Christopher Cross album-by-album thread

Great point. Many fans would have scooped up this LP just to get "Arthur's Theme" but it wasn't there. Plus, the tunes just didn't get the airplay and mileage that the first album had.

One other thing no one has mentioned in this thread, and it's a bit touchy, but it's also said that his appearance on the Grammy's hurt his future sales, not that he was bad, but that he didn't look like people thought he should look. His first LP had no pictures, and fans had conjured up an image in their heads that didn't match what they saw.

It was the dawn of MTV and beauty over substance. Nothing like today, but it started around this time.

The next album did even worse, although the tune "Every Turn of the World" is good enough to stand with the tracks on his first album.

 

Had the debut on tape and now have one of the Best Of's on CD.
He really went downhill commercially very quickly.
Heard a single on the radio a few years ago and it was dire, and I'd guess that Mr McDonald featured again.

That Girl & All right are favs.

 

IIRC, "Arthur's Theme" was available as a bonus track on the cassette of Another Page.

 

The second album wasn't as good as the first but I think more than anything he was hurt by the changes going on in mainstream radio at the time, much of which was brought on by MTV. 1982 and 1983 saw an influx of British artists such as Duran Duran, Culture Club, Eurythmics, the Police, etc. dominating the charts and Cross came off as a relic of the yacht rock late '70s era in comparison.

 

A Chance for Heaven

In the summer of 1984, Columbia records released the Summer Olympics soundtrack album. Christopher had a song on it which became the swimming theme. Released with a picture sleeve, "A Chance for Heaven" debuted on the Hot 100 June 16, 1984 and peaked at No. 76 in a five-week run. Columbia used "Talking in My Sleep" as the B-side.

After the Olympics came and went, Cross did some work with other musicians - most notably doing backup vocals on David Lee Roth's remake of "California Girls".

He got into car racing for a while and actually had an accident, which delayed the third album by a few months. Finally, in late 1985 album number 3 hit the stores.

 

When Cross' first album was on the charts, the '80s "golden age of picture sleeves" hadn't really kicked in yet. After having virtually disappeared from the U.S. market in the early-to-mid '70s, picture sleeves had begun to make a comeback, but they were still far from universal for major releases. Anecdotally, it seems to me that in the late '70s and early '80s picture sleeves were used most consistently by artists who fell into one or more of the following three categories: they made music that could be classifed as "new wave"; they were oriented towards younger listeners; or they were British. Cross was obviously none of those things. Around 1980, artists like Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty and Bob Seger began to get picture sleeves for their 45s, but Cross' core audience wasn't really the same as theirs.

Cross' debut album spent 81 of those weeks in the Top 40, which was an exceptionally long run in that era. Chart runs in the Top 40 longer than that weren't unheard of in the early days of the Billboard album chart, when the album market was less competitive. But no album which made its chart debut in the '70s had spent more than 70 weeks in the Top 40. The last album before Christopher Cross to break the 80-week barrier was Iron Butterfly's In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida. Even with Thriller reshaping the landscape, only four other albums that charted in the '80s would actually break 80 weeks in the Top 40 (Thriller, Eliminator, Born In the U.S.A. and Hysteria).

Interestingly, Christopher Cross spent very little of that time in the Top 10 -- just 15 weeks. It was more of an album that sold consistently over a long period of time than an album that reached great heights at any one point in time. It had two separate runs in the Top 10, which I would assume correspond to the chart peaks of its first two singles. The first lasted seven weeks, between May 3, 1980 and June 14, 1980. During that run, it rose as high as #7. The second lasted eight weeks, between August 9, 1980 and September 27, 1980. It reached its peak of #6 for two weeks on September 6 and 13.

 

Christopher Cross' first two albums are twin albums.

Not only the cover are very similar but also the music.

 

Back in the '80s, you would see a single make its Hot 100 debut down in the lower reaches of the Top 40 every now and then, but a Hot 100 debut any higher than about #30 was a very rare occurence. The two highest debuts of the decade were probably "Thriller" (#20) and "We Are The World" (#21); I think Men At Work's "Overkill" also debuted down at the end of the 20s, at #28 or something like that.

