Customer Reviews

Whiplash Smile

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is by far the best album from Billy Idol. Much more mature in musical terms than before. With a brilliant Steve Stevens, this disc puts Billy into my preferred musicians. Listen for example the "Man for all seasons" guitar solo, it's a jazz solo in a rock song, I never heard something similar so well done. Powerful and poetical, his chemical formula is present in their maximum expression.

It took repeated listens, but I eventually decided that 'Whiplash Smile' was indeed (and remains) the best album Billy ever put out.

It takes place approximately 3 years after the big boom of 'Rebel Yell', which was a monster album. Billy had a lot to live up to, and although he'd subsequently trash this album in interviews due to 'being on heroin during the making of it', his and Steve Stevens conviction is the big selling point.

It rocks, it rolls, it slinks, it roars, it growls, it whispers... everything that a BI album is supposed to deliver and more. "Sweet Sixteen", "To Be a Lover", and "Don't Need A Gun" might have been the singles, but this is Billy's most cohesive album yet. "World's Forgotten Boy" and "Man For All Seasons" boast Steve's best riffs on vinyl, and Billy sings like his life depends on it. "All Summer Single" is the hit that never was, with haunting almost-out-of-earshot fadeout riffs, and "Fatal Charm" anchors the faithful, who decided not to buy as many copies of this album as they should have.

Incidentally, '86 is also the year Steve would go on to win the Academy Award for Harold Faltermeyer's "Top Gun" theme, and a year later, Michael Jackson recruited him for solos on his 'Bad' album. Listen to this stuff, and then discover why.

OK, First off let me say that I am a huge Idol fan. The problem with this album isn't the songwriting (Top!) or any of the performances (some of Billy's finest, most frighteningly powerful vocals ever committed to tape, and inventive guitar pyrotechnics from Stevens), it's those blasted 80's gimmicks known as the "Linn Drum"( the state of the art drum machine of the time), and synth bass. Yeah, they sounded cute on Madonna and Dead or Alive records,....I guess. What was Idol thinkin'?! So, what's missing from this album that its stellar predecessor (REBEL YELL) had folks?? A killer HUMAN rhythm section. A living, breathing DRUMMER and BASSIST. This album needed the benefit of an interactive band to truly shine. You'd be amazed at the difference in the feel , power and warmth the whole deal would've oozed had this been so. This should've been Idol's masterpiece. All in all a good record- nonetheless. Still, to hell with phony rhythm sections! I give it a 5 for talent and a 3 for production. Result = 4 stars.

When I listened to Billy Idol's first two albums, the immediate word that came to my mind was intensity. I know when I put a Billy Idol album on, I would be prepared for a hard-rocking intense experience. Billy Idol's first two albums, the self-titled "Billy Idol" and "Rebel Yell" yielded its share of both commercial and cult-fan hits. These hits included: "White Wedding", "Dancing With Myself", "Hot in the City", "Rebel Yell", "Eyes Without a Face", and "Flesh for Fantasy". By 1986, Idol was ready to release what was his third solo album - "Whiplash Smile". This album didn't quite continue the string of commercial hits, but it does do it share to contribute on the cult-fan end. Billy Idol continues to maintain the level of intensity I would come to expect - and at the same time going in some new directions.

While Billy Idol is a true talent, his collaboration with guitarist Steve Stevens has really gone a long way to enhance this talent. In a lot of ways, one can almost consider "Whiplash Smile" a duet album between Idol and Stevens. Stevens collaborates with Idol on 4 songs and contributes Guitar, Bass, and Keyboard work throughout the album. Combine Stevens' Bass and Guitar with Idol's Bass and Guitar, you can a very loud and intense sound that permeates much of this collection. It is also worth noting that Harold Faltermeyer (most famous for his "Axel F" song from the "Beverly Hills Cop" soundtrack) also contributes Keyboards. While intense Guitar work has always been a staple of Billy Idol, Keyboards are going to play a key role on this collection. This collection is also helped by superstar producer Keith Forsey.

