Love Hurts was released in 1991 and was the third and final studio album released by Cher for Geffen Records. The record featured production by Bob Rock and saw her continue to collaborate with John Kalodner, Diane Warren and Desmond Child. The album was recorded in late 1990/early 1991, during the first year of Cher’s relationship to Bon Jovi’s guitarist Richie Sambora. She dedicated the album to him and “every man that ever made me shed a tear”.

The album contained four covers: “Save Up All Your Tears” recorded in the late 1980s by Bonnie Tyler and Robin Beck, the Kiss song “A World Without Heroes” recorded in 1980, “Fires Of Eden” recorded by Judy Collins in 1990, and “Love Hurts” a remake of the 1975 version which Cher had previously recorded for her album Stars. This time the song was more pop/rock rather than a ballad. The originally version was released by Everly Brothers in 1960. The European version also contains the worldwide hit “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)” originally recorded by Betty Everett in 1963.

Early releases of the album in the UK had the same cover as the American release, but later European releases had a different cover, showing Cher laying on a white background wearing a red wig. The European release also included the world wide hit, “The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s in His Kiss)” which reached #1 in over 10 countries. In the United States, “The Shoop Shoop Song” was available only through the original soundtrack, Mermaids for the film of the same name.
While the album did extremely well in the UK, its singles were only minor hits. “Love and Understanding” was the only big hit in the charts, but the album also produced many fans favorites including “Could’ve Been You” and big Cher favorites, “Save Up All Your Tears”, “Love Hurts”, and “Fires of Eden”. Also “Love Hurts and “Could’ve Been You” was released only in Europe, while “When Lovers Become Strangers” was released only in North America.

The David Cassidy co-written song, “I’ll Never Stop Loving You”, was released a year later on Cassidy’s album, Didn’t You Used to be?. One year before, it was already recorded by Heart and released on a Japanese special edition bonus CD for their album Brigade.

Tracks

1  Save Up All Your Tears (Desmond Child, Diane Warren) 3:58
2  Love Hurts (Boudleaux Bryant) 4:16
3  Love And Understanding (Diane Warren) 4:44
4  Fires Of Eden (Kit Hain, Mark Goldenberg) 3:43
5  I’ll Never Stop Loving You (David Cassidy, John Wetton, Sue Shifrin) 3:59
6  One Small Step (Barry Mann, Brad Parker, Wendy Waldman) 3:28
7  A World Without Heroes (Bob Ezrin, Gene Simmons, Lou Reed, Paul Stanley) 3:09
8  Could’ve Been You (Arnie Roman, Bob Halligan) 3:27
9  When Love Calls Your Name (Jimmy Scott, Tom Snow) 3:32
10  When Lovers Become Strangers (Diane Warren) 4:48
11  Who You Gonna Believe (Jerry Marquez, Joe Marquez, Steve Fontano) 4:45
12  The Shoop Shoop Song (Rudy Clark) 2:49

Musicians

1 Save Up All Your Tears

Bass - Hugh McDonald
Drums - Mickey Curry
Guitar - Keith Scott
Keyboards - John Webster
Percussion - Jim McGillveray
Background Vocals - Marc LaFrance
Background Vocals - David Steele
Background Vocals - Joanie Bye
Background Vocals - Connie Scott
Background Vocals - Lisa Dal Bello
Background Vocals - Richard Page
Background Vocals - Steve George
Vocals - Cher

2 Love Hurts

Bass - Mike Porcaro
Drums - Jeffrey Porcaro
Guitar - Steve Lukather
Keyboards - Kim Bullard
Background Vocals - Gunnar Nelson
Background Vocals - Paul Mirkovich
Background Vocals - Joey Cathcart
Vocals - Cher

3 Love And Understanding

Drums - Mark T Williams
Guitar - Mike Landau
Guitar - Josh Sklair
Synthesizer - Guy Roche
Background Vocals - Jean McClain
Background Vocals - Myriam Valle
Background Vocals - Laura Creamer
Background Vocals - Diane Warren
Vocals - Cher

4 Fires Of Eden

Bass - Larry Klein
Drums - Jeffrey Porcaro
Guitar - Michael Thompson
12 String Guitar - Andrew Gold
Piano - Robbie Buchanan
Percussion - Mike Fisher
Vocals - Cher

