfoDisc : Les Certifications (Albums) du SNEP (Bilan par Artiste)". infodisc.fr.
  16. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Chris Rea; 'The Road to Hell')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
  17. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Chris Rea; 'The Road to Hell')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
  18. "British album certifications – Chris Rea – The Road to Hell". British Phonographic Industry. Select albums in the Format field. Select Platinum in the Certification field. Type The Road to Hell in the "Search BPI Awards" field and then press Enter.
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