Personnel: Michael Bolton, James Ingram (vocals); Bob Halligan, Jr. (guitar, background vocals); Neil Schon, Paul Pesco, Bruce Kulick, Ira Siegel, Danny Merlin (guitar); Karen Dreyfus, Richard R. Henrickson, Anthony Posk (violin); Jessy Levy (cello); Alex Foster (alto flute); Leonard Pickett (reeds); Jeff Smith (saxophone); Steve Madaio, R. Martin, Thomas R. Peterson, Jerry Jumonville (horns); Jonathan Cain, Jeff Bova, Skip Anderson, Rob Mounsey (keyboards); Randy Jackson, Doug Wimbish, Will Lee (bass); Keith Diamond (drums, bass, keyboards, synthesizer); Mike Baird (drums).

Producers: Keith Diamond, Jonathan Cain, Susan Hamilton.

Engineers include: Bob Rosa, Peter Robbins, Acar Key.

THE HUNGER returns the listener to a wondrous time, the middle 1980's, when powerful, big haired men (many in open shirts) dominated the pop charts, often with lite-metal songs about being on fire in the night that were played over the end credits of coming-of-age movies. THE HUNGER has many similar songs, but the album's true centerpiece is a memoir of an earlier, simpler age, specifically a remake of Otis Redding's soul classic "(Sitting on) The Dock of the Bay".

Michael Bolton sings it, as always, with all the sensitivity and unfeigned passion he can muster, while producer Jonathan Cain introduces a heavy-metal guitar solo (played here by an unfettered Neal Schon) that the makers of the original record lacked the wit to include. A true classic of its day.