Heart - Bad Animals

A decade after Heart released Little Queen, they dropped Bad Animals. To say they were back was a bit of an understatement. Heart was enjoying a career resurgence and were bigger than they'd ever been. Case in point, both albums went triple platinum in the States, while here at home Bad Animals would sell 400,000 copies, doubling what they did on Little Queen. I had no idea at the time it was this big a deal. I knew "Alone" (from their self-titled comeback in '85) was a huge power ballad, but honestly when I think of classic Heart albums, I don't think of Bad Animals. Time is a cruel mistress that way.

Now to be fair, I didn't have the classic albums when I was younger, although I did have Passionworks back in '83 because I liked the guitar solo on "How Can I Refuse?" a song that unfortunately stalled for the band. Of course I thought the big hits were cool, and "Barracuda" is right up there with my favourite songs growing up. Those classics are still the ones I associate with the band.

For those that don't know, this era of Heart was centred on Ann and Nancy Wilson, and was rounded out by longtime lead guitarist Howard Leese and Mark Andes on bass and Denny Carmassi on drums. The latter two having been with the band since 1983, and were shut out when the RRHOF came calling - apparently they put more weight on the classic albums too.

Those albums were mostly written by the band themselves, but after signing with Capitol, they began using outside songwriters. On Bad Animals, more than half the songs came from external writers.

It was a calculated move for the band, and they seemed to move seamlessly into the glam hair metal space, while still managing to keep their swagger. Having the Wilson sisters front and centre certainly didn't hurt and the music was slick and accessible, and the big hits were ear candy. Audiences were on side and the album was huge.

That was then ... I'm actually surprised at how tedious this feels now. The big hits carry the weight of nostalgia, but the deeper cuts just feel listless and dare I go so far as to say boring? Considering how much I love '80s music I am a little surprised at my reaction to the album. When I found the record I was actually kind of stoked to hear it as it wasn't one I'd had previously.

Oddly, I kind of waffle on this one depending on the day. When I wrote this I just wasn't feeling it, but I've played it several times and sometimes it's good fun even if it borders on faceless corporate rock at times. Doesn't mean it can't be fun to listen to.

I won't go so far as to call this Bad Animals as there are still a couple of great songs here, but mostly this is Meh Animals.

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Styx - Paradise Theater

Styx was hands down one of my favourite bands as a kid. They were a strange band, even back then. They were a hard rock band, almost progressive at times, who had a penchant for sucky ballads. I know there's a tendency for people to zero in on "Babe" as the song that killed the band's credibility. The roots go way back to almost the beginning when Styx released "Lady" on their second album. It showed a side to the band that needed to be kept in check, and for the most part the band kept things on a pretty tight leash. The band had been setting a gruelling pace, releasing an album a year (two in 1972) and by the time they released Paradise Theater (if I end up writing theatre later it's because that's how we spell it here) in 1981 they'd dropped ten albums in less than a decade. I snapped this up as soon as I saw it, and it became a fixture on my turntable. Like the band had announced on "Borrowed Time" from 1979's Cornerstone , ...

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Gary Numan - The Pleasure Principle

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