Lewis,Huey Fore CD

Japanese SHM-CD pressing. Universal. 2015. Yes, FORE! is the album with those two huge singles, "Stuck with You" and "Hip to Be Square." Huey Lewis and the News' punningly titled fourth album is surprisingly good. FORE! is a more mature record than any of the band's previous frat-boy rock platters. Opens with "Jacob's Ladder," co-written by Lewis' golfing buddy Bruce Hornsby just before he became a pop star in his own right. The song is probably the best thing Lewis and the News ever did, and it lends its reflective tone to the rest of the album. Tracks such as "Simple as That" and the doo-wop-like single "Doin' it All for My Baby" amplify the buried R&B influence in the band's music. Overall, FORE! recalls the pub-rock roots of the News' direct precursor, UK-loved '70s country rockers Clover, who backed Elvis Costello on his classic MY AIM IS TRUE.

1. Jacob's Ladder 2. Stuck with You 3. Whole Lotta Lovin' 4. Doing It All for My Baby 5. Hip to Be Square 6. I Know What I Like 7. I Never Walk Alone 8. Forest for the Trees 9. Naturally 10. Simple As That