No Lookin' Back is the second solo studio album by American musician Michael McDonald. It was released on July 30, 1985, by Warner Bros. Records, three years after his debut studio album, If That's What It Takes (1982); this was his last album to be released by Warner Bros. For the first time, he co-produced and wrote or co-wrote all of the tracks. It features contributions from guitarists Joe Walsh (Eagles, James Gang), Robben Ford and David Pack from Ambrosia, Jeff Porcaro on drums (Toto, Steely Dan), plus the former Doobie Brothers members Willie Weeks on bass guitar, and Cornelius Bumpus providing horns, half of whom had also performed on If That's What It Takes.
On release, the album was received favorably by the majority of music critics and peaked at No. 45 on the US Billboard 200. Three singles were issued from No Lookin' Back: "No Lookin' Back", "Bad Times" and "Lost in the Parade". The album's first and leading single, "No Lookin' Back", was co-written by Kenny Loggins and was a commercial success, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 34 on Billboard Hot 100.
The album was re-released one year later in 1986. The re-released version changed around the track order and featured different album cover artwork, along with the inclusion of the hit single "Sweet Freedom" from the soundtrack of the Peter Hyams action comedy film Running Scared, as well as the remixed version of "Our Love", which served as the theme for the Richard Pearce neo-noir action thriller film No Mercy.
"(I Hang) On Your Every Word" was originally released in 1983 on On Your Every Word, the second studio album by Amy Holland, McDonald's wife – who he had married that year. McDonald produced, and performed on the album, co-writing four tracks, and some of the same collaborators on that album are on No Lookin' Back.
Critical reception
In a negative contemporary review for Rolling Stone, critic J. D. Considine wrote that "the bulk of this album is utter piffle. McDonald's inability to move beyond his vocal limitations suggests that he might be simply the musical equivalent of a character actor, doomed forever to those parts demanding his particular mannerisms. If so, he'd better pay more attention to how he's being cast", and in a more positive review, Music Week wrote "having stabled the horses, hung up the cowboy boots and watched the Doobie Brothers ride off into the horizon, McDonald has clearly been moving in more funkier circles of late. The impressive soul vocal, previewed to such advantage on the Doobies' "What a Fool Believes", re-surfaces in a manner not that dissimilar to Hall & Oates. US in feel, but in with a chance if a single takes off."
Track listing Original release
1986 Reissue
Personnel Musicians (Original release)
Michael McDonald – vocals, keyboards (1), synthesizers (2–9), Hammond B3 organ (5, 7) Mike Hanna – synthesizers (2) Chuck Sabatino – synthesizers (3, 5), backing vocals (3, 5) Chris Pelonis – Emulator programming (3, 4, 7) Scott Plunkett – synthesizer horns (4), sequenced synthesizer (7) Brian Mann – synthesizers (6, 8) Randy Goodrum – synthesizers (9) David Pack – guitars (1, 2, 4, 7), synthesizers (4), rhythm guitar (9) Joe Walsh – slide guitar (2) Robben Ford – guitars (3), lead guitar solo (9) Willie Weeks – bass (1, 3–5, 8, 9) Nathan East – bass (2) Jeff Porcaro – drums (1–5, 7–9), cymbals (6) George Perilli – tom drum solo (1), drum programming (4) Staff Fieldhouse – Simmons toms (4), Simmons drums (8) Roger Nichols – drums (6) Paulinho da Costa – percussion (4, 6, 9) Cornelius Bumpus – tenor saxophone (3, 5)
Musicians (1986 Reissue) Michael McDonald – vocals, synthesizers ("Our Love (Remix)") Wells Christie – Synclavier ("Sweet Freedom") Anthony Patler – keyboards ("Sweet Freedom") Greg Phillinganes – keyboards ("Sweet Freedom") Danny Sembello – keyboards ("Sweet Freedom") Rod Temperton – keyboards and arrangements ("Sweet Freedom") Larry Williams – keyboards, synthesizers and horns ("Sweet Freedom") Brian Mann – synthesizers ("Our Love (Remix)") Paul Jackson Jr. – guitars ("Sweet Freedom") Michael Thompson – guitars ("Sweet Freedom") Steve Lukather – guitars ("Our Love (Remix)") Abraham Laboriel – bass ("Our Love (Remix)") Jeff Porcaro – drums and percussion ("Our Love (Remix)") Bobby LaKind – congas ("Our Love (Remix)") David Boruff – horns ("Sweet Freedom") Kim Hutchcroft – horns ("Sweet Freedom") Bill Reichenbach Jr. – horns ("Sweet Freedom") Chuck Findley – horns ("Sweet Freedom") Gary Grant – horns ("Sweet Freedom") Jerry Hey – horns ("Sweet Freedom") Siedah Garrett – backing vocals ("Sweet Freedom")
Production Michael McDonald – producer Ted Templeman – producer Ross Pallone – engineer, mixing Mike Wuellner – second engineer Lee Herschberg – additional engineer, CD mastering at Amigo Studios (Los Angeles, CA) Jim Pace – additional engineer Grady Walker – additional engineer Howie Weinberg – original mastering at Masterdisk (New York, NY) Joan Parker – production coordinator Kathy Walker – production coordinator Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff – art direction Jeri McManus – design Joel Levinson – front photography Brian Aris - back photography Howard Barr – hair Deborah Howell – make-up Front Line Management – management
Chart performance Album Chart (1985) Peakposition Singles Year Single Chart Position 1985 "No Lookin' Back" Billboard Hot 100 34 Billboard Adult Contemporary 9 Billboard Mainstream Rock 4 "Bad Times" Billboard Mainstream Rock 38 "Lost in the Parade" Billboard Adult Contemporary 40
See also List of albums released in 1985 Michael McDonald's discography
References
External links