1992 Peter Cetera – World Falling Down

World Falling Down (1992) is the fourth solo album for music artist Peter Cetera and his third album since leaving the group Chicago.

Released four years after his previous album, One More Story, World Falling Down was recorded sporadically over a lengthy period across nine different recording studios. Cetera’s marriage to second wife, Diane Nini had ended, causing the once busy songwriter to step away from the music scene. Between 1988 and 1992, his only musical activities were an appearance as a guest vocalist on Cher’s 1989 single, “After All”, a song on the soundtrack to the movie Chances Are, and a vocal contribution to David Foster’s “Voices That Care” production (based on music that he and Cetera had written together years earlier. Deeply depressed, Cetera found himself using the album as an outlet to deal with his marriage ending and learning to be a single parent. Recording began in London England and occurred in short, spread out bursts as Cetera worked through the personal issues in his life.

In 1992, he explained to Billboard Magazine, “This was actually the first time I could write about the other side of love. I’d try to write a happy love song and I just couldn’t do it. Then I got mad and so everything was about hating the world. I finally settled on the truth.”

The album was predominantly produced by Andy Hill and Cetera. Two tracks were produced by veteran producer David Foster who had worked with Cetera previously on Chicago 16 and Chicago 17 during his days as bassist and vocalist for Chicago. Former Chicago alumni Bill Champlin sings background vocals on the song “Wild Ways” and singer Chaka Khan stepped into perform a duet on the song “Feels Like Heaven” after Laurie Morgan was unable to perform the song in its intended key. Unlike Cetera’s previous three solo efforts, Cetera co-wrote only four songs on World Falling Down. The album also marked a brief return to bass playing as Cetera himself played the bass lines on “Dip Your Wings” and “Where There’s No Tomorrow”.