''Three Hearts in the Happy Ending Machine'' is the second solo album by American singer-songwriter
Daryl Hall
Daryl Franklin Hohl (born October 11, 1946), known professionally as Daryl Hall, is an American rock, R&B, and soul singer. He is best known as the co-founder and principal lead vocalist of Hall & Oates, with guitarist and songwriter John Oa ...
, released in 1986. The album features his only top-ten solo single, "
Dreamtime
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...
", which peaked at number five on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100. The second single, "
Foolish Pride", peaked at number 33.
Track listing
Singles
The album's lead single, "
Dreamtime
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...
", reached No. 5 on the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 on October 4, 1986, and remained on the chart for 15 weeks.
Receiving significant play on American radio stations across multiple formats, it peaked at No. 3 on the ''
Radio & Records
''Radio & Records'' (''R&R'') was a trade publication providing news and airplay information for the radio and music industries. It started as an independent trade from 1973 to 2006 until VNU Media took over in 2006 and became a relaunched sister ...
''
CHR/Pop Airplay chart, No. 24 on the ''Billboard''
Adult Contemporary
Adult contemporary music (AC) is a form of radio-played popular music, ranging from 1960s vocal and 1970s soft rock music to predominantly ballad-heavy music of the 1980s to the present day, with varying degrees of easy listening, pop, soul ...
chart, and number 11 on the
Album Rock Tracks
Mainstream Rock is a music chart published by ''Billboard'' magazine that ranks the most-played songs on mainstream rock radio stations in the United States. It is an administrative category that combines the " active rock" and " heritage rock" fo ...
chart.
A club play hit as well, the remix version peaked at No. 36 on the ''Billboard''
Hot Dance/Club Play chart on October 15, 1986. The song was ranked as the 53rd most successful song of 1986 across
contemporary hit radio
Contemporary hit radio (CHR, also known as contemporary hits, hit list, current hits, hit music, top 40, or pop radio) is a radio format common in many countries that focuses on playing current and recurrent popular music as determined by the Top ...
in the United States by ''Radio & Records''. "
Dreamtime
The Dreaming, also referred to as Dreamtime, is a term devised by early anthropologists to refer to a religio-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal religion and mythology, Australian Aboriginal mythology. It was originally u ...
" also spent 8 weeks in the UK Singles Charts, peaking at No. 28 on August 30, 1986.
The next single, "
Foolish Pride", peaked at No. 33 on the Hot 100 on the December 6, 1986, remaining on the chart for 13 weeks.
It peaked at No. 29 on the ''Radio & Records'' CHR/Pop Airplay chart and No. 21 on the Adult Contemporary chart.
Crossing over to the R&B charts, the single reached number 91 on the ''Billboard''
Hot Black Singles
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 po ...
chart on December 27, 1986. The single also reached No. 29 on the
''Cashbox'' Top 100.
The third single, "I Wasn't Born Yesterday", was released only in the UK and peaked at No. 93 in the UK Singles Chart on December 20, 1986 on its second week in the charts.
The final single, "Someone Like You", went to No. 57 on the Hot 100 on February 21, 1987, during an eight-week chart run in early 1987.
On the Adult Contemporary chart, it peaked at No. 11.
Critical reception
Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Stephen Thomas Erlewine (; born June 18, 1973) is an American music critic and former senior editor for the online music database AllMusic. He is the author of multiple artist biographies and record reviews for AllMusic, as well as a freelance ...
of
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 ...
commented that ''3 Hearts'' is a record "tied to its time", and that "although he couldn't quite pull it together at the time, of interest as a portrait of where Hall was in 1986."
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
was far more critical, giving the record a C and stating that the album was "bloated by endless codas, superfluous instrumentation, hall upon hall of vocal mirrors, and the artist's unshakable confidence that his talent makes him significant."
Production
* Produced by Daryl Hall, Dave Stewart and T-Bone Wolk; "What's Gonna Happen To Us" produced by Daryl Hall.
* Recorded between October 1985 and May 1986.
* Engineer at Studio de la Grande in Armee,
Paris, France
Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...
– Manu Guiot; assisted by Frederick Defaye and Serge Pauchard.
* Engineer at The Church in Crouch End,
London, England
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
– Jon Bavin; assisted by Stephen Gallifent.
