With a career spanning over 40 years and over 30 million album sales, Chris Rea’s distinctive husky-gravel vocal and incredible body of work has seen him become a formidable songwriter. Still playing live to this day, he has released an incredible 24 studio albums, the most recent being Road Songs for Lovers in 2017 which was met with critical acclaim.
Here is a dive into 5 of his most-loved albums of the 80s and early 90s.
Shamrock Diaries, originally released in April 1985, is Rea’s seventh album, it was his first that saw him break into the UK Top 20. It was the kick-start to the incredibly prolific career he has become known and loved for to this day. The singles from this album were "Stainsby Girls" and "Josephine".
On the Beach was released in the April of the following year and again broke into the UK Top 20 at number 11. The album started building Rea’s international reputation with top 10 chart positions across Europe. The album title track was the only single taken from this album.
Dancing With Strangers was released in September 1987 and it became Rea's first major success in the UK, peaking at Number two. It went on to achieve Platinum selling status in the UK and was once again a huge global success. Singles from this album were "Let’s Dance", "Loving You Again", "Joys of Christmas" and "Que Sera".
Road To Hell was released in October 1989 and is Rea's most successful studio album. It topped the UK album charts for three weeks and was certified six-times Platinum in the UK. The albums lead single "Road To Hell (pt 2)" is also Rea’s most successful song and has become synonymous with the singer. Again a hit across the world, it sold in its millions.
Auberge, released in February 1991, once again topped the UK chart going on achieve double Platinum sales status. The title track also gave Rea one of his biggest chart hits, reaching number 16 in the UK. Other songs released as singles were "Heaven", "Looking for the Summer" and "Winter Song".
Two of those five Chris Rea albums are to be reissued as deluxe double CD sets on 18 October. Both On The Beach and Road To Hell come with the original album fully remastered alongside a second disc of live performances, b-sides and previously unreleased versions of tracks from the accompanying album. There are also extensive new sleeve notes containing five exclusive new interviews with Rea unique to each release and telling the story behind each album. Each album's artwork remains true to the original. Pre-order On The Beach here, and Road To Hell here.
