CHRIS REA : THE BLUE CAFE

1. Square Peg, Round Hole
2. Miss Your Kiss
3. Shadows Of The Big Man
4. Where Do We Go From Here?
5. Since I Found You
6. Thinking Of You
7. As Long As I Have Your Love
8. Anyone Quite Like You
9. Sweet Summer Day
10. Stick By You
11. I'm Still Holding On
12. The Blue Cafe
    Bonus Tracks :
13. Kyoto Blue
14. Ameno Nakano Kiirono Herumetto
15. On The Beach

Label : Magnet Records

Release Date : January 19, 1998

Length : 67:46
Review (Wikipedia) : The Blue Cafe is the fourteenth studio album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in January 1998. The singles released for the album were "The Blue Cafe", "Thinking of You", "Sweet Summer Day" and "Square Peg, Round Hole". There was also a Japanese version with three bonus tracks, "Kyoto Blue", "Ameno Nakano Kiirono Herumetto" and "On the Beach". It was Rea's sixth successive album to reach the UK top ten, peaking at No. 10. The Irish Times noted the "menacing atmosphere" evident on the album, "rooted mostly in Rea's sandpaper voice. And the twisted blues lines he plays on guitar". "Shadows of the Big Man" is "focused, multifaceted...But best of all is the title song, The Blue Cafe. An album that is bound to be a pure delight for fans of the man."

Review (AllMusic) : A confident and consistent album, The Blue Cafe combines Rea's atmospheric songwriting with larger doses of his slide guitar playing than usual. An overlooked talent of his, it underlies this collection of contemporary sounding songs rooted in dance beats and blues (a strange combination, but it works). Two songs from different sides of the spectrum illustrate the album well: "Sweet Summer Day" is one of the best from a master of summer anthems ("On the Beach," "All Summer Long," etc.), while "Where Do We Go From Here?" is a bitingly perceptive indictment of the emptiness of consumer culture laid against a cool, smooth backing track. All in all, this is one of Rea's most introspective albums and a strong addition to his catalog.