Christopher Cross - Every Turn of the World (1985)

Having suffered a commercial decline with the ballad-filled Another Page, Christopher Cross took a harder rocking approach with his third album, Every Turn of the World. Gone were the L.A. session aces and the SoCal chorus of famous fellow pop singers, as Cross wielded his SynthAxe and producer/co-writer, Michael Omartian his keyboards, along with a rhythm section, on a selection of up-tempo songs, many of which had 'save-the-world' themes. It didn't work. "Charm the Snake," the typically energetic lead-off single, sputtered on the charts, while Cross' core audience of "adult contemporary" ballad fans deserted him, and the album was a sales disaster. If anybody had tried turning over the LP and sampling tunes like The Beach Boys tribute, "Love Found a Home," they would have discovered a couple of more characteristic Cross songs, but it was too little, too late.