Great Rock Albums of 1983: Bonnie Tyler- Faster Than the Speed of Night

When I first heard the big single, “Total Eclipse of the Heart” from Bonnie Tyler back in 1983, I thought it was okay. Nothing spectacular, just okay. On some occasions, back then when I was in a bar where a top 40 covers band was playing or just had the same on the juke box, it was a welcome break from all the Michael Jackson stuff. In any case, the song wasn’t enough to make me go out and buy her album, “Faster Than the Speed of Night.” Recently, however, someone suggested that I post about it, so being a fair minded person, I gave it a couple of listens and am ready to deliver my verdict.

To be very honest, I don’t think I missed much by not purchasing the album, still if I had, I wouldn’t have beaten myself up over making the same mistake as when I bought the Chris De Burgh album. The album starts out well enough with a decent cover of the CCR classic, “Have You Ever Seen the Rain.” Again, I say it’s a decent cover but it doesn’t make me want to put my CCR albums away and never listen to them again. I do have the title track to the album on a rock compilation CD. It doesn’t stand out from the other songs on that album but it does on Bonnie’s album of the same name. I like it more than her most well known hit, which I’ve already named.

The rest of the album is nothing is nothing spectacular. Like Credence, I still prefer Bryan Adams’s version of “Straight From the Heart.” The one thing I did pick up on and liked is that there are some good guitar sounds on this album. It redeems run of the mill tracks like “Goin’ Through the Motions” and “Tears.” Naturally, I had to look and see who the guitarist was and to my surprise, it was none other than Rick Derringer. That explained it all. It is Rick who manages to save what would have been a lackluster album.

Track Lsting:

1. Have You Ever Seen the Rain?
2. Faster Than the Speed of Night
3. Getting So Excited
4. Total Eclipse of the Heart
5. Its a Jungle Out There
6. Goin’ Through the Motions
7. Tears
8. Take Me Back
9. Straight From the Heart

Bonnie Tyler

So, there’s my verdict on Bonnie Tyler’s album “Faster Than the Speed of Night.” It’s not the first album I would pick up after listening to Anthrax and Slayer in conjunction in order to give a melodic balance to things. I never rated Bonnie Tyler as a brilliant singer. There are a few of her songs I liked but this album doesn’t convert me into a Tyler fan.

Next post: Quarterflash- Take Another Picture

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