Living in the Background (album)

Living in the Background is the debut studio album by Italian-based act Baltimora, released in the United States in April 1985 by EMI-Manhattan Records and in Europe on 4 September 1985 by EMI.

Living in the Background
Italian and German cover
Studio album by
Baltimora
ReleasedApril 1985
Genre
Length34:01
LabelEMI
ProducerMaurizio Bassi
Baltimora chronology
Living in the Background
(1985)		 Survivor in Love
(1987)
Singles from Living in the Background
  1. "Tarzan Boy"
    Released: April 1985
  2. "Woody Boogie"
    Released: 1985
  3. "Living in the Background"
    Released: 1985
  4. "Juke Box Boy"
    Released: 1986
US and Canadian cover
UK cover
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
Music Week[2]

Overview

Jimmy McShane supposedly performed the lead vocals, although there is some controversy surrounding who the actual singer is, while the songs were written by Maurizio Bassi and Naimy Hackett. "Tarzan Boy", the first single released from the album, became an international success, peaking at number 13 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and at number three in the United Kingdom. "Woody Boogie" and "Living in the Background" were also released as singles, with the latter becoming the group's only other song to crack the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at number 87 on the chart.

The album has been released with at least three different covers. The US and Canadian cover features Jimmy McShane jumping in the air on a red background with black text. The text is an extract from a prose poem by French poet Stéphane Mallarmé, "Le Phénomène Futur" (The Future Phenomenon).[3]

The album has also been released and re-released in various forms, though none of these different versions of the album seem to correlate with any particular one of the various album covers. A bonus track from one of these later pressings of the album, "Juke Box Boy" was also released as a single.

The original CD issue of Living in the Background, from 2003, is out-of-print. An Italian CD release was issued in 2005, and that same year an unofficial Russian release circulated too.

Track listing

All tracks are written by Naimy Hackett and Maurizio Bassi

No.TitleLength
1."Tarzan Boy"6:15
2."Pull the Wires"4:46
3."Living in the Background"6:06
4."Woody Boogie"5:50
5."Chinese Restaurant"5:14
6."Running for Your Love"5:50
UK edition
No.TitleLength
1."Tarzan Boy" (12″ Summer version)6:41
2."Pull the Wires"4:46
3."Living in the Background"6:06
4."Tarzan Boy" (7″ Summer version)3:27
5."Woody Boogie" (12″ Jump mix)5:50
6."Chinese Restaurant"5:14
7."Running for Your Love"5:50
8."Woody Boogie"3:37
Canadian edition (1986)
No.TitleLength
1."Tarzan Boy" (Single version) 
2."Living in the Background" (Remix by John Luongo) 
3."Juke Box Boy" 
4."Pull the Wires" 
5."Woody Boogie" 
6."Chinese Restaurant" 
7."Running for Your Love" 
8."Up with Baltimora" 
1993 re-release
No.TitleLength
7."Tarzan Boy" (Summer version)6:40
8."Juke Box Boy"3:42
9."Up with Baltimora"2:51
10."Tarzan Boy" (Remix 1993)3:43
11."Jungle Life" (Dub)5:00
12."Tarzan Boy" (Extended mix)5:29

Personnel

Musicians

Technical
  • Maurizio Bassi – producer, arrangement
  • Jurgen Koppers – mixing
  • Paolo Mescoli – recording

Artwork
  • Michele Bernardi – cover illustration
  • Martin Beckett – photography (UK edition)

Charts
Chart performance for Living in the Background
Chart (1985–1986) Peak
position
Canada Top Albums/CDs (RPM)[4] 49
Finnish Albums (Suomen virallinen lista)[5] 10
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[6] 18
US Billboard 200[7] 49

Certifications
Certifications for Living in the Background
Region CertificationCertified units/sales
Canada (Music Canada)[8] Gold 50,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

References
  1. "60 Great Albums You Probably Haven't Heard". Vulture. 10 November 2013. Retrieved 6 June 2015.
  2. "Review: Baltimora – Living in the Background". Music Week. 30 November 1985. p. 24. ISSN 0265-1548.
  3. "Vers et prose : morceaux choisis : Mallarmé, Stéphane, 1842-1898, page 102 to 106". 21 December 2011. Retrieved 29 March 2022 – via Internet Archive.
  4. "Top RPM Albums: Issue 0624". RPM. Library and Archives Canada. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  5. Pennanen, Timo (2021). "Baltimora". Sisältää hitin – Levyt ja esittäjät Suomen musiikkilistoilla 1.1.1960–30.6.2021 (PDF) (in Finnish) (2nd ed.). Helsinki: Kustannusosakeyhtiö Otava. p. 24. ISBN 978-9-5274-6001-6.
  6. "Swedishcharts.com – Baltimora – Living in the Background". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  7. "Billboard 200 – Week of March 15, 1986". Billboard. Retrieved 4 August 2023.
  8. "Canadian album certifications – Baltimora – Living in the Background". Music Canada.


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