Arista album discography: The late '80s and a slight hint at the Milli Vanilli scandal

After a Whitney-laced 1987, 1988 was a relatively quiet year for Arista. Tommy Mottola attempted to keep Hall and Oates under contract when their RCA obligation ran out, so Hall and Oates did the inverse of what Barry Manilow had done in 1985 (he himself did the inverse in '87) and their first album for the label, Ooh Yeah!, included the hits "Everything Your Heart Desires" (#3 in May—their last to make the Top 10), "Missed Opportunity", and "Downtown Life". Aretha Franklin returned to her gospel roots with One Lord, One Faith, One Baptism, but neither it, nor its lead single "Oh Happy Day", charted. After a brief return visit to Motown, the Four Tops came to Arista. While their album Indestructible hit the charts (barely), the title cut went to #35 here in the States and "Lost in Acapulco" went to #7 in the U.K.; otherwise the group was unable to recapture the glory of their 1960s Motown days.

Still the big hit that year came from the Summer Olympics as held in Seoul, South Korea: Whitney Houston's performance of the games' theme "One Moment In Time" topped the UK Singles Chart and went to #5 in America. This must've been a surprise hit from the games at it; the 1988 Summer Olympics Album didn't chart (and somehow the OP doesn't think it was supposed to). On the other hand, some more big hits came from Taylor Dayne: her debut album Tell It to My Heart, went double platinum thanks to top-10 hits in the title track, "Prove Your Love" (both of which hit #7), "I'll Always Love You" (#3) and "Don't Rush Me" (#2).

Things took a turn for the better in 1989. Aretha Franklin put out the album Through the Storm, which despite the #16 US Pop hit title track (a duet with Elton John), was not a commercial success; it reached #55 on the Top 200 Albums chart, and was taken out of print shortly after selling approximately 225,000 copies in the United States. The follow-up, "It Isn't, It Wasn't, It Ain't Never Gonna Be," a duet with Whitney Houston, only hit #41. Rock pioneer Dion signed with Arista after resuming his (non-Christian) music career; his first album for the label, Yo Frankie contained appearances from Paul Simon, Lou Reed, k.d. lang, Patty Smyth and Bryan Adams. With a moving introduction from Lou Reed, Dion was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1989, but without the Belmonts (Carlo Mastrangelo, Fred Milano, and Angelo D'Aleo); only Dion has ever been inducted as of this writing.

Eurythmics released the album We Too Are One, which entered the UK album chart at no.1 (their second no.1 album after Touch) and gave the duo four UK Top 30 hit singles. The album was a return to the rock/pop sound of their mid-80s albums and was certified Double Platinum in the UK, but was less successful in the U.S. (although the single "Don't Ask Me Why" grazed the Billboard Top 40). Other singles from the album included "Revival", "The King and Queen of America" and "Angel". The duo also conducted a world tour for the album in late 1989. It's mentioned here because that album was released on Arista here in the United States. Meanwhile, Carly Simon had a huge hit with the breathtaking "Let the River Run", from the film Working Girl, and became the first artist in history to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for a song composed and written, as well as performed, entirely by a single artist.

Then came the most notable story about Arista, the one concerning their signage of Milli Vanilli, a duo consisting of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan that was based in Germany. The label released its debut album, Girl You Know It's True, which was a remixed and re-edited version of All or Nothing, which had been out in Europe the previous year. The album was certified sextuple platinum in the U.S., and charted five top-ten singles, three of them reaching the number one position. In 1990, Milli Vanilli won two American Music Awards and a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. Later that year, Frank Farian, Milli Vanilli's producer, said that the duo hadn't performed a single note on their album, causing a huge controversy; as a result, their Grammy was revoked, and the album became the largest-selling ever to go out of print.

