Freight Train Heart
A close-up black-and-white photo of the artist, he wears a dark shirt and a light coloured necklace. Over his right shoulder is a crushed garment with some lettering, including the words "Hells", "Bell", "Bike" and other words which are indistinct. The album title is across the top in blue print followed by the artist's first name, which is in red. The artist's last name is across the right in large red print, written side-ways.
Studio album by
Jimmy Barnes
Released13 November 1987 (1987-11-13)
Studio
GenreHard rock
Length43:02
LabelMushroom
Producer
Jimmy Barnes chronology
For the Working Class Man
(1985) 		Freight Train Heart
(1987) 		Barnestorming
(1988)
Singles from Freight Train Heart
  1. "Too Much Ain't Enough Love"
    Released: October 1987
  2. "Driving Wheels"
    Released: January 1988
  3. "I'm Still on Your Side"
    Released: March 1988
  4. "Waitin' for the Heartache"
    Released: July 1988
Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[1]
Kerrang![2]

Freight Train Heart is the third studio album by Australian rock singer, Jimmy Barnes, released in November 1987 in Australia by Mushroom Records and in early 1988 in the United States by Geffen. It spent 5 weeks at the top of the Australian Album charts in December 1987 and January 1988.[3]

Details

Most of the tracks were written by Barnes and one of the producers, Jonathan Cain, however "Waitin' for the Heartache" was co-written by Barnes and Desmond Child and "Walk On" was co-written by Child and ex-Rainbow vocalist Joe Lynn Turner; (Turner would later record his own version with his band Sunstorm). Two songs were also written with Jim Vallance. According to Vallance, Cain also contributed "later",[4] most likely during the recording process.

"Seven Days" was a Ronnie Wood track originally written for him by Bob Dylan. This was the last song recorded for the album, and features INXS drummer Jon Farriss, bassist Chris Bailey and Rick Brewster from The Angels. Brewster, Johnny Diesel, Peter Kekell and The Angels' Jim Hilbun were all hired after Barnes returned with the uncompleted master tapes from the initial recording sessions at the Power Station in New York City, where he had fought for creative control with both Cain and Geffen Records.[5] The album was completed at Rhinoceros Studios in Sydney with Mike Stone producing. However the liner notes of the 1987 Mushroom album release compared to the Geffen album version release in 1988 reveal that a part of the album's songs has been additionally modified between the two releases at Right Track Studios, Hit Factory & A&R Studios. As an example the song Waitin' for the Heartache is slightly different on both album versions. Other guests to contribute include Huey Lewis, who provides backing vocals and harmonica on "I Wanna Get Started With You", Wendy Matthews and David Glen Eisley of the melodic hard rock band Giuffria.

Ian Moss was booked to play on the album, but pulled out. Barnes said, "He was supposed to but he chickened out. He is so worried about living up to this legendary status of Cold Chisel. He thought people might compare it and he might come out looking worse."[6]

Track listing

  1. "Driving Wheels" (Jimmy Barnes, Jonathan Cain, David Roberts) - 5:16
  2. "Seven Days" (Bob Dylan) - 3:23
  3. "Too Much Ain't Enough Love" (Barnes, Cain, Neal Schon, Randy Jackson, Tony Brock) - 4:44
  4. "Do or Die" (Barnes, Cain) - 3:51
  5. "Waitin' for the Heartache" (Barnes, Desmond Child) - 4:34
  6. "Last Frontier" (Barnes, Cain) - 5:29
  7. "I Wanna Get Started with You" (Barnes, Cain, Schon) - 3:46
  8. "I'm Still on Your Side" (Barnes, Jim Vallance, Cain) - 4:00
  9. "Lessons in Love" (Barnes, Vallance, Jeff Neill, Cain) - 3:45
  10. "Walk On" (Child, Joe Lynn Turner) - 4:14

Personnel

Technical

Chart positions

Weekly chart performance for Freight Train Heart
Chart (1987/88) Peak
position
Australian (Kent Music Report)[3] 1
Canadian Albums Chart[7] 86
New Zealand Albums Chart[8] 5
Swedish Albums Chart[9] 24
US Billboard 200[10] 104


Year-end charts

Year-end chart performance for Freight Train Heart
Chart (1988) Position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[11] 3
New Zealand Albums (RIANZ)[12] 19

Certifications

Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[13] 5× Platinum 350,000^
New Zealand (RMNZ)[14] Platinum 15,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

See also

References

  1. ^ Lewis, Jonathan. "Jimmy Barnes - Freight Train Heart review". AllMusic. All Media Network. Retrieved 17 May 2018.
  2. ^ Oliver, Derek (30 January 1988). "Jimmy Barnes - 'Freight Train Heart'". Kerrang!. No. 172.
  3. ^ a b Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. St Ives, NSW: Australian Chart Book Ltd. ISBN 0-646-11917-6. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974.
  4. ^ "Jimmy Barnes - Lessons In Love". Jimvallance.com. Retrieved 16 May 2021.
  5. ^ Creswell, Toby Jimmy Barnes: Too Much Ain't Enough
  6. ^ Michael Lawrence (2017). Cold Chisel Wild Colonial Boys. Melbourne Books. p. 246. ISBN 9781925556209.
  7. ^ "Canadian Albums Chart > Jimmy Barnes". RPM. Retrieved 22 February 2011.
  8. ^ "New Zealand Charts - Jimmy Barnes". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
  9. ^ "Swedish Charts - Jimmy Barnes". Hung Medien. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
  10. ^ "Allmusic - Billboard Albums > Jimmy Barnes". All Music. Retrieved 15 February 2011.
  11. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums 1988". ARIA Charts. 1988. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  12. ^ "Official Top 40 Albums of 1988". Recorded Music NZ. 1988. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
  13. ^ "ARIA Charts – Accreditations – 1998 Albums" (PDF). Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  14. ^ "Official Top 40 Albums". Recorded Music NZ. 7 August 1988. Retrieved 6 December 2022.
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