Hard at Play

Hard at Play is the sixth album by American rock band Huey Lewis and the News. It was released in 1991 on EMI for most of the world and Chrysalis in the UK. Hard at Play peaked at number 27 on the Billboard 200 pop albums chart and produced two top 40 singles, "Couple Days Off" and "It Hit Me Like a Hammer." Music videos were released for "It Hit Me like a Hammer," "Couple Days Off," and "He Don't Know."

Critical reception
In a review for AllMusic, Stephen Thomas Erlewine notes the "return to the straight-ahead blues-inflected pop/rock that made Huey Lewis and the News superstars in the early '80s" with Hard at Play.

Track listing

 * 1) "Build Me Up" (Johnny Colla, Huey Lewis) – 4:28
 * 2) "It Hit Me Like a Hammer" (Robert "Mutt" Lange, Lewis) – 4:01
 * 3) "Attitude" (Max Carl) – 4:00
 * 4) "He Don't Know" (Don Covay, Jon Tiven, Sally Tiven) – 4:15
 * 5) "Couple Days Off" (Chris Hayes, Lewis, Geoffrey Palmer) – 4:56
 * 6) "That's Not Me" (Michael Ruff) – 4:15
 * 7) "We Should Be Making Love" (Andy Goldmark, Steve Kipner, Steve Lindsey) – 4:01
 * 8) "Best of Me" (Bonnie Hayes, Kevin Hayes, Annie Stocking) – 3:57
 * 9) "Do You Love Me, Or What?" (C. Hayes, Lewis, Nick Lowe) – 3:46
 * 10) "Don't Look Back" (Lewis, Bill Gibson, David Fredericks) – 3:44
 * 11) "Time Ain't Money" (Colla, Lewis) – 4:46

Personnel
Huey Lewis and the News


 * Huey Lewis – harmonica, vocals
 * Mario Cipollina – bass
 * Johnny Colla – guitar, saxophone, backing vocals
 * Bill Gibson – percussion, drums, backing vocals
 * Chris Hayes – guitar, backing vocals
 * Sean Hopper – keyboards, backing vocals

Additional personnel
 * The Gospel Hummingbirds – backing vocals (4)
 * David Fredericks – backing vocals (5, 10)
 * Mike Duke – backing vocals (6)
 * Michael Ruff – backing vocals (6)
 * John McFee – guitar (11)

Production

 * Huey Lewis and the News – producers
 * Bill Schnee – producer, engineer, mixing
 * Eric "ET" Thorngren – co-producer (1, 5), additional engineer
 * Bob Brown – executive producer
 * Bob Edwards – additional engineer, assistant engineer
 * Jeffrey "Nik" Norman – additional engineer
 * Ken Allardyce – assistant engineer, mix assistant
 * Tony Eckert – assistant engineer
 * Stephen Hart – assistant engineer
 * Tim Lauber – assistant engineer
 * Kevin Scott – assistant engineer
 * Jim "Watts" Vereecke – assistant engineer
 * Jack Joseph Puig – mixing
 * Doug Sax – mastering at The Mastering Lab (Hollywood, CA).
 * Henry Marquez – art direction
 * Michael Diehl – design
 * Aaron Rapoport – photography