Never Enough (Patty Smyth album)
Encyclopedia
Never Enough is the debut album by former Scandal frontwoman (and a singer-songwriter
in her own right) Patty Smyth. It was released in 1987 on Columbia Records (also the group's label) three years after the band's breakup in 1984.
Interestingly enough, in an interview Smyth gave on The Bloomberg Report, she is quoted as saying "it (Smyth's solo debut) was never supposed to be a solo record; it was meant to be a record by Scandal Featuring Patty Smyth. Even though the band had broken up, I was still with Keith Mack; it was Zack & I that had ended our partnership."
Though she would have success as a songwriter later on, here she only co-wrote two tracks, the first and the last. The first of these two, "Never Enough" (the album's title track) was actually a slight rewrite of a song with the same title from the self-titled debut album of then-current (in 1987) Hooters
bandmembers Rob Hyman
and Eric Bazilian
's former band, Baby Grand. The original version featured different lyrics sung by Baby Grand frontman David Kagan. In fact, Hyman and Bazilian, as well as others associated with The Hooters, including producer Rick Chertoff
had a significant hand in the making of this album.
The album is also notable for including two cover versions, one of the song "Downtown Train
" written by Tom Waits
, which was covered that same year by country
singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter
for her album Hometown Girl
, and the retitled Call To Heaven originally called Les Morts Dansant by British hard rock band Magnum
featured on their 1985 album On A Storyteller's Night
.
The LP reached a peak of 66 in the U.S. and spawned three singles: the title track (#61 pop, #4 U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks), "Downtown Train" (#95 pop, #40 Mainstream) and "Isn't It Enough" (failed to chart on pop, #26 Mainstream).
Of note also is the production team. It was produced by William Wittman & the aforementioned Rick Chertoff. Chertoff was one of the people on the production team of Cyndi Lauper
's She's So Unusual
, and would go on to work with platinum
-selling singer-songwriter
Joan Osborne
on her 1995 album, Relish
.
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
in her own right) Patty Smyth. It was released in 1987 on Columbia Records (also the group's label) three years after the band's breakup in 1984.
Interestingly enough, in an interview Smyth gave on The Bloomberg Report, she is quoted as saying "it (Smyth's solo debut) was never supposed to be a solo record; it was meant to be a record by Scandal Featuring Patty Smyth. Even though the band had broken up, I was still with Keith Mack; it was Zack & I that had ended our partnership."
Though she would have success as a songwriter later on, here she only co-wrote two tracks, the first and the last. The first of these two, "Never Enough" (the album's title track) was actually a slight rewrite of a song with the same title from the self-titled debut album of then-current (in 1987) Hooters
The Hooters
The Hooters is an American rock band from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. By combining a mix of rock and roll, reggae, ska and folk music, The Hooters first gained major commercial success in the United States in the mid 1980s due to heavy radio and MTV airplay of several songs including "All You...
bandmembers Rob Hyman
Rob Hyman
Robert Andrew "Rob" Hyman is an American singer, songwriter, keyboard player, accordion player, producer, arranger and recording studio owner, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters.-Early life:Hyman started taking piano lessons at the age of four and grew up playing...
and Eric Bazilian
Eric Bazilian
Eric M. Bazilian , is an American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, arranger and producer, best known for being a founding member of the rock band The Hooters.-Early life:...
's former band, Baby Grand. The original version featured different lyrics sung by Baby Grand frontman David Kagan. In fact, Hyman and Bazilian, as well as others associated with The Hooters, including producer Rick Chertoff
Rick Chertoff
Rick Chertoff is a five-time Grammy-nominated producer responsible for such hits as Joan Osborne’s “One of Us”, Cyndi Lauper’s “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” and “Time After Time” and Sophie B...
had a significant hand in the making of this album.
The album is also notable for including two cover versions, one of the song "Downtown Train
Downtown Train
"Downtown Train" is a song by Tom Waits released on his album Rain Dogs in 1985.The promo video for the song was directed by Jean-Baptiste Mondino and features the boxer Jake LaMotta....
" written by Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, which was covered that same year by country
Country music
Country music is a popular American musical style that began in the rural Southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from Western cowboy and folk music...
singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter
Mary Chapin Carpenter is an American folk and country music artist. Carpenter spent several years singing in Washington, D.C. clubs before signing in the late 1980s with Columbia Records, who marketed her as a country singer...
for her album Hometown Girl
Hometown Girl
Hometown Girl is the debut album from American country music artist Mary Chapin Carpenter. It was released on July 30, 1987 on Columbia Records. The album did not produce any chart singles...
, and the retitled Call To Heaven originally called Les Morts Dansant by British hard rock band Magnum
Magnum (band)
Magnum are a British progressive rock band from Birmingham, England. Formed as a four piece by Tony Clarkin , Bob Catley , Kex Gorin and Bob Doyle in order to appear as the resident band at The Rum Runner night club Birmingham...
featured on their 1985 album On A Storyteller's Night
On A Storyteller's Night
On a Storyteller's Night is the fifth studio album by British melodic rock band Magnum, released in 1985 on FM Records. The album is widely considered as Magnum's breakthrough album. This album features one of the Tony Clarkin's most thoughtful songs, "Les Morts Dansant" — a simple song in that...
