Hold an Old Friend's Hand

Infobox Album | Name = Hold an Old Friend's Hand
Type = Album
Artist = Tiffany


Released = November, 1988
Recorded = August, September, and October, 1988
Genre = Pop
Length = 43:28
Label = MCA Records
Producer = George Tobin
Reviews =
*Allmusic Rating|3|5 [http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0jbsa9igb238 link]
*Rolling Stone Rating|1|5 [http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/tiffany/albums/album/285722/review/5946342/hold_an_old_friends_hand link]
Last album = "Tiffany"
(1987)
This album = "Hold an Old Friend's Hand"
(1988)
Next album = "New Inside"
(1990) |

"Hold an Old Friend's Hand" is the second regular studio album by Tiffany, released in November, 1988 (see 1988 in music). It was reasonably successful, with a platinum certification, peaking at #17 on the U.S. charts and yielding one top-ten single ("All This Time") [Boehm, Mike, "Heartaches of two songwriters are behind Tiffany's latest hit", "Los Angeles Times", Fri., Feb. 10, 1989, Orange County Edition, Calendar Section(6), p. 23] and another in the top 40 ("Radio Romance"); however, it didn't equal the multiplatinum success of her first album, which had two #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. By the summer of 1989, Tiffany's popularity plummeted as rapidly as it had risen two years before, and the last few singles released from this album failed to chart at all. In her summer tour, where she was to once again have the New Kids on the Block as her opening act as she did the year before, the sudden popularity of the New Kids caused their roles to be reversed, with Tiffany opening for them, although they were officially billed as co-headliners. The album went double paltinum

The title track was actually a cover, though the original version (released by Tracy Nelson in 1974) was not famous enough to be widely known. It was written by Donna Weiss, who also co-wrote "Bette Davis Eyes", a hit for Kim Carnes (another artist for whom Tiffany's manager/producer George Tobin has produced records). It was an unusual song to be sung by somebody so young (Tiffany was 17 at the time), as its lyrics seem to be sung from a perspective of many years' experience.

"Hearts Never Lie" is a duet with Chris Farren, who went on to some country music success.

The final track, "Overture", is an instrumental acoustic guitar performance by Grant Geissman. It includes the tunes to several of the songs from this album, and is an unusual track to have on a "teen bubblegum pop" album, especially since Tiffany is not even involved in the track.

Track listing

# "All This Time" (Tim James, Steven McClintock) – 4:20
# "Oh Jackie" (T. James, McClintock, Tim Heintz, Kimberly Feldman) – 4:14
# "Hold an Old Friend's Hand" (Donna Weiss) – 4:24
# "Radio Romance" (John Duarte, Mark Paul) – 4:04
# "We're Both Thinking of Her" (George Tobin, Mark Keefner) – 3:40
# "Walk Away While You Can" (Mike Piccirillo) – 4:04
# "Drop That Bomb" (Duarte, Bill Bowersock) – 3:44
# "It's the Lover (Not the Love)" (Rich Donahue, Patrick Dollaghan) – 4:08
# "I'll Be the Girl" (George Tobin, Piccirillo) – 4:27
# "Hearts Never Lie" (Allan Roy Scott, Hugh James) – 4:59
# "Overture" (T. James, McClintock, Scott, Hugh James, Weiss) – 1:24

Bsides

*Can't Stop A Heartbeat (Paul Mark, John Edward Duarte)
*I'll Be The Girl (George Tobin, Mike Piccirillo)
*Godda Be Love (Paul Mark, John Edward Duarte)
*Ruthless (Donna Weiss, John Duarte)

Notes and references