Bad animals --- Heart --- 1987 (Capitol)
To go by the phenomenal chart success of this album, you would perhaps be forgiven for thinking it was Heart's first, or maybe second, but in fact “Bad animals” was their ninth album, following on from such successes as “Passionworks”, “Dog and butterfly” and “Bebe le strange”, and Heart had been having hit singles all the way back to their 1976 debut, “Dreamboat Annie”. Their previous effort though, simply titled “Heart”, had been the one to break them commercially, with hit singles like “These dreams” and “What about love” bursting open the charts for them. Nevertheless, they had to wait until the release of this album, two years after “Heart”, for their first, and so far only, number one single.
This album is almost flawless. Those, like me, who bought it on the back of the abovementioned smash, “Alone”, hoping to hear more of such music were not disappointed, and it's full of either emotional ballads or hard pomp rockers. There is the odd weak track, but in general from the time the album opens to its guitar chord ending, there's little to complain about and a whole lot to praise.
Crashing drums and hard guitar gets “Who will you run to” underway, and it's a great powerful rocker, Ann Wilson in fine raunchy voice while her sister Nancy takes care of guitar and keyboard duties, backed on the latter by Howard Leese. It's a Diane Warren classic, and bears all the trademarks, and it's no surprise at all to learn it was a big hit for them, its big guitar sound tempered just enough by the solid keyboard to push this into the top ten, but of course that's nothing compared to the next one up, the megasmash “Alone”. There's surely no-one who hasn't heard this song at least once by now, spending as it did three weeks at the number one spot, and introducing Heart to millions of people who up until then had probably never heard of them, despite the hit singles from the previous album.
Its opening keyboard and piano notes are by now instantly recognisable, and Ann's soft, gentle and yearning voice is soon crashed over by powerful guitar from her sister. It's a forceful ballad, veering from almost acoustic simplicity to power ballad rocker, with a great guitar solo stuck in the middle. Neither of these songs were written by the Wilson sisters, unusually, as indeed is the case on most of the songs, however the next one was --- or at least, co-written by Nancy with Holly Knight --- and “There's the girl” is a fast pop/rocker, with breezy keyboards, guitar in there but less prominent than in the opener. It's very catchy, very hook-laden, with Ann's voice a little more restrained but still powerful, and good backing vocals from Nancy and Howard Leese. The team responsible for the huge hit “Alone” --- Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly --- collaborate again on another standout, “Want you so bad”.
It's another ballad, but tough and moody, with growling guitar and throaty bass, Leese's synth laying down a deep, heavy melody which Nancy sprinkles with light touches of piano and digital piano. It's followed, unusually, by another ballad, and indeed another standout, “Wait for an answer”. This is also written with no input from the Wilsons, or indeed any of the band, and you have to wonder if the recruitment of writers was a contributing factor in their chart success, as all three of their hit singles from this album were written by people outside the band, apart from Nancy's involvement in “There's the girl”?
Denny Carmassi's drumming plays a big part in setting the atmosphere of “Wait for an answer”, as do the ominous keyboard chords of Howard Leese. It's a very keyboard-driven song, with little discernible input from Nancy's guitar, and a sterling vocal performance from Ann, particularly as the song reaches its, er, climax. The title track, and without question the heaviest on the album, is a slow cruncher, with growling, snarling guitar and thumping drums, and the only one written by the entire band. It veers away from the soft-rock/pop sensibilities of the rest of the album, harking back to their earlier pure rock days, and has some really effective keyboard work as well as a real vocal workout from Ann Wilson.
“You ain't so tough” is another soft-rocker, again written by outsiders, very boppy, very commercial and again quite keyboard-led, while “Strangers of the heart” is another synthy ballad, with a nice line in guitar from Nancy, the song quite similar in fact to their big hit from the previous album, “These dreams”. The only other real straight rocker on the album, I nevertheless find “Easy target” the weakest track, almost filler, and the fact that it's one of the four written by the Wilsons is not good, but the album closes powerfully on their final contribution, the acoustic ballad “RSVP”.
With a lot of heart (sorry) and emotion in the song, Ann's vocals wring every last ounce of of the lyric and Nancy is just superb on the acoustic guitar, while Carmassi injects just the right amount of percussion into the song until it's time to hit up the drums properly, Leese's slow moody synth building the atmosphere under Nancy's guitar, then she switches to electric for a soulful little solo and then back to the acoustic for the muted and downbeat ending.
I've heard Heart albums after this --- in fact, I reviewed “Brigade” not long after starting my journal --- and they've generally been good, though I have to say that here I think they came to their commercial creative output peak, and although there have been some great songs on their albums since, they really haven't had that many hits nor enjoyed the level of chart success that “Bad animals” brought to them. Whether that's because, as postulated above, they largely left the songwriting to others, or whether it was just the times, that they captured the imagination with bands like Europe and Bon Jovi flying the flag for soft rock, I really couldnt' say.
But in many ways, this is the album they have never quite managed to better, in another twenty-five years of recording, and another four albums.
TRACKLISTING
1. Who will you run to?
2. Alone
3. There's the girl
4. Want you so bad
5. Wait for an answer
6. Bad animals
7. You ain't so tough
8. Strangers of the heart
9. Easy target
10. RSVP