It's amazing that "All Right" started off so well yet failed to make the Top 10. As other posts have alluded to, it may have been a case of radio jumping on the song off the reputation of Cross' debut album but quickly finding that listeners had moved on to something else. The MTV/"Second British Invasion" stuff had been gradually infiltrating the U.S. pop charts over the second half of 1982, but in the first few months of 1983 it just exploded. That's the environment "All Right" was released into. It would be interesting to see if Cross' second album might have made a bigger impact if it had been released even six months earlier.

 

"Christopher Cross" and "Another Page" (album covers are shown below) are very strong albums. Since both albums are very similar in music style, sound and album art, it's really a great idea to combine the best tracks from both albums to make a super compilation CD.
Eight tracks from the first album (only excluding one track "The Light Is On") and seven tracks from the second (removing four tracks).

1. Say You'll Be Mine (Christopher Cross)
2. I Really Don't Know Any More (Christopher Cross)
3. Spinning (Christopher Cross)
4. Never Be The Same (Christopher Cross)
5. Poor Shirley (Christopher Cross)
6. Ride Like The Wind (Christopher Cross)
7. Sailing (Christopher Cross)
8. Minstrel Gigolo (Christopher Cross)
9. No Time For Talk (Another Page)
10. Baby Says No (Another Page)
11. What Am I Suppose To Believe (Another Page)
12. Think Of Laura (Another Page)
13. All Right (Another Page)
14. Talking In My Sleep (Another Page)
15. Words Of Wisdom (Another Page)

It's the third album that was a big letdown in my opinion.

 

I agree that the third album was a let down. I remember thinking at the time of its release that it was just so different than what had come before and what I ahd expected. Over the years it just never caught on with me.

 

That's exactly what I think. I mentioned earlier in the thread that if the second album could have come out in the much weaker first half of 1982, it might have stood a better chance. More than a year had passed since he was regularly on the radio by the time "All Right" hit the charts and things were so much different in early '83 than they had been just a year before. Plus, he was coming off a huge hit single ("Arthur's Theme") and could have rode that momentum a bit.

The other singles to debut inside the top 30 in the '80s:

Thriller (No. 20)
We Are the World (No. 21)
Say Say Say (No. 26)
Overkill (No. 28)
Ebony & Ivory (No. 29)
All Right (No. 29)
Hungry Heart (No. 30)
Say It Isn't So (No. 30)

All but Cross hit the top 10. Interestingly, Supertramp suffered a similar fate around the same time - in the fall of 1982, "It's Raining Again" came onto the Hot 100 at No. 31 - but couldn't get any higher than No. 11.

 

In the fall of 1985, the third album was released.

Every Turn of the World (Warner 25341)
Side 1
1. Every Turn of the World 4:02
2. Charm the Snake 4:24
3. I Hear You Call 3:41
4. Don't Say Goodbye 3:32
5. It's You That Really Matters 3:59

Side 2
6. Love Is Love (In Any Language) 4:27
7. Swing Street 4:14
8. Love Found a Home 3:29
9. That Girl 3:28
10. Open Your Heart 5:39


In October 1985, Warner released the first single "Charm the Snake" (edited to 3:50) with a picture sleeve. It debuted on the Hot 100 on October 26, 1985 at a decent No. 79. Two weeks later it peaked at No. 68 and two weeks after that it was off, after a brief five-week run. It would be Cross' last charted single.

"Every Turn of the World" and "Love is Love (In Any Language)" were also released but neither charted.

The album peaked at a disappointing No. 127, and spent only a few weeks in the Billboard top 200.

This would be his last album on Warner Bros. proper. Album No. 4 came out almost three years later (familiar pattern) in the fall of 1988 on Reprise. Prior to that, in the summer of 1986 there was another movie soundtrack single.

