Hold an Old Friend's Hand

Hold an Old Friend's Hand
Studio album by Tiffany
Released November 1988
Recorded August, September, and October, 1988
Genre Pop, dance-pop
Length 43:28
Label MCA
Producer George Tobin
Tiffany chronology

Tiffany
(1987)		 Hold an Old Friend's Hand
(1988)		 New Inside
(1990)
Singles from Hold an Old Friend's Hand
  1. "All This Time"
    Released: September 1988
  2. "Radio Romance"
    Released: January 1989
  3. "Hold an Old Friend's Hand"
    Released: April 1989
  4. "Oh Jackie"
    Released: May 1989
  5. "It's the Lover (Not the Love)"
    Released: June 1989
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
AllMusic [1]
Robert Christgau B–[2]
Rolling Stone [3]

Hold an Old Friend's Hand is the second studio album by Tiffany, released in November, 1988 (see 1988 in music). It was reasonably successful, achieving a platinum certification, peaking at #17 on the U.S. charts and yielding one top-ten single ("All This Time")[4] and another in the top 40 ("Radio Romance"); however, it did not equal the multi-platinum success of her first album, which had two #1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

In her summer tour, where she was to once again have the New Kids on the Block as her opening act as she did the year before, the sudden popularity of the New Kids caused their roles to be reversed, with Tiffany opening for them, although they were officially billed as co-headliners.

The title track was actually a cover, though the original version (released by Tracy Nelson in 1974) was not famous enough to be widely known. It was written by Donna Weiss, who also co-wrote "Bette Davis Eyes", a hit for Kim Carnes (another artist for whom Tiffany's manager/producer George Tobin has produced records). It was an unusual song to be sung by somebody so young (Tiffany was 17 at the time), as its lyrics seem to be sung from a perspective of many years' experience.

"Hearts Never Lie" is a duet with Chris Farren, who went on to some country music success.

The final track, "Overture", is an instrumental acoustic guitar performance by Grant Geissman. It includes the tunes to several of the songs from this album, and is an unusual track to have on a teen bubblegum pop album, especially since Tiffany is not involved in the track.

Track listing

No. TitleLyrics Length
1. "All This Time"  Tim James, Steven McClintock 4:20
2. "Oh Jackie"  T. James, McClintock, Tim Heintz, Kimberly Feldman 4:14
3. "Hold an Old Friend's Hand"  Donna Weiss 4:24
4. "Radio Romance"  John Duarte, Mark Paul 4:04
5. "We're Both Thinking of Her"  George Tobin, Mark Keefner 3:40
6. "Walk Away While You Can"  Mike Piccirillo 4:04
7. "Drop That Bomb"  Duarte, Bill Bowersock 3:44
8. "It's the Lover (Not the Love)"  Rich Donahue, Patrick Dollaghan 4:08
9. "I'll Be the Girl"  George Tobin, Piccirillo 4:27
10. "Hearts Never Lie" (duet with Chris Farren)Allan Roy Scott, Hugh James 4:59
11. "Overture"  T. James, McClintock, Scott, Hugh James, Weiss 1:24

B-sides

Notes and references

  1. ↑ Allmusic review
  2. ↑ Christgau, Robert (March 14, 1989). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice (New York). Retrieved April 29, 2013.
  3. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  4. ↑ Boehm, Mike, "Heartaches of two songwriters are behind Tiffany's latest hit", Los Angeles Times, Fri., Feb. 10, 1989, Orange County Edition, Calendar Section(6), p. 23