The Way It Is (Bruce Hornsby album) explained

The Way It Is
Type:	studio
Artist:	Bruce Hornsby and the Range
Cover:	the way it is hornsby.jpg
Alt:	cover art
Caption:	Album cover on the reissue
Released:	April 24, 1986^[1]
Recorded:	1985–1986
Studio:	Rumbo (Los Angeles) Ocean Way (Hollywood) Capitol (Hollywood) Studio D (Sausalito) King Sound (Hollywood) Village (Los Angeles)
Genre:	Rock, soft rock
Length:	43:12
Label:	RCA
Producer:	Bruce Hornsby, Huey Lewis, Elliot Scheiner
Chronology:	Bruce Hornsby
Next Title:	Scenes from the Southside
Next Year:	1988

The Way It Is is Bruce Hornsby and the Range's debut album, released by RCA Records in 1986. Led by its hit title track, the album went on to achieve multi-platinum status and helped the group to win the Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Other hits from the album include "Mandolin Rain" and "Every Little Kiss". Huey Lewis features on harmonica and vocals on "Down the Road Tonight". Lewis also co-produced the song, along with the tracks "The Long Race" and "The River Runs Low".

Releases

The original release of the album featured an impressionistic photograph on the cover of Bruce Hornsby playing an accordion.^[2] It was originally targeted at the New Age music market and featured slightly different versions of the songs "Down the Road Tonight" and "The River Runs Low."

Once the album's tracks started to receive regular airplay on pop music stations in late 1986, the album was remixed and was re-released with a new sepia-toned cover featuring a photo of the band superimposed over a photo of the Chesapeake Bay Bridge–Tunnel in Virginia.

Track listing

Tracks 2 and 5 written by Bruce Hornsby; all other songs written by Bruce Hornsby and John Hornsby. Track times are for the current release of the album. The opening of "Every Little Kiss" features an extended quotation from the opening of Movement III, The Alcotts, from Charles Ives's Piano Sonata No. 2.

Live: The Way It Is Tour 1986–87

Produced by DIR Broadcasting for the King Biscuit Flower Hour. Recorded live at The Ritz, New York City, February 2, 1987 by Effanel Music.

Personnel

Bruce Hornsby and The Range

• Bruce Hornsby – vocals, grand piano, synthesizer, hammered dulcimer, accordion
• David Mansfield – guitar, mandolin, violin
• George Marinelli – acoustic guitar, electric guitar, backing vocals
• Joe Puerta – bass, backing vocals
• John Molo – drums, percussion

Additional personnel

• Huey Lewis – harmonica, backing vocals on "Down the Road Tonight"
• John Gilutin and Sean Hopper – synthesizer consultants

Production

• Executive producer – Paul Atkinson
• Tracks 1–3, 5, 7 and 9 produced by Bruce Hornsby and Elliot Scheiner (for Trackman, Inc.); tracks 4, 6 and 8 produced by Huey Lewis.
• Recorded and engineered by Elliot Scheiner (Tracks 1–3, 5, 7 and 9) and Jim Gaines (Tracks 4, 6 and 8)
• Additional engineers – Eddie King and Jeff "Nik" Norman
• Assistant engineers – Jim "Watts" Vereecke and Lenette Viegas.
• Mixed by Eddie King, David Luke, Don Smith and Elliot Scheiner.
• Mixed at Fantasy Studios (Berkeley, CA); Conway Studios (Hollywood, CA); The Village Recorder and The Complex (Los Angeles, CA); Rumbo Recorders (Canoga Park, CA).
• Mastered by Stephen Marcussen at Precision Mastering (Hollywood, CA).
• Digital editing by Bob Harlan
• Production assistant – Ivy Skoff
• Art direction and design – Ted Raess
• Art consultant – Kathy Hornsby
• Photography – Aaron Rapoport
• Inner sleeve photo – Robert Llewellyn
• Enforcement – Jeff Gerson

Charts and certifications

Weekly charts

Chart (1986)! scope="col"

Peak position
Australian Albums (Kent Music Report)^[3]	20

Year-end charts

Chart (1987)! scope="col"

Position
New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)^[4]	40
US Billboard 200	4

Certifications

Notes and References

1. Web site: FMQB. 36.
2. Web site: The first U.S. CD issue of Bruce Hornsby and The Range The Way It Is. Keith Hirsch's CD Resource. 3 February 2015.
3. Book: Kent, David. David Kent (historian). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992. illustrated. Australian Chart Book. St Ives, N.S.W.. 1993. 0-646-11917-6. 142.
4. Web site: Top Selling Albums of 1987. Recorded Music NZ. 8 February 2022.