By JAY ROBERTS

The Cassette Chronicles is a continuing series of mini reviews and reflections on albums from the 1980’s and 1990’s. The aim of this series is to highlight both known and under-appreciated albums from rock, pop and metal genres from this time period through the cassette editions of their releases. Some of the albums I have known about and loved for years, while others are new to me and were music I’ve always wanted to hear. There will be some review analysis and my own personal stories about my connection with various albums. These opinions are strictly my own and do not reflect the views of anyone else at Limelight Magazine.

BILLY IDOL – REBEL YELL (1983)

Having at long last seen Billy Idol in concert for the first time this past weekend, I figured it was about time that I wrote about another of his albums. I’d written about Charmed Life nearly three years ago and hadn’t found my way to writing about another album in Idol’s discography since.

But since I’ve been on a rock and roll high since the fantastic show he put on, I had to dig out his second solo release Rebel Yell and finally give the full album a listen. I know the hits of course, but until sometime last year I never owned a copy of the Rebel Yell album itself.

With the title track kicking off the album, Billy Idol and guitarist Steve Stevens (who wrote all the songs on the original nine track release), wasted little time in giving the listener a full throttle rocker. You’ve got a killer rock guitar powering the score with a variety of other sounds and styles woven into the mix throughout. Over the top of that, you’ve got Idol’s cutting and sometimes raspy vocal delivery livening up the track even more. 

The song is named after a brand of whiskey that Idol saw members of The Rolling Stones drinking at a party and he went and turned it into a classic 80’s hard rock anthem that still can light up a crowd all these years later.

Surprisingly though, the highest the song reached on the singles chart was #46, which I found to be a bit of a shock since it remains one of his most notable tracks. Of the four singles released from the album, only “Eyes Without A Face” (topping out at #4) and “Flesh For Fantasy” (peaking at #29) actually became Top 40 hits.

Speaking of “Eyes Without A Face”, I love the way this ballad’s title actually comes from an old black and white horror movie (of which Billy Idol was a fan). Here generations of people probably think of this song in some kind of romantic way and yet the inspiration for the song is anything but that. I like the midsection of the song when Idol switches up his vocal delivery and the guitar line is a lot more rocking than most of the rest of the track.

The song “Daytime Drama” had me thinking more pop or dance music than a rock song. I can’t say that it is my favorite song on Rebel Yell but I like the way Idol and Stevens worked different styles into the music so that Idol had something a little bit different than others might have had to offer at that time.

The final song on Side One of the album is “Blue Highway” and it is a fast moving uptempo track. I found myself digging the song during the live show I was at, but as I listened to the studio album, I found that it really has such a nice driving beat and musical hook, that I was left wondering why it hadn’t been chosen to be a single. It’s just a damn good track!

On Side Two, you start off with “Flesh For Fantasy”. I know it was one of his more successful songs but as I mentioned when I was writing a review of the concert I just saw, I think it is still an underappreciated track nonetheless. It’s got a moody atmospheric style to it and kind of becomes the dramatic centerpoint for the album if you are looking for a single track that conjures up the kind electrifying performance that was done during his “It’s A Nice Time To…Tour Again” stop in Mansfield, MA. I just flat out love this song.

After that, the rest of Side Two is made up of songs I can’t rightly recall ever hearing before. So now Rebel Yell really was treading new ground for me. 

First up was the song “Catch My Fall”, the album’s fourth and final single (It didn’t break the Top 40). Idol’s vocal track is a bit more subdued here while the music has a mixture of songs that place it more in that same kind of pop/dance music vein. There’s even a prominent saxophone line in the song. That shouldn’t be taken as me not liking the song. It’s actually pretty decent even if it isn’t quite the kind of “hard rock” I might’ve been expecting had I bothered to listen to the full album at anytime in the forty-two years it has been available!

I have to say that the song “Crank Call” starts out with a gritty guitar line that continues throughout the song. I love the way Idol delivers the vocals on this one. It’s almost like he’s singing them with that sneer on his face that he’s so famous for doing. And there’s a bit of a sense of the mischievious in this song. I love the guitar solo from Steve Stevens a lot too. Chalk this one up as another song that I’m now regretting not having spent the last few decades listening to.

“(Do Not) Stand in the Shadows” first struck me that it was a bit understated. Which is a weird thing considering that it is indeed a fast paced rocker. But there was something that made the music seem a bit “softer” in the first half of the song despite that pacing. But man, when the guitar solo kicks in, Steve Stevens just explodes. And Idol’s lyrics and delivery is phenomenal here.

The album closes out on the song “The Dead Next Door”, which is an almost elegiac kind of song. Soft music accompanying Idol’s vocals. It’s not the way I would’ve chosen to close out the album but given all the more rocking energy expended throughout the rest of the album, a softer closing number might be the best way to bookend the entire album after all.

The Rebel Yell album has three classic Billy Idol songs going for it, but what I didn’t know until now is just how good the rest of the music on the album is. It may have taken seeing Idol put on a hell of a show to kickstart me into doing a proper “investigation” into the album but no matter the reason, I’m even that much more of a fan of both Idol and the Rebel Yell than I had been in the past.

NOTES OF INTEREST: The Rebel Yell album hit #6 on the album chart and has sold more than two million copies. The album was reissued on CD in 1999 with five additional bonus tracks comprised of two original demos and three session takes. It was also reissued again in 2010.

While the album was originally recorded using a drum machine, drummer Thommy Price was brought in late in the recording process to re-record the drums.