New Light Through Old Windows is the first compilation album by British singer-songwriter Chris Rea, released in 1988. The album consists primarily of re-recordings of songs from Rea's earlier albums, as well as the new track "Working on It", which peaked at No. 73 on the US Billboard Hot 100,[2] and was Rea's only No. 1 on the Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.[3] "On the Beach" peaked No. 9 on the US Adult Contemporary singles chart, and No. 12 on the UK Singles Chart.[4][5] The album reached number five on the UK Albums Chart, charted for over a year, and was certified 3× Platinum by BPI until 1992.[6][7] It charted in the Top 10 in New Zealand, Australia and West Germany.
| New Light Through Old Windows | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
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| Compilation album by | ||||
| Released | 17 October 1988 | |||
| Genre | Album-oriented rock | |||
| Length | 60:13 | |||
| Label | Geffen (US) Magnet (rest of world) | |||
| Producer | Chris Rea | |||
| Chris Rea chronology | ||||
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| Music video | ||||
| "Working on it (1989)" on YouTube | ||||
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic | |
All tracks written by Chris Rea.
The US vinyl release featured different cover artwork and an altered track listing, shown below:
| Chart (1988–2021) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Australian Albums (ARIA)[8] | 14 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria)[9] | 7 |
| Dutch Albums (Album Top 100)[10] | 59 |
| German Albums (Offizielle Top 100)[11] | 9 |
| New Zealand Albums (RMNZ)[12] | 7 |
| Norwegian Albums (VG-lista)[13] | 15 |
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan)[14] | 29 |
| Swiss Albums (Schweizer Hitparade)[15] | 24 |
| UK Albums (OCC)[16] | 5 |
| US Billboard 200[17] | 92 |
| Region | Certification | Certified units/sales |
|---|---|---|
| Austria (IFPI Austria)[18] | Gold | 25,000* |
| France (SNEP)[19] | Gold | 100,000* |
| Germany (BVMI)[20] | Platinum | 500,000^ |
| Switzerland (IFPI Switzerland)[21] | Gold | 25,000^ |
| United Kingdom (BPI)[22] | 3× Platinum | 900,000^ |
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* Sales figures based on certification alone. | ||
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