Any Chris Rea love?

[pbmw]

One of my absolute favorite players.

 

[paulvcarter]

He was a source of inspiration in the 80's - he had an amazing tone - up there with Knopfler.

 

[JohnLnyc]

Great talent.
One of my bigger regrets is not having seen him perform live!
This is just monster playing and a killer song!

 

[PatrickE_FenderADV]

^^^ I remember the Road to Hell video on MTV back in the day. I loved the song... It reminded me of Dire Straits. Good song.

 

[Dereksslide]

He's awesome, can't really say any more than that.

 

[whackystrings]

Odd, just this past weekend I was grooving along to "Texas", "Auberge", "Road To Hell Pt 1 & 2" and "On The Beach" (original version). I Youtube'd his video that accompanied his signature Fender Strat as well as some live performances. He is damn good live...damn good.
Yeah, some parallel lines are drawn between his 80s sound and Dire Straits, especially that Bridge+Middle Strat pick-up sproingy quack tone that I love when players do it well.
His slide work is really nice to listen to, as well.

 

[wattage]

Yeah Chris is fantastic

New band I am working with picked Road to Hell as one of the covers, I was very happy about that.

 

[urizen]

I knew him more as a sideman whose contribution were usu. xlnt to stellar, then I checked his whole list of recordings AND credits (Gene Pitney!?! Johnny Hallyday who knew/whoda thunk??----and there's way more, esp from the more exotic climes):

http://www.allmusic.com/artist/chris-rea-mn0000096744/credits

 

[urizen]

as good as it was, I think that similarity might have been the problem.

Well, he was a sideman for David Knopfler.

 

[Flyin' Brian]

The entire Road To Hell album is excellent.

 

[BuckshotJenkins]

I gotta give him a listen, cause a station here in Austin played Texas once and I loved it and had to have it. I gotta dig for more.

 

[pbmw]

I'm goin to Texas
She said What?
I said Texas...

They got day long roads out there...

We do a cover of Texas, You must be Evil, Road to Hell and Lets Dance

What guitar is he playing in that video???

 

[Two-Octave]

The guitar is an Italia Maranello.

 

[Comet01]

I fell in love with Rea from the first time "Fool If You Think It's Over" hit the airwaves in 1978. Bought each succeeding album as soon as they were released. In the US, he disappeared in 1982 for an extended period.

I had no idea that he hit very big in Europe in 1983 with Water Sign (an album of demos). He didn't have another US release until 1987 (Dancing With Strangers ... on Motown!).

1988's "Workin' On It" was a huge US hit. After Road to Hell, there was little US interest in Chris.

"Texas" (from Road to Hell) is probably my favorite. I've used that song to convert several people into Rea fans.



His guitar tone is amazing.

Health issues have had a huge affect on his appearance.