Hit the Highway


Hit the Highway is the third studio album by Scottish folk rock duo The Proclaimers, released in March 1994 by Chrysalis Records. It took them six years to follow their second album, Sunshine on Leith. The album featured three singles: "Let's Get Married", "What Makes You Cry?" and "These Arms of Mine". The album topped the charts in the band's native Scotland, debuting in the top-10 in the UK while also charting in Austria, Canada and Sweden.

Music

Style and sound

In a review of Hit the Highway, People Magazine observed that the band "play back-to-basics, acoustic rock and roll and R&B", further remarking that, despite the band being Scottish, "you can't find music more American" and that the record "invokes legends like Buddy Holly| Holly and Otis Redding". Joe Steven's of The Daily Pennsylvanian described the music as "heavily influenced by blues and soul" and "almost a throw-back to '60s pop".

Themes

Hit the Highway included spiritually-angled lyrics, such libretto questioning organised religion. On the album's religious dimension, Charlie Reid commented "there's a belief in God, that's for sure I'm very unsure about religion, I'm suspicious of it and I certainly couldn't call myself a Christian as such. But I'm very interested in religion, in trying to reach God in whatever way you do it". Other songs on Hit the Highway narrated matrimony.

Critical reception

Hit the Highway received a mixed critical reception. AllMusic's Daevid Jehnzen described the album as "strong" and as having "many fine songs", but arraigned its lack of a "knockout single". Peter Galvin of Rolling Stone was more positive, remarking that the band "reinforce their passionate beliefs with music that is almost anthem-like in its fervor". However, Galvin would criticize the band's convictions as having come off "a bit too vehemently".

Track listing

All tracks composed by Charlie and Craig Reid; except where indicated
  1. "Let's Get Married"
  2. "The More I Believe"
  3. "What Makes You Cry?"
  4. "Follow the Money"
  5. "These Arms of Mine"
  6. "Shout Shout"
  7. "The Light"
  8. "Hit the Highway"
  9. "A Long Long Long Time Ago"
  10. "I Want to Be a Christian"
  11. "Your Childhood"
  12. "Don't Turn Out Like Your Mother"

    Chart

Certifications

Release history

A two-CD Collectors Edition of the album was issued in the UK through Chrysalis in 2011, featuring a remastered version of the studio-album and a bonus disc containing B-sides, live-versions and a BBC Radio session track. In 2017, the album was re-released in Europe on vinyl through Parlophone Records.
RegionDateFormatLabel
United Kingdom22 March 1994Chrysalis
Europe1994Chrysalis
United States1994Chrysalis
Canada1994Chrysalis
Japan1994Chrysalis
South Africa1994Chrysalis
Gulf Corporation Council1994
Indonesia1994Chrysalis
United Kingdom2011
United Kingdom2017Parlophone