Chain Reaction is a studio album by Australia

Australia

Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

n singer John Farnham

John Farnham

John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...

. The album was released in Australia on 24 September 1990. "Chain Reaction" was the highest selling album in Australia in 1990 and debuted at #1 on the ARIA charts

ARIA Charts

The ARIA charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia. ARIA commenced compiling its own charts in-house from the week ending 26 June...

 in September.

The album's first three singles yielded top 10 status, with "Chain Reaction" reaching #3 in August, "That's Freedom" at #5 in September and "Burn For You" reaching #5 in December. A fourth single was also released in early 1991 titled "In Days To Come," which peaked at #41.

This album was promoted by a nationwide tour titled, "The Chain Reaction Tour," which provided a televised performance at Flinders Park National Tennis Centre in Melbourne

Melbourne

Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...

 in 1990. This performance aired on Australia's Channel Seven, and was released shortly after as a VHS video cassette. This cassette was re-released as a DVD

Chain Reaction Live In Concert

Chain Reaction Live In Concert is a DVD release by Australian singer John Farnham. The DVD was released in Australia on 13 November 2005 in conjunction with Classic Jack Live!....

 on 13 November 2005.

Track listing

1. "That's Freedom" (T. Kimmel, J. Chapman) – 4:19
2. "In Days To Come" (J. Farnham, D. Hirschfelder, R. Fraser) – 4:06
3. "Burn For You" (P. Buckle, J. Farnham, R. Faser) – 3:33
4. "See The Banners Fall" (J. Farnham, D. Hirschfelder, R. Fraser) – 4:35
5. "I Can Do Anything" (P. Buckle, J. Farnham, R. Faser) – 4:27
6. "All Our Sons And Daughters" (P. Buckle, J. Farnham, R. Faser) – 4:09
7. "Chain Reaction" (D. Stewart, S. Stewart) – 3:12
8. "In Your Hands" (P. Buckle, J. Farnham, R. Faser) – 4:21
9. "New Day" (P. Buckle, J. Farnham, R. Faser) – 4:16
10. "The Time Has Come" (J. Creighton, J. Farnham, R. Fraser) – 4:58
11. "The First Step" (C. Thompson, J. Kravetz, K. Reid) – 4:54
12. "Time And Money" (P. Buckle, J. Farnham, R. Faser) – 5:13

Significance to Australians

More than 20 years after the album's initial release, Chain Reaction is considered one of Farnham's best works. It also received much praise from critics at the time, even though many of the songs on this album have serious lyrics. "See The Banners Fall", "That's Freedom" and "Chain Reaction" were all delivering a similar message: the world is changing, whether Australians (or anyone in the West, for that matter) like it or not. In addition, "See the Banners Fall" is an accurate depiction of the world at the time, and "Chain Reaction" alludes in part by the globalisation that was (eventually) caused by the break-up of the Soviet Union. Many Australians consider "That's Freedom" and "In Days to come" as symbols of the urgency for the world to wake up and solve the world's problems. This may be the reason why Chain Reaction (both the single and the album) was a commercial success.

These themes were evident on the Age Of Reason

Age of Reason (album)

Age of Reason is a studio album by Australian pop singer John Farnham. It was released in Australia on 25 July 1988 and debuted at No. 1 on the Australian Recording Industry Association Albums Chart in August and remained on top for eight weeks...

album, Farnham's previous, and to a lesser extent, Whispering Jack

Whispering Jack

Whispering Jack is the twelfth studio album by Australian adult contemporary pop singer John Farnham. It was produced by Ross Fraser, and released on 20 October 1986, which peaked at #1 on the Australian Kent Music Report Album Charts...

. They have also been covered since on Then Again...

Then Again (John Farnham album)

Then Again... is a studio album by Australian singer John Farnham. The album was released in Australia on 18 October 1993, and reached #1 on the ARIA charts. It is notable along with its predecessor, Chain Reaction, for the fact that Farnham himself co-wrote most of the songs on the album, in this...

and Romeo's Heart

Romeo's Heart

Romeo's Heart is a studio album by Australian singer John Farnham. The album was released in Australia on 3 June 1996, and is Farnham's first studio album since the release of Then Again... in 1993....

.

Personnel

• John Farnham
  John Farnham
  John Peter Farnham, AO, formerly billed as Johnny Farnham , is an English-born Australian pop singer. He was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he briefly replaced Glenn Shorrock as...
  
   - vocals, acoustic guitar
• David Hirschfelder
  David Hirschfelder
  David Hirschfelder is an Australian film score composer and performer.Hirschfelder was born and raised in Ballarat, Victoria....
  
   - keyboards, bass, string arrangements, programming, piano
• Brett Garsed
  Brett Garsed
  Brett Garsed is an Australian guitar player. He plays with, among others, John Farnham and T. J. Helmerich and is a former member of the band Nelson...
  
   - guitars
• Angus Burchall - drums & percussion
• Phil Buckle - guitars
• Jack Jones - guitars
• Tommy Emmanuel
  Tommy Emmanuel
  William Thomas "Tommy" Emmanuel AM is an Australian guitarist, best known for his complex fingerpicking style, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects on the guitar. In the May 2008 and 2010 issues of Guitar Player Magazine, he was named as "Best Acoustic Guitarist" in their...
  
   - guitars
• Ross Fraser - guitars
• Steve Williams - harp, tenor sax, harmonica
• Venetta Fields
  Venetta Fields
  Venetta Fields is an American singer best known as session musician for leading rock and pop acts of the 1970s including Pink Floyd, Barbra Streisand, Steely Dan and the Rolling Stones...
  
   - vocals
• Lindsay Field - vocals

Chart positions

Year	Chart	Position
1990	Australian Recording Industry Association Australian Recording Industry Association The Australian Recording Industry Association is a trade group representing the Australian recording industry which was established in 1983 by six major record companies, EMI, Festival, CBS, RCA, WEA and Universal replacing the Association of Australian Record Manufacturers which was formed in 1956... Albums Chart	1