Customer Reviews

I'm a Rebel

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(5)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Dont get me wrong, this album has some trademark scorchingly hot Hard Rock tracks, but "Heavy Metal"? No way...

Accept themselves (Well at least UDO) have pretty much disowned this album, mainly because this is not what they had in mind when they were signed. Well what do I mean? "I'm A Rebel" was written by George Alexander, an alias for none other than George Young, producer/Brother of Malcom and Angus from AC/DC. Hence the heavy duty cop of the classic AC/DC sound on a few tracks (Do It & I'm A Rebel) I'm a Rebel is a horrible song,Isnt it? I loved it when I was 15 though....

This record is really all over the place.... SAVE US is a hard rocking song, then all of a sudden this disco bass line...cool song though,like two songs in one!

I Wanna Be no Hero is a very pop-friendly dance tune and a rather good one! Wow, is this really Accept? A far cry from Fast as a shark.

Same goes for No Time To Lose and The King. No Time to lose is a very cool tune, sung by Peter Baltes, rich harmony vox, flowing intertwining guitar lines, just a great song. The King is also OK, but oh my, the cringingly bad lyrics could make Ronnie James Dio Blush....

Thunder and Lightning is another great song, with a nice dual guitar solo section, listen closely after the 1st chorus into the 2nd verse, there is a dropout on one of the guitars that was never fixed in the studio. I'll be darned if you can figure out what UDO is singing about.

The best tunes on the album are DO IT and CHINA LADY. They just simply rock from begining to end. They both attack the senses like a frieght train.

The vox and guitars all sound great, but gosh, what a horrible drum mix! the Snare sounds like a tom tom, thumping along the whole recording.

Stefan and Udo mentioned in the Staying a life video that their ideas they were preparing for this album were shot down. They werent allowed to be creative. But the album has its moments, you can tell they had something, y'now? But you could not see the monster song writers they would become on the next album, BREAKER!

Danny

Originally released in 1980, I'm a Rebel was the second album from German heavy metal masters Accept. It's also the least-favorite album of just about every Accept fan, since record company pressure pushed the band away from the heavy metal sound of their debut and towards a more commercially-accessible AC/DC-style hard rock sound.

There's a reason I'm a Rebel is barely considered a "real" Accept album. As soon as the upbeat title track kicks in you know you're not getting the kind of heavy metal seen on the Accept debut. This is a band that works best when they can cut loose, and this album sounds like there was a record company suit saying "too much, guys, too much" every step of the way. It's not a bad album at all, but it still sticks out like a sore thumb compared to the rest of the Accept discography. Fortunately the band was able to soldier through and get back to a more metal direction the following year with Breaker.

I'm a Rebel is actually a pretty solid hard rock album, but sandwiched between the classic metal of the Accept and Breaker albums, of course it's going to look like the weakest link. If you're a serious fan of the late `70s and early `80s hard rock sound, there's a lot to like in I'm a Rebel. Metal fans and Accept die-hards are probably only going to want this album to finish off their Accept collections.

Edition Notes: I'm a Rebel was reissued by SPV in 2005. The album hasn't been remastered, nor are there any bonus tracks. It does have expanded liner notes and some rare photos, which is cool. The only reason to pick up this reissue is the same reason you'd be buying I'm a Rebel in the first place - to finish off your Accept collection.

What the heck happened here? After a very promising debut record that stood alongside many of the young guns that were flying the torch for heavy metal into the new decade, Accept kind of laid an egg on their follow up, `I'm a Rebel'. For a band that seemed to get it right out of the box, this was pretty frustrating and disappointing to say the least. Is it a terrible record? No, but if it was their debut then that would have been more understandable. Why is `I'm a Rebel' so second rate? It is hard to say - the drum beats and overall rhythms of the LP seem rather pedestrian almost like a third rate `British Steel' (although I love that record, it does seem like Priest deliberately dumbed down their sound for American dollars). Accept should have stayed the course but at least it was only one stumble - they would right wrongs on their next record. The title track was supposedly written for and rejected by AC/DC which gives you an insight into its overall quality. What can I recommend from this record? Nothing essential, although I do like `The King' and maybe `China Lady' but what's with the disco beats on "I Wanna Be No Hero"? Eeeesh! As I said luckily `I'm a Rebel' is a slight speed bump during a five year period where Accept could do very little wrong. Fans may want this but others should get the records from 81-85, they won't be disappointed.