ARCD-8520 Stealin Horses/Stealin Horses
ARCD-8521 The Church/Starfish
ARCD-8522
ARCD-8523
ARCD 8524 The Monkees
ARCD 8525 The Monkees/More Of The Monkees
ARCD-8526 Carly Simon/Greatest Hits Live
ARCD 8527 Barry Manilow/Swing Street
ARCD-8528 Air Supply/The Christmas Album
ARCD-8529 Taylor Dayne Tell It To My Heart
ARCD-8530
ARCD-8531
ARCD-8532 Exposé /What You Don't Know
ARCD-8533 Kiara/To Change And-Or Make A Difference
ARCD-8534 Legal Reins/Please, The Pleasure
ARCD-8535 Jerry Garcia Band/Cats Under The Stars
ARCD-8536 Snap!/World Power (Album)
ARCD-8537
ARCD-8538
ARCD-8539 Daryl Hall John Oates/Ooh Yeah!
ARCD-8540 Dionne Warwick/Greatest Hits 1979-1990
ARCD-8541
ARCD-8542 Thompson Twins/The Best Of Thompson Twins / Greatest Mixes
ARCD-8543 Geoff McBride/Do You Still Remember Love
ARCD-8544
ARCD-8545 Vangelis/Direct
ARCD-8546 Patti Smith Group Wave
ARCD-8547
ARCD-8548 The Best Of Eric Carmen
ARCD-8549 Dion/Yo Frankie
ARCD-8550 Asleep At The Wheel/Keepin Me Up Nights
ARCD-8551 1988 Summer Olympics Album: One Moment In Time
ARCD-8552 Blue Zöne U.K./Big Thing
ARCD-8553 The Jeff Healey Band/See The Light
ARCD-8554 Lisa Stansfield/Affection
ARCD-8555 Dreams So Real/Rough Night In Jericho
ARCD-8556 Aretha Franklin/Aretha
ARCD 8557 Jerry Garcia/Run For The Roses
ARCD-8558 Bobby & The Midnites
ARCD-8559 Barry Manilow I
ARCD-8560 Barry Manilow II
ARCD-8561 Nick Heyward/North Of A Miracle
ARCD-8562 The Door To Their Dreams - Arista's 1988 Black Music Month Collection
ARCD-8563 The Church/Of Skins And Heart
ARCD-8564 The Church/The Blurred Crusade
ARCD-8565 The Church/Seance
ARCD-8566 The Church/Remote Luxury
ARCD-8567 The Church/Heyday
ARCD-8568 Danny Elfman and Paul Reubens/Big Top Pee-Wee
ARCD-8569 K-9 Posse
ARCD-8570
ARCD-8571 Three Times Dope/Original Stylin'
ARCD-8572 Aretha Franklin/Through The Storm
ARCD-8573 Dionne Warwick/Sings Cole Porter
ARCD-8574 I'm Gonna Git You Sucka
ARCD-8575 Grateful Dead/Built To Last
ARCD-8576 Road House
ARCD 8577 Exposé
ARCD-8578 Jennifer Holliday/I'm On Your Side
ARCD-8579 The Church/Gold Afternoon Fix
ARCD-8580 Babylon A.D.
ARCD-8581 Taylor Dayne/Can't Fight Fate
ARCD-8582 Carly Simon My Romance
ARCD-8583 Too Nice/Cold Facts
ARCD-8584 Serious-Lee-Fine/Nothing Can Stop Us
ARCD-8585 Jimmy Ryser
ARCD-8586 Kris McKay/What Love Endures
ARCD-8587 Enuff Z'nuff/Animals With Human Intelligence
ARCD-8588 Louis Clark, The Royal Philharmonic Orchestra/The Classics In Rhythm
ARCD-8589
ARCD-8590
ARCD-8591
ARCD-8592 Milli Vanilli/Girl You Know It's True
ARCD-8593 Working Girl
ARCD-8594 Sarah McLachlan/Touch
ARCD-8595 Kashif
ARCD 8595 Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe
ARCD-8596 Bobcat/Cat Got Ya Tongue
ARCD-8597
ARCD-8598 Barry Manilow/Greatest Hits Volume I
ARCD-8599 Barry Manilow/Greatest Hits Volume II
ARCD-8600 Barry Manilow/Greatest Hits Volume III