Christopher Cross
 

Anyone remember Christopher Cross? He opened for the Mac on the Tusk tour. Anyone see it? He won 5 Grammys of his debut album: Album of the year, song of the year, best new artist, and record of the year. Imagine opening for the biggest band in the world and then winning 5 Grammys and then an Oscar. The following year he also won an Oscar for best song beating out Lionel Richie and Diana Ross for Endless Love. His songs from that album still hold up and are still played. What happened to his career? MTV happened. His image was not what MTV wanted to project. His record company told him he did not look like a rock star. Even though Laura was a top 10 hit in 1983 or 1984 MTV only played the music video 3 times. He's not ugly but its sad when his talents were ruined by the slick imagery of the 1980s and MTV. If you did not have a video on MTV you simply could not get a hit. This is why I said if Love In Store had a video it would of been a top 10 song.
I know he still tours today playing fairs and casinos.
This video sort of explains his career and what happened.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CF5KNwQhtME

After his first album and Arthur, I didn't like his second album singles I heard that much. But I admit I don't remember Think of Laura, maybe I never heard it, and now I see it's a beautiful song. He deserved more support from the record label I guess.

I agree with you about the MTV effect. But maybe the music was changing too. I remember Air Supply did have more success in 1982-83 than Christopher (and I don't remember any of their videos, if they had), but that was it. After Now and Forever they released compilation albums and then I don't remember any hit of them after that, except for The Power of Love in 1985, but that was a cover.

I saw him in 2019, for his 40th anniversary of the big album. He performed every song from that album, plus his other hits. He was 70, and still sounded EVERY BIT the 12yo choir boy he always did. It was a great show!

He did still have success in the states into the mid 80s. But they were mostly Adult Contemporary hit singles that did have some cross over success. However not seeing his music on MTV made him non-existent. We did not know it at the time but were all being brainwashed by visuals and the Madonna and Billy Idol effect.
I think Ride Like The Wind and Sailing are probably 2 of the best songs of the entire 80s decade. Both simply brilliant for different reasons. He has talent.

There were lot of 80s songs whose merit lay primarily in the video and the image of who was singing. But there were also many of 80s songs that were hidden jewels. To this day I often listen to Time After Time, I think my appreciation for that song has grown over the years, it's a beautiful piece, listening to it is much more better than watching Cyndi in GJWHF or Goonies video.

If someone mention 80s, of course I remember Madonna, Jackson, Flock of Seagulls or Idol, but I immediately think in OMD and Thompson Twins. I love TT's Hold Me Now. Another beautiful song is Pet Shop Boys' Jealousy. There are many beautiful songs that have been overshadowed by their videos and all the 80s paraphernalia (which at the time may have been fun, but it's not what should have identified that decade).

I've seen that he's been touring with Toto in the past year. Sailing is a truly great song.

He did a show in the Dayton area with Dave Chappelle a week or two ago.

Weird pairing, but our local NPR station moved into an 1820 schoolhouse courtesy of Dave Chappelle earlier that day.

Indeed it is. But I've always thought the song should be called Riding, not Sailing. Cause those percussions that sound at 2:42, they have always made me imagine a cowboy riding a horse, or something like a Bonanza scene. :)

I didn't know the term "yatch rock, a subgenre of soft rock (late 1970s and early 1980s) characterized by smooth melodies, complex vocal harmonies, and high production quality", according to Google, a term coined as a joke in 2005 by a web series :shrug:

I read it in this article, where Cross album is mentioned among others. I don't see Captain & Tennille, Al Jarreau, Carly Simon as soft "rock", but it's a nice albums selection, anyway.

https://www.discogs.com/digs/music/e...t-rock-albums/

From wikipedia and Chris's 1984 solo album:

In an interview with Record magazine, Christine McVie expressed interest in having Christopher Cross contribute to the album; he had previously travelled from Geneva to hear some of McVie's material in Montreux.

I am curious. If he traveled all the way to hear her music in the studio why he never contributed anything?

Maybe he got there too late? I know chris said that john came for a week, but by the time he arrived everything was already recorded, otherwise she was sure he would have played something.