I think Accept were not quite sure of where they were headed at the time they made this album. It takes a weird turn from the straight ahead (but occasionally boring) metal from the first album into the realm of disco. Their next album was a strong return to metal, suggesting they realised that they were a few years out of step with music fashion. I'm A Rebel is an interesting experiment - probably not the best place to be musically but worth a listen all the same.

The title track is an outrageous anthem that should really be appalling, but it's strangely catchy. I've been trying to work out if it actually has a bass line for many years (it lacks bottom end for some reason). "Save Us" is a very neat disco metal track, with strong riffs competing with a disco high-hat and bass line. "China Lady" uses simple, blues based riffing, but very addictive. "I Wanna Be No Hero" is so seriously disco it's funny, yet (once again) it is still a reasonable tune.

Overall I give the album a 3/5, as it gets old rather quickly, plus there are two dud tracks ("No Time To Lose" and "Do It").

This album makes clear how Accept was destined to be a great metal band. Although slightly different fromtheir breakthrough album RESTLESS AND WILD, it's clear since the word "go" how he musicians were skilled and creative.

This album has eight strong songs. even the repetitive chorus of "I'm A Rebel" will get to you. The ballad "The King" is very good. In short, I love all the songs here.

A much different sound than their later albums, this is still an amazing piece.From the melodic The King and No Time To Loose, to I Wanna Be No Hero with its heavily compressed distortion, the abum is solid. Thunder And Lightning and China Lady show the sound the band went towards and used in later albums.A must for Accept fans or early 80's metal fans.

I'm a rebel has no outstanding hits, sounds like an entire album of filler. Accept fans will enjoy it. It is a little softer than such mega hits as 'Princess of the Dawn' and 'Balls to the Wall'

This CD gets a bad rap which I feel is unfair. Accept is one of my favorite bands, so I would have really liked to give this a higher rating than a 2 star, I would have probably given a 2 and a half but they don't have half star ratings. I'm a rebel is a huge leap forward from the self-titled debut. The title song "I'm A Rebel" is truly excellant and is the highlight of the CD. There is also another fantastic song on here sung by the bass player, the song is called "The King" and it reminds me both musically and lyrically of classic Dio fronted Rainbow.Unfortunately I couldn't rate it higher because it is just too unbalanced. You can definitely hear the 'classic' Accept sound on songs like I'm A Rebel,China Lady,and Do It but you can also tell the band is still trying to find it's sound.

The Pros - If you are an Accept fan, you need this for your collection. It has the beginnings of the classic sound. I'm A Rebel,China Lady,The King,Do It.It even has some cool disco style bass riffs (trust me,it works) on Save Us and I Wanna Be No Hero

The Cons - It just feels a little unbalanced. The production isn't very good either

The Bottom Line - If you are a fan of Accept, definitely pick this up,the title cut and The King make it worthwhile. However,if you are new to Accept start with the classics "Breaker" and "Balls To The Wall" Donutman says so!

This is their second album,and it's not bad.But songs like I wanna Be Hero, and the title cut leave you wondering "What the *&*& Were They Thinking" Dont get me wrong, there are some great songs on this album,such as The King,Thunder & Lightning,China Lady.If they had just ditched the DISCO_METAL songs and tried to be more innovative like on their first album, on which the only fault is the bad mixing/production.Luckily, they put the key back in the ignition for the next album BREAKER which is brilliant, and started them back on a great career.

i have the tape version somewhere and it totally frickin ROCKS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!my favorite song off this tape/cd is thunder and lightning, which pretty much sums up what this metal band is about.