🎵 AotW Dennis DeYoung - BACK TO THE WORLD (SP-5109)

[LPJim]

Dennis DeYoung
BACK TO THE WORLD
A&M SP-5109

1 This Is The Time 3:57
2 Warning Shot 4:27
3 Call Me 4:49
4 Unanswered Prayers 6:37
5 Black Wall 5:53
6 Southbound Ryan 4:43
7 I'm So Lucky 4:43
8 Person To Person 4:57

• Written-By, Producer, Vocals, Keyboards, Percussion – Dennis DeYoung
• Entered the Billboard Top 200 on March 29, 1986
• Peaked at # 108 and charted for 8 weeks
• "Call Me" reached # 54 as a single, and "This is the Time" # 93
• Issued on CD by A&M domestically and overseas

JB

 

[toeknee4bz]

A far better album than its predecessor (the 1984 solo debut DESERT MOON), DeYoung's sophomore solo effort BACK TO THE WORLD is a much better performance overall and a more polished recording. From the acapella first note cold opening of "This Is The Time" to the harmonica solos on "Southbound Ryan", this is a much more worthwhile listen and worthy of note.

Highlights on this album are the aforementioned single "This Is The Time", the single "Call Me", "Black Wall" (dedicated to Vietnam veterans) and "Unanswered Prayers", which fades into a solo piano riff which finally fades the six-minute track out on side 1. In retrospect, it seems that "Unanswered Prayers" would've made a nice send off to close out the album instead. As it is, the least favorite numbers are on the end. And this makes it easy to turn off early if I'm not exactly in the mood for those last two tracks, which are not exactly the best songs he ever recorded, but they're still at least listenable.

All things considered, four out of five stars.

 

[Rudy]

Can't say I've ventured into this one. I had actually bought this, sealed, several years ago, and cracked it open earlier this year (or at some point last year) to give it a spin. Haven't really been in the rock/pop mode much at all lately, beyond the occasional Rush LP...