Albums with three ballads as singles (USA)

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by mtvgeneration, Sep 14, 2021.

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  1. mtvgeneration

    mtvgeneration Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    CA
    I've only thought of three, Air Supply's breakthrough album, Bad English (one being a quasi-ballad, on the heartbreak side of things), and a 90's Celine Dion album. Uh, I guess Bryan Adams also had three, from Waking Up the Neighbours. I'm struggling with why there don't seem to be more from that 80's-to-early-90's era when singles were plentiful and ballads were reliably hits.

    Can you name any others (not necessarily from that time span)? Also, any ideas why that strategy hasn't been used more? Two of many possibilities I've thought of are singles sounding too much alike (Air Supply) and reputational damage (that's a batch of not well-respected acts).
     
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  2. AngusStanley

    AngusStanley Forum Resident

    Location:
    Massachusetts
    Fine line between cashing in on a ballad for a hit and being seen as a total sellout. Albums by rock and pop acts typically had “the” ballad on the album and that was it.

    Not talking about artists like Celine Dion who were known for them.

    A more inclusive thread might be albums that had two hit ballads, you’d get a list. Bat 2 springs to mind, I’d Do Anything and Rearview.
     
  3. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Bread, Baby I'm-a Want You: Title track, "Everything I Own" and "Diary."

    If you count "Guitar Man" as a ballad, that album qualifies too. The other hits were
    "Sweet Surrender" and "Aubrey."

    Buut the all time wiinner has to be Chicago 19 with FIVE ballads as singles: "I Don't Wanna Live WIthout Your Love," "Look Away," "What Kind of Man Would I Be," "You're Not Alone" and "We Can Last Forever."
     
  4. Lands End Drums

    Lands End Drums Forum Resident

    Surely Aerosmith after they became neutered Diane Warren cucks…
     
  5. aravel

    aravel starchitect...then, father!

    Location:
    GDL - MEX
    George Michael's Listen without Prejudice
    Praying For Time
    Waiting For That Day
    Cowboys and Angels

    Also, Mother's Pride was a single, as I used to seen a Maxi Cassette -long box in an imports only store in town
     
  6. souldeep69

    souldeep69 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland
    Lionel Richie's album was called Can't Slow Down, but apparently he could because these three ballads were released consecutively:
    Hello
    Stuck On You
    Penny Lover
     
  7. mtvgeneration

    mtvgeneration Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    CA
    I was thinking George Michael on his first album, but it doesn't quite qualify in my mind. I think George used a double-sided single for Listen without Prejudice Vol. 1 and I don't want that to count and I don't consider "Praying for Time" a song about love.
     
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  8. bataclan2002

    bataclan2002 All You Need Is Now.

    Prince’s The Gold Experience had three singles, all the slow variety (ballads):
    The Most Beautiful Girl in the World
    Eye Hate U
    Gold

    Granted, TMBGITW was issued a year before the album as a stand alone single.
     
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  9. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA

    Get a Grip had three ballad singles: Crazy, Amazing and Cryin'. But it also had three rocker singles: Eat the Rich, Shut Up & Dance, and Fever. And the biggest hit was Living on the Edge-- not sure if that was both or neither.
     
  10. Eleventh Earl of Mar

    Eleventh Earl of Mar Somehow got them all this far.

    Location:
    New York
    Closest that I have

    REM

    Everybody Hurts
    Nightswimming - not released in US
    Find The River - I mean... that's really grasping for a third
     
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  11. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    Pet Sounds qualifies-- "God Only Knows," "Caroline No," and Sloop John B was literally a ballad.
     
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  12. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    What about Drive?
     
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  13. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    What about "Cuts Both Ways" album/CD by Gloria Estefan.

    That included as singles, the title track, Here We Are, and Don't Wanna Lose You which are ballads.
     
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  14. Hall Cat

    Hall Cat Senior Member

    Location:
    Chicago, IL USA
    To be technical, God Only Knows wasn't an A-side
     
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  15. John Adam

    John Adam An Introvert In Paradise

    Location:
    Hawaii
    The 1972 album "A Song for You" by Carpenters included:

    Hurting Each Other
    It's Going To Take Some Time
    I Won't Last A Day Without You and the power ballad, Goodbye To Love, which were all singles in late 1972 to 1974.
     
  16. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    Shania Twain - Come On Over album had an avalanche of singles including

    You're Still The One
    From This Moment
    You've Got A Way
     
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  17. Fletch

    Fletch Senior Member

    Location:
    Nowhere, man.
  18. Zach Johnson

    Zach Johnson Forum Resident

    Location:
    Toronto, Ontario
    Queen - Made in Heaven
    -Heaven for Everyone
    -A Winter's Tale
    -Too Much Love Will Kill You
     
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  19. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    Whitney Houston did it, I'm thinkin' maybe 3 times? Anyways, these were from her first

    You Give Good Love
    Saving All My Love For You
    The Greatest Love Of All
     
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  20. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    And of course, Mariah

    Vision Of Love
    Love Takes Time
    I Don't Wanna Cry
     
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  21. souldeep69

    souldeep69 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Maryland
    "Guitar Man" isn't a ballad. It's soft rock, but it's rock. I personally don't consider "Sweet Surrender" a ballad either because the beat is too fast. Tap your finger to it and you don't have to go a whole minute to know that you're practically twice the speed of "Baby I'm A Want You."
    The real litmus test for me is that as an early teenager, I hated ballads. To me they sounded like playing a 45 rpm record at 33 1/3. Draaaaaggggg. So if I liked a song, it couldn't be a ballad.
    I absolutely loved "Sweet Surrender."
    I'm not being real serious here, and certainly am not challenging your choices. But I am sincere in my feeling that some of the things called ballads have that certain pep and bounciness that my young soul craved, and I have to separate them from things like "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face", which had me turning the dial after one measure. That's a ballad.
    Tbat's.not a ballad.
     
  22. Fullbug

    Fullbug Forum Resident

    Location:
    Seattle
    Born in the USA?
    I'm On Fire . . ., something else and something else
     
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  23. bRETT

    bRETT Senior Member

    Location:
    Boston MA
    That album ain't even got three ballads.

    But it does have a second one that was a single: My Hometown.
     
  24. R79

    R79 Forum Resident

    Location:
    39629
    Def Leppard-Adrenalize:
    Tonight
    Stand Up (Kick Love Into Motion) (semi-ballad)
    Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad

    Ozzy Osbourne-No More Tears:
    Mama I'm Coming Home
    Time After Time
    Road to Nowhere
     
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  25. Manapua

    Manapua Forum Resident

    Location:
    Honolulu
    If Thom Bell is around, you're bound to have a ballad hit or four. This album went one better:

    The Stylistics

    You're A Big Girl Now
    Stop, Look, Listen to Your Heart
    You Are Everything
    Betcha By Golly Wow
    People Make The World Go Round

    And four of those were Top 40.
     
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