5 I’ll Never Stop Loving You

Bass - Hugh McDonald
Drums - Mickey Curry
Guitar - Keith Scott
Guitar - Richie Zito
Keyboards - John Webster
Keyboards - Richie Zito
Percussion - Jim McGillveray
Background Vocals - Marc LaFrance
Background Vocals - David Steele
Background Vocals - Joanie Bye
Background Vocals - Connie Scott
Background Vocals - Lisa Dal Bello
Background Vocals - Richard Page
Background Vocals - Steve George
Vocals - Cher

6 One Small Step

Drums - Jeffrey Porcaro
Drums (programming) - Peter Asher
Guitar - Andrew Gold
Keyboards - Robbie Buchanan
Percussion - Peter Asher
Percussion - Mike Fisher
Background Vocals - Andrew Gold
Background Vocals - Kenny Edwards
Vocals - Cher

7 A World Without Heroes

Drums - Carlos Vega
Guitar - Steve Lukather
Guitar - Mike Landau
Acoustic Guitar - Steve Lukather
Keyboards - David Paich
Keyboards - David Garfield
Background Vocals - Richard Page
Background Vocals - Richard Marx
Vocals - Cher

8 Could’ve Been You

Drums - Jeffrey Porcaro
Guitar - Steve Lukather
Keyboards - Robbie Buchanan
Percussion - Mike Fisher
Background Vocals - Andrew Gold
Background Vocals - Kenny Edwards
Background Vocals - Peter Asher
Vocals - Cher

9 When Love Calls Your Name

Bass - Larry Klein
Drums - Jeffrey Porcaro
Guitar - Steve Lukather
Guitar - Michael Thompson
Acoustic Guitar - Andrew Gold
Keyboards - Robbie Buchanan
Percussion - Mike Fisher
Percussion - Peter Asher
Vocals - Cher

10 When Lovers Become Strangers

Bass - Randy Jackson
Drums - Mark T Williams
Guitar - Steve Lukather
Guitar - Glenn Sciurba
Guitar - Josh Sklair
Background Vocals - Joe Turano
Background Vocals - Diane Warren
Background Vocals - Laura Creamer
Vocals - Cher

11 Who You Gonna Believe

Bass - Mike Porcaro
Drums - Jeffrey Porcaro
Guitar - Steve Lukather
Keyboards - Kim Bullard
Background Vocals - Gunnar Nelson
Background Vocals - Paul Mirkovich
Background Vocals - Joey Cathcart
Vocals - Cher

12 The Shoop Shoop Song

Bass - Jimmy Johnson
Drums - Jeffrey Porcaro
Guitar - Andrew Gold
Keyboards - Robbie Buchanan
Percussion - Mike Fisher
Vocals - Cher

