''Enemy Within'' is the seventh solo

studio album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

by English singer-songwriter and guitarist

Chris Spedding Christopher John Spedding (born Peter Robinson, 17 June 1944) is an English guitarist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his studio session work. By the early 1970s, he had become one of th ...

. The album was originally released in October 1986, on the label New Rose Records in France, and in Germany on

Date Records Date Records was a sub-label of Columbia Records which had two different incarnations. The first incarnation was a short-lived rockabilly label in 1958 which included a release by Billy "Crash" Craddock. The more significant incarnation was rela ...

. The album was recorded over a period of three years starting in 1982, at three different recording studios. It was the six-year follow-up to his 1980 album ''I'm Not Like Everybody Else''. The album features contributions from Tom Finn,

Anton Fig Anton Fig (born 8 August 1952) is a South African session drummer perhaps best known as the drummer and second-in-command for Paul Shaffer and the World's Most Dangerous Band. David Letterman, for whom the band served as house band on his lat ...

Jimmy Zoppi James Carter Cathcart (born March 8, 1954), also known as Jimmy Zoppi, is an American retired voice actor, script adaptor, voice director, pianist and vocalist known for providing the English voice for James, Meowth and Professor Oak in the '' ...

, David Van Tieghem, and Keith Lentin. The album was his last recording of original material for four years, until he released ''Cafe Days'', in 1990. When the album was released in late 1986, it received mixed reviews, and went largely unnoticed by the public, being a commercial disappointment, and even missed the album charts worldwide, alike all of his solo albums (to date). It was later picked up for release by

Repertoire Records Repertoire Records is a record label from Hamburg, Germany (with UK subsidiaries in Leatherhead, Surrey and London), specialising in reissues of classic pop and rock albums originally issued in the 1960s and 1970s. It was founded in 1982 by Ki ...

in 2001, featuring rare bonus content. With the original album digitally remastered from the original 1/2" mix tapes; the bonus content consists of one outtake, and one live track.

Critical reception

Retrospective review

''Enemy Within'' received mixed reviews from contemporary

music critics Music journalism (or music criticism) is media criticism and reporting about music topics, including popular music, classical music, and traditional music. Journalists began writing about music in the eighteenth century, providing commentary on ...

. In his retrospective review for

AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...

, Mike DeGagne rated the album two and a half stars out of five. He praised the album for containing "enough fragments of mild rockabilly, pop, and traditional rock & roll." They also added that that made him sound "an awful lot like

Mark Knopfler Mark Freuder Knopfler OBE (born 12 August 1949) is a British musician. He was the lead guitarist, singer and songwriter of the rock band Dire Straits from 1977 to 1995, and he is the one of the two members who stayed during the band's existence ...

". However, they commented that "Spedding fails to unleash any real surprises"

Track listing

All tracks composed by Chris Spedding; except where indicated. ;Additional tracks

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes. * Chris Spedding - lead vocals; lead guitars; bass guitars; Casio synthesizer *

- drums; percussion * Carter Cathcart - bass guitar; keyboards * Amanda Blue - backing vocals ;Additional musicians * Keith Lentin - bass guitar and backing vocals on "Hologram" * Cedric Samson - backing vocals on "Hologram" * Diane Murray - backing vocals on "Hologram" * David Van Tieghem - drums on "Go West" * David Leboult - keyboards on "Go West" * Chris Bishop - bass guitar and backing vocals on "Go West" * Tom Finn - backing vocals on "Go West"

References

External links

* {{Authority control 1986 albums Chris Spedding albums