{{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = All Four One | type = studio | artist = [[the Motels]] | cover = The Motels - All Four One.png | alt = | released = {{Start date|1982|4|5}} | recorded = 1981–82 | venue = | studio = [[Record One]] (Los Angeles) | genre = [[New wave music|New wave]] | length = 33:02 | label = [[Capitol Records|Capitol]] | producer = [[Val Garay]] | prev_title = [[Careful (The Motels album)|Careful]] | prev_year = 1980 | next_title = [[Little Robbers]] | next_year = 1983 | misc = {{Singles | name = All Four One | type = studio | single1 = Mission of Mercy | single1date = 1982 | single2 = [[Only the Lonely (The Motels song)|Only the Lonely]] | single2date = 1982 | single3 = [[Take the L (song)|Take the L]] | single3date = 1982 | single4 = [[Forever Mine (song)|Forever Mine]] | single4date = 1982 | single5 = Art Fails | single5date = 1983 }} }} {{Music ratings | noprose = yes | rev1 = [[AllMusic]] | rev1Score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r13495}}</ref> }} '''''All Four One''''' is the third studio album by [[New wave music|new wave]] band [[the Motels]], released in 1982. It features the Top 10 hit "[[Only the Lonely (The Motels song)|Only the Lonely]]", and the follow-up hit "[[Take the L (song)|Take the L]]". Both songs were assisted by popular [[MTV]] [[music videos]]. The album was recorded and mixed digitally.
==Background and writing== After the minor success of ''[[Careful (The Motels album)|Careful]]'', the Motels went back into the studio in early 1981 to record their third album with producer [[Val Garay]]. The band at this time consisted of Martha Davis on vocals and guitar, Tim McGovern on lead guitar, Marty Jourard on keyboards, Michael Goodroe on bass and [[Brian Glascock]] on drums.
Wanting to stretch the limits as to what they could do artistically and musically, the band recorded some of its darkest and heaviest music to date. McGovern, Davis' boyfriend at the time, clashed with Garay in the studio, and ended up de facto producer and arranger for the album, which was titled ''[[Apocalypso (The Motels album)|Apocalypso]]''. Martha Davis considers this period "the last time the Motels were uninhibited, wild, and not worried about our place on the charts."<ref name="reuters">{{cite web | url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-music-themotels-idUSTRE77E68220110815 | title = Review: The Motels' lost "Apocalypso" worth the wait | accessdate = 2012-05-24 | first=Chris | last=Willman | publisher=Reuters | date=2011-08-15 }}</ref><ref name=APOC>''Apocalypso''. Liner notes from album insert, 2011.</ref>
Neither the band nor Garay ever submitted any of the recordings to Capitol Records while the recording process was underway. When the record company heard the finished product, they rejected it for being "not commercial enough" and "too weird", and ''Apocalypso'' was scrapped. The band attempted to go back and re-record the entire album but in the process, Davis and McGovern's relationship dissolved and by December 1981 McGovern was no longer in the band.<ref name=MJ>Jourard, Marty. "[http://www.jourard.com Marty Jourard Bio]" Jourard.com, official website. Retrieved 24 April 2007.</ref><ref name=NV>''No Vacancy''. Liner notes from album insert, 1990.</ref>
With McGovern gone, Garay took a different approach with the re-recording process, utilizing [[session musician|studio musicians]] throughout the album, and molding the final product to a more commercially appealing sound. Several band members were used sparingly or not at all on the final recordings; in particular, studio drummer [[Craig Krampf]] replaced Brian Glascock on all tracks, [[Waddy Wachtel]] was featured on guitar in place of the departed McGovern, and the bass slot on several tracks was filled by one of two session players in place of Michael Goodroe. Adrian Peritore (who went by the name Guy Perry because his former producer had misspelled his name on an album cover) was hired in late January as an official band member, and played lead guitar on some of the tracks. Six ''Apocalypso'' tracks were completely re-recorded for the new album, while four new tracks were added (including the hit "Take the L", and a cover of the Goffin/King song "[[He Hit Me (It Felt Like a Kiss)]]"). The album was renamed ''All Four One'' because the band had recorded four albums but one would not be released, and because the four remaining members had stayed together to complete the album. It was released on April 5, 1982, by Capitol Records.<ref name=MJ/>