Liner Notes

Producer – Richie Zito (Tracks 1, 2, 5, 11)
Producer – Bob Rock (Tracks 1, 5)
Producer – Diane Warren, Guy Roche (Tracks 3, 10)
Producer – Kit Hain, Mark Goldenberg (Track 4)
Producer – Peter Asher (Tracks 6, 8, 9, 12)
Producer – Steve Lukather (Track 7)
Arranged By – Howie Vickers (Tracks 1, 5)
Arranged By (Background Vocals) – David Campbell (Tracks 7, 9, 10)
Arranged By (Strings) – Scott Harper (Tracks 3, 11)
Coordinator – Katy Parks (Tracks 1, 2, 5, 12)
Coordinator – Sandee Bathgate (Tracks 1, 5)
Coordinator – Doreen Dorian (Tracks 3, 11)
Coordinator – Ivy Skoff (Tracks 4, 7, 9, 10)
Coordinator – Debra Shallman (Track 8)
Directed By (Vocals) – Mark Hudson (Track 11)
Engineer (Additional) – David Thoener, Phil Kaffel, Randy Staub (Tracks 1, 5)
Engineer (Additional) – Frank Wolf (Track 8)
Engineer (Assistant) – Fred Kelly (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 11, 12)
Engineer (Assistant) – Jeff Rach (Tracks 1, 2, 4, 5, 9, 10, 12)
Engineer (Assistant) – John Aguto, Randy Wine, Steve Heinke (Tracks 2, 12)
Engineer (Assistant) – Julie Last, Ken Allardyce (Tracks 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11)
Engineer (Assistant) – Jeff DeMorris, Mario Luccy (Tracks 3, 11)
Engineer (Assistant) – Gil Morales (Tracks 4, 7, 8, 9, 10)
Engineer (Assistant) – Nathaniel Kunkel, Rail Rogut (Tracks 4, 7, 9, 10)
Engineer (Assistant) – Greg Goldman, Martin Brumbach, Mike Kloster (Track 8)
Mastered By – Dan Hersch
Mixed By – David Thoener (Tracks 1, 2, 3, 5, 11, 12)
Mixed By – Frank Wolf (Tracks 4, 7, 9, 10)
Recorded By – Mike Fraser (Tracks 1, 5)
Recorded By – Phil Kaffel (Tracks 2, 8, 12)
Recorded By – Frank Wolf (Tracks 3, 4, 7, 9, 10, 11)
Recorded By – David Thoener (Tracks 3, 11)
Recorded By – Greg Ladanyi (Track 8)
Recorded By (Drums) – George Massenburg (Tracks 4, 7, 9, 10)
Art Direction – Kevin Reagan
Design – Kevin Reagan, Sunja Park
Photography – Herb Ritts
Mastered At DigiPrep
Mixed At The Enterprise
Mixed At Conway Studios
Mixed At A&M Studios
Recorded At Little Mountain Sound Studios
Recorded At Vancouver Studios
Recorded At The Complex
Recorded At The Hop
Recorded At Skywalker Sound
Recorded At Conway Studios
Recorded At Sunset Sound
Phonographic Copyright The David Geffen Company
Copyright The David Geffen Company

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'Love Hurts' follows the same formula as the Cher and Heart of stone albums that had rejuvenated Cher's pop career in the late 1980s. The result, however, is particularly formulaic, with Cher's vocals sounding largely uninspired and the production and backing musicians content to be obvious. The moderate hit singles Love and understanding and Save up all your tears are pleasantly melodic; apart from those tracks, though, only a surprising cover of the obscure Kiss song, A world without heroes, is really worth seeking out. Love hurts didn't sell nearly as well as its predecessors, and has all the markings of a woman going through the motions. Not surprisingly, Cher retired the "metal babe" persona after this album and would wait five years before releasing another disc. (Joseph McCombs)
In 1975 Nazareth had an unexpected hit with their power ballad reinterpretation of the Everly Brothers classic Love hurts (Bryant).

Musicians:
Cher: vocals
Steve Lukather: guitars, producer (2) (7) (8) (9) (10) (11)
Lisa Dal Bello: vocals (bckgr)
Andrew Gold: guitars, vocals (bckgr)
Michael Thompson: guitars
Connie Scott: vocals
Josh Sklair: guitar
Robbie Buchanan: piano
Joanie Bye: vocals (bckgr)
Luis Conte: percussion
Laura Creamer: vocals (bckgr)
Mickey Curry: drums
Kenny Edwards: vocals (bckgr)
Mike Fisher: percussion, tambourine
David Garfield: keyboards
Steve George: vocals (bckgr)
John Kalodner: producer
Larry Klein: bass
Marc LaFrance: vocals (bckgr)
Michael Landau: guitar
Richard Marx: vocals (bckgr)
Jean McClain: vocals (bckgr)
Hugh McDonald: bass
Jim McGillveray: percussion
Paul Mirkovich: vocals (bckgr)
Gunnar Nelson: vocals (bckgr)
Richard Page: vocals (bckgr)
David Paich: keyboards
Jeff Porcaro: drums
Mike Porcaro: bass
Guy Roche: synthesizer, producer
Bob Rock: producer
Glenn Sciurba: guitar
Keith Scott: guitar
David Steele: vocals (bckgr)
Joe Turano: vocals (bckgr)
Myriam Naomi Valle: vocals (bckgr)
Carlos Vega: drums
Diane Warren: vocals (bckgr), producer
John Webster: keyboards
Richie Zito: guitar, keyboards, producer
Randy "The Emperor" Jackson: bass
Mark Williams: drums