If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger

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If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger
Bruce Willis' studio album

Publication
(s)

1989

admission

1989

Label (s) Motown Records

Format (s)

CD , LP

Genre (s)

Blues , R&B , soul

Title (number)

10 (LP) / 12 (CD)

running time

39:26 (LP) / 46:40 (CD)

occupation
  • Organ : William Smith [1 - 5, 7 - 9]
  • Trumpet - Darrel Leonard [1, 4, 8], Gary Grant [9], Jerry Hey [9]
  • Bass : Roscoe Beck [1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 9], Will Lee [10]

production

Robert Kraft

Studio (s)

Ocean Way Studios, Hollywood Sound Recorders, Five Spot Studios, The Sound Factory, The Hit Factory

chronology
The Return of Bruno
1987 		If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger -

If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger is the second and so far last studio album by the American actor and singer Bruce Willis .

background

In 1986, Willis accepted an offer from the Motown record company to record an album of his own. The debut album The Return of Bruno , which was released on January 20, 1987, contained three songs written for Willis, mainly classics by American soul , blues and R&B artists, was a surprise success and was awarded a gold record in the USA . Despite critical reviews, it reached number 14 on the US album charts ; all three singles released in the USA were able to establish themselves on the Billboard Hot 100 , with Respect Yourself being the most successful at number 5. In Great Britain the album reached number 7 on the album charts , Here Under the Boardwalk was already released in May and even reached number 2 on the UK singles chart.

For the follow-up album, Willis no longer relied solely on classics, but wrote five of the tracks himself together with Robben Ford and producer Robert Kraft. Each of the songs recorded for the album was dedicated to a situation or a person.

Originally, the LP version of the album did not contain the song Love Makes the World Go 'Round as the last track , but the song Barnyard Boogie ; however, this was changed at the last minute.

reception

Chart positions
Explanation of the data
Singles
Save the Last Dance for Me
  UK 80 11/25/1989 (2 weeks)

If It Don't Kill You, It Just Makes You Stronger wasn't a huge hit commercially. In the US, neither the album nor the single Save the Last Dance for Me could establish itself. Only in Great Britain did this song, which Willis had dedicated to his daughter Rumer, hit the charts, where it reached number 80, but slipped off the hit list after two weeks.

The German magazine Musikexpress said that "when so-called US actors uttered sequences of sounds", "bodily harm is almost always fulfilled (see David Hasselhoff , Audrey Landers, etc.)." “Fiery rock 'n' roll, mixed with pitch-black soul blues.” The band raved about Johnny (guitar) and Edgar Winter (saxophone), Robben Ford (guitar) and bassist Roscoe Beck . Willis himself sings bone-dry and let "the harmonica howl". He built “five consistently strong original compositions”, added “standards by Willie Dixon and Margaret Lewis and a gorgeous version of Save the Last Dance. "All ten songs are" feverish and furious, "all of them are tips for playing; there is "no failure, and each of the full-blown wind arrangements" is "an additional pleasure."

The reviewer Steven McDonald of Allmusic judgment on the album, it was "difficult to explain the lukewarm acceptance of Willis' second album after the previous album was such a success" was. Willis is “not an opera tenor, but he has a powerful, bluesy voice that deserves its place among the thundering instruments on the album” . He comes to the conclusion that it is an "extremely energetic" album.

Track list

List of the original LP version:

  1. 3:33 - Pep Talk (Bruce Willis, Robert Kraft, Robben Ford) - Dedication: "A random note, from me to myself"
  2. 3:20 - Crazy Mixed-Up World ( Willie Dixon ) - Dedication: "Well I'm crazy ain't you heard?"
  3. 3:58 - Turn It Up (A Little Louder) (Bruce Willis, Robert Kraft, Robben Ford) - Dedication: "For all my wonderful friends in Nichols Canyon (God Bless America)"
  4. 2:53 - Soul Shake (Margaret Lewis, Mira Ann Smith) - Dedication: "A toe-tapper from my be-boppin 'days"
  5. 4:50 - Here Comes Trouble Again (Bruce Willis, Robert Kraft, Robben Ford) - Dedication: “Trouble never goes away. It just changes disguises. "
  6. 3:30 - Save the Last Dance for Me ( Doc Pomus , Mort Shuman) - Dedication: "For my daughter Rumer"
  7. 5:25 - Blues for Mr. D (Robert Kraft, Bruce Willis, Robben Ford) - Dedication: "A slow one for my brother"
  8. 4:05 - Tenth Avenue Tango (Robben Ford) - Dedication: "For the boys at the corner of 49th and 10th"
  9. 3:54 - Cant't Leave Her Alone (Bruce Willis, Robert Kraft, Robben Ford) - Dedication: "From an incident in the schoolyard somewhere around 1969"
  10. 2:43 - Barnyard Boogie ( Louis Jordan , Wilhelmina Gray) - Dedication: "Animal farm redux"

CD bonus tracks:

  1. 2:53 - Love Makes the World Go 'Round (Dean Jackson) - Dedication: "For Demi"
  2. 3:28 - I'll Go Crazy ( James Brown ) - Dedication: "A humble homage to the Godfather"

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ RIAA awards database
  2. ↑ Charts UK
  3. ↑ Musikexpress, issue 1.1990, page 90