By the late 1980s, it seemed as if Huey Lewis and the News could do no wrong. Never ones to succumb to musical trends, the band’s honest rock sound and tongue-in-cheek lyrics connected with the masses. The group came along at the right time of the MTV age, mastering the medium with videos lacking any semblance of seriousness. Lewis graced the covers of People and Rolling Stone. They were superstars.
After the blockbuster album Sports, which ruled radio starting in the fall of 1983 and lasting into 1984, the follow-up Fore! did nothing to diminish the onslaught of the News in 1986-87. Both albums spawned five singles each, and all but one of those reached the top 10.
With those two albums, the Back to the Future soundtrack and his participation in We Are the World behind him, Lewis and his bandmates embarked on an album that decidedly broke away from its predecessors. This was a tangy blend of disparate flavors not heard before from them, yet all the ingredients are appetizing from start to finish. That album was Small World.
Assists from Bruce Hornsby, Tower of Power and Stan Getz
Released in the summer of 1988, Small World’s strength is in the band’s ability to undertake a surprising number of genres. “Old Antone’s” has remnants of zydeco, with a little help from Lewis’ friend Bruce Hornsby on accordion. The two title cuts – more on this in a moment – are in essence jazz-rock fusion. And the enigmatic “Bobo Tempo,” the lyrics of which aren’t even printed in the album notes, drips with Bob Marley-esque reggae rhythms.
The album deviates from the News’ previous work by openly embracing purely instrumental material. The closing number, Slammin’, with a funkified melody played by the Tower of Power Horns, allows for solos from Chris Hayes on guitar, Johnny Colla on sax and Sean Hopper on keyboard.
Hearing one of Stan Getz’s final studio performances would make the album worthwhile alone. Thanks to Lewis’ chance encounter with the legendary tenor saxophonist, the title track was dreamed up with Getz in mind. Wisely or not, it was split in half, ceding the floor to Getz’s impeccable solo work on Part Two. The Tower of Power Horns also lend rhythmic support to what amounts to a real coup for the group and a largely overlooked entry in the Getz discography.
“Perfect World”: Small World’s Only Hit
Because of this generous mix of styles, there really wasn’t a wealth of direct-to-radio singles from Small World. “Perfect World” was the song that did stick and reached its peak in September 1988, climbing to No. 3. Two songs in particular prevented “Perfect World” from ever taking the top spot: Robert Palmer’s “Simply Irresistible” and “Sweet Child O’ Mine” by Guns N’ Roses.
Part One of “Small World” fizzled on the charts, as did “Give Me the Keys (“And I’ll Drive You Crazy”) and “Walking with the Kid,” which used a similar chorus comprised of San Francisco 49er players as “Hip to Be Square” from Fore! but to no avail.
Yet radio airplay and a bevy of hits were never things Lewis has coveted in the first place. It’s always been about the music. And Lewis has maintained that Small World is one of his proudest moments.
Looking to score a copy of the album? It may take the California Bureau of Investigation from The Mentalist to do some digging, because finding a decent one isn’t easy. It has regrettably long been out of print. But new and used copies are out there. And it’s well worth the effort.