 

Some comments: To me, "Charm the Snake" was an odd choice for the first single. I think they should have gone with the title track first. Since "Charm the Snake" did have some Hot 100 chart action, if they went with a stronger, more radio-friendly track I think it could have done a lot better - at least making the top 40. After the disappointing run of "...Snake", it seems that radio didn't want to give him another chance. If "Every Turn of the World" could have made a bit of noise, maybe radio would have looked at the next track when it was released and given the album a chance at better sales.

Overall, I agree with one of the above comments that this album was a letdown from the first two. There wasn't a lot here to get excited about that could put him on top of the world again.

I like the three singles, and I also like "Swing Street" (although I didn't think it was single-worthy), and "Love Found a Home" sounds like it could have fit nicely on his first album, so I think that's a pretty strong track. The rest I wouldn't go out of my way to listen to.

One of my college friends at the time had heard that he "wanted to do something different with this album", although I've never seen any reference to that anyplace else.

Christopher was one of my favorite artists in the early '80s so I was glad to have another album by him. However, I enjoy the first two a great deal more.

 

Interesting. Maybe they felt that Michael was becoming overexposed:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDojwQ8cJC4

 

"every turn of the world" was another step in the wrong direction for cross.

"charm the snake" a bad choice, as you said, for the lead-off single.

the whole thing was a bust, and it never gets any better sadly.

 

Hmmm...not much to say about his third album...so we'll move on.

Loving Strangers

In the summer of 1986, Arista Records released the soundtrack album to "Nothing in Common", starring Tom Hanks and Jackie Gleason. It featured songs by Thompson Twins, Carly Simon, The Kinks and Richard Marx, among others.

Christopher's song was released as a single, with a picture sleeve. It got some airplay on adult contemporary stations but didn't chart on the Hot 100.

In September 1988, album No. 4 was released.

 

Quite a dropoff from the second album, even bearing in mind the changes in the music scene (and that the out of left field, General Hospital-driven success of "Think Of Laura" made the second album into a bigger hit with a longer shelf life than it otherwise would have been). I was a Top 40 listener during this time period, and I never heard anything Cross did after his second album. I don't think I was even aware that Cross had continued to record into the later part of the decade until I began collecting '80s 45s later on, in the 1990s.

After years of dormancy, Warner Bros. revived its Reprise subsidiary in the mid-to-late '80s. I think the first Reprise releases began to appear around 1985 or 1986, but were very limited in number. Around 1987, Reprise was expanded into a full-blown operation, with a number of artists moved over from Warner Bros. to give Reprise a start with stocking its roster. Cross was apparently one of them.

 

Interesting how most of those were around 1982-83. You have to wonder if this just happened naturally, or if Billboard was doing something different in its chart compilation methods around that time. I'm surprised to see that "Hungry Heart" debuted so high, as Springsteen didn't have much of a track record on the pop charts before this.

I guess the chart similarities between "All Right" and "It's Raining Again" aren't that surprising. Both artists' last studio album had been a huge hit, and they had taken a somewhat long (for the era) break since then, building up anticipation for their new single. It was natural for Top 40 radio to jump on them. But the long break had left the door open for fans to move on, especially when you consider that neither artist had been that well-established on the pop charts prior to their last album. And both singles obviously had the misfortune to be released just as the MTV/"Second British Invasion"/Thriller takeover of the U.S. pop charts was boiling over, suddenly making them sound very dated.

 

I was reading some old Billboard's recently, and when "The River" was released, it stated it was "highly anticipated". I'm surprised there were only two singles released from it. It was a double-album, hit No. 1 in its second week on the album chart and there seemed to be plently of singles-worthy songs on there. Oh well...Springsteen would make up for it with his '84 release!

Re. high debuts...there were lots of high debuts in the later '80s, but they usually entered in the low 30s. Madonna had quite a number, but they always came on between No. 36 and No. 40. In 1990, two singles debuted at No. 27 - "U Can't Touch This" by MC Hammer and "Step By Step" by New Kids on the Block. In later '91 the chart methodology changed so high debuts became quite common.

