CHRIS REA - THE ROAD TO HELL

THE ROAD TO HELL

CHRIS REA

SONGWRITER: CHRIS REA

COUNTRY: U. K.

ALBUM: CHRIS REA

LABEL: WEA

GENRE: BLUES ROCK

YEAR: 1989

The Road to Hell is the tenth studio album by English singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1989. It is Rea's most successful studio album, topping the UK Albums Chart for three weeks, and was certified 6x Platinum by BPI until 2004. The second part of the two-part title track, "The Road to Hell (Pt. 2)", is also one of Rea's most famous songs.

Christopher Anton Rea (/ˈriːə/REE-ə; born 4 March 1951) is an English rock and blues singer-songwriter and guitarist. Born and raised in Middlesbrough, he is of Italian and Irish descent. He is known for his distinctive, husky-gravel voice and slide guitar playing, and the Guinness Rockopedia described him as a "gravel-voiced guitar stalwart".

British Hit Singles & Albums stated that Rea was "one of the most popular UK singer-songwriters of the late 1980s" and "already a major European star by the time he finally cracked the UK Top 10 with the release of the single "The Road to Hell (Part 2)", which was his 18th chart entry. Two of his studio albums, The Road to Hell and Auberge, topped the UK Albums Chart. Rea was nominated three times for the Brit Award for Best British Male Artist: in 1988, 1989 and 1990. His other hit songs include "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat", "Stainsby Girls", "Josephine", "On the Beach", "Let's Dance", "Driving Home for Christmas", "Working on It", "Tell Me There's a Heaven", "Auberge", "Looking for the Summer", "Winter Song", "Nothing to Fear", "Julia", and "If You Were Me", a duet with Elton John.

In the United States he is best known for the 1978 song "Fool (If You Think It's Over)", which reached No. 12 on the Billboard Hot 100 and spent three weeks at No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart. This success earned him a Grammy nomination as Best New Artist in 1979. As of 2009, he had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide.

In February 2008, Rea released The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes, dedicated to the 1960s Hofner guitars, with 38 tracks on three CDs and two 10" vinyl records - the vinyl replicated the tracks contained on the first CD of the set. The box set also included a hardback book of his paintings along with period photos. The release of the album was followed by a European tour. visiting various venues across the UK, including the Royal Albert Hall in London.

Rea released the compilation Still So Far to Go in October 2009 which contained some of his best known (and lesser known) hits over the last thirty years as well as songs from his "blues" period. Two new songs were included, "Come So Far, Yet Still So Far to Go" and the ballad "Valentino". The album reached No. 8 and was certified Gold by the BPI. Rea started the European tour called "Still So Far to Go" in January 2010. His special guest on stage was Irish musician Paul Casey. The tour ended on 5 April at Waterfront Hall in Belfast.

In September 2011 Santo Spirito Blues box set was released. The set contained two feature-length films on one DVD written and directed by Rea along with three accompanying CDs - 2 of which featured the music from the DVDs and the third being a stripped back version of the related studio album. Shortly after this release, in October and November, Rea underwent two surgical procedures. On 3 February 2012 the Santo Spirito Tour started at Congress Center Hamburg in Hamburg, Germany, with additional visits to Poland, Russia, Ukraine, Hungary, Switzerland, Netherlands, Belgium and France. The United Kingdom part of the tour commenced in the middle of March and finished on 5 April at Hammersmith Apollo in London.

November 2014 saw Rea embark on a European tour called The Last Open Road Tour, with the UK part of the tour commencing on 1 December in Manchester and ending on 20 December in London. He also performed at the 2014 Montreux Jazz Festival.

Rea suffered a stroke in 2016 which left him with slurred speech and reduced movement in his arms and fingers. Soon afterwards he quit smoking to deter further strokes and recovered enough to record and tour. In September 2017, he released his twenty-fourth album, Road Songs for Lovers, and embarked on a European tour starting in October until December. On 9 December, Rea collapsed during a performance at the New Theatre Oxford, the 35th concert of the tour. He was taken to hospital where his condition was stabilized. This health issue caused the last two concerts of the tour to be cancelled.

Rhino released on 18 October 2019 a 2CD deluxe editions of five of Chris Rea's most commercially successful albums, Shamrock Diaries, On The Beach, Dancing With Strangers, The Road To Hell, and Auberge, containing remixes, rare and previously unreleased live tracks, single edits, and extended versions. Preceding the deluxe edition releases, was released on 4 October 2019 a limited edition album (1LP + 1CD) titled One Fine Day, with only 1000 copies and each numbered containing some unreleased, rare, and originally recorded work in 1980 at Chipping Norton Recording Studios. 

Stood still on a highway

I saw a woman

By the side of the road

With a face that I knew like my own

Reflected in my window

Well she walked up to my quarterlight

And she bent down real slow

A fearful pressure paralysed me

In my shadow

She said "Son, what are you doing here?

My fear for you has turned me in my grave"

I said "Mama, I come to the valley of the rich

Myself to sell"

She said "Son, this is the road to Hell"

On your journey 'cross the wilderness

From the desert to the well

You have strayed upon the motorway to Hell

Well I'm standing by a river

But the water doesn't flow

It boils with every poison you can think of

And I'm underneath the streetlights

But the light of joy I know

Scared beyond belief way down in the shadows

And the perverted fear of violence

Chokes a smile on every face

And common sense is ringing out the bells

This ain't no technological breakdown
Oh no, this is the road to Hell

And all the roads jam up with credit

And there's nothing you can do

It's all just bits of paper

Flying away from you

Look out world take a good look

What comes down here

You must learn this lesson fast

And learn it well

This ain't no upwardly mobile freeway

Oh no, this is the road to Hell.