Fore!

"Jacob's Ladder" was originally meant for a Bruce Hornsby album that Huey Lewis was producing.{{cite web|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130831015940/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038|title=Question of the Week|date=August 25, 2013|archive-date=August 31, 2013|url=http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038|website=Hueylewisandthenews.com}} Hornsby did not like the arrangement his band played, and it was given to Lewis.

"Doing It All for My Baby" was written by Mike Duke and Phil Cody. Duke wrote the song and then recorded vocals himself (the band playing backing parts and instruments), with the intention of getting a record contract for his own solo career.{{cite web |url=http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 |title=Huey Lewis Fan Q&A: March 23, 2014 |access-date=January 5, 2020 |archive-date=March 29, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160329005041/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 |url-status=dead }} When that plan fell through, Lewis decided to record a version with his own vocals for the album.

Lewis stated he originally wrote the lyrics for "Hip to Be Square" in a third person perspective, "He used to be a renegade..." He referenced the book Bobos in Paradise in describing the song's inspiration, explaining that the song was about the "phenomenon where people from the '60s started to drop back in, cut their hair, work out, that kind of crap, but they kept their bohemian tastes. ... bourgeois bohemians." Lewis later modified the lyrics to be in the first person as he believed it would enhance the joke, but stated this had unintentionally led to the interpretation of the song as an "anthem for square people".{{cite magazine|url =https://ew.com/article/2008/08/04/huey-lewis-the/|title =Name That Movie Mondays! (Vol. 7: Special Huey Lewis & the News edition)|first =Mandi|last =Blerly|magazine =Entertainment Weekly|date =August 4, 2008}}{{cite web |last1=Graff |first1=Gary |title=How Huey Lewis Overcame Commercial 'Pressure' for Massive 'Fore!' |url=https://ultimateclassicrock.com/huey-lewis-and-the-news-fore/ |website=Ultimate Classic Rock |date=September 22, 2021 |access-date=3 December 2021 |language=en}}

According to Lewis, the album track "Forest for the Trees" was written for and about kids struggling with life issues as an uplifting message for them.{{cite web|url=http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191103194805/http://www.hueylewisandthenews.com/wp/?page_id=1038 |archive-date=November 3, 2019 |url-status=dead |title=Huey Lewis Fan Q&A: June 17, 2019|access-date=August 30, 2021}} Lewis based it off the letters he received from young fans at the time who would talk about how important his music was to them.

"The Power of Love", originally from the soundtrack of the 1985 film Back to the Future, is included as a bonus track on international editions of the album. The song was the band's first chart-topper on the Billboard Hot 100. The critical reception of the album was mixed with Glenn O'Brien in Spin noting that 'what saves it for me is that songs are good songs. And Huey still sings with heart and soul'.{{Cite journal |last=O'Brien |first=Glenn |date=December 1986 |title=Fore! review |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FL-rqqrDxb8C&pg=PA36 |journal=SPIN |volume=2 |issue=9 |pages=36–7 |via=Google Books}}

The wall that Lewis and the members of the band stand against on the album's cover is a wall from Tamalpais High School in Mill Valley, California. Band members Bill Gibson, Sean Hopper and Mario Cipollina went to this school together.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

The album is referenced in the film American Psycho. The main character Patrick Bateman, while talking to one of his potential victims, gives a review of the album, discussing the band's viewpoint, intent, and how specifically the song "Hip to Be Square" espouses "the pleasures of conformity" but with a catchy 1980s beat, going on to state it is "the group's most accomplished album".