--Lis

Yes that's probably true. Lindsey just happened to be in London looking for a producer to Go Insane and Chris invited him for a vacation and he came in and played on the album. John was there but all the bass lines were already done. She really recorded the album in a very organic way. I was reading that Love Will Show Us How was originally a very slow demo with John on bass. Would love to have heard that.

do you happen to know where you read that info about the album? I never knew LWSUH started off as a slow demo... interesting. always wondered why she didn't give him any credit, too. not that he would have cared haha

-Lis

You know that he(Christopher Cross)had worked as a limo driver, and shuttled members of FM to a concert(I ASSume in L.A.).

From wikipedia but I have heard this story somewhere before:

A product of this collaboration was the album's lead single, "Got a Hold on Me", which McVie later revealed was totally fictional, as at the time she wrote it "no one did have a hold on [her]".[10] When they started out, McVie already had a verse going for the song,[25] and the rest was written in pieces, coming together in about half an hour.[14] "Love Will Show Us How", the album's second single, was developed from a demo tape recording of McVie and her ex-husband John McVie playing piano and bass, respectively.[33]: 8:55–9:16  She and Sharp spent an entire night working on the music and wrote the lyrics the night after.[33]: 9:16–9:23  Sharp also recalled that the song began "very acoustic and soft" and that, when writing, McVie "started it with her verse".

Who's Dreaming This Dream should have been a single. I love that song.

Funny. Its my least favorite song from the album. Its also the only song from the entire album she did not perform on her tour (although she performed it at the Country Club). She even performed a throw away track (Too Much Is Not Enough) over it.

Thanks. I was actually listening the other day to an old interview where she said most of the album was written about "how i'd LIKE to feel" and how she felt that way now because she was with ed by then ..

Ugh 😆

-Lis

If John is playing bass on the demo it probably was an old Mirage demo. Ask Anybody was an earlier song around Mirage. The newest song on the album (besides Got A Hold On Me) that she wrote was The Smile I Live For. She actually wrote it in the studio while recording the album. I remember an old interview from 1984 where she said she went into someone's office in the studio and this woman (cannot remember who) showed Chris a photo of her and her husband on her desk and the woman said "that is the smile that I live for." It hit Chris like a ton of bricks and asked the woman if she could put that in a song. Chris then wrote the song in the stuido and was the last track added to the album.

The Challenge was the name of John's boat. At her solo concert the tour bus was also named "The Challenge" was parked a few blocks from the theater parked in the city like a county bus. It was decorated beautifully and had the name painted on the rear fender.
Love that she was still writing songs about John or influenced by John at that time.

I wonder if it wasn't included in the 2016 Mirage Deluxe because it was already in Christine's 1984 album, or because the recording was lost.

I also see Steve Winwood was credited as co-writer in the 1984 track. Was it an updated version with his contribution?

Pretty sure Chris said it was George Hawkins who had said about the picture of his girlfriend, 'Ah, the smile I live for" and Chris asked if she could use that.

Not sure if LWSUH was a demo was from Mirage-- I don't think so because on the documentary made for Chris's solo album, Todd Sharpe said they had a tape "with John McVie, he'd come over one day, and they had a little machine going in the room'... so i assume this was back in LA, maybe at her house? She had said originally the lyrics were gonna be about John but in the end they turned out NOT to be about him at all. wish i could see what she had written about him lol. They were still "spending time together" in those days (outside the band) which from what i hear came to a halt for a while once she got serious w ed.

--Lis

Yes Chris waited 6 months for Russ to finish Paul Simon's album to start hers. She probably did that rough draft of LWSUH with John sometime in early 1983. But I still would like to hear it.
I think you are right The Smile I Live For was inspired by George Hawkins but I remember the story the opposite. She met his girlfriend who had his photo up and she told Chris it was the smile she lived for.

Unexpected Christopher Cross! This just appeared in my FB. He is enjoying Mount Rushmore. Sure it's a break after or before their show in Sioux Falls. It's a beautiful place, I was there years ago. No only the monument but all the entire surrounding area, the forests, the wildlife, Black Hills, Badlands park, nearby Wyoming, etc. This post brought back many pleasant memories of that trip. I highly recommend it.

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/18YcdvV774/

https://scontent.flim13-1.fna.fbcdn....Dw&oe=6A3853D7