''Gatecrashing'' is the second and final studio album by British group Living in a Box. It was released on 26 June 1989 and features the UK top ten hits "Blow the House Down" and "

Room in Your Heart "Room in Your Heart" is the third single from the British group Living in a Box's 1989 album, ''Gatecrashing''. It rivalled the band's eponymous 1987 single as their highest-charting song. Both peaked at No. 5 on the UK Singles Chart. This so ...

Overview

Two years after the release of their debut album, Living in a Box returned in 1989. In the early part of the year, the lead single, "Blow the House Down" was released. The uptempo track, featuring a solo from

Queen Queen most commonly refers to: * Queen regnant, a female monarch of a kingdom * Queen consort, the wife of a reigning king * Queen (band), a British rock band Queen or QUEEN may also refer to: Monarchy * Queen dowager, the widow of a king * Q ...

guitarist

Brian May Sir Brian Harold May (born 19 July 1947) is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, animal welfare activist and astrophysics, astrophysicist. He achieved global fame as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist of the rock band Queen ...

, became their second UK top ten hit, peaking at No. 10. The planned follow-up, "Gatecrashing" was halted suddenly when the

Hillsborough disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

happened in the band's hometown. The single was shelved for a month, and subsequently peaked at a disappointing No. 36. Along with this, came the release of the album. Produced by

Tom Lord Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

and

Dan Hartman Daniel Earl Hartman (December 8, 1950 – March 22, 1994) was an American pop rock musician, multi-instrumentalist, producer, singer, and songwriter and original frontman for several bands, including the Soploids, Mak and the Turnarounds, Our Wri ...

among others, the album peaked at No. 21, four places higher than the band's debut, and was further boosted by the release of the third single. The ballad "

" became the band's third top ten hit, peaking at No. 5, matching the success of their debut hit. A fourth single "Different Air" failed to make an impact however. The album was recorded at

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

, Sarm West and Maison Rouge Studios, London between September and November 1988. Following the release and promotion of the album, the band embarked on the recording of their third album, but after a falling-out with their record company, they decided to part ways and the group split in 1990. The unreleased tracks made it onto lead singer

Richard Darbyshire Richard Simon Darbyshire (born 8 March 1960) is an English singer, songwriter, producer, and songwriting coach, best known as the frontman for the 1980s synthpop group Living in a Box. In 1985, Darbyshire became the vocalist/guitarist for the f ...

's debut solo album in 1994.

Critical reception

Nick Robinson, reviewer of British music newspaper ''

Music Week ''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future. History Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...

'', left mainly unfavourable comments on this album. He wrote: "While

's soulful vocals excel, the tunes just don't leap out at you." ''

Classic Pop Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards ...

'' magazine revisited the album in 2017, giving it a rave review as a forgotten classic from the 1980s. It cited "Unique" and "Room in Your Heart" as standout tracks.

Track listing

Personnel

– lead vocals, guitar * Anthony "Tich" Critchlow – drums * Marcus Vere – keyboards * Tim Cansfield – guitar * Nick Plytas – keyboards * Will Mowat – keyboards * Ian Green – bass * Danny Cummings, Steve Sidelnyk – percussion * John Thirkell, Pete Beachill, Chris "Snake" Davies – horns *

Lance Ellington Lance Ellington (born 22 June 1957) is an English singer, songwriter and actor. Ellington, the only son of the band leader Ray Ellington, specialises in swing and big ballads. He has worked with many artists including Sting, George Michael, ...

, Mae McKenna,

Maggie Ryder Maggie Ryder is an English singer/songwriter and musician, principally known as a backing singer for artists such Brian May and Eurythmics. Career In her early career, Ryder was the keyboard player with British funk/rock band Krakatoa. She ...

Miriam Stockley Miriam Arlene Stockley (born 15 April 1962) is a South African singer. She was born in Johannesburg, and her work is influenced by the Music of Africa, African music of her home country. Her distinctive ''vocal warm up#Vocalise, vocalise'' style ...

Stevie Lange Stevie Vann (born Stevie van Kerken), also known as Stevie Lange, is a Zambian-born British singer and vocal coach. She is best known for her work as a backing vocalist and studio singer for many groups and solo performers in the 1970s and 1980s. ...

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 ...

– backing vocals *

– guitar on "Blow the House Down" * Hugh Burns – guitar on "The Day After Tomorrow Night" * Chris "Snake" Davis – saxophone on "All the Difference in the World" *

Paul "Wix" Wickens Paul "Wix" Wickens is an English musician best known as keyboardist and musical director of Paul McCartney's touring band since 1989. In a career that started in 1973, Wickens has also worked with artists including Nik Kershaw, Bob Dylan, Joni ...

– piano on "Room in Your Heart" * Jack "Mozambique" Adams – mastering * Chris Porter – mixer (tracks: 3, 5, 9, 10) *

Tom Lord-Alge Tom Lord-Alge (born January 17, 1962) is an American music engineer and mixer. He began his career at Unique Recording in New York. Subsequently, he was the resident mixer at what used to be known as "South Beach Studios", located on the ground ...

– mixer (tracks: 1, 2, 4, 6, 7, 8) * Chris Porter and Living in a Box – producers (tracks: 5, 10) *

and Tom Lord-Alge – producers (tracks: 2, 4, 6, 9) *

Leon Sylvers III Leon Frank Sylvers III (born March 7, 1953) is an American singer, songwriter, disc-jockey, record producer and multi-instrumentalist. He was a member of the family group The Sylvers and became one of the most successful producers in Black mus ...

– producer (tracks: 1, 3, 7, 8)

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Certifications

References

{{Authority control Living in a Box albums 1989 albums Chrysalis Records albums Albums produced by Dan Hartman Albums produced by Tom Lord-Alge Albums produced by Leon Sylvers III