 

September 1988 and album No.4:


Back of My Mind - Reprise 92-56851 (Canadian number)
Side 1
1. Someday 3:11
2. Never Stop Believing 3:46
3. Swept Away 4:22
4. Any Old Time 4:03
5. I Will (Take You Forever) 4:13

Side 2
6. She Told Me So 4:05
7. Back of My Mind 3:55
8. I'll Be Alright 4:51
9. Alibi 4:38
10. Just One Look 4:37


Reprise released "I Will (Take You Forever)" (edited to 3:42) with a picture sleeve, as the first single. It was a duet with Tony Award winner Frances Ruffelle. It got a pretty good review at the time of its release.

Next up was "Swept Away", also with a picture sleeve. This song was featured in a two-part episode of "Growing Pains" in which Kirk Cameron's character falls for an airline flight attendant.

Both songs got some airplay on adult contemporary stations but neither charted on the Hot 100. The album also failed to chart.

As far as I know, there were no other singles released.

 

to be very honest:

just not a very good album at all.

 

Some comments: this is a much more radio-friendly album than his previous release. I think the singles are among his best work since at least the second album and deserved a better fate. The fact that neither charted, especially after exposure on "Growing Pains", is a little puzzling. "Family Ties" was responsible for resurrrecting "At This Moment" and turning it into a No. 1 hit, but it didn't work here.

I also really like "Alibi", and several of the other songs are quite catchy. I feel this is a better album than "Every Turn of the World". For the second album in a row, Cross worked with other writers, including John Bettis.

Although he had two strong singles here, I really think top 40 radio had moved on and, probably because of the disappointments since his second album, weren't really interested in giving him a chance. Rock was dominant in 1988 with Guns N Roses, Def Leppard, Aerosmith and INXS charting high, and the adult contemporary field was dominated by people like Phil Collins and George Michael. There didn't seem to be much room for Cross anymore.

Even with the "Growing Pains" exposure and some limited radio play, it's disappointing the album couldn't even chart.

This was his last album on vinyl in North America. Finding additional releases by him in the '90s became much more difficult. His first release in the "CD-only era" was released only in Europe.

We'll talk about that in the blink of an eye

 

“Every Turn” was the 3rd cd I ever bought. I had not heard any of the tracks. I got the music video for the title track on tape.

 

There seems to be a pattern of Cross releasing a soundtrack single every time he was between albums. Given his tendency to take long breaks between albums, Warner may have encouraged him to do this, just to keep his name in the public eye.

Many of the artists on this soundtrack were signed to Arista, but Cross obviously was not. It's odd to see Richard Marx on there; this was before his first album was released, so he would have been a complete unknown at the time. To my knowledge Marx was never signed to Arista either (his first album was on EMI's Manhattan subsidiary, and he would spend his entire hitmaking career with labels in the Capitol/EMI family.)

The less popular Cross got, the more frequently his 45s seemed to get picture sleeves! Only a couple of his singles from 1980-83 (when he was very successful) had picture sleeves, while the majority of his singles from 1984-88 (when he was fading into obscurity) did. More than anything else, this is just a reflection of industry practice. Picture sleeves were far more common on U.S. 45s in the 1984-88 period than they had been at the outset of the '80s.

 

That practice seemed to stop after 1988 as he was dropped from the label. Interestingly, during the '80s Cross had singles released on four different labels - Warner Bros, Columbia, Arista and Reprise.

I remember reading an article on him (I think it may have been in Billboard in the early '80s) where he stated he thought he might sell 50,000 of his first album and maybe get a hit single by his third!

What I can't figure out is that, according to what I've read, he was writing his own songs from 1975 forward. Surely had would have had more than 9 by 1980. If this was the case, you have to wonder why it took so long for the second album to come out. You'd think there would have been a good number of songs in the hopper.


Oh...and to correct an earlier post, I found two more singles that debuted in the top 30 in the '80s - "Purple Rain" by Prince came on at No. 28 in 1984, and "State of Shock" by the Jacksons came on at No. 30 the same year. I was looking through my '80s Hot 100 book and discovered those. I did the list from memory. I haven't gone through the last half of the book yet so I can't say for sure there wasn't another one in there somewhere, but I can't recall any.