Break of Hearts (album)

Break of Hearts is the fifth studio album by rock band Katrina and the Waves, released in 1989 (see 1989 in music). It is their last album to reach the Billboard 200, reaching #122, and contains their last top 40 hit in the United States, "That's the Way", which reached #16. It was their last studio album released in the United States and the first and only release for the SBK label (the band would briefly move to Virgin Records just before it was sold to Capitol's then-owner EMI).[3]

Break of Hearts
Studio album by
Katrina and the Waves
ReleasedJuly 26, 1989
Recorded1988-89
StudioUtopia Studios, London
The Lodge, Clare, Suffolk
Brook House, Suffolk
Genre
Length40:22
LabelSBK
Attic (Canada)
Producer
Katrina and the Waves chronology
Waves
(1986)		 Break of Hearts
(1989)		 Pet the Tiger
(1991)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[2]

Background and critical reception

After being dropped by Capitol Records following 1986's Waves album, Katrina and the Waves secured a new deal with SBK Records, which released the more rock-oriented Break of Hearts. Despite a US Top 20 hit with "That's the Way", it was their only album for the label. Singer Katrina Leskanich said on the band's website, "SBK told us that they could see us as a stadium band, Bryan Adams style, and [guitarist Kimberley Rew] was coming up with this stuff that was perfect for rock radio."[3] Retrospective reviews were less than positive. Trouser Press described the album as a "horrendously wrongheaded comeback bid that shows the Waves to be utterly oblivious to their own strengths," calling it "bland, overprocessed commercial slop."[4] The Rolling Stone Album Guide felt that the writing was "empty and mannered."[2] Rew was quoted on the website saying, "We've never been successful enough to be immune from the influences of producers and marketing men ... the more we fell for those 80s trademarks, the more we diluted the band."[3]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Alex Cooper, Vince de la Cruz, Katrina Leskanich and Kimberley Rew, except where noted

No.TitleWriter(s)Length
1."Rock n' Roll Girl" 4:06
2."Can't Tame My Love" 4:00
3."That's the Way"Leskanich, Rew3:56
4."Keep Running to Me"Rew4:29
5."Break of Hearts" 5:05
6."I Can Dream About It"Leskanich, Rew4:00
7."To Have and to Hold"Rew4:20
8."(I've Got a) Crush On You" 3:55
9."Love Calculator"Leskanich, Rew3:58
10."Rock Myself to Sleep"de la Cruz, Rew3:07
Total length:40:22

Personnel

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Katrina and the Waves
Additional musicians
  • Nick Glennie-Smith – additional keyboards
  • Stevie Lange – backing vocals
  • Shirley Lewis – backing vocals
  • Dee Lewis – backing vocals
  • Jimmy Helms – backing vocals
  • George Chandler – backing vocals
  • Jimmy Chambers – backing vocals
Technical
  • Katrina and the Waves – producer
  • Jay Burnett – additional production, engineer, mixing
  • Stephen Stewart – engineer
  • Mark Sayer-Wade – engineer
  • Mike Vindice – additional engineer
  • Dennis Herman – additional engineer
  • Pat Collier – additional engineer
  • Sarah Jarman – assistant engineer
  • Simon Lee – assistant engineer
  • Vicente Roix – assistant engineer
  • Nigel Green – mixing
  • Paul Cox – front cover photography
  • Robin Emilien – back cover photography

Charts
Chart (1989) Peak
position
The Billboard 200 122
Singles
Year Single Chart Position
1989 "That's the Way" The Billboard Hot 100 16
1989 "That's the Way" UK Singles Chart 84
1989 "Rock n' Roll Girl" UK Singles Chart 93

Notes
  1. https://www.allmusic.com/album/r58500
  2. Anthony DeCurtis; James Henke; Holly George-Warren, eds. (1992). The Rolling Stone Album Guide (3rd ed.). Random House. p. 388. ISBN 0679737294.
  3. "Band History". Katrina and the Waves official website. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
  4. Robbins, Ira; Schinder, Scott. "TrouserPress.com :: Katrina and the Waves". TrouserPress.com. Retrieved 2 July 2021.
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