Mean Business

Mean Business is a studio album by The Firm, released by Atlantic Records on 3 February 1986.

Overview
The album's title was intended to have a double meaning: that the music business is a hard one, and that the band was serious about its music ("The Firm mean business"). Mean Business however did not achieve the same level of commercial success as the début album, and the subsequent tour to promote the album had decreased ticket sales. Jimmy Page continued to experiment with his guitar tone introducing new effects pedals like chorus and volume units as well as his Roland guitar synthesizer. One of the album's tracks "Live in Peace" was first recorded on Paul Rodgers' first solo album, 1983's Cut Loose. The differences between the two versions was that Chris Slade played the drums meno mosso than the Cut Loose version and Page added a bluesy pentatonic guitar solo at the coda. Jimmy Page and Paul Rodgers decided to mutually disband The Firm within four months of this album's release. Rodgers explained:

Jimmy [Page] had been off the road and was very keen to get back, so we kind of compromised and said we'll make two albums and tour with them and see how we feel at the end of that time. At the end of the two years it was 'Okay, well, that was great, let's move on'".

The album peaked at #22 on the Billboard's Billboard 200 album chart and #46 on the UK Album Chart, and the single "All The King's Horses" spent four weeks at the top of Billboard's Mainstream Rock Tracks chart.

1986 Compact disc edition Same track listing and order as the vinyl release.