.
The LP reached a peak of 66 in the U.S. and spawned three singles: the title track (#61 pop, #4 U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks), "Downtown Train" (#95 pop, #40 Mainstream) and "Isn't It Enough" (failed to chart on pop, #26 Mainstream).
Of note also is the production team. It was produced by William Wittman & the aforementioned Rick Chertoff. Chertoff was one of the people on the production team of Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
's She's So Unusual
She's So Unusual
She's So Unusual is the debut studio album by American pop singer-songwriter Cyndi Lauper. Released in 1983 by Portrait Records, the album catapulted Lauper to stardom with such hits as "Girls Just Want to Have Fun", "Time After Time", "She Bop", "All Through the Night", and "Money Changes...
, and would go on to work with platinum
Platinum
Platinum is a chemical element with the chemical symbol Pt and an atomic number of 78. Its name is derived from the Spanish term platina del Pinto, which is literally translated into "little silver of the Pinto River." It is a dense, malleable, ductile, precious, gray-white transition metal...
-selling singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
Joan Osborne
Joan Osborne
Joan Elizabeth Osborne is an American singer-songwriter. She is best known for her song "One of Us". She has toured with Motown sidemen the Funk Brothers and was featured in the documentary film about them, Standing in the Shadows of Motown.-Biography:Originally from Anchorage, Kentucky, a suburb...
on her 1995 album, Relish
Relish (album)
Relish is the second album by Joan Osborne, released on September 8, 1995. It is her first studio album. It was nominated for Album of the Year at the 38th Grammys.-Background:...
.
Track listing
- "Never Enough" (Rob Hyman, David Kagan, Eric Bazilian, Rick Chertoff, Patty Smyth) 4:15
- "Downtown Train" (Tom WaitsTom WaitsThomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
) 5:05 - "Give It Time" (Hyman, Kagan) 4:17
- "Call To Heaven" (Tony Clarkin) 5:06
- "The River Cried" (Billy SteinbergBilly SteinbergWilliam Endfield "Billy" Steinberg is an American songwriter. He has achieved most of his success as part of a song writing team, most notably with Tom Kelly. He has also co-written several hit songs with Rick Nowels.-Biography:...
, Tom KellyTom Kelly (musician)Thomas F. Kelly is an American musician, best known for his songwriting partnership with Billy Steinberg. Steinberg and Kelly co-wrote numerous hit songs for popular music artists, including five number-one singles on the Billboard Top 100 chart in the 1980s....
) 4:16 - "Isn't It Enough" (Danny Wilde, Nick Trevisick) 4:22
- "Sue Lee" (Willie NileWillie NileWillie Nile is an American singer-songwriter. In 1980 Nile released his self-titled debut album which according to one critic remains “one of the most thrilling post-Byrds folk-rock albums of all time”...
, Chertoff) 3:48 - "Tough Love" (Nick GilderNick GilderNicholas George "Nick" Gilder , is an English-Canadian musician who first came to prominence as the frontman for the glam rock band Sweeney Todd. He later had a successful solo career as a singer as well as a songwriter.-Biography:...
, Duane Hitchings) 4:54 - "Heartache Heard 'Round the World" (Hyman, Bazilian, Chertoff, Smyth) 4:54
Production
- Produced by Rick Chertoff and William Wittman
- Recorded, engineered and mixed by John Agnello
- Mastered by George Marino
Personnel
- Patty Smyth: Lead Vocal
- Ellison Chase, John Leffler, Kasim SultonKasim SultonKasim Sulton is an American bass guitarist, keyboardist, and vocalist. Best known for his work with Utopia, Sulton sang lead on 1980's "Set Me Free," Utopia's only top 40 hit in the United States...
, Rory Dodd, Eric TroyerEric TroyerEric Lee Troyer is an American keyboardist, singer, songwriter, and occasional guitarist, best known as a member of ELO Part II and its successor, popular live band, The Orchestra. Troyer was a founding member of ELO Part II, having been recruited by band leader Bev Bevan in 1989.-Life and...
, Andy King, William Wittman, John Agnello: Backing Vocals - Eric Bazilian, Rick Di Fonzo, Keith Mack, William Wittman: Guitars
- Tommy ConwellTommy ConwellTommy Conwell is a US guitarist, songwriter and performer. He is best known as the frontman for the Philadelphia-based band Tommy Conwell & The Young Rumblers. The band had a #1 US mainstream rock hit in 1988 with "I'm Not Your Man"...
: Guest Lead Guitar on track 1 - Rob Hyman, Ralph Schuckett, Richard Termini, Peter Wood, Eric Bazilian: Keyboards
- Neil Jason: Bass
- Anton Fig: Drums, Percussion
- Ray Spiegel: TablaTablaThe tabla is a popular Indian percussion instrument used in Hindustani classical music and in popular and devotional music of the Indian subcontinent. The instrument consists of a pair of hand drums of contrasting sizes and timbres...
- David SanbornDavid SanbornDavid Sanborn is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album Taking Off in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school...
: Saxophone on track 2 - Magic Dick: Harmonica on track 3
External links
- [ "Never Enough" at allmusic]
- "Never Enough" at discogs
- Patty Smyth talks briefly about "Never Enough"