Break of Hearts (album)

Last updated

Break of Hearts
Break of Hearts.jpg
Studio album by
ReleasedJuly 26, 1989
Recorded1988–89
StudioUtopia Studios, London
The Lodge, Clare, Suffolk
Brook House, Suffolk
Genre
Length40:22
Label SBK
Attic (Canada)
Producer
Katrina and the Waves chronology
Waves
(1986)
Break of Hearts
(1989)
Pet the Tiger
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide Star full.svgStar full.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svgStar empty.svg [2]

Break of Hearts is the fifth studio album by rock band Katrina and the Waves, released in 1989 (see 1989 in music). It is their last album to reach the Billboard 200, reaching No. 122, and contains their last top 40 hit in the United States, "That's the Way", which reached No. 16. It was their last studio album released in the United States and the first and only release for the SBK label (the band would briefly move to Virgin Records just before it was sold to Capitol's then-owner EMI). [3]

Contents

Background and critical reception

After being dropped by Capitol Records following 1986's Waves album, Katrina and the Waves secured a new deal with SBK Records, which released the more rock-oriented Break of Hearts. Despite a US Top 20 hit with "That's the Way", it was their only album for the label. Singer Katrina Leskanich said on the band's website, "SBK told us that they could see us as a stadium band, Bryan Adams style, and [guitarist Kimberley Rew] was coming up with this stuff that was perfect for rock radio." [3] Retrospective reviews were less than positive. Trouser Press described the album as a "horrendously wrongheaded comeback bid that shows the Waves to be utterly oblivious to their own strengths," calling it "bland, overprocessed commercial slop." [4] The Rolling Stone Album Guide felt that the writing was "empty and mannered." [2] Rew was quoted on the website saying, "We've never been successful enough to be immune from the influences of producers and marketing men ... the more we fell for those 80s trademarks, the more we diluted the band." [3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Alex Cooper, Vince de la Cruz, Katrina Leskanich and Kimberley Rew, except where noted.

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rock n' Roll Girl" 4:06
2."Can't Tame My Love" 4:00
3."That's the Way"Leskanich, Rew3:56
4."Keep Running to Me"Rew4:29
5."Break of Hearts" 5:05
6."I Can Dream About It"Leskanich, Rew4:00
7."To Have and to Hold"Rew4:20
8."(I've Got a) Crush On You" 3:55
9."Love Calculator"Leskanich, Rew3:58
10."Rock Myself to Sleep"de la Cruz, Rew3:07
Total length:40:22

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Katrina and the Waves
Additional musicians
Technical

Charts

Chart (1989)Peak
position
The Billboard 200122
Singles
YearSingleChartPosition
1989"That's the Way"The Billboard Hot 10016
1989"That's the Way" UK Singles Chart 84
1989"Rock n' Roll Girl" UK Singles Chart 93

Notes

  1. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r58500
  2. 1 2 Anthony DeCurtis; James Henke; Holly George-Warren, eds. (1992). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. p. 388. ISBN   0679737294.
  3. 1 2 3 "Band History". Katrina and the Waves official website. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. Robbins, Ira; Schinder, Scott. "TrouserPress.com :: Katrina and the Waves". TrouserPress.com . Retrieved 2 July 2021.