Bad Animals Mississippi

Bad Animals

Heart

Capitol Records, 1987

http://http://www.heart-music.com/

REVIEW BY: Christopher Thelen

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED: 05/28/1997

In the mid '80s, Ann and Nancy Wilson did what many peoplethought was impossible - they resurrected their band Heart fromobscurity and brought them to the top of the charts. A band thathad been touring the "has-been" circuit was again in the forefront,with songs like "What About Love" and "These Dreams." For a time,it looked like nothing could spoil their success.

Just one album later, the bubble burst - 1987's Bad Animals is a weak attempt at recreating the magic thatHeart captured on their previous self-titled album. Though thereare one or two good songs on this one, the remainder is tookeyboard-oriented.

Sure, there are two great songs on this album. "Who Will You RunTo" is an okay rocker, but is not the best song of their career.However, the following song, "Alone," is an amazing track that Ispent far too much time listening to after breaking up with onegirlfriend. Ann Wilson's vocals have rarely been stronger, and eventhough the album relies far too much on keyboards, their use hereis appropriate and moving.

Unfortunately, that ends the praise for the album. The guitarwork of Howard Leese and Nancy Wilson is buried so far back in themix for the rest of the album that one wonders if they were even inthe same studio when their parts were recorded. "There's The Girl"could have been a decent track had the chorus not been dominated bya keyboard riff - boring, boring, boring. The same goes for "WaitFor An Answer," a track which had some original promise but iselectronically killed. (Maybe part of the problem is that Leese andNancy Wilson played keyboards as well on this album - too bad theyforgot about the guitar work.)