No Lookin' Back
No Lookin' Back is the second solo studio album by American musician Michael McDonald. It was released on July 30, 1985, by Warner Bros. Records, three years after his debut studio album, If That's What It Takes ; this was his last album to be released by Warner Bros. For the first time, he co-produced and wrote or co-wrote all of the tracks. It features contributions from guitarists Joe Walsh, Robben Ford and David Pack from Ambrosia, Jeff Porcaro on drums, plus the former Doobie Brothers members Willie Weeks on bass guitar, and Cornelius Bumpus providing horns, half of whom had also performed on If That's What It Takes.
On release, the album was received favorably by the majority of music critics and peaked at No. 45 on the US Billboard 200. Three singles were issued from No Lookin' Back: "No Lookin' Back", "Bad Times" and "Lost in the Parade". The album's first and leading single, "No Lookin' Back", was co-written by Kenny Loggins and was a commercial success, peaking at No. 4 on the Billboard Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks chart and No. 34 on Billboard Hot 100.
The album was re-released one year later in 1986. The re-released version changed around the track order and featured different album cover artwork, along with the inclusion of the hit single "Sweet Freedom" from the soundtrack of the Peter Hyams action comedy film Running Scared, as well as the remixed version of "Our Love", which served as the theme for the Richard Pearce neo-noir action thriller film No Mercy.
" On Your Every Word" was originally released in 1983 on On Your Every Word, the second studio album by Amy Holland, McDonald's wife – who he had married that year. McDonald produced, and performed on the album, co-writing four tracks, and some of the same collaborators on that album are on No Lookin' Back.
Critical reception
In a negative contemporary review for Rolling Stone, critic J. D. Considine wrote that "the bulk of this album is utter piffle. McDonald's inability to move beyond his vocal limitations suggests that he might be simply the musical equivalent of a character actor, doomed forever to those parts demanding his particular mannerisms. If so, he'd better pay more attention to how he's being cast", and in a more positive review, Music Week wrote "having stabled the horses, hung up the cowboy boots and watched the Doobie Brothers ride off into the horizon, McDonald has clearly been moving in more funkier circles of late. The impressive soul vocal, previewed to such advantage on the Doobies' "What a Fool Believes", re-surfaces in a manner not that dissimilar to Hall & Oates. US in feel, but in with a chance if a single takes off."Personnel
Musicians- Michael McDonald – lead and backing vocals; keyboards ; synthesizers ; Hammond organ
- Mike Hanna – synthesizers
- Chuck Sabatino – synthesizers ; backing vocals
- Chris Pelonis – programming
- Scott Plunkett – synthesizer horns ; sequencing
- Brian Mann – synthesizers
- Randy Goodrum – synthesizers
- Larry Williams – synthesizers; keyboards, and horns
- Wells Christie – Synclavier
- Greg Phillinganes – keyboards
- Rod Temperton – keyboards and arrangements
- Danny Sembello – keyboards
- Anthony Patler – keyboards
- David Pack – guitars ; synthesizers ; rhythm guitar
- Joe Walsh – slide guitar
- Robben Ford – guitars ; lead guitar solo
- Michael Thompson – guitar
- Paul Jackson Jr. – guitar
- Steve Lukather – guitar
- Willie Weeks – bass
- Nathan East – bass
- Abraham Laboriel – bass
- Jeff Porcaro – drums, cymbals ; percussion
- George Perilli – drums ; programming
- Staff Fieldhouse – electronic drums
- Roger Nichols – drums
- Paulinho da Costa – percussion
- Cornelius Bumpus – tenor saxophone
- Kim Hutchcroft – horns
- Gary Grant – horns
- William Reichenbach – horns
- Chuck Findley – horns
- Jerry Hey – horns
- Dave Boruff – horns
- Bobby LaKind – congas
- Siedah Garrett – backing vocals
- Producers – Michael McDonald and Ted Templeman
- Production coordination – Joan Parker and Kathy Walker
- Engineer and Mixing – Ross Pallone
- Second engineer – Mike Wuellner
- Additional engineers – Lee Herschberg, Jim Pace and Grady Walker.
- Mixed at Hollywood Sound Recorders.
- Originally mastered by Howie Weinberg at Masterdisk.
- CD mastering by Lee Herschberg at Amigo Studios.
- Art direction – Jeffrey Kent Ayeroff
- Design – Jeri McManus
- Front photography – Joel Levinson
- Back photography – Brian Aris
Chart performance
;Album| Chart | Peak position |
;Singles
| Year | Single | Chart | Position |
| 1985 | "No Lookin' Back" | Billboard Hot 100 | 34 |
| 1985 | "No Lookin' Back" | Billboard Adult Contemporary | 9 |
| 1985 | "No Lookin' Back" | Billboard Mainstream Rock | 4 |
| 1985 | "Bad Times" | Billboard Mainstream Rock | 38 |
| 1985 | "Lost in the Parade" | Billboard Adult Contemporary | 40 |