Track Listing

1. Jazzy Blue
2. Josephine
3. Stony Road
4. Stainsby Girls
5. Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49
6. I Can Hear Your Heart Beat
7. Road to Hell
8. On the Beach
9. Let's Dance
10. Fool (If You Think It's Over)
11. Julia
12. Stainsby Girls
13. Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 48
14. I Can Hear Your Heart Beat
15. Road to Hell
16. On the Beach
17. Let's Dance
18. Fool (If You Think It's Over)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #173924 in Music
• Released on: 2006-10-31
• Number of discs: 1
• Format: Import
• Dimensions: .23 pounds

Amazon.co.uk Review
Following prolonged bouts of ill health in recent years, Chris Rea's career has taken some radical turns. Most significant has been his decision to stop performing under the name Chris Rea and work as part of a band called The Fire Flies. The Road To Hell And Back is made up of performances from the subsequent farewell tour he played last year, and represents not only Rea's first live album but his last. Fortunately it captures this long-serving 'musician's musician' at his zenith. His shows at Warsaw Sala Kongresawa, The Brighton Centre and the Moscow Kremlin Palace have become stuff of legend among fans, and here his biggest hits are collected together with his high calibre recent recordings. Songs like "Jazee Blue", "Somewhere Between Highway 61 and 49", "Road To Hell", "On The Beach", "Let's Dance", "Julia" and "Stainsby Girls" are all played and sung with inevitable aplomb, but also with a surprising vitality for a man in his fifties with an ongoing illness and 25 years of industry experience behind him. A must for all serious fans. --Danny McKenna

Customer Reviews

OLD SONGS PLAYED DIFFERENTLY
Not being a "pop" fan I first picked up Chris Rea`s works with the CD "Dancing with Strangers" and liked what I heard. I followed this with "The very Best of" and "The Road to Hell" All of which impressed me. Then I decided to leave Chris Rea and his works. Out of the blue came "Dancing Down The Stony Road. WOW. As a long time blues fan I was stunned. That a "pop" artist could produce such a work, - I just could not believe it - having no idea at the time that this was, in fact, Rea`s first love.
Then came the re-emerging Rea with a series of Blues albums that had to be heard to be believed. Culminating with what I think time will show to be possibly his most outstanding work overall.Allowing for the fact "Dancing Down the Stony Road" was more personal and spoke more of Rea than anything he had done previously.
Now comes "The Road to Hell and Back". Basically a collection of earlier works but with a twist. A harder tone with overtones of his blues work.
Eleven titles Jazzy blue, Josephine, Stony Road, Julia, Stainsby Girls, Somewhere between Highway 61 and 49 ,I can hear your heart beat (10mins 36 seconds),The road to hell (10 mins and 9 seconds) , On the beach, Lets dance and Fool (If you think its Over).
All performances are live and taken from many of the gigs played on his recent tour
Most of the numbers were new to me (see above). However whilst realising that this was for the most part taken from his "pop" repetoire it is well worth a listen.
The tracks which I liked most were "Jazzy Blue" "Stony Road" "The Road to Hell" and "On the Beach"
That is not to say that the other tracks were not particularly good. On the contrary, its just that my bent is mainly Jazz and Blues. Because of the way Rea now plays and approaches his music there is, to me, an overtone of bluesyness (for want of a better expression) to almost everything on this album.
I have listened to this album a number of times and you know all the numbers start to grow on you. To me this indicates that this album will appeal to the many Chris Rea fans who preferred his "pop" years and to those fans he has gained since moving to the Blues Genre .
I feel that my money was well spent and will continue to look for works by Chris Rea in the Blues Genre as much as I look for the old masters and the newcomers (relatively) like Eric Bibb.
I would not be ashamed to recommend this album to friends and would do so without reservation.

Cris Rea at his best
Aditional info.
Version 1. (Single Disc)
The cd contains 11 tracks

Track Listings:

01 - Jazzy Blue
02 - Josephine
03 - Stony Road
04 - Julia
05 - Stainsby Girls
06 - Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 49
07 - I Can Hear Your Heart Beat
08 - The Road to Hell
09 - On the Beach
10 - Let's Dance
11 - Fool (If You Think It's Over)

Version 2. (Double Disc)
The 1st cd editon contains 12 tracks
The 2nd cd editon contains 6 tracks

Disc: 1

01 - Jazzee Blue
02 - That's The Way It Goes
03 - Where The Blues Come From
04 - Josephine
05 - Work Gang
06 - Head Out On The Highway
07 - Easy Rider
08 - 'Til The Morning
09 - Stony Road
10 - KKK Blues
11 - Julia
12 - Stainsby Girls

Disc: 2

01 - Somewhere Between Highway 61 & 48
02 - I Can Hear Your Heart Beat
03 - Road To Hell
04 - On The Beach
05 - Let's Dance
06 - Fool (If You Think It's Over)

Great live album
I'm not a Chris Rea fan but I had this recommended to me and once I heard it I was hooked. Simply great music.