Idol has become somewhat famous for doing covers of songs. On "Whiplash Smile", Idol covers William Bell's "I Forgot to be a Lover" which Idol retitles "To Be a Lover". If you haven't heard it, William Bell's version is a very soulful rendition. Bell provides some outstanding crooning for his mellow version of the song. As you can expect, Idol brings his level of intensity to the song. Idol's version is highlighted by some outstanding Keyboard and Bass work. Idol also employs female background vocalists to give his a music a new spin. However Idol himself does something very interesting on the song. He employs some "crooning" of his own. In fact, there are parts of the song where he croons in a very similar style to Elvis Presley. Overall, I think "To Be a Lover" is often an underrated song.

Billy Idol also employs some Elvis-like crooning in his closing song "One Night, One Chance". Overall, I don't think this is one of Idol's better songs - but I do think its interesting how he uses some Elvis-like crooning. This song will also be highlighted by some mean guitar rifts.

The name Elvis actually surfaces in one of Idol's songs on the collection - "Don't Need a Gun". This song has all of the elements of a classic Billy Idol. It has the trademark intensity one would expect. This song features some incredible Guitar and Keyboard work. Idol pays some homage to the 1950s with the lyrics "wu bop a lu bop" and "Elvis a fight the dying light". Make no mistake about it, that is about the only thing in common this song will have with the 1950s. This song, simply put - "Rocks". This song slowly grows on you - after I heard this song a few times, it has become one of my favorite songs of the collection. The title of this album comes from a line in this song, "You can drive me, through that red stop light, with a Whiplash Smile".

Idol also plays homage to the past in the song "All Summer Single". This song has touches of a late 1960s psychodelic sound. It also makes use of a famous song title when Idol sings "I got the Summertime Blues".

A song that also has a high level of the trademark Billy Idol intensity is the opening track, "World's Forgotten Boy". Like "Don't Need a Gun", this song will rock with intensity - that comes from a powerful combination of Guitar and Keyboard work. While "Don't Need a Gun" took a bit to grow on me, "World's Forgotten Boy" immediately got my attention. The part of this song that really catches me in the high energy chorus that goes "Sound towers will crumble down, Well everything be broken down, See his heart is breaking, Recorded in Sound, We need a miracle Joy, We need a rock 'n' roll boy..."

While not quite up there with "To Be a Lover", "Don't Need a Gun", or "World's Forgotten Boy", you will also hear some trademark intensity from "Man For All Seasons". This still is a good song. This is another case where the chorus will be pretty catchy. When Idol sings "I'm a man for the season", listen to the instrumentation - this will really grab you. "Man For All Seasons" also shows that Idol hasn't totally abandoned his Punk Rock roots.

There are other songs that continue to have high energy Rock. You will hear the high energy in the songs "Soul Standing By" and "Fatal Charm". Another song that is interesting is "Sweet Sixteen". This song starts out with a "Western" like sound. Idol does some more Elvis like crooning to start this song.
My version of this collection has some pretty thin liner notes. There are no lyrics included in my version. Mine does contain the production and musician credits. On the back of the liner notes, there is a short saying: "This ain't no 'White Wedding'; This ain't no 'Rebel Yell'; This ain't no 'Midnight Hell', This is a 'Whiplash Smile!". While not all of the songs are going to be songs you play over and over again, this collection still is very good because of some of the new directions Idol takes.

Whiplash Smile isn't Billy's best album, but it is probably right up there.

To Be a Lover is probably my favorite of all of his songs (or maybe it ties with Rebel Yell). It is so fully charged with animalistic sexuality that it is impossible to ignore. The title song is unbelievably danceable. Don't Need a Gun is another great dance song. Sweet Sixteen is a great accoustic presentation from this fantastic musician/singer, full of eroticism and feeling.

Billy Idol never suffered from MTV since his looks were perfect for the medium. But Billy Idol would have succeeded with or without MTV, because he's just a dynamic musician.

You really need this album!

