Stan Ridgway - "The Big Heat" (1986)

Stan Ridgway had been the singer in the band Wall of Voodo, for those who remember them, and The Big Heat was his first solo album. I got the record as a 14-year-old, and in my more adult years the album has been strongly associated with my teenage years. For this reason, I have never really listened to it after I turned 20, it was part of an earlier, less musically sophisticated time. I have faced my eternal dilemma regarding my teenage albums, can I as an adult dig the same music as my relatively immature self digged? Shouldn't I have moved on?

So it wasn't with high expectations I now listened to the album for the first time in many years, though with some curiosity concerning what I would think. The short answer is better than expected. Ridgway gets a lot of inspiration from the film noir genre, and the album title (and title song) bears the name of a film noir from 1953. Many of the songs are short dark stories, like a film noir manuscript in miniature. The big final of the album is the closing number Camouflage which became a relatively big hit. It's about a Vietnam soldier who, in a difficult situation, gets the help of a mystical soldier who saves him from Vietcong and kills a large number of them into the process. When our soldier returns to his camp, it appears that Camouflage has been lying on his deathbed all week, and his last wish before he died was to save a young marine. A touching story, although one can ponder somewhat on the theme.

Should I try to classify the music, it would be some kind of film noir pop. Overall, it is a pretty dark album in the mood that is created, although the songs are often relatively uptempo. The album's biggest con is the production. Yes, 1986 was the year, and dominant synthesizers in combination with drum machines were often on the menu. Not my thing. Like many other records from this time, it would be a good idea to rerecord The Big Heat with an updated sound. Then I think it would be a really good album, as many songs and lyrics are of high quality. However, I appreciated the record more than I thought, perhaps because as 30 years older, I listen to the album in a new way, which in a way makes it new. And it's always fascinating to note how well you remember many song lyrics even though you haven't heard the songs in such a long time.


Tracklist

Side A
1. The Big Heat 4:26
2. Pick It Up (And Put It In Your Pocket) 4:32
3. Can't Stop the Show 3:45
4. Pile Driver 4:44
5. Walkin' Home Alone 4:31

Side B
1. Drive, She Said 4:11
2. Salesman 5:23
3. Twisted 3:37
4. Camouflage 7:05