''Blue Yonder'' is the debut and sole studio album by American duo

Blue Yonder Blue Yonder Group, Inc. (formerly JDA Software Group) is an American supply chain management company operating as an independent Subsidiary of multinational holding company Panasonic Corporation. Founded in 1985, the company is headquartered in S ...

, released by

Atlantic The Atlantic Ocean is the second largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, with an area of about . It covers approximately 17% of Earth's surface and about 24% of its water surface area. During the Age of Discovery, it was known for se ...

in 1987. Two singles were released from the album: "Windsong" and "House of Love". "House of Love" was also recorded by American singer

Maria Vidal Maria Elena Vidal (born August 1, 1960) is an American singer songwriter. Her single "Body Rock" reached No. 8 on the US Dance Charts, No. 48 on the Billboard Hot 100, Hot 100, No. 5 on the Springbok Charts in South Africa, and No. 11 in the UK, ...

for her 1987 self-titled debut album.

Critical reception

Upon its release, ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertis ...

'' praised Stewart's "intriguing vocals" for being "the chief asset of this debut album". They felt "Windsong" "might cut a radio groove" but added the album's "moody songs generally lack necessary momentum for chart longevity". ''

Cash Box ''Cashbox'', also known as ''Cash Box'', is an American music industry trade magazine, originally published weekly from July 1942 to November 1996. Ten years after its dissolution, it was revived and continues as ''Cashbox Magazine'', an online ...

'' praised the album's "powerful collection of good, honest songs" and added, "Stewart's vocals exhibit a passion that places her in a league with

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

and

Chrissie Hynde Christine Ellen Hynde (born September 7, 1951) is an American-British musician. She is a founding member of the rock band the Pretenders and is the band's lead vocalist, guitarist, and primary songwriter; she and drummer Martin Chambers are the ...

." Gary Graff of the ''

Detroit Free Press The ''Detroit Free Press'' (commonly referred to as the ''Freep'') is a major daily newspaper in Detroit, Michigan, United States. It is the largest local newspaper owned by Gannett (the publisher of ''USA Today''), and is operated by the Detro ...

'' described the album as "well-done, albeit same-sounding pop". ''

Music & Media ''Music & Media'' was a pan-European magazine for radio, music and entertainment. It was published for the first time in 1984 as ''Eurotipsheet'', but in 1986 it changed name to ''Music & Media''. It was originally based in Amsterdam, but later m ...

'' picked ''Blue Yonder'' as one of their "albums of the week" on February 21, 1987.

Track listing

Personnel

Blue Yonder * Sandy Stewart – vocals, piano, synth, keyboards, percussion * David Munday – vocals, guitar, bass guitar, synth, piano, keyboards, percussion Additional musicians *

Philippe Saisse Philippe Saisse (; born 1957) is a French jazz musician, composer, record producer, and arranger. Career He was born in Marseille and raised in Paris. After studying at the Paris Conservatory he won a scholarship to the Berklee College of Music. ...

– keyboards (tracks 1–2), programming (tracks 1–2), additional arrangements (tracks 1–2) *

Kip Winger Charles Frederick "Kip" Winger (born June 21, 1961) is an American singer and bassist who is active as a member of the rock band Winger (band), Winger and as a solo artist. He initially gained notability as a member of Alice Cooper's band, contr ...

– bass guitar (tracks 1–2) * David Rosenberg – drums (tracks 1–2) * David Ruffy – drums (tracks 3, 5, 7–9) *

Chuck Sabo Chuck Sabo is an American drummer, musical director, songwriter, and producer who has performed and recorded with prominent artists including XTC, Natalie Imbruglia, Elton John, Tom Jones, Chaka Khan, Bryan Adams, Cher, Tina Turner, Pet Shop Boy ...

– percussion (tracks 1, 6), drums (track 6) *

Anthony Thistlethwaite Anthony "Anto" Thistlethwaite (born 31 August 1955, Lutterworth, Leicestershire, England) is an English-born Irish multi-instrumentalist best known as a founding member (with guitarist Mike Scott) of the folk rock group, The Waterboys and lat ...

– saxophone (tracks 3, 8) *

Roddy Lorimer Roddy Lorimer (born 19 May 1953) is a Scottish musician who plays trumpet and flugelhorn. He has performed with Blur, Gene, the Rolling Stones, Draco Rosa, the Who, the Style Council, Eric Clapton, Suede, Supergrass, Beyoncé, Jamiroquai, D ...

– trumpet (track 5) * Tim Saunders – tenor sax (track 5) * Simon Clarke – alto sax (track 5) *

Tessa Niles Tessa Margaret Niles ( ''née'' Webb; born 27 January 1961) is an English singer, best known as a backing singer for a wide variety of contemporary artists. She began her professional singing career in 1979. Early life and career Niles began h ...

Linda Taylor Linda Taylor (born Martha Louise White; January 1926 – April 18, 2002) was an American woman who committed extensive welfare fraud and, after the publication of an article in the ''Chicago Tribune'' in fall 1974, became identified as the "wel ...

, Ruby James – additional backing vocals (tracks 2, 7) *

Steve Hogarth Steve Hogarth (born Ronald Stephen Hoggarth, 14 May 1956), also known as "h", is an English musician. Since 1989, he has been the lead singer of the rock band Marillion, for which he also performs additional keyboards and guitar. Hogarth was f ...

– backing vocals (track 6), additional backing vocals (track 9) * Graeme Pleeth – additional keyboards (track 8) * Max Edie – additional backing vocals (track 9) Production * John Brand – producer (all tracks), engineer (all tracks), mixing (all tracks) *

Arif Mardin Arif Mardin (March 15, 1932 – June 25, 2006) was a Turkish-American music producer, who worked with hundreds of artists across many different styles of music, including jazz, rock, soul, disco and country. He worked at Atlantic Records for ov ...

– producer (tracks 1–2), mixing (tracks 1–2) * Clive Martin – engineer (all tracks), mixing (all tracks) * Philippe Saisse – associate producer * Felix Kendall, Eddie Garcia, Tony Harris, Sandy McLelland, Gerrard Johnson – additional engineering * James Cassidy, Fiona Death, Jim Mark, Jon – assistant engineers Other *

Laurence Dunmore Laurence Dunmore is a graphic designer and film director whose first major collaboration was the British production of '' The Libertine'' in 2005. He is a member of Ridley Scott Associates and has directed advertisements for AT&T, BMW, ING and Tur ...

– design * Russell Young – photography

References

{{reflist 1987 debut albums Atlantic Records albums Albums produced by Arif Mardin