Holds up surprisingly well after 20+ years
I was quite surprised to discover how much I still like it -- these are good songs. I recently pulled this CD off the shelf to load it into iTunes, having not listened to it for probably 15 years.
The production is very much of the '80s, as other reviewers have stated, but that doesn't diminish the quality of the vocals and songwriting. The album isn't nearly as dated-sounding as some of its contemporaries, but I suspect some of that has to do with the fact that the Wilson sisters were not flash-in-the-pan one-hit wonders. Ann and Nancy Wilson are two talented people, and the talent shines through on this CD.
While this may not be Heart's greatest effort, it is certainly an excellent album. Whether you're feeling nostalgic for the '80s, or you just want to hear some good pop music, this is a worthy purchase.
A disappointing effort from one of my favorite bands
It has a couple okay songs ("Alone", "There's the Girl"), but it mostly sags due to the dominance of lackluster synthesizer-based tunes. I own every Heart CD, and I listen to them often, but I regard this album as the "black sheep" of my collection. "I Want You So Bad", "Wait for an Answer", "Strangers of the Heart", "RSVP", and "Bad Animals", the title track, are all far too slow and far too long. "You A'int So Tough" and "Easy Target" are really just inferior versions of "Who Will You Run To". Heart really does their best when they turn up their guitars and rock out and let Ann Wilson wail. On this album they seemed to have been lulled into complacency by the commercial success of their eponymous album.
On "The Road Home", their live album from the 90's, they cut a much better, acoustic-based version of "Alone" (which nevertheless pails to their acoustic version of "These Dreams" from their eponymous album). Check it out and skip this lackluster effort.
Not so great.
I have heard better from them. This cd wasn't that interesting to me. I think their greatest cd is Dreamboat Annie. If you listen to this cd and then listen to Dreamboat Annie you will hear a remarkable difference. I feel they put alot more time and effort in their earlier cd's.
Here's the deal....
Slick, overly produced, heavy keyboards along with the guitars. You have to understand how different the music was back in the 80's when this was made. 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. . . .
Started off great
Some Heart fans like to pretend that 1985's Heart and Bad Animals never happened, but the band's makeover as a keyboard-heavy AOR act gave their career a much needed shot in the arm, as well as some much deserved attention. I really enjoy Heart's music, particularly their "hairspray and synthesizers" material from the 80's, but I must say I was a bit disappointed with their 1987 album Bad Animals. The band's self-titled album was as good an AOR album as you could hope for, and featured some of the band's biggest hits. Unfortunately Bad Animals does not quite measure up.
The album starts off with three extremely strong tracks - Alone, Who Will You Run To, and There's The Girl - but loses steam shortly after. The first two songs were fairly big hits, and the third, which featured Nancy Wilson on vocals, could have been. Other than those songs, the rest of Bad Animals seems like "by the numbers" AOR songs that would have been better off on a Starship album.
Still, the first three songs are well worth the price of admission. If the rest of the album sounded like them, I'd probably be giving it a 4 or 5-star rating. As it stands, the best I can give is 3 stars.
You can see a complete list of all Heart discography, or go back to the Heart tabs
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