What About Love (The Desert Rose Band song)

"What About Love" is a single by American country rock band The Desert Rose Band. The song was released as the lead single in 1993 from the band's fifth and final studio album Life Goes On.

Background

Beginning with the 1991 single "Will This Be the Day", the band had commercially declined on both the American and Canadian Country Singles Charts. The band's 1991 album True Love failed to stop this decline and shortly after both John Jorgenson and Steve Duncan left the band. "What About Love" became the band's second to last single, and their final release to make a chart appearance on the American Billboard Hot Country Songs Chart, where it debuted and peaked at #71 for the week ending on September 4, 1993.^[1][2]

The song was written by the band's frontman Chris Hillman and frequent collaborator Steve Hill. It was produced by both Paul Worley and Ed Seay who had produced all five of the band's albums, except for late 1991’s True Love, whilst only Worley produced the band's self-titled 1987 debut.

Release

The single was released in America only, via Curb Records, through MCA Records, on CD, where it was released in stores and aimed at the Country radio stations. The single featured just the one single track and no B-Side.^[3]

The CD single featured artwork, displaying a photograph of the band in a field.^[4]

In a July 1993 press release for the Life Goes On album by McMullen & Company (Public Relations), the article stated "The first single off the album "What About Love" is due in stores and ships to radio on July 26."^[5]

The single had a special campaign for its release, aimed at gaining radio play. In the Billboard Magazine issue of August 14, 1993, the magazine spoke of the campaign in an article based on the band's Life Goes On album. Under the headline "Mystery Teaser Campaign", the article stated "Curb's teaser campaign behind "What About Love," the first single from the new album, demonstrated that Desert Rose Band still stands out. Curb sent the single out to all reporting stations in a black box, gold-embossed with "The Magic and Mystery of Music". There was no other identification on the CD or envelop, so programmers were asked to identify the group on a contest entry form and send it to an anonymous post office box for a drawing that awards a trip to the Bahamas. More than 200 stations responded, creating early interest in the single before its video was released on Country Music Television."^[6]

Following the song's original release as a single and on the Life Goes On album, the song would appear as the tenth track on the band’s compilation Sixteen Roses: Greatest Hits, released in 1995.^[7]

Promotion

The main form of promotion for the single was the song's music video, which was directed by Michael Merriman.^[8] The video was filmed in a Spanish courtyard in Santa Fe, New Mexico, United States.^[6] The video was the only one to be created for a song on the Life Goes On album, where it became the band's final music video.

In the July 1993 press release for the Life Goes On album by McMullen & Company (Public Relations), the article spoke of the music video's network play and rotation performance, stating "The "What About Love" video was added to Country Music Television and The Nashville Network, both on medium rotation."^[5]

In the Billboard Magazine issue of July 10, 1993, the song's music video was listed under The Clip List section of the magazine. The video was listed under the Country Music Television network, where the video was named under the New Adds section for the network.^[9] In the Billboard Magazine issue of August 14, 1993, the video was listed in the Billboard Video Monitor section (based on the week ending August 1, 1993), which gave information on a network's most-played clips as monitored by broadcast data systems. The song's music video was listed under the Country Music Television network where it was at the lowest chart of #50. In the same issue, the video was listed in The Clip List section, where it was revealed to be airing on the Power Play Music Video Television network.^[6]

In the same issue of the Billboard Magazine, an article based on the band and the Life Goes On album spoke of the music video, stating "Shot in a Spanish courtyard in Santa Fe, N.M., with spiritual overtones emphasizing the song's theme, the clip suggests the West Coast country sound that Desert Rose had always epitomized."^[6]

Since appearing on YouTube in January 2011, the video has gained approximately 8,400 views.^[10]

Track listing

CD Single

1. "What About Love" - 3:18

Critical reception

In the July 21, 1993, issue of the Los Angeles Times, a review of the Life Goes On album mentioned the song being performed live, stating "They performed the majority of the songs from the new album, including the pending single "What About Love" and "That's Not the Way It's Supposed to Be," a couple of finely country numbers in the traditional Desert Rose Band mould."^[11][12]

Chart performance

Personnel

• Chris Hillman - lead vocals, guitar, mandolin
• Herb Pedersen - guitar, banjo, dobro, vocals
• Bill Bryson - bass, vocals
• Tom Brumley - pedal steel guitar
• Jeff Ross - guitar
• Tim Grogan - drums, percussion, vocals

Additional personnel

• Paul Worley - Producer
• Ed Seay - Producer
• Writers of "What About Love" - Chris Hillman, Steve Hill

References