Enemy Within (album)


Enemy Within is the seventh solo studio album by English singer-songwriter and guitarist Chris Spedding. The album was originally released in October 1986, on the label New Rose Records in France, and in Germany on Date Records. The album was recorded over a period of three years starting in 1982, at three different recording studios. It was the six-year follow-up to his 1980 album I'm Not Like Everybody Else. The album features contributions from Tom Finn, Anton Fig, Jimmy Zoppi, David Van Tieghem, and Keith Lentin. The album was his last recording of original material for four years, until he released Cafe Days, in 1990.
When the album was released in late 1986, it received mixed reviews, and went largely unnoticed by the public, being a commercial disappointment, and even missed the album charts worldwide, alike all of his solo albums.
It was later picked up for release by Repertoire Records in 2001, featuring rare bonus content. With the original album digitally remastered from the original 1/2" mix tapes; the bonus content consists of one outtake, and one live track.

Critical reception

Retrospective review

Enemy Within received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics. In his retrospective review for AllMusic, Mike DeGagne rated the album two and a half stars out of five. He praised the album the album for containing "enough fragments of mild rockabilly, pop, and traditional rock & roll." They also added that that made him sound "an awful lot like Mark Knopfler". However, they commented that "Spedding fails to unleash any real surprises"

Track listing

All tracks composed by Chris Spedding; except where indicated.
;Additional tracks

Personnel

Credits are adapted from the album's liner notes.
;Additional musicians