ARTIST: Huey Lewis and the News 
TITLE: Huey Lewis and the News
YEAR RELEASED: 1980
CHART ACTION: #203
SINGLES: Some of My Lies Are True (Sooner or Later), Now Here’s You
OTHER SONGS YOU MAY KNOW: Trouble in Paradise
LINEUP: Huey Lewis, Chris Hayes, Johnny Colla, Mario Cipollina, Bill Gibson, Sean Hopper
WHAT’S IT ALL ABOUT: Unremarkable first album from the 80’s icon.
SOME WORDS, PHRASES AND CLAUSES ABOUT THIS RECORD: Sometimes debut albums shape a band’s career. And sometimes a band’s first album is ignored, even if it establishes their sound and style. The latter is the case with Huey Lewis and the News.
There’s nothing odd, weird, or out of place here when comparing this record to the rest of their output. They had a couple of songs that could have been hits if they broke right, and a couple of other tracks that would have sounded fine on Sports or something like that. But this was only successful in that they got more gigs on the West Coast and lived to make a second album.
The issue is consistency – they are pretty tight and their later-famous harmonies are here, too. The songs, though – it’s no wonder their next record had help from the outside.
NOTES & MINUTIAE: Huey Lewis and Sean Hopper were in Clover, who went to the UK in the 70’s, and, without Lewis, backed Elvis Costello early in his career. Lewis played harmonica with Thin Lizzy live.
IS THERE A DELUXE VERSION: No.
GRADE: C+: I’m not exiling this, but sub-par Huey Lewis & the News is sub-par.
But Is It Any Good? 