Mean Business

Mean Business
Studio album by The Firm
Released 3 February 1986
Recorded 1985
Genre Rock
Length 39:20
Label Atlantic
Producer Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers and Julian Mendelsohn
The Firm chronology
The Firm
(1985)		 Mean Business
(1986)
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Rolling Stone(unfavorable)[2]

Mean Business is the second and final studio album by The Firm, released by Atlantic Records on 3 February 1986. Repeating the same bluesy formula as on the first album, The Firm (1985), Mean Business did not achieve the same commercial success.

One of the album's tracks, "Live in Peace", was first recorded on Paul Rodgers' first solo album in 1983, Cut Loose. The versions differ in that Chris Slade played the drums slower than on the original version, apart from the ending, and Jimmy Page added a bluesy guitar solo at the end of the song.

The album's title was intended to have a double meaning: that the music business is a hard one, and that the band was serious about its music ("The Firm mean business"). However, perhaps due to the lukewarm-at-best critical and financial success which the band met, Page and Rodgers decided to disband The Firm within months of this album's release.

The album peaked at #22 on the Billboard 200 albums chart. and at #46 on the UK Albums Chart. The single "All the King's Horses" spent four weeks at the top of Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

"Fortune Hunter" was originally co-written by Page and Chris Squire for the aborted XYZ project in 1981. Squire was not credited on The Firm's version and later said he would have sued for royalties if the album had been a hit, but since it failed he dropped the idea because he saw it as inappropriate at a time when he was receiving six-figure yearly income from the sales of 90125.

Track listing

1986 vinyl edition & 1986 Compact disc edition
Side one
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Fortune Hunter"  Jimmy Page, Paul Rodgers 5:00
2. "Cadillac"  Page, Rodgers 5:57
3. "All the King's Horses"  Rodgers 3:16
4. "Live in Peace"  Rodgers 5:05
Side two
No. TitleWriter(s) Length
1. "Tear Down the Walls"  Page, Rodgers 4:43
2. "Dreaming"  Tony Franklin 6:00
3. "Free to Live"  Page, Rodgers 4:13
4. "Spirit of Love"  Rodgers 5:06

Chart positions

Album

Chart (1986) Peak Position
US Billboard The 200 Albums Chart[3] 22
Canadian RPM Top 100 Chart[4] 37
Swedish Albums Chart[5] 43
UK Albums Chart[6] 46

Singles

Year Single Chart Position
1986 "All the King's Horses" US Billboard Album Rock Tracks[7] 1
1986 "All the King's Horses" US Billboard Hot 100[8] 61
1986 "All the King's Horses" US Cash Box Top 100 Singles[9] 67
1986 "Live in Peace" US Billboard Album Rock Tracks[10] 21

Personnel

Band

Other

Additional notes

Recorded and mixed at The Sol Studios, Cookham, Berkshire, England.
Mastered at Atlantic Studios, New York, United States.

Catalogue: Atlantic 781628-1

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  3. ↑ "The Billboard 200 - 15 March 1986". Billboard. Archived from the original on July 12, 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  4. ↑ "RPM Albums Chart - 29 March 1986". RPM. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  5. ↑ "Top 60 Albums - 2 April 1986". swedishcharts.com. Retrieved 17 January 2009.
  6. ↑ "Top 100 Albums - 5 April 1986". chartstats.com. Archived from the original on 5 December 2012. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  7. ↑ "Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks - 22 February 1986". billboard.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  8. ↑ "Hot 100 Chart - 22 March 1986". billboard.com. Archived from the original on May 19, 2014. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  9. ↑ "Top 100 Singles - 22 March 1986". cashboxmagazine.com. Retrieved 19 January 2009.
  10. ↑ "Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks - 5 April 1986". billboard.com. Archived from the original on September 29, 2007. Retrieved 15 January 2009.
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