This is a Super Audio CD playable only on Super Audio CD players.
Adapter: Miles Goodman.
Personnel: Lou Gramm (vocals, percussion); Howard Hewett (vocals, background vocals); Alex Smith, Kevin DuBrow (vocals); Gary Pihl, Sammy Hagar (guitar, background vocals); Garry Frost, Hiram Bullock, Larry Crane , Michael Landau, Micki Free, Mike Wanchic, Paul Jackson, Jr. , Steve Lukather, David E. Williams , Howard "Buzz" Feiten, Carlos Cavazo (guitar); Keith Olsen (acoustic guitar, bass guitar); Chas Sandford (electric guitar); Andrew Thompson , Jerry Peterson (saxophone); Michael Brecker (tenor saxophone); Alan Rubin, Lew Soloff (trumpet); Jim Pugh , Tom "Bones" Malone (trombone); Steve Wood (piano, keyboards, background vocals); Sterling Smith (piano, synthesizer, drums); Tom Snow (Fender Rhodes piano); Bill Cuomo (keyboards, synthesizer); Jesse Harms (keyboards, background vocals); Charlie Cole, Neil Larsen, Bob Mayo (keyboards); Michael Boddicker (synthesizer, bass synthesizer, percussion); John Philip Shenale (synthesizer, programming); Alan Pasqua, Thomas Dolby, David Foster (synthesizer); Bill Wolfer (mini-Moog synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, Oberheim synthesizer, drums); George Duke (mini-Moog synthesizer, Moog synthesizer, drums); Rick Wills (bass guitar, background vocals); Mark Meyer , Frankie Banali, Jim Keltner, Kenny Aronoff , Art Wood, Tris Imboden, Dennis Elliott , David Lauser (drums); Mike Botts, Paulinho Da Costa (percussion); Melissa Larson, Richey Washington, Holly Sherwood, Lori Raffa, George Merrill, Michelle Rodino, Matt Hayutin, Ian Lloyd, Eric Thayer, Amy Rubinroit, Marilyn Dorman, Melanie Howard, Karla Bonoff, Laura Williams, Marcy Levy, Richard Page, Robert John "Mutt" Lange, Shannon Rubicam, Steve George, Tom Kelly , Wendy Waldman , Bill Church, Mark Rivera, Rory Dodd, Carmen Grillo (background vocals).
Audio Mixers: Dennis Sager; Don Smith ; Ed Sanders; Erik Zobler; Humberto Gatica; Jellybean; Keith Olsen ; Paul Grupp; Tom Perry; Tommy Vicari; Brian Foraker.
Audio Remixer: Humberto Gatica.
Footloose was one of those rare pop culture phenomena that was so ephemeral it wound up defining the time. That's not to say that it wasn't silly -- after all, it was a film about a boy fighting to dance, just to dance! -- but it did capture the feeling of mainstream pop in the throes of the Reagan revolution. Perhaps that's why the soundtrack hasn't aged particularly well -- it was so emblematic of the era that it's forever tied to it. For an album that generated an astonishing number of hit singles (six, to be precise), it sure didn't produce any all-time pop classics. As a matter of fact, three of the four bonus tracks on this expanded 15th anniversary edition -- namely John Mellencamp's "Hurts So Good," Foreigner's "Waiting for a Girl Like You," Quiet Riot's "Bang Your Head (Metal Health)" -- have proven to be longer-lasting pop confections than most of the Footloose soundtrack. Nevertheless, there is considerable charm in the best of these pop artifacts: Kenny Loggins' goofy title track and hard-rocking "I'm Free (Heaven Helps the Man)"; Deniece Williams' sweet, synthesized "Let's Hear It for the Boy"; Bonnie Tyler's rampaging, Jim Steinman-directed "Holding Out for a Hero"; Karla Bonoff's soft rock classic "Somebody's Eyes"; and Mike Reno and Ann Wilson's "Almost Paradise," perhaps the definitive power ballad. All of these are dated, but they instantly evoke the summer of 1984, which is reason enough for Gen-X nostalgists to pick this up. Be forewarned, however: the remastering isn't noticeable and the four bonus tracks (including a remix of "Dancing in the Sheets") aren't necessarily enough to make the anniversary edition worth picking up if you already have the original album. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