Despite its rough beginnings, ''All Four One'' was the first U.S. hit album for The Motels, and was the band's best selling album. The first single from ''All Four One'' was "[[Only the Lonely (The Motels song)|Only the Lonely]]", which reached No. 9 on the [[Billboard Hot 100|''Billboard'' Hot 100]] and No. 27 on the Adult Contemporary chart,<ref>{{cite book |title= Top Adult Contemporary: 1961-2001|last=Whitburn |first=Joel |author-link=Joel Whitburn |year=2002 |publisher=Record Research |page=175}}</ref> as well as No. 6 on the ''[[Billboard (magazine)|Billboard]]'' [[Mainstream Rock (chart)|Top Tracks]] chart. The song "Mission of Mercy" also received enough airplay to reach No. 23 on the Top Tracks chart.<ref name=EM>Exclusive Magazine. Interview by Russell Trunk in 'Lonely No More' article, January 2007 edition.</ref><ref name=EC>Essential Collection. Liner notes from album insert, 2005. {{UPC|724386370624}}.</ref> In addition, two other singles, "[[Take the L (song)|Take the L]]" and "[[Forever Mine (song)|Forever Mine]]", also managed to reach the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 (#52 and #60, respectively).<ref name=NV/> The album's release coincided with the emergence of [[MTV]], and music videos were produced for both "Only the Lonely" and "Take the L". Davis won an award in the Best Performance in a Music Video category at the [[American Music Award]]s in 1982 for her performance in the "Only the Lonely" video.<ref>Mars Talent Agency. "[http://www.marstalent.com/ The Motels Biography]". Retrieved 26 April 2007.</ref>
''Apocalypso'' was eventually released in August 2011.<ref name="reuters"/>
==Track listing== All songs written by Martha Davis, except where noted. {{Track listing | total_length = 33:02
| title1 = Mission of Mercy | length1 = 3:02 | title2 = [[Take the L (song)|Take the L]] | writer2 = [[Carter (music)|Carter]], Davis, Jourard | length2 = 3:42 | title3 = [[Only the Lonely (The Motels song)|Only the Lonely]] | length3 = 3:16 | title4 = Art Fails | writer4 = Davis, Tim McGovern | length4 = 3:12 | title5 = Change My Mind | writer5 = Davis, Steve Goldstein | length5 = 3:21 | title6 = So L.A. | length6 = 3:16 | title7 = Tragic Surf | writer7 = Davis, McGovern | length7 = 3:32 | title8 = Apocalypso | length8 = 3:16 | title9 = [[He Hit Me (and It Felt like a Kiss)]] | writer9 = [[Gerry Goffin]], [[Carole King]] | length9 = 2:28 | title10 = [[Forever Mine (song)|Forever Mine]] | length10 = 3:22 }}
==Personnel==
===The Motels=== *Martha Davis – vocals, guitar *Guy Perry – guitar *Marty Jourard – keyboards, saxophone *Michael Goodroe – bass *[[Brian Glascock]] – drums, percussion
===Additional personnel=== *Bryan Garofalo, Bob Getter – bass *Craig Hull, [[Waddy Wachtel]] – guitars *[[Craig Krampf]] – drums, percussion *Kobla Ladzekpo – percussion
===Production=== *Produced and engineered by [[Val Garay]] *Assistant engineer: [[Niko Bolas]] *Mastering: Mike Reese, [[Doug Sax]]
==Charts== ===Weekly charts=== {| class="wikitable" ! Chart (1982) ! Peak<br />position |- |Australia ([[Kent Music Report]])<ref name=aus>{{cite book|last=Kent|first=David|author-link=David Kent (historian)|title=Australian Chart Book 1970–1992|edition=illustrated|publisher=Australian Chart Book|location=St Ives, N.S.W.|year=1993|isbn=0-646-11917-6|page=209}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"| 20 |- | Canada Albums | align="center"| 39 |- | 'U.S.' Billboard 200 | align="center"| 16 |}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable" ! Chart (1982) ! Position |- | New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)<ref>{{cite web|url=https://aotearoamusiccharts.co.nz/archive/annual-albums/1982-12-31|title=Top Selling Albums of 1982 — The Official New Zealand Music Chart|publisher=[[Recorded Music New Zealand]]|access-date=1 February 2022}}</ref> | align="center"| 32 |- |U.S. ''Billboard'' 200<ref>{{cite web |title=Top Billboard 200 Albums of 1982 |url=https://www.billboard.com/charts/year-end/1982/top-billboard-200-albums |website=www.billboard.com |publisher=Billboard Magazine |accessdate=4 April 2020}}</ref> | align="center"| 51 |}
==References== {{reflist}}
{{The Motels}}
{{Authority control}}
[[Category:1982 albums]] [[Category:The Motels albums]] [[Category:Albums produced by Val Garay]] [[Category:Capitol Records albums]]