Disco de Heart: “Bad Animals”

Album number 2 produced by Ron Nevison, and it's a lot more polished, but without the cutting edge of songs like "The Wolf" or "Shell Shock" from their eponymous Capitol Records debut. That's been replaced by a slick layer of keyboard synthesizer icing. That could explain why they put more of a rock edge on the followup Brigade. Still, when I first got Bad Animals, I was already immersed into their previous catalog and thought it was a worthy followup to Heart.

The Diane Warren-penned "Who Will You Run To" is a guitar and keyboard rocker warning against foolishly going it alone and with a new woman. "You found a new world and you want to taste it/But that world can turn cold and you better face it/Who will you run to when it all falls down/who's gonna pick your world up off the ground/who's gonna take away the tears you cry/who's gonna love you baby as good as I." Great guitar work at the end!

"Alone" is the "What About Love" of Bad Animals, an archetypal emotional powerhouse of a power ballad, but with piano. It's one of my favourite songs by them. The synthesizers blast out with the refrain: "Till now I always got by on my own/I never really cared until I met you/And now it chills me to the bone/How do I get you alone?" Well, show me some collateral and I'll give you a loan. Alone, a loan, get it? OK, I'll knock it off! Their other #1 singles hit.

Holly Knight gives Heart another wonderful single with the keyboard rocker "There's The Girl" punctuated by solid guitar riffs. And it's sung by Nancy Wilson, who gave Heart their first #1 hit, "These Dreams."

The sad "I Want You So Bad", is highlighted by a backing choir. This used to be a favourite, but they seem to go overboard with the keyboards on this one.

"Wait For An Answer" reminds me at times of Pink Floyd's "Learning To Fly" and Bryan Adams' "Somebody", only with a heavy keyboard frosting.

The title track, written by the band, is another song revelling about nonconformists. These bad animals "got to push the grain or go insane." Ann really belts out the chorus and she gets a crashing drum beat from Denny, so that's good.

"You Ain't So Tough" sounds like something Bon Jovi might do, except heavy on the keyboards. At least the chorus is catchy: "Lovin' you was an endless fight/I was wrong and you were always right/But look what happened when I called your bluff/When the truth comes out, you ain't so tough."

"Strangers Of The Heart" while a good power ballad, wouldn't have made it in the Top Forty. The last two songs are Wilson/Wilson/Ennis compositions. "Easy Target" has more a rock edge, while the power ballad "RSVP" is about an invitation to a private affair.

There's no doubt denying that Heart got to rock prominence in the 1980's. The cost of that is the introduction of songs done by other writers. In fact only three songs are written by the Wilsons. That's not to denigrate Diane Warren, Billy Steinberg, or the great Holly Knight, though. It's just that seeing as how Heart got by in writing their own songs for seven albums, seeing these other people seems to hint that they've sacrificed songcraft for glossy production. Still, Ann and Nancy's vocals are the saving grace of this worthy effort.

You have to understand how different the music was back in the 80's when this was made. Slick, overly produced, heavy keyboards along with the guitars. Everyone had a big sound to go along with their big hair! It was the decade of excess and everything was over the top and overdone. I can't blame Heart for surviving in the 80's. Look at Rod Stewart, he went from doing Maggie May to closing out the 70's with Do Ya' Think I'm Sexy. Yep, old rockin' Rod did disco and even Kiss did a disco song with I was made for Lovin' You. It's called surivial in the crazy world of the music biz. Sometimes you have to roll with things and adapt to the times in order to keep working and selling records. I'm so glad Heart did this even though it was hard to swallow after growing up with them in the 70's and loving their work. Heart and Bad Animals not only saved their career but it launched them into the next stratosphere. Besides, you can still hear and feel their talent streaming through these polished-up songs. Not at all their best work, but I'm so glad they were able to keep going and save their career. Just get Alive in Seattle on DVD. No matter who they play with, Ann and Nancy are two very talented ladies. Rock on...

