Hello Friend (song)

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"Hello Friend"

Single by Chris Rea

from the album On the Beach

B-side

"Driving Home for Christmas"

Released

10 November 1986^[1]

Length

4:20

Chris Rea
Stuart Eales

Chris Rea singles chronology

"On the Beach"
(1986)

"Hello Friend"
(1986)

"Let's Dance"
(1987)

Music video

"Hello Friend (2019 Remaster)" on YouTube

"Hello Friend" is a song by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea that was released in 1986 as the third single from his eighth studio album On the Beach. The song was written by Rea, and produced by Rea and David Richards.^[2]

For its release as a single, Rea re-recorded the song and produced it alongside Stuart Eales.^[3] It reached No. 79 in the UK Singles Chart and remained in the Top 100 for six weeks.^[4]

The single's B-side is the first version of "Driving Home for Christmas" that Rea recorded. The song was re-recorded for New Light Through Old Windows in 1988 and released as a single in its own right.^[5] A special double 7-inch edition of the single was also released, containing two live tracks recorded earlier in 1986 at Montreux.^[6] The re-recorded version of "Hello Friend" was later included on the two-disc deluxe and remastered edition of On the Beach, released by Magnet in 2019.^[7]

Critical reception

On its release, Chris Eary of the Reading Evening Post wrote: "Double record pack featuring live and studio stuff with the title being a gruff smoocher."^[8] In a review of On the Beach, Glenn A. Baker of the Sydney Morning Herald commented: "Rea's atmospheric songs, particularly "Little Blonde Plaits" and "Hello Friend", sound like they should be on the soundtrack of a David Puttnam film."^[9] Rob Caldwell of AllMusic retrospectively noted the album's recurring theme of "deal[ing] with remembrance and old love", and selected "Hello Friend" as one example of this.^[2]

Track listing

7" single

"Hello Friend" (Re-record) – 4:20
"Driving Home for Christmas" – 4:34

7" single (UK special double pack)

"Hello Friend" (Re-record) – 4:20
"Driving Home for Christmas" – 4:34
"It's All Gone" (Recorded live At Montreux) – 8:12
"Steel River" (Recorded live At Montreux) – 7:58

12" single

"Hello Friend" (Full Version) – 4:46
"Driving Home for Christmas" – 4:34

Personnel

Production

Chris Rea, Stuart Eales - producers of "Hello Friend" and "Driving Home for Christmas"
Dave Richards - engineer on Montreux live tracks

Other

Lo Cole - cover painting
Mark Farrow - sleeve design

Charts

Chart (1986)	Peak position
UK Singles Chart^[4]	79

References

^ "New Singles". Music Week. 8 March 1986. p. 12. ISSN 0265-1548.
^ ^a ^b Rob Caldwell. "On the Beach - Chris Rea | Songs, Reviews, Credits". AllMusic. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
^ Ebborall, Bob (18 December 1986). "Surviving punk with the luck of the Irish". The Stage.
^ ^a ^b "CHRIS REA | full Official Chart History | Official Charts Company". Officialcharts.com. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
^ "The Story Of... 'Driving Home for Christmas' by Chris Rea - Smooth". Smoothradio.com. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
^ Massey, Paul (26 November 1986). "Rea-lly good music". Aberdeen Evening Express.
^ "Chris Rea / The Rea-issues". superdeluxeedition. Retrieved 2020-05-25.
^ Eary, Chris (15 November 1986). "Singles". Reading Evening Post.
^ Baker, Glenn A. (26 June 1986). "Cocker a cracker". The Sydney Morning Herald.

v t e Chris Rea
Studio releases	Whatever Happened to Benny Santini? Deltics Tennis Chris Rea Water Sign Wired to the Moon Shamrock Diaries On the Beach Dancing with Strangers The Road to Hell Auberge God's Great Banana Skin Espresso Logic The Blue Cafe The Road to Hell: Part 2 King of the Beach Dancing Down the Stony Road / Stony Road Hofner Blue Notes The Blue Jukebox Blue Guitars The Return of the Fabulous Hofner Bluenotes Santo Spirito Blues Road Songs for Lovers One Fine Day
Compilation releases	New Light Through Old Windows The Best of Chris Rea The Very Best of Chris Rea Heartbeats The Ultimate Collection Still So Far to Go: The Best of Chris Rea The Journey 1978–2009
Singles	"Fool (If You Think It's Over)" "Loving You" "Every Beat of My Heart" "Let It Loose" "I Can Hear Your Heartbeat" "I Don't Know What It Is But I Love It" "Bombollini" "Ace of Hearts" "Stainsby Girls" "Josephine" "It's All Gone" "On the Beach" "Hello Friend" "Let's Dance" "Loving You Again" "Joys of Christmas" "Driving Home for Christmas" "Working on It" "The Road to Hell" "That's What They Always Say" "Tell Me There's a Heaven" "Texas" "Auberge" "Heaven" "Looking for the Summer" "Winter Song" "Nothing to Fear" "God's Great Banana Skin" "Soft Top, Hard Shoulder" "Julia" "'Disco' La Passione"
Related articles	Discography La Passione

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