{{For|the song|Keep the Fire (song)}} {{Use mdy dates|date=May 2025}} {{Infobox album | name = Keep the Fire | type = Album | artist = Kenny Loggins | cover = Keep_the_Fire.jpg | alt = Kenny Loggins, a long-haired bearded man, holding football-sized glowing sphere, standing in front of fantastic space scene above an ocean. | released = September 28, 1979 | recorded = 1979 | venue = | studio = * Filmways/Wally Heider Recording (Hollywood, California) * Santa Barbara Sound Recording (Santa Barbara, California) * Criteria (Miami, Florida) | genre = Pop rock | length = 40:48 | label = Columbia | producer = Tom Dowd | prev_title = Nightwatch | prev_year = 1978 | next_title = Caddyshack: Music from the Motion Picture Soundtrack | next_year = 1980 }} '''''Keep the Fire''''' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter Kenny Loggins, released in 1979.<ref name=AllMusic/> It is perhaps best known for the hit single "This Is It". The song was co-written by Michael McDonald, who also performed on the track. Michael Jackson sings backup vocals on the track "Who's Right, Who's Wrong".
==Reception== {{Music ratings | rev1 = AllMusic | rev1Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name=AllMusic>{{AllMusic|class=album|id=r11900|first=|last=|access-date=2011-06-17}}</ref> |rev2 = ''Christgau's Record Guide'' |rev2Score = C+<ref name="CG">{{cite book|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=1981|title=Christgau's Record Guide: Rock Albums of the Seventies|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|isbn=089919026X|chapter=Consumer Guide '70s: L|chapter-url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=L&bk=70|access-date=March 1, 2019|via=robertchristgau.com}}</ref> |rev3 = ''MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide'' |rev3score = {{rating|2.5|5}}<ref>{{cite book |title=MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide |date=1996 |publisher=Visible Ink Press |page=417}}</ref> | rev4 = ''Record Collector'' | rev4Score = {{Rating|1|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Kenny Loggins-Keep the Fire|author=Pinfold, William|magazine=Record Collector |issue=405 |date=September 2012 |access-date=26 June 2020|url=https://recordcollectormag.com/reviews/keep-the-fire}}</ref> | rev5 = ''Record Mirror'' | rev5Score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref>{{cite magazine |title=Kenny Loggins: ''Keep The Fire'' / Jimmy Messina: ''Oasis'' |last=Sexton |first=Paul |date=16 February 1980 |magazine=Record Mirror |page=17}}</ref> }} ''Rolling Stone'' described the album as "the new sound of Southern California: a sophisticated, diffuse, jazz-inflected pop rock performed by an augmented rock band in which guitar and keyboards share equal prominence" and "churning romantic atmosphere constructed around a matinee idol's voice".<ref name="Keep the Fire, review at Rolling Stone">{{ cite magazine | title=Album reviews: Keep the Fire | magazine=Rolling Stone | date=February 7, 1980 | first=Stephen | last=Holden | url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/kennyloggins/albums/album/200156/review/5946898/keep_the_fire | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070630050935/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/kennyloggins/albums/album/200156/review/5946898/keep_the_fire | archive-date=June 30, 2007 | access-date=June 28, 2013 }}</ref> ''The Globe and Mail'' noted that, "occasionally, he stumbles into some of the good-time hokey rockin' fun that made such Loggins and Messina numbers as 'Your Mama Don't Dance' so nauseating."<ref>{{cite news |last1=Niester |first1=Alan |title=Keep the Fire Kenny Loggins |work=The Globe and Mail |date=29 Dec 1979 |page=F4}}</ref>
===Film=== The award-winning short film "Keep the Fire", by Jake Rice, is a fictionalized "Behind the Album Cover" story.<ref name="Keep the Fire, by Jake Rice, at Vimeo">{{cite AV media | title=Keep the Fire | first=Jake | last=Rice | url=https://vimeo.com/51150445 | type=A/V stream | access-date=June 28, 2013 }}</ref>
==Track listing== {{track listing |extra_column=Harmony Vocals | headline = Side one |title1 = Love Has Come of Age | writer1 = Kenny Loggins | length1 = 3:51 |title2 = Mr. Night | writer2 = Loggins, Richard Stekol | length2 = 3:20 | extra2 = George Hawkins, Stekol |title3 = This Is It | writer3 = Loggins, Michael McDonald | extra3 = Mike Hamilton, Hawkins, McDonald |length3 = 3:57 |title4 = Junkanoo Holiday (Fallin'-Flyin') | writer4 = Loggins | length4 = 4:30 |title5 = Now and Then |writer5 = Jeff Bouchard, Loggins |length5 = 3:52 }}
{{Track listing | headline = Side two |extra_column = Harmony vocals |title1 = Who's Right, Who's Wrong |writer1 = Loggins, Richard Page |extra1 = Michael Jackson, Page |length1 = 5:38 |title2 = Keep the Fire |writer2 = Eva Ein, Loggins |length2 = 4:34 |title3 = Give It Half a Chance | writer3 = Stephen Bishop, Loggins |extra3 = Jeff Bouchard, Hamilton, Hawkins |length3 = 4:57 |title4 = Will It Last |writer4 = Ein, Loggins |length4 = 5:50 }}
== Personnel ==
'''Musicians and vocalists''' * Kenny Loggins – vocals, guitars, Sennheiser Vocoder (7) * Brian Mann – keyboards, accordion solo (5) * Max Gronenthal – ARP synthesizer programming * Michael McDonald – acoustic piano (3), harmony vocals (3) * Mike Hamilton – guitars, backing vocals, harmony vocals (3, 8) * Fred Tackett – acoustic guitar (8, 9) * George Hawkins – bass, backing vocals, harmony vocals (2, 3, 8) * Tris Imboden – drums, percussion * Milt Holland – percussion (1, 2, 4–9) * Paulinho da Costa – percussion (3) * Jon Clarke – tambourine, English horn, flute, oboe, recorder, saxophones * Vince Denham – cabasa, saxophones, flute * Michael Brecker – tenor sax solo (6) * Richard Stekol – harmony vocals (2) * Michael Jackson – harmony vocals (6) * Richard Page – harmony vocals (6) * Jeff Bouchard – harmony vocals (8)
'''Music arrangements''' * Brian Mann – horn arrangements, string arrangements (5) * Albhy Galuten – string arrangements (2, 8) * Jon Clarke – horn arrangements (2, 7)
'''Production''' * Tom Dowd – producer * Steve Gersky – first engineer * Michael Carnavale – second engineer * Samii Taylor – second mix engineer * Mike Fuller – mastering at Criteria Studios * Wayne Williams – guitar synthesizer technician * Tony Lane – visual coordinator * Kenny Loggins – cover concept * Scott Thom – cover concept, cover painting * Ed Caraeff – cover photography * Eva Ein Loggins – sleeve photography
==Charts== ===Weekly charts=== {| class="wikitable" |- !Chart (1979–80) !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=179}}</ref> | style="text-align:center;"|95 |- |US Top LPs & Tape (''Billboard'') | style="text-align:center;"|16 |}
===Year-end charts=== {| class="wikitable" ! Chart (1980) ! Peak<br />position |- | US ''Billboard'' Top Albums{{citation needed|date=January 2022}} | align="center"| 16 |}
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{Kenny Loggins}}
{{Authority control}}
Category:1979 albums Category:Kenny Loggins albums Category:Albums produced by Tom Dowd Category:Columbia Records albums Category:Albums recorded at Wally Heider Studios