The Road to Hell

The Road to Hell
Studio album by Chris Rea
Released	1989
Recorded	Miraval Studios, France
Genre	Blues rock, soft rock, pop rock
Length	50:53
Label	WEA, Atco, Magnet, Geffen
Producer	Jon Kelly, Chris Rea
Chris Rea chronology
New Light Through Old Windows (1988) The Road to Hell (1989) Auberge (1991)

Professional ratings
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic	[1]

The Road to Hell is the tenth studio album by Chris Rea. It was released in 1989 and is one of Rea's most famous albums. The second part of the two-part title track, "The Road to Hell (Pt. 2)", is also one of Rea's most famous songs. The song "Texas" has been played through the years on Classic Rock/AOR radio stations in Texas, and is sometimes played as background music before Texas Rangers baseball games at Rangers Ballpark in Arlington. Another track, "Daytona", is about the Ferrari 365 GTB/4 "Daytona", in which he sings about the car metaphorically, with the engine and tyre noise from the car ringing out toward the end of the song.^[2] Also, the song "Tell Me There's a Heaven" was used in a 1991 public information film for the NSPCC.

The song was written about the A63, the principal road way out of Hull, which travels west until the M62. Chris Rea originally composed a melody about the A63, called as this is the Road to Hull, which he then changed to Road to Hell, upon his entry.

The album cover features art by the English commercial artist, Adrian Chesterman,^[3] who was also responsible for creating cover art for, amongst others, Motörhead's 1979 Bomber album.

Track listing

All songs by Chris Rea.

1. "The Road to Hell (Part 1)" — 4:52
2. "The Road to Hell (Part 2)" — 4:30
3. "You Must Be Evil" — 4:20
4. "Texas" — 5:09
5. "Looking for a Rainbow" — 8:00
6. "Your Warm and Tender Love" — 4:32
7. "Daytona" — 5:04
8. "That's What They Always Say" — 4:27
9. "I Just Wanna Be with You" — 3:39
10. "Tell Me There's a Heaven" — 6:00

(The 1989 US Geffen CD issue also includes the 1988 re-recording of "Let's Dance" slotted between tracks 8 and 9 listed above.)

Certifications

Region	Certification	Certified units/Sales
Austria (IFPI Austria)[4]	Platinum	50,000^*
Canada (Music Canada)[5]	Gold	50,000^^
Finland (Musiikkituottajat)[6]	Gold	45,000[6]
France (SNEP)[7]	Platinum	300,000^*
Germany (BVMI)[8]	3× Gold	750,000^^
Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[9]	Platinum	50,000^^
United Kingdom (BPI)[10]	6× Platinum	1,800,000^^
^*sales figures based on certification alone ^^shipments figures based on certification alone

Personnel

• Chris Rea — vocals, guitar, keyboards, producer
• Robert Ahwai — guitar
• Eoghan O'Neill — bass
• Kevin Leach — keyboards
• Max Middleton — piano, string arrangements (cut 10)
• Martin Ditcham — drums, percussion
• Linda Taylor, Karen Boddington, Carol Kenyon — additional vocals
• Jon Kelly — producer
• Neil Amor (with Diane BJ Koné) — engineer

References

1. Allmusic review
2. YouTube. youtube.com.
3. "Website of the artist, www.adrianchesterman.com".
4. "Austrian album certifications – Chris Rea – The Road to Hell" (in German). IFPI Austria. Enter Chris Rea in the field Interpret. Enter The Road to Hell in the field Titel. Select album in the field Format. Click Suchen
5. "Canadian album certifications – Chris Rea – The Road to Hell". Music Canada.
6. "Chris Rea" (in Finnish). Musiikkituottajat – IFPI Finland.
7. "InfoDisc : Les Certifications (Albums) du SNEP (Bilan par Artiste)". infodisc.fr.
8. "Gold-/Platin-Datenbank (Chris Rea; 'The Road to Hell')" (in German). Bundesverband Musikindustrie.
9. "The Official Swiss Charts and Music Community: Awards (Chris Rea; 'The Road to Hell')". IFPI Switzerland. Hung Medien.
10. "British album certifications – Chris Rea – The Road to Hell". British Phonographic Industry. Enter The Road to Hell in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Platinum in the field By Award. Click Search