🎵 AotW Tommy Shaw - WHAT IF (SP-5097)

[LPJim]

Tommy Shaw
WHAT IF
A&M SP-5097

A1 JealousyWritten-By – Richie Cannata, Tommy Shaw 4:43
A2 Remo's Theme (What If)Written-By – Tommy Shaw 4:22
A3 Reach For The BottleWritten-By – Tommy Shaw 5:42
A4 Friendly AdviceElectric Guitar – Gary MyrickWritten-By – Tommy Shaw 3:26
A5 This Is Not A TestWritten-By – Tommy Shaw 3:26
B1 See Me NowWritten-By – Tommy Shaw 3:42
B2 True ConfessionsWritten-By – Richie Cannata, Tommy Shaw 3:26
B3 Count On YouElectric Guitar – Gary MyrickWritten-By – Tommy Shaw 6:09
B4 Nature Of The BeastWritten-By – Tommy Shaw 4:06
B5 Bad TimesDrums – Mark Marshall (2)Written-By – Tommy Shaw 2:44

• Phonographic Copyright (p) – A&M Records, Inc.
• Copyright (c) – A&M Records, Inc.
• Copyright (c) – Tranquility Base Songs
• Pressed By – RCA Records Pressing Plant, Indianapolis
• Published By – Tranquility Base Songs
• Published By – Almo Music Corp.
• Published By – Richard Cannata Publishing Co.
• Mastered At – The Mastering Lab

• Art Direction – Chuck Beeson, Jeff Gold
• Backing Vocals – Jobell Yonely*, Kim Criswell
• Bass Guitar – Brian Stanley (2)
• Design – Donald Krieger
• Drums, Percussion – Steve Holley (2)
• Horns – Phenix Horns*
• Mixed By – Greg Ladanyi
• Mixed By [Assisted] – Mike "Spike" Drake
• Photography By – Howard Rosenberg
• Photography By [Group Shot On Inner Sleeve] – Neil Zlozower
• Producer – Richie Cannata, Tommy Shaw
• Recorded By – Tom Hanson
• Saxophone, Keyboards – Richie Cannata
• Vocals, Guitar, Keyboards – Tommy Shaw

Entered the Billboard Top 200 on October 26, 1985
Charted for 9 weeks and peaked at # 87

Reissued on CD in 2005 in the U.S. by the Absolute label
Reissued in Russia by A&M in 2012


JB

 

[john2u]

Was the Absolute label the first issue of this album on CD in the US? My original US A&M LP says that this was also available on compact disc and I've seen the catalog number of CD-5097 for this release but I have never seen it before. I know it was released in on CD in W. Germany and a couple of times in Japan in the 80's.

 

[Vinylalbumcovers]

Was the Absolute label the first issue of this album on CD in the US? My original US A&M LP says that this was also available on compact disc and I've seen the catalog number of CD-5097 for this release but I have never seen it before. I know it was released in on CD in W. Germany and a couple of times in Japan in the 80's.

The info above says "reissue", not first release.

Ed

 

[jfiedler17]

Personally, I love this record. [I've even gone to the trouble of writing a full review of it - as well as Girls with Guns - here.] I know Shaw himself isn't crazy about it, if only for "Friendly Advice" (which I remember him selecting in an interview as the worst thing he's ever done), but there are some really catchy songs on here, especially "This Is Not a Test," "Remo's Theme," "Bad Times," and "True Confessions." I'm not quite sure why nothing from here did as well as "Girls with Guns" did. Was "This Is Not a Test" even so much as issued as a single? That song could have been huge, IMO.

 

[toeknee4bz]

??? Were we talking about the same WHAT IF album? Ugh.... This was a throwaway from the get-go. To each his own, I guess. All I know is Tommy Shaw sounded drunk as a skunk on "Count on You". I remember reading somewhere online where Tommy even admitted that he was drunk when he wrote "Friendly Advice".
"Remo's Theme" was ok, but none of the other tracks were really memorable. And frankly, I can honestly say that it's been decades since I played this album all the way through, and if I never hear it again I think I'll sleep just fine. GIRLS WITH GUNS was ten times the album this one was. IIRC, it was such a disastrous commercial flop that it landed in the cut-out bin before AMBITION (Shaw's best album, IMHO) was released just two years later. Certifiable, double plywood.