The floor of one room at the Power Station recording studio is littered with inflated plastic globes, bunched up like beach balls between two tall black speakers.From those speakers comes the soft hum of a synthesizer, like the rising buzzing of a bee, sharply sliced by the sting of a funky, brass-accented beat.
The small crowd of listeners in the room start bobbing heads and bouncing legs. But all are a bit surprised by this song -- and those in zydeco, reggae, ska and jazz styles that follow -- because the album they're listening to at this preview session is Small World, the latest release from Huey Lewis and the News, due in record stores this week. The plastic globes are promotional props illustrating the album's title.
Lewis and his band have become one of the most successful American rock acts of the 1980s with their past two albums, Sports (1983) and Fore (1985), selling more than 15 million copies worldwide.
They have achieved that success with wry and rhythmic hits such as "Stuck With You" and "Hip to Be Square." But the News' chart-topping sound has never been considered particularly hip -- until now.
Just ask the band's longtime manager, Bob Brown, who's attending this studio session. "I'm not a rah, rah guy," says Brown, conceding the News' previous LP, Fore was a bit too conventional even for his tastes.
But Small World is a big musical leap forward for Lewis and the News -- one the band hopes won't fly over the heads of its existing fans. The album takes its listeners on a joyful jaunt of varied musical styles, guided by the News' compass, which has never failed them before.
Obviously, during their extensive world tour of 1986-87, Lewis and his pals did something in their off hours besides play golf. Small World was largely inspired, Lewis has said, by the nightclubbing the band did on the European leg of their tour.
They rediscovered the influence of Caribbean rhythms and the American jazz resurgence that are changing the sound of pop overseas and here as well.
Both influences shape the title track "Small World," which is split into two parts that open and close the album's first side. The smooth syncopated beat of "Small World (Part One)" is the first hint of what's to come. The song's lyrical idea is simple but earnest: "If we all give a little/ it could really help a lot/ it's a small world/ but it's the only one we've got."
However, "Small World (Part Two)" is the real surprise and treat. One of two instrumental tracks on the album, it features a cool and lovely tenor saxophone solo by jazz vet Stan Getz that's bound to win the News a place on jazz stations for the first time.
Another guest musician, Bruce Hornsby, brings zydeco-style accordion riffs to "Old Antone's," a party tune straight from New Orleans' French Quarter sung by Lewis in fractured Franglais.
The question this album may raise is whether the News are trendy newcomers to the styles they explore here. But one of the first tunes recorded for the LP, "Bobo Tempo," was written by Lewis with members of his previous band, Clover, in 1975. It's a smoky, lilting reggae vamp complete with snapping harmonica lines blown in unison with the Tower of Power horn section who do ace brass work throughout.
"Perfect World," the album's first single, also has links to Lewis' past. It was written by Alex Call, another Clover alumnus.
"I actually found that song in a little club in Mill Valley Lewis' hometown in California's Marin County, said Brown. "Alex was playing it one night when I walked in and I couldn't get it out of my head."
With a Caribbean ska beat, accented once again by those tremendous Tower horns, "Perfect World" is a perfect mix of familiar pop and exotic rhythms. The song talks brightly of keeping faith and dreams even though, as Lewis sings, there "ain't no livin' in a perfect world." True to their wry image, the band plays the song in its video version on a clean pastel stage -- placed in the middle of a Marin County garbage landfill.
Another contrast, between music and lyric, makes "Walking with the Kid" another delight. With growling guitar lines from Chris Hayes, the song sounds at first like the tale of two street toughs. But listen again; it's Lewis walking in the park on a Sunday with his young son, tackling, as he sings at one point, "Walking 101."
A soft and sweet reggae beat runs through two love songs which follow, "World to Me" and "Better Be True." Both also display the News' affection for the harmony singing of '50s R&B; and '60s soul music so evident on their earlier LPs.
"Give Me the Keys (And I'll Drive You Crazy) races away with the beat but what's notable here is that, with the punch and shining solos of the Tower of Power horn section, Lewis and the band make almost no musical concessions to '80s pop tastes. This is a brassy arrangement that could have been written 20 years ago -- and doesn't sound a bit dated.
Nor does "Slammin'," a funky guitar, organ and horn jazz jam in a Memphis mode that may well be one of the year's surprise dance hits. It supports Brown's assertion of the News' ability: "They're more than just a 4/ 4 rock band," he says.
After the massive sales of their two previous LPs, it was clearly time for Huey Lewis and the News to take some chances. Small World is a gamble for these guys -- but one with a rewarding musical payoff for the fans.