Chris De Burgh - Man on the Line

Before cell phones the big advance in telecommunications was the cordless telephone ... before that he who had the longest coiled cord ruled the world. If you could make it from the kitchen to an adjoining room you were just showing off. The long red cord is all over the album cover, and the insert. Certainly Chris was flexing.

Here we have Chris De Burgh's 1984 follow up to his rather good 1982 album The Getaway, and this was so good. Man on the Line was again produced by Rupert Hine who also provided keyboards and the orchestral arrangements. I also assume he programmed the drums for most of the album. Phil Palmer was again present on guitar, and oh my stars and garters he was ON FIRE throughout the album. The guitar solo on "High on Emotion" is jaw dropping. Speaking of the drums, this is how they should have sounded on The Getaway, oh I'm  not trying to do Steve Negus dirty, the man is a premier pounder but his drums sound absolutely horrid on that album - which I lay at the feet of Mister Hine and Mister De Burgh. Heck of the two songs attributed to drummers on this one, "The Sound of a Gun" with Trevor Moras, and "Transmission Ends" that had additional drums by Jeff Phillips sounded awesome.

Bassist John Giblin is only featured on one song, but his work is so good. Other guests included Howard Jones on piano on a track, and Tina Turner who provided backing vocals (bordering on spoken word) on "The Sound of a Gun" that closes out side one.

It's funny, maybe not "ha ha" funny, but more "Hmmmm" funny as I was certain I had this record already. I mean, I had it back in the day but when I replaced my lost copy of The Getaway I thought I already had this one ... nope. So it went on my little paper list. Especially after I'd revisited the album was found it to be far more enjoyable than I remembered, and I remembered Man on the Line as being even better. It wasn't a hard album to find which made me happy. 

I'm not going to get too deep into this one but I will say that there isn't a dud here. The balance between Mister De Burgh's propensity to tell an engaging story along with a moving ballad is so good here. His 12 string still rings out, but for me it was his under utilized rock sense that gets the biggest pops here for me. 

After all these years "High on Emotion" still ranks among his best songs. I'm not going to acknowledge "Lady in Red" as anything but one of those odd songs that incorrectly categorized Mr. De Burgh as the writer of shitty sucky songs. Oh wait, no that is accurate but the number of shitty sucky songs is in the minority. I offer as exhibit A here his ballad "The Head and the Heart" which is an exquisite song and Chris' voice is deeply moving. I wonder if this had become a monster hit if it too would have elicited the same vitriol as the unnamed song? I have to sheepishly admit that "Lady in Red" when I first heard it was a pleasant song, but I've long since suppressed any feelings I had for the song (never say never).

His weirdly defining moment was still a couple of years away when this one came out. He was still known more for Spanish Train and Other Stories from 1975, and these two '80s albums with Rupert Hine were for me his high water marks. 

Incidentally, Man on the Line was even better than I remembered.