{{Track listing

| headline = Side one

| title1 = Jacob's Ladder

| writer1 = {{hlist|Bruce Hornsby|John Hornsby}}

| length1 = 3:33

| title2 = Stuck with You

| writer2 = {{hlist|Chris Hayes|Huey Lewis}}

| length2 = 4:29

| title3 = Whole Lotta Lovin{{'-}}

| writer3 = {{hlist|Johnny Colla|Lewis}}

| length3 = 3:30

| title4 = Doing It All for My Baby

| writer4 = {{hlist|Phil Cody|Mike Duke}}

| length4 = 3:39

| title5 = Hip to Be Square

| writer5 = {{hlist|Bill Gibson|Sean Hopper|Lewis}}

| length5 = 4:05

}}

{{Track listing

| headline = Side two

| total_length = 37:53

| title1 = I Know What I Like

| writer1 = {{hlist|Hayes|Lewis}}

| length1 = 3:59

| title2 = I Never Walk Alone

| writer2 = Reed Nielsen

| length2 = 3:44

| title3 = Forest for the Trees

| writer3 = {{hlist|Jerome Fletcher|Gibson|Lewis|Kenny Loggins}}

| length3 = 3:28

| title4 = Naturally

| writer4 = {{hlist|Colla|Lewis}}

| length4 = 2:52

| title5 = Simple as That

| writer5 = {{hlist|Stephen "Doc" Kupka|Emilio Castillo|Frank Biner}}

| length5 = 4:27

}}

• The international edition includes "The Power of Love" as a bonus track, inserted as track 3 of side 2.

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{{col-2}}

Huey Lewis and the News

• Huey Lewis – harmonica, vocals
• Johnny Colla – guitar, saxophone, backing vocals
• Chris Hayes – guitar, backing vocals
• Mario Cipollina – bass
• Bill Gibson – percussion, drums, backing vocals
• Sean Hopper – keyboard, backing vocals

Additional personnel

• The Tower of Power Horns (4, 10):
• Greg Adams – trumpet, horn arrangements
• Emilio Castillo – tenor saxophone
• Richard Elliot – tenor saxophone
• Stephen "Doc" Kupka – baritone saxophone (4, 5, 10), backing vocals (5, 6)
• Lee Thornburg – trumpet
• David Jenkins – backing vocals (1)
• Ralph Arista – backing vocals (5, 6)
• Dwight Clark – backing vocals (5, 6)
• Mike Duke – backing vocals (5, 6)
• Riki Ellison – backing vocals (5, 6)
• Jerome Fletcher – backing vocals (5, 6)
• Ronnie Lott – backing vocals (5, 6)
• Joe Montana – backing vocals (5, 6)
• Jim Moran – backing vocals (5, 6)

{{col-2}}

• Huey Lewis and the News – producers
• Jim Gaines – engineer
• Robert Missbach – engineer, mixing (1–8, 10)
• Michael Christopher – second engineer
• Phil Kaffel – additional engineer
• Malcolm Pollack – additional engineer, mixing (9)
• Rob Beaton – assistant engineer
• Alex Hass – assistant engineer
• Tom Size – assistant engineer
• Jim "Watts" Vereecke – assistant engineer
• Bob Clearmountain – mixing on "The Power of Love"
• Mixed at The Power Station (New York, NY).
• Bob Ludwig – mastering at Masterdisk (New York, NY).
• Ralph Arista – guitar technician
• Jerry Daniels – keyboard technician
• Terry Persons – production manager
• Anita Wong – production design
• Laura Lamar – graphic design
• Bennett Hall – art direction, illustration, photography

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{{col-begin}}

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{{Certification Table Top}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Canada|type=album|artist=Huey Lewis and the News|title=Fore!|access-date=25 July 2012|relyear=1986|award=Platinum|number=5}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=Germany|type=album|artist=Huey Lewis and the News|title=Fore!|access-date=25 July 2012|relyear=1986|award=Gold}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=New Zealand|type=album|artist=Huey Lewis and the News|title=Fore!|relyear=1986|certyear=1987|id=1986-11-28|source=newchart|access-date=2024-11-20|award=Platinum}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United Kingdom|type=album|artist=Huey Lewis and the News|title=Fore|award=Platinum|number=2|access-date=25 July 2012|relyear=1986|id=2347-1634-2}}

{{Certification Table Entry|region=United States|type=album|artist=Huey Lewis & the News|title=Fore!|access-date=25 July 2012|relyear=1986|award=Platinum|number=3}}

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{{Reflist}}

{{Huey Lewis and the News}}

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Category:1986 albums

Category:Huey Lewis and the News albums

Category:Chrysalis Records albums