* Engineer at Marcus Studios, London – Manu Guiot; assisted by
Dick Beetham and Tim Burrell.
* Engineers at
Right Track Studios,
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
– Frank Filipetti and Manu Guiot; assisted by Noah Baron and Paul Hamingson.
* Engineer at
Electric Lady Studio, New York City – Manu Guiot; assisted by Ken Steiger.
* Mixed by
Bob Clearmountain
Bob Clearmountain (born Chiaramonte, January 15, 1953) is an American mixing engineer and record producer, best known for his work with major acts, including Bruce Springsteen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Roxy Music, Pretenders, and Bryan A ...
at Electric Lady Studio, except "For You": Mixed by Frank Filipetti at Electric Lady; Filipetti was assisted by Ken Steiger.
* Mastered by
Bob Ludwig
Robert Carl Ludwig (born December 11, 1944), is a retired American mastering engineer. He mastered recordings on all the major recording formats for all the major record labels, and on projects by more than 1,300 artists, including Led Zeppeli ...
at
Masterdisk
Masterdisk is an American multimedia company in New York, located at 8 John Walsh Boulevard in Peekskill. They provide production services such as audio mastering, vinyl cutting and enhanced CD and DVD production.
Their clients include such n ...
(New York City, NY).
* Art Direction and Design – Jeb Brien and Joe Stelmach
* Hand Tinting – Cheryl Winser
* Photography – Paul Elledge
Personnel
* Daryl Hall – lead and backing vocals, keyboards, guitars,
mandolin
A mandolin (, ; literally "small mandola") is a Chordophone, stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally Plucked string instrument, plucked with a plectrum, pick. It most commonly has four Course (music), courses of doubled St ...
, drum programming
* Robbie Kilgore – keyboards
* Mike Klvana – keyboards,
Synclavier programming
* Patrick Seymour – keyboards,
E-mu Emulator II sampling
* Stephen Gillifant – E-mu Emulator II sampling
* Ric Morcombe – guitars
*
G.E. Smith – guitars
*
Jamie West-Oram – guitars
*
David A. Stewart – guitars, guitar solo (1), drum programming
*
Robbie McIntosh – guitars, guitar solo (4)
*
Tom "T-Bone" Wolk – guitars, mandolin, bass guitar
* Tony Beard – drums, additional percussion
* Michel De La Porte – percussion
*
Steve Ferrone
Stephen A. Ferrone (born 25 April 1950) is an English drummer. He is known as a member of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers from 1994 to 2017, replacing original drummer Stan Lynch, and as part of the "classic lineup" of the Aver ...
– additional percussion
*
Olle Romo
Olle Romö is a Swedish music producer, songwriter, and drummer.
Romo rehearsed with Swedish progressive rock group Kaipa in early 1982; however, he left the group after a few weeks to join Eurythmics, and he was a drummer for them from the mid ...
– additional percussion
* Jimmy Bralower – drum programming
* Manu Guiot – drum programming
* Steve Harvey – drum programming
* Bob Riley – drum programming
*
Lenny Pickett – saxophone
*
Dick Morrissey
Richard Edwin Morrissey (9 May 1940 – 8 November 2000) was a British jazz musician and composer. He played the tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone and flute.
Biography Background
He was born in Horley, Surrey, England. Dick Morrissey emerged ...
– saxophone solo (3)
*
Michael Kamen
Michael Arnold Kamen (April 15, 1948 – November 18, 2003) was an American composer (especially of film scores), orchestral arranger, orchestral conductor, songwriter, record producer and musician.
Early life
Michael Arnold Kamen was born in ...
– string arrangements and conductor (1)
* June Montana – additional backing vocals (1)
* Kate St. John – additional backing vocals (1)
*
Bob Geldof
Robert Frederick Zenon Geldof (; born 5 October 1951) is an Irish singer-songwriter and political activist. He rose to prominence in the late 1970s as the lead singer of the Irish rock band the Boomtown Rats, who achieved popularity as part ...
– additional backing vocals (2, 5)
*
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitch ...
– additional backing vocals (8)
Charts
References
{{Authority control
1986 albums
Daryl Hall albums
Albums produced by Dave Stewart (Eurythmics)
Albums recorded at Electric Lady Studios
RCA Records albums