STUCK IN THE VINYL AGAIN - BILLY OCEAN - LOVE ZONE

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Good Thursday morning, morning people and welcome back to Stuck In The Vinyl Again. Today we celebrate the 71st Birthday of Leslie Sebastian Charles, MBE, better known to you and I, as Billy Ocean. Happy Birthday Billy ! The  Trinidadian-British recording artist released his sixth album, Love Zone, on Jive Records in 1986. The LP, produced by Barry Eastmond and Wayne Brathwaite,  peaked at #6 on the Billboard 200, #2 in the UK, and #1 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. It has been certified 2X Platinum. Four of the record's nine tracks were released as singles, as noted (*) below :

1. "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going"
Brathwaite, Eastmond, Robert John "Mutt" Lange Ocean
3:41 (*) (#31 Hot Dance Club Play, #6 Hot Soul Singles,  #2 Adult Contemporary and Hot 100, #1 UK, Norway, Ireland, the Netherlands, Canada, Belguim, Australia)

2. "Love Zone" 5:37 (*) (#49 UK, #10 Hot 100, #5 Adult Contemporary, #1  Hot R&B/Hip-Hop)

3. "Without You" 5:03

4. "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" 4:55 (*) (#12 UK, #1 Adult Contemporary, Hot Black Singles, Hot 100, and Canada) 

Side two

5. "Bittersweet" 4:58

6. "It's Never Too Late to Try"

Brathwaite, Eastmond, Ocean, Jolyon Skinner
4:54

7. "Showdown"
Brathwaite, Eastmond, Ocean, Skinner
4:58

8. "Promise Me"
Jonathan Butler, Skinner
4:36

9. "Love Is Forever" 4:15 (*) (#34 UK, #16 Hot 100, #10 Hot Black Singles, #1 Adult Contemporary)

Billy Ocean -  vocals, steel drums, guitar

Executive Producer on Track 1 – Robert John "Mutt" Lange
Producers – Barry J. Eastmond and Wayne Brathwaite
Engineer – Steve Power
Mixing – Nigel Green (Tracks 1, 3, 4, 5, 8 & 9); Bryan "Chuck" New (Tracks 2, 6 & 7)