Wish is the second solo studio album of former Undertones singer Feargal Sharkey, released by Virgin Records on 28 March 1988. As the follow-up to his successful self-titled solo debut, Wish received mixed reviews and was not as commercially successful as its predecessor.
Contents
Background
Wish was recorded after Sharkey had taken a break of several months from the music industry. He completed a tour to promote his debut album in August 1986, then had to deal with the death of his mother, something which took him "an awfully long time to recover from". After a period of self-reflection, during which time he was not "even vaguely interested in making music", Sharkey decided to move away from London. For his second album, he wanted to work with American musicians, including guitarist Danny Kortchmar, who would produce the album, so he moved to Los Angeles in 1987. Sharkey was "intrigued" by Kortchmar's background in working with artists such as Carole King and Jackson Browne, whom he considered to be "songwriters in the old tradition rather than modern day producers".
Recording sessions commenced in May 1987. Responding to some criticism that his 1985 debut album was "bland pop music", Sharkey made a "far more conscious effort" in terms of songwriting for Wish. Sharkey told the Wokingham Times in 1988 that the album "deals with my life in the last two years and a blues/soul feel seemed the best way to express that". Ahead of its release, Sharkey said to the Sunday Independent: "I've never devoted myself so much to an album before, so if it comes out, and nobody gives a damn about it, I would be extremely disappointed, to say the least."