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Chris Rea: The Road To Hell

John Pidgeon, Classic Albums (BBC Books), 1991

IF ANYONE EVER gets round to compiling a list of the sources of inspiration behind big-selling records, major motorway tailbacks are unlikely to figure high on it. Nevertheless, being gridlocked on the M4 for over an hour was the starting point for Chris Rea's eleventh album, and neither that, nor the fact that the first two and a half minutes of the record were taken up with sound effects, stopped it going on to sell more than 1,250,000 copies in the UK.

Total word count of piece: 5359

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