Brigade

WILD CHILD
The first single from the album. Very dark. Very hard. Very heavy. Very edgy. I love it. The first verse is the best part. You all better not skip this one.

ALL I WANNA DO IS MAKE LOVE TO YOU
The second single from the album. Controversy was caused when Madonna released PAPA DON'T PREACH as a single, for people thought she was encouraging teenage pregnancy on girls with their boyfriends. Heart was nailed for it with this song, for people thought that they were enforcing pregnancy with a complete stranger just because her boyfriend is too chicken to do it himself. Wrong again. Just say that this is a great song. The sound is amazing. I don't how anybody could not like this song.

SECRET
The third single from the album. An awesome ballad. I don't think I ever turn off this album without listening to this song.

TALL, DARK HANDSOME STRANGER
This one needs work.

I DIDN'T WANT TO NEED YOU
Not bad.

THE NIGHT
Okay.

FALLEN FROM GRACE
A little on the country side. Not as good as I hoped it would be.

UNDER THE SKY
Okay.

CRUEL NIGHTS
Much better then the previous two tracks.

STRANDED
Not a bad ballad.

CALL OF THE WILD
Pretty good.

I WANT YOUR WORLD TO TURN
Another favorite of mine from the album. Can't help myself when I play this one over and over.

I LOVE YOU
Not that great.

I was quite impressed after listening to this album. If you don't have this album, buy it and you'll be impressed too.

The chugging opening guitar and blaring lead guitar of "Wild Child" serves to remind all dissers that Heart can still rock. This could've been on the Heart album. However, using titles of well-known songs in one verse, "Ring my bell, baby" and "Shake baby rattle and roll" is a bit much.

Then comes a song by the Mutt, you know, Mr. Twain, which gained a bit of controversy because it's about a woman who gets impregnated by a hitchhiker after a magical one-night stand because her husband's sterile. At least it put Heart back in the Top Five. One analogy is wonderful: "We walked in the garden we planted to tree."

The power ballad "Secret", on an illicit affair, is my favourite song on this album and I wasn't too chuffed that it didn't climb higher than the Top 60 on the charts. There is a wall of heavy guitar and the Wilsons powerful vocals that somehow just gets me going.

Holly Knight gives the Wilsons "Tall Dark Handsome Stranger," which has a sound reminiscent of Bon Jovi's "Social Disease" what with the horns, but man, what strong guitars! Yow! OK, bloody great rocker, but did the title have to be such a big cliche?

Diane Warren's great pen yields another power ballad, "I Didn't Want To Need You" which is another favourite.

Power chords pound left and right in the stomping "The Night", coming closer to heavy metal than "The Wolf." This would be a great song to do live--just make sure the crowd doesn't get too rowdy.

OK, some synth creeps in "Fallen From Grace", but chugging heavy guitars take precedence. The power harmonies in the main refrain work well. Heartfelt lines: "The tears left behind/won't wash from my face/

The mid-paced, wistful "Under The Sky" is to Heart what "Dover Beach" was to the Bangles: let's run away together and spend quality time: "Shake the world off your shoulders/you have the perfect alibi/just because the world is wide." because "when all is said and done/darlin' we are the only ones"

"Cruel Nights", which has a backbeat like the Police's "Every Breath You Take" is another Diane Warren composition. The title nights are equal to "missing you nights", "what do I do nights." Without that wall of sound, Laura Branigan could've done this, as she too benefitted from Ms. Warren's magical pen.

"Stranded" is another power ballad that incorporates inflections from "What About Love." It's more powerful than its predecessor, but without the emotional depth.

"Call Of The Wild" is a decent rocker, but it's the Nancy-sung "I Want Your World To Turn," co-written by T. Kelly and B. Steinberg ("Alone" from Bad Animals) and its keyboards (not excessive) that makes a welcome change. Nancy's sweeter vocals and the catchy hooks in the chorus did it for me. Face it, after enough blaring rockers, one will simply tune out. And the Holly Knight-co-penned ,"I Love You" is a kind of goodnight keyboard synth lullaby after the barn-burning from the rest of the album.

Producer Richie Zito should be credited for giving Heart a swift kick back into the rock zone after the excesses of Bad Animals. The fact that this did well given the emergence of grunge and hip-hop during the decade marks this as an artistic triumph for Heart and rock. However, two things kinda bother me. One, despite the great sound, the lyrics aren't of any really emotional substance except for "All I Wanna Do..." and "Under The Sky." Two, there's one member of Heart conspicuous by her absence--Sue Ennis. Given her substantial role in songwriting, I count her as a Heart member. She only does "Call Of The Wild" with all Heart members, and "Under The Sky."