This album which was released in 1987, was one of the albums made a big change in Heart's music. It had become soft but beautiful music. These girls (and guys) had no trouble to show their softer side. The songs like "Alone" and "RSVP" indicate that the personal feelings are important in life as well as in music. Yes, they might sound as tough as in "Little Queen" or "Dreamboat Annie", someone would say that they have changed. I disagree with that. They still have rocking songs such as "Easy Target" and "Bad Animals". I like this quite much because it has beautiful songs but I still find "Little Queen" as my favorite album although albums like this and "Brigade" are very good.

Stars: Alone, Who Will You Run to, There's the Girl

Just kiddin'. Wanted to see if you were awake.

Well, I'm the first to admit that neither set of Wilson sisters (Ann and Nancy or Carnie and Wendy) ever really grabbed me, musically speaking. But it's also true that periodically, someone will mention to me (or maybe post on Amazon or someplace else) that they think Ann Wilson is just about the greatest female rock singer ever. More than Janis? Grace? Chrissie or Stevie? Yes, they insist, and actually,they have a point.

Ann Wilson does have some set of pipes, no denying. Whether she is superior to any of the artists listed above (or any number of others) will always be moot--and subject to the whims and tastes of individual listeners everywhere. But after listening to this record some 18 years after its release, I would have to concede that Ann is probably the greatest woman ARENA rocker ever. How much stock you want to put in that depends largely on how you feel about that kind of music.

Power ballads and bombastic art rock were NEVER critical faves, and many of us regular Joes and Joannes may not have been exactly enamored of the genre either. But we all have our little guilty pleasures. One of mine was "Magic Man." But that in itself wasn't quite enough to make me a total Ann fan. I thought "Barracuda" was a little screechy and generally over the top. And "Little Queen" and other 70s entries pretty much made no impression.

I was intrigued when I learned that they had briefly taken up co-writing with one of their old school friends who had gone on to major in German literature (as I had). I was curious as to how that would all pan out. The prospect of Rilke-rock seemed pretty intriguing. But I never quite got around to checking it out. (I believe that would be the DOG & BUTTERFLY era, but I could be wrong.) I didn't expect they'd be entering Nico territory, but literate rock'n'roll never did seem like a contradiction in terms to me. Apparently though, that association didn't last, and Heart itself kind of meandered until their mid-80s commercial (and I do mean "commercial") renaissance.

The Diane-Warrenization of popular music was well underway by the mid-80s when Heart jumped on that particular bandwagon. And if anyone was suited to that kind of melodious melodrama, it would have been Ann and Nancy. Grace Slick, who of course, also dabbled in 80s commercialism herself, once said that she came to admire Warren (and presumably other hitmakers) for her ability to do what she did so well--even if it wasn't really her thing. Well, it did seem a particularly bizarre match for Grace, but for Ann and Nancy, it pretty much fit like a glove.

Nancy does her usual one song ("There's the Girl")on BAD ANIMALS, and it's impressively diaphonous a la "These Dreams"--but with a little more bounce than the earlier track. The track shows off her pretty, but not overly dynamic, voice to good advantage. The rest of the album is Ann's to do with as she will. And regardless of how one may feel about the music as a whole, it is a fascinating, almost textbook example of power rock vocal technique. Call it Rock Singing 101. The grit is there on the title track. And the skilled balladeering dominates elsewhere.

All in all, a tour de force performance. Like I say, it's easy to see where all her admirers are coming from. But the album is also fronted with hits. The songs you heard in the 80s are the first songs on the CD. And it's clear the radio hits were selected for a reason. As the album goes on, the music gets less and less interesting. And by the last song, "RSVP" many listeners will be all too glad to see the album come to an end. It's not bad, but by then, the R'n'R 101 class presentation has lost some of its steam. All the stops have been pulled out, and it's time for something else. Or maybe just some peace and quiet.

I have always liked Heart, but never really made a point to get their albums before. Only lately have I really gotten into them since my boyfriend is. His favorite and now mine also is "Bad Animals". I can see the popularity of the 1985 self titled one, but to me there is more talent and melody in "Bad Animals" and it just appeals to me that much more. I also like "Brigade" ,which I just recently purchased as well. It just goes to show that a band like Heart is versatile and talented enough to appeal to a large audience and I hope to see them around for some time. Although mine is probably not popular opinion, I hope it draws interest in checking this one out. It's well worth the time.