Bright Lights & Back Alleys | ||||
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Studio album by | ||||
Released | 29 September 1977 | |||
Recorded | March — April 1977 | |||
Studio | Whitney Recording Studios (Glendale, California) | |||
Genre | ||||
Length | 39:08 [nb 1] | |||
Label | RAK | |||
Producer | ||||
Smokie chronology | ||||
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Singles from Bright Lights & Back Alleys | ||||
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Review scores | |
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Source | Rating |
AllMusic | [1] |
Bright Lights & Back Alleys is the fourth studio album by the English rock band Smokie, released on 29 September 1977 in continental Europe [2] and 7 October in the United Kingdom [3] by RAK Records. Recorded primarily at Whitney Recording Studios in Glendale, California, from March to April 1977, it was produced by Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn, as were the band's all previous albums.
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
1. | "It's Your Life" | Nicky Chinn, Mike Chapman | 3:33 |
2. | "I Can't Stay Here Tonight" | Chris Norman, Pete Spencer | 4:05 |
3. | "Sunshine Avenue" | Norman, Spencer | 3:09 |
4. | "Think of Me (The Lonely One)" | Norman, Spencer | 4:41 |
5. | "In the Heat of the Night" | Chinn, Chapman | 4:45 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
6. | "Needles and Pins" | Jack Nitzsche, Sonny Bono | 2:43 |
7. | "No One Could Ever Love You More" | Norman, Spencer | 2:30 |
8. | "The Dancer" | Leo Sayer, David Courtney | 3:50 |
9. | "Baby It's You" | Norman, Spencer | 3:49 |
10. | "Walk Right Back" | Norman, Spencer | 5:29 |
Total length: | 39:08 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
11. | "Now You Think You Know" | Terry Uttley | 3:28 |
12. | "Lay Back in the Arms of Someone" | Chinn, Chapman | 4:05 |
13. | "Here Lies a Man" | Norman, Spencer | 3:28 |
Total length: | 49:58 |
No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
---|---|---|---|
14. | "Alone in a Cell" | Norman, Spencer, Alan Silson, Uttley | 4:48 |
Total length: | 54:50 |
Credits are adapted from the album's 1977 [nb 4] and 2016 [nb 3] liner notes.
Weekly charts
| Year-end charts
|
Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
---|---|---|
Germany (BVMI) [9] | Gold | 250,000^ |
United Kingdom (BPI) [10] | Silver | 60,000^ |
^ Shipments figures based on certification alone. |
ABBA: The Album is the fifth studio album by the Swedish pop group ABBA. It was released in Scandinavia on 12 December 1977 through Polar Music, but due to the massive pre-orders the UK pressing plants were not able to press sufficient copies before Christmas 1977 and so it was not released in the UK until January 1978. The album was released in conjunction with ABBA: The Movie, with several of the songs featured in the film. Altogether the album contains nine songs.
Smokie are an English rock band from Bradford, Yorkshire. The band found success at home and abroad after teaming up with Mike Chapman and Nicky Chinn. They have had a number of line-up changes and were still actively touring in 2018. Their most popular hit single, "Living Next Door to Alice", peaked at No. 3 on the UK Singles Chart and, in March 1977, reached No. 25 on the Billboard Hot 100, as well as going to No. 1 on the Australian singles chart. Other hit singles include "If You Think You Know How to Love Me", "Oh Carol", "Lay Back in the Arms of Someone", and "I'll Meet You at Midnight".
Desolation Boulevard is the third studio album by the British glam rock band Sweet, originally released in the United Kingdom in November 1974. Two noticeably different versions of the album were released: one by RCA Records in Europe, and another by Capitol Records in the United States, Canada and Japan. The album contains the band's best known songs, "The Ballroom Blitz" and "Fox on the Run".
If You Knew Suzi... is the fifth regular studio album by Suzi Quatro, released at the end of 1978, but with a 1979 copyright date. By August 2012 this was still Quatro's highest-charting album in the United States. The album also yielded Quatro's biggest US single hit, a duet with Chris Norman named "Stumblin' In" (which reached number 4 in both The Billboard Hot 100 and the Billboard Adult Contemporary charts. It also had an advertising billboard on Sunset Boulevard.
Sweet Fanny Adams is the second album by Sweet, their first of two released in 1974, and also their first album simply as Sweet. The album was a turning point and change in the band's sound. It featured more of a hard rock sound than their previous pop records.
"Can the Can" is the second solo single by American singer-songwriter Suzi Quatro and her first to reach number one in the UK, spending a single week at the top of the chart in June 1973. It also reached number one on the European and Australian charts in whose market Quatro achieved her most consistent success throughout her career as a recording artist. The single belatedly became a hit in the US peaking at number 56 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1976. It was re-released as a single in the UK, with "Devil Gate Drive" as the B-side, in 1984, but failed to chart. The single made the charts again in 1987 in the UK at number 87, it also appeared on her 1995 album What Goes Around.
Catch as Catch Can is the third studio album by Kim Wilde, released in autumn 1983.
"48 Crash" is Suzi Quatro's third solo single and was released after "Can the Can". It was included on her debut album Suzi Quatro. It later appeared as a track on her 1995 album What Goes Around. The single peaked at number three in the UK in July 1973, and number one in Australia for one week. It also hit number two in Germany, and charted well in other European countries.
Suzi Quatro is the debut solo studio album by the American singer-songwriter and bass guitarist of the same name. The LP was originally released in October 1973, by the record label Rak in most territories. The album was released under Bell Records in the United States and Canada, EMI Records in Japan, and Columbia Records in some European countries. It was titled Can the Can in Australia.
Changing All the Time is the second studio album by the English rock band Smokie, released in September 1975.
Pass It Around is the debut studio album by British rock band Smokey, released in 1975.
The Montreux Album is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Smokie, released in 1978. Recorded primarily at Mountain Studios in Montreux between 6 and 24 February 1978, it was the band's last album to be made in partnership with Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.
The Other Side of the Road is the sixth studio album by British rock band Smokie, released in 1979. When the album was released on CD in the 2000s, it was taken from a vinyl source.
"Lay Back in the Arms of Someone" is a song co-written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, performed by the English band Smokie.
Midnight Café is the third studio album by the English rock band Smokie, released in April 1976.
Greatest Hits is a compilation album by British rock band Smokie, released in April 1977. It contains all eight of the band's singles up to that date. All but one of the tracks were written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman.
Suzi ... and Other Four Letter Words, released in 1979, is the sixth studio album by American singer-songwriter, bass guitar player, and actress Suzi Quatro. By August 2012 this was still Quatro's highest-charting album in Norway and her second-highest-charting album in the United States .
"I'll Meet You at Midnight" is a song by the British rock band Smokie from their 1976 studio album Midnight Café. In September of the same year it was released as a single. It was the third and final single from the album, after "Something's Been Making Me Blue" and "Wild Wild Angels".
"It's Your Life" is a song by the British rock band Smokie from their 1977 studio album Bright Lights & Back Alleys. It first came out in June 1977 as a single and later appeared on the album, which was released in late September.
Mixed Emotions is the third studio album by American band Exile. It peaked at number 14 on the Billboard Top LPs & Tape chart in 1978.
^ "Baby It's You" was recorded in July 1976 at Decca Studios (Paris, France), and "Think of Me (The Only One)" — in August 1977 at Bovema Studios (Heemstede, Holland).