First Offense

First Offense
Studio album by Corey Hart
Released	June 1983
Recorded	1982-1983 Revolution Recording Studios, Cheadle Hulme, Cheshire, England Eel Pie Studios, London, England
Genre	Pop/Rock
Label	Aquarius (Canada) - AQR 537 EMI (United States) - 2401861
Producer	Jon Astley, Phil Chapman
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Corey Hart chronology
First Offense (1983) Boy in the Box (1985)

First Offense is the debut album by Corey Hart, released in 1983. It featured the hit singles "Sunglasses at Night" (along with an award-winning music video) and the ballad "It Ain't Enough". Hart was subsequently nominated for four Juno Awards and a Grammy Award for "Best New Artist".

Background and writing

After his first break in meeting Billy Joel in a New York recording studio, Corey Hart was signed to Aquarius Records and went to England to record his first album. Much of it was recorded at Revolution Recording Studios in Cheshire, where owner Andy Macpherson helped Hart acquire a mix of English musicians who were known for their work in other bands, including Gary Tibbs (Adam and the Ants) on bass, Paul Burgess (10cc) on drums and Michael Hehir (Sad Café) on guitar. Hehir would become a fulltime member of Hart's band for the next seven years. The album also features a cameo by Eric Clapton, playing the Dobro (Resonator guitar); a fact mentioned in Hart's early promotional materials.

Hart had completed the album by August 1983, minus "Sunglasses at Night" which had yet to be written. In a 1985 radio interview with CHUM-FM, Hart described how he had returned to Canada and then penned the song: "I wrote 'Sunglasses' and I said to the record company "I gotta do this song. I've just got to put it on the album" because... it's just such an immediate song for me that when I wrote it, when I wrote the riff to that song, I said there's just something about it, some magic about this song. It was one of the only songs that I've written where I actually thought of the video at the time that I was writing it. I had that same gut feeling about 'Sunglasses' the minute I wrote it." The song, with its synth-driven beat and distinctive guitar, was added to the album and became the hit lead single, rising to #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.

The other singles from the album included the ballad "It Ain't Enough" which became a Top-20 hit, "She Got the Radio" which features a lead saxophone and "Lamp at Midnite". Hart would tour North America and subsequently Europe and Australia on the strength of the "Sunglasses" single.

Two versions of the album were released, with the Canadian edition (on Aquarius Records) featuring a black & white photograph of Hart on the cover standing against a brick wall. The other edition (released on EMI) is more familiar as it is the cover used for all CD releases of the album and features a color close-up shot of Hart with stubble. The Canadian LP edition features an extra track "Araby (She's Just a Girl)", which was not used on the EMI edition and has never been released on CD.

In the liner notes, Hart dedicated the album to his mother Mindy.

Track listing

All Songs Written By Corey Hart.

1. "Sunglasses at Night" 5:17
2. "Peruvian Lady" 4:21
3. "Lamp at Midnite" 4:06
4. "She Got the Radio" 3:56
5. "It Ain't Enough" 3:31
6. "Does She Love You" 3:35
7. "Cheatin' in School" 4:25
8. "World Is Fire" 5:09
9. "At the Dance" 3:31
10. "Jenny Fey" 3:37

Outtakes:

• "Araby (She's Just a Girl)" - from the Canadian LP edition
• "Don't Keep Your Heart" - b-side from the "Sunglasses at Night" 7" single (unreleased outside this 45)

Singles

The following singles were released from the album, with the highest charting positions listed.

#	Title	B-side	Date	CAN	US
1.	"Sunglasses at Night"	"Don't Keep Your Heart"	1984	24	7
2.	"It Ain't Enough"	"Cheatin' in School"	1984	74	17
3.	"She Got the Radio"	"Araby"	1984	40	—
4.	"Lamp at Midnite"	"Sunglasses at Night" (extended version)	1985	38	—

Charts and awards

• First Offense reached a high of #31 on the Billboard 200 album charts.
• The album was certified gold (over 500,000 sold in the U.S.) by the RIAA on Jan. 1987.
• Hart was nominated for four Juno Awards in 1984 including "Male Vocalist of the Year", "Composer of the Year", "Single of the Year" and "Best Video" (winner).

Music videos

Three music videos were produced for this album, all of them directed by Rob Quartly who was one of the most active Canadian music video directors at that time (and would go on to produce more videos for Hart). The iconic video for "Sunglasses at Night" featured a futuristic vision of a police-run state with a young Hart wearing Ray-Ban Wayfarer sunglasses and trying to outrun the authorities. The video received heavy airplay on MTV and helped push the song up the Billboard charts. Quartly received the Juno Award for "Video of the Year for "Sunglasses" in 1984.

Two versions of the video for the ballad "It Ain't Enough" were made, one redone for the U.S. market. The difference between these two versions is that one simply features Hart singing the song into a classic Shure model 55 microphone in a shadowy room, while the other focuses on a storyline of Hart trying to win back the affections of a girl. The audio is also different between the two. The first version features the original mix of "It Ain't Enough", while the second version features the remix/single version, which adds a little guitar riff throughout the entire song.

The girl who appears as Hart's love interest in both the video for "Sunglasses" and one of the versions of "It Ain't Enough" is Laurie Brown, who was a host of The NewMusic and later became a VJ on MuchMusic.

Personnel

Personnel

• Corey Hart - vocals, background vocals, keyboards
• Richie Close - keyboards
• Phil Chapman - keyboards
• Andy Barnett - lead guitar
• Michael Hehir - guitar
• Jon Astley - guitar, background vocals on "At the Dance"
• Eric Clapton - Dobro guitar on "Jenny Fey"
• Andy Macpherson - guitar
• Andy Hamilton - tenor & alto saxophone
• Gary Tibbs - bass guitar
• Paul Burgess - drums, percussion
• Phil Wooley & Tim Green - background vocals on "Peruvian Lady" and "At the Dance"

Production

• Jon Astley - producer, engineer
• Phil Chapman - producer, engineer
• Andy Macpherson - engineer
• Greg Fulginiti - mastering at Artisan Sound Recorders
• Henry Marquez - art direction
• Michael Diehl - design
• Raul Vega & Jerry McGaraughty - photography

References

• Michael Hehir - Bio from SadCafe.co.uk
• Andy Macpherson - Biography
• MVDbase - Hart's videos
• Hart Bio - Jam! Canadian Pop Encyclopedia