When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going (album)

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going
Studio album by
Bow Wow Wow
Released1983 (1983)
StudioBasing Street, London
GenreNew wave
Length35:21
LabelRCA Victor
ProducerMike Chapman
Bow Wow Wow chronology
Original Recordings
(1982) 		When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going
(1983) 		The Best of Bow Wow Wow
(1989)
Singles from When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going
  1. "Do You Wanna Hold Me?"
    Released: 1983
  2. "The Mountain Man"
    Released: 1983 (Netherlands-only release)
  3. "Love, Peace and Harmony"
    Released: 1983 (US-only release)
  4. "Mario (Your Own Way to Paradise)"
    Released: 1983 (Netherlands-only release)

When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going is the second studio album by English new wave band Bow Wow Wow, released in 1983 by RCA Records. The album was produced by Mike Chapman. It is the final album featuring all four original members of the band.

The cover photography was by David Bailey, and the album credits gave "a kiss" to James Honeyman-Scott and John Belushi,[1] both of whom had recently died.

On 25 May 2018, Cherry Red Records released the three-disc set Your Box Set Pet (The Complete Recordings 1980–1984), which included When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going in its entirety on the second disc, plus eight bonus tracks.[2]

Reception

Professional ratings
Review scores
SourceRating
AllMusic[3]
Record Mirror[4]
The Rolling Stone Album Guide[5]
Smash Hits8/10[6]
The Village VoiceC+[7]

Kimberley Leston of Smash Hits commented that When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going finds Bow Wow Wow playing "with even more haughty panache than usual."[6] Record Mirror's John Shearlaw praised the album as "a jolly, carefree and totally meaningless half hour" that "doesn't pretend to be anything other than completely disposable."[4] Robert Christgau was more critical in The Village Voice, saying that "Mike Chapman adds few if any hooks and Annabella Lwin shockingly little verve to their pattering Afrobeats."[7]

In a retrospective review, Tom Demalon of AllMusic called the album "a well-polished, well-executed effort that holds some surprises mainly in the fact that there is more diversity than on prior Bow Wow Wow records."[3] By contrast, J. D. Considine dismissed it as "slick" and "empty" in The Rolling Stone Album Guide.[5]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Matthew Ashman, David Barbarossa, Leigh Gorman and Annabella Lwin

Side one
No.TitleLength
1."Aphrodisiac"2:58
2."Do You Wanna Hold Me?"3:14
3."Roustabout"2:20
4."Lonesome Tonight"2:47
5."Love Me"3:28
6."What's the Time (Hey Buddy)"3:06
Side two
No.TitleLength
1."Mario (Your Own Way to Paradise)"2:54
2."Quiver (Arrows in My)"3:14
3."The Man Mountain"2:26
4."Rikki Dee"3:02
5."Tommy Tucker"2:44
6."Love, Peace and Harmony"2:50
Total length:35:21

Charts

Chart (1983) Peak
position
Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[8] 24
Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[9] 24
US Billboard 200[10] 83

References

  1. ^ When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going (liner notes). Bow Wow Wow. RCA Records. 1983. RCALP 6068.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  2. ^ Sinclair, Paul (27 March 2018). "Bow Wow Wow / Your Box Set Pet: The Complete Recordings 1980–1984". Super Deluxe Edition. Retrieved 11 June 2018.
  3. ^ a b Demalon, Tom. "When the Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going – Bow Wow Wow". AllMusic. Retrieved 6 August 2015.
  4. ^ a b Shearlaw, John (19 February 1983). "Bow Wow Wow: When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Get Going". Record Mirror. p. 18.
  5. ^ a b Considine, J. D. (2004). "Bow Wow Wow". In Brackett, Nathan; Hoard, Christian (eds.). The New Rolling Stone Album Guide (4th ed.). Simon & Schuster. pp. 99–100. ISBN 0-7432-0169-8.
  6. ^ a b Leston, Kimberley (3–16 March 1983). "Bow Wow Wow: When the Going Gets Tough the Tough Get Going". Smash Hits. Vol. 5, no. 5. p. 41.
  7. ^ a b Christgau, Robert (31 May 1983). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice. Retrieved 2 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Dutchcharts.nl – Bow Wow Wow – When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going" (in Dutch). Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  9. ^ "Swedishcharts.com – Bow Wow Wow – When the Going Gets Tough, the Tough Get Going". Hung Medien. Retrieved 4 July 2020.
  10. ^ "Bow Wow Wow Chart History (Billboard 200)". Billboard. Retrieved 4 July 2020.


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