Released in 1986, this is Billy Idol's third solo album. It is 45 minutes long, being released in the era when LP's were still popular.

The sound quality is very good in an early CD technology sort of way. The dynamic range is very good and it is crystal clear. But, is has that digital sharpness that was prevelant in many early CD's. There was something unnatural about the sound. It is the reason there were vinyl snobs in the early eighties, who felt CD technology was inferior. 20 years later, the digital technology is so much better.

It could be easy to write off Billy Idol as one of the untalented fads of the early eighties and the Disco/New Wave/Punk/MTV era. He was more famous for his personna than his music.

But, it turns out that Idol was a talented performer and songwriter. He does a great mixture of punk and new wave with a little disco thrown in. At times, he is like Elvis and at times he is like Jim Morrison of the Doors.

This is a very nice collection of songs. What is unusual is that the hits, To Be A Lover and Sweet Sixteen are some of the best songs on the CD. The only complaint is that this CD is a little more polished and a little more mature than Idol's earlier work. But, then many of the song arrangements are very good.

Much of the music from the eighties sounds really dated now. But, there is enough rock and blues mixed in to make this CD still enjoyable today.

Billy Idol's third solo album from 1986 is a worthy follow-up to the smash, "Rebel Yell", although with less sweeping majestic, and more stabbing, jerky guitar work from Steve Stevens, and drooling rock star Elvis/Gene Vincent vocals slobbering in echo overdub like a seductive drunk using his microphone stand to remain upright, while delivering homage to the Blueberry Hill wax museum, (Hey Baaabeeee!). You can almost smell the beer on his husky breath in the rock-star-in-a-shell revealed, "To Be A Lover". He grunts, screams, growls, and gets oh so Elvis baritone in the paranoid, music noir psyche destruction of "Don't Need a Gun", casually mentioning as if meaningfully delusional that, "the Russian roulette will fall", in a world where, "Johnney Ray is always crying". He sobers up for the pillow talk, languid, "Sweet Sixteen", a sweet and lingering "my little runaway" ode, and the all purpose melody and offbeat, "All Summer Single", has less to do with marital status, than it does the luxury a hit record can afford. I saw Idol recently in a 2005 concert comeback attempt, and dude, lose the snarl. That is so last century.

Yes there are a couple of these songs where Billy does his impersonation of the King. Billy is remarkable. To Be a Lover has to be my favorite Billy song of all time. When I hear that song I can see his lip quivering. What an incredible talent.

Whiplash Smile came out some 4 years after the smash hit "Rebel Yell" showing Billy Idol in a more mature music mode.

With guitarist Steve Stevens, Billy showed that he still had the hooks, the melodies and the snarl. "Don't Need A Gun" and "World's Forgotten Boy" are all pretty rock-ahead tracks. "Sweet 16" is a nice ballad.

"Whiplash Smile" suffers from being too slick - even with Stevens' crackling guitar. Too many synths and drum machines underscore this production. It sounds fine, but it lacks the raw kick and dimension of "Rebel Yell. Although Billy's voice rocks, the background's cruising - blunting the overall edge.

I'm not sure why Stevens, Idol and producer Keith Forsey decided to go the minimalist musician route, but it shows. There are some nice songs here, but they never quite get into hit mode.

This is a hard album to rate. Somewhere between 3.5 to 4 stars. You can get it but you probably won't miss it - the best tracks are on Billy's hit compilations.

This album helped me get over the Van Halen breakup. This is some of the greatest guitar stuff I've heard on a album ever. "Don't Need a Gun" is without a doubt one of Steve Steven's guitar playing gems. Just let this CD go on playing. Every song rocks out. It's as good as anything that came out in 1986. "All Summer Single" is another standout. Billy Idol's singing goes good with Stevens guitar. To me this is hard rock, maybe not to some, but I was 30 then and for me, this was some heavy stuff. But that's what you expect from Billy Idol. I regret that Steve Stevens went out on his own after this album because "Whiplash Smile" rates as one of the best albums from the 80's.