This Road (album)

This Road
Studio album by
Released3 April 1992 (1992-04-03)
Recorded1991
StudioMetropolis Studios, Studios 301, Sydney
Genre
Length53:26
LabelEMI
Producer
James Blundell chronology
Hand It Down
(1990)
This Road
(1992)
Touch of Water
(1993)
Singles from This Road
  1. "Way Out West"
    Released: 22 March 1992
  2. "This Road"
    Released: 1 June 1992
  3. "Down on the Farm"
    Released: August 1992

This Road is the third studio album by Australian country musician James Blundell, which was released in April 1992 by EMI. The album debuted at number four on the ARIA Albums Chart and became Blundell's highest-charting album. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association for shipments of more than 70,000 copies. This Road provided three singles, a duet with James Reyne for their cover version of "Way Out West" (March 1992), the title track (June) and "Down on the Farm" (August).

At the 1993 ARIA Music Awards, This Road was nominated for Best Country Album.[1] At the 1993 Country Music Awards, it won Top Selling album of the Year.[2]

Background

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Australian country musician James Blundell recorded his third studio album, This Road in 1991. Before it appeared he issued a duet single, with James Reyne, covering the Dingoes' song "Way Out West" in March 1992. It peaked at No. 2 on the ARIA Singles chart in April.[3] He reflected on its impact on his career, "I had six or seven years hard work before then. Now the venues are gradually getting bigger and the audience is broadening."[4] The album was released on 3 April via EMI, which was co-produced by Reyne with Garth Porter. It reached No. 4 on the ARIA charts. It was certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of more than 70,000 copies by the end of that year. Two further singles appeared from the album, "This Road" (June) and "Down on the Farm" (August). The latter is an ode to Rebecca Williams, whom he had met when he was 16 (c. 1980) and in 2020 they became engaged.[5]

Track listing

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All tracks are written by James Blundell,[7] unless otherwise indicated

This Road (1992) – EMI (7993292)[6]
No.TitleLength
1."This Road"3:47
2."Down on the Farm" (Blundell, Billy Dean)3:56
3."Young John Taylor"3:27
4."The Old Man's Gone"3:10
5."Hard Times" / "Way Out West" (Blundell / John Lee, Broderick Smith, John Bois, Kerryn Tolhurst, Chris Stockley)7:29
6."I Don't Fight Anymore"4:11
7."Rain on a Tin Roof"5:03
8."All That I Need"4:01
9."She Won't Let You Down" (Blundell, Lawrie Minson)4:05
10."Cabin Fever"3:44
11."Strokin'"3:38
12."Older Now"6:55
Total length:53:26

Charts

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Weekly charts

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Chart (1992) Peak
position
Australian Albums (ARIA)[8] 4

Year-end charts

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Chart (1992) Rank
Australian Albums Chart[9] 28
Australian Artist Albums Chart 7

Certifications

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Region Certification Certified units/sales
Australia (ARIA)[10] Platinum 70,000^

^ Shipments figures based on certification alone.

Release history

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Region Date Format Edition(s) Label Catalogue
Australia April 1992 Standard EMI 799329
16 August 2008 [11]
Re-release EMI 055CDCB

References

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  1. ^ "Winners by Year 1993". Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA). 14 December 2007. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  2. ^ "Golden Guitars Award Winners 1990s". Country. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  3. ^ Hung, Steffen (26 April 1992). "Single Top 50". Australian Charts Portal (Hung Medien). Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  4. ^ Leedham, Nicole (19 August 1993). "James Blundell Bigger than Country". The Canberra Times. Vol. 67, no. 21, 310. p. 25. Retrieved 17 September 2022 – via National Library of Australia.
  5. ^ Holland, Tim (30 March 2020). "James Blundell Will Marry 'Rebecca' from His 1992 Hit 'Down on the Farm'". Tone Country. Retrieved 17 September 2022.
  6. ^ "This Road [Sound Recording] / James Blundell". EMI. 1992. Retrieved 17 September 2022 – via Trove.
  7. ^ "Song Catalogue Search Results for 'This Road'". APRA AMCOS (Australasian Performing Right Association, Australasian Mechanical Copyright Owners Society). Retrieved 17 September 2022. Note: For additional work user may have to select 'Search and filter' and then input a title
  8. ^ "Australiancharts.com – James Blundell – THIS ROAD". Hung Medien. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  9. ^ "ARIA Top 50 Albums 1992". Australian Recording Industry Association. Retrieved 21 February 2018.
  10. ^ Ryan, Gavin (2011). Australia's Music Charts 1988–2010 (PDF ed.). Mt Martha, Victoria, Australia: Moonlight Publishing. p. 35.
  11. ^ "This Road re-release". Sanity. Retrieved 28 February 2018.