I wanted to get this review
written yesterday but a late night at work followed by a social engagement
denied me. This meant that I was stuck listening to it for a second straight
day. Fate can be cruel.
Disc 827 is….Bad Animals
Artist: Heart
Year of Release: 1987
What’s up with the Cover? A series of drawings stylized to
look like cave art, if cave art was drawn by dudes in pastel suit jackets with
big shoulder pads.
How I Came To Know It: I knew this album as a kid, but I
never bothered to buy it until our friend Gord was parting with his CD
collection, and I picked it up on the cheap along with a bunch of other albums.
Not my finest purchase of the day. Sorry, Gord.
How It Stacks Up: I have three Heart albums, and this is easily
the worst. I think that if I had six or seven heart albums, this would still be
the worst.
Ratings: 2 stars
If this album were an animal it would be the dog
that eats your shoe or the cat that pees on your radiator. “Bad Animals” is a
bad animal indeed.
This album annoys me in so many ways, but only makes
me happy in two. And it isn’t that I don’t like Heart, because I do. I have two
of their other albums, and I plan to buy another at some point.
In 1987 classic rock bands
were mowed down by the saccharine production of synthesizers and drum machines.
Sometimes the quality of the songs kept these albums afloat, as they do on Bruce
Springsteen’s “Tunnel of Love” or Rush’s “Hold Your Fire.” “Bad
Animals” is an example of when that doesn’t happen.
That is not to say this album has no good songs. In
fact, it has one and it is even their biggest hit. “Alone” is a great track; an anthem for all the awkward girls in
love with some popular guy who doesn’t know they exist. Despite the bells and
whistles of eighties production, Ann Wilson’s voice soars with power and
pathos. The producers even take a break from all their tinkling and futzing
about long enough to let Nancy Wilson unleash a passable guitar solo.
Sadly, even “Alone”
doesn’t have the sway over me it once did, having been dismantled and abused by
year after year of Idol and Voice hopefuls wishing they could do what Ann does,
and failing by various degrees.
Fortunately, “Alone”
isn’t totally alone for me. It has a guilty pleasure to keep it company! “You Ain’t So Tough” is not what most
people would call a good song, but I love it anyway. It is the nerdy and cynical
friend to “Alone’s” awkward hero. I
don’t care that it has some of the worst drum machine on the album, or that the
guitar solo is marred with some sort of electronic version of the triangle. I
love this song, and I don’t care what anyone thinks (which is pretty much the
only way you can love this song).
Other than this, “Bad Animals” is a bunch of
eighties radio pop. This is not a great genre to begin with and the songwriting
doesn’t save it. It is sad that a band with the hard rock roots of Heart descended
into the world of vacuous pop. Their 1985 self-titled album that preceded this
one was more of the same but the writing is just better than you find here.
“Bad Animals” other tracks are forgettable. Even the
other hits (“Who Will You Run To” and
“There’s The Girl”) don’t stand out
except perhaps against the remainder of the record. “I Want You So Bad” made me want them to sing different songs so bad,
but that was the extent of my desire. “Wait
For An Answer” had me mentally responding with a firm “no” whenever it came
on. “R.S.V.P” is the musical equivalent
of a party no one attends: sad and empty, with streamers decorating the place
and an untouched spinach dip on the dining room table.
Despite all this Heart can still smugly cash their
royalty cheques (“Bad Animals” is their second-highest selling of 15 studio
albums), so in the eyes of a lot of other people they clearly did something
right. And like I said earlier, there are a couple of tracks that I still like despite all the other warts. On the other hand, I'm not one for keeping just singles., so what shall be the fate of such a record in my collection?
“Alone” ends
with a fervent hope that to not end the night without companionship. Not to
worry, song, you’ll have plenty of company with the other tracks on this album
in the deleted items folder of my computer, at least until I empty it.
And…delete.
2 comments:
I think that was the only Heart album I had. You are saying I steadied (and stopped) on the worst one? Maybe I should try a better one. Recommendation?
If you like the eighties sound from "Bad Animals" but want better songs go with their self-titled album from 1985. If you want to hear their classic hard rock seventies sound, I am partial to 1977's "Little Queen."
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