Listen to the Podcast:
Hi, it's Mark, and welcome to Out of Breath Albums, the show where we exercise while listening to a vinyl record, then talk about it.
Today's Out of Breath Album, Bebe Le Strange, is the 1980 release from the legendary hard rock band, Heart. I've always liked Heart but I've always known the hits, and may a few others in their catalog. On Bebe Le Strange, I knew the title track a little bit. I knew the song Even it Up. The rest of this album was new to me, but I did some reading:
Bebe Le Strange is Heart's 5th album. Before this album, they had fired founding member and the guy who did all the cool guitar on 1970s Heart classics like Barracuda, Roger Fisher.
This new album was their first with Howard Leese on lead guitar, but more importantly, it was an album where Ann and Nancy Wilson had control of the band in a way that they hadn't necessarily before.
The following is from an album profile by Annie Zaleski at Ultimate Classic Rock.
"Bebe Le Strange is full of characters taking control of their romantic and emotional life. The title track boasts a forward seduction of a musician; the boyfriend in "Even It Up" is told, in no uncertain terms, to shape up and pull his own weight, and the protagonist of "Down on Me" pleads for tenderness and understanding, not meanness. The Ann-penned "Break" is even a not-so-subtle allusion to the end of her relationship with Michael Fisher: "Now I know there's a crack in this plan / After a while there just ain't no more magic, man."
Perhaps I should have waited on this record until Valentine's Day. As Zaleski points out in the profile, they released the album on Valentine's Day 1980 as a rather dark joke.
How did this Bebe Le Strange stand up to a workout? At its core, it's a pretty strong album, so that helps. There's a lot here to get interested in and engage with. As I've said in past episodes, I do not need a fast-driving beat to stay engaged and motivated. This album did the trick for me. How did it score? Let's get into it:
Heart: Bebe Le Strange (1980)
Side 1
Bebe Le Strange
Tempo: 85bpm (and 170bpm)
Energy: Zeppelin, with a little disco
Workout Rating: 8
Notes: Ann Wilson's Robert Plant influence is evident here and this music would sound quite at home on one of the later 1970s Zeppelin albums. It's a bit slow in places, thought about halfway through it jumps to double time, racing to around 170bpm. In that way, it's a good opening song for exercise as it starts you off slowly and then picks up. It's a good song. I like it.
Down on Me
Tempo: 56bpm
Headline: Cool, blistering epic blues
Workout Rating: 5
Notes: Remember when I said that Robert Plant's influence was evident? Yeah, here too. This has a Since I've Been Loving You sort of feel. The guitar sounds so good on this. Ann's vocals are perfect. This is a great song. It's not going to keep you moving at a fast pace, but it will keep you engaged. This might be one of my favorite Heart songs now. It's so good.
Silver Wheels
Tempo: 91bpm
Energy: A nice, quiet little interlude
Workout Rating: 2
Notes: The guitar tone on this album is very cool and I enjoy the production. Silver Wheels is a beautiful example of that, but it's basically an interlude ahead of the next track, so it's not a high scorer here. I'm not going to weigh it fully in the overall album score as it's only 83 seconds long. Remember, this process is very subjective and not scientific.
Break
Tempo: 172bpm
Energy: Blistering and tough
Workout Rating: 9
Notes: I'm saving a 10 rating for the perfect rock and roll workout song. I'm assuming I'll know it when I hear it. This one though is a sure 9. High tempos, high energy, blistering lead vocals from Ann Wilson, and a killer groove throughout. It's 2 and a half minutes of pure energy. It's great.
Rockin' Heaven Down
Tempo: 160bpm
Energy: Epic and rocking
Workout Rating: 7
Notes: This one's got a feel at the beginning that reminds of Love Alive, which is from their earlier album Little Queen, but then it morphs into a more standard hard rock song that's quite good. There's a guitar part in there, which you can probably pick out right after the chorus, that almost sounds like a proto-Soundgarden riff. I enjoy this song quite a bit. It's a good ending to side 1.
Side 2
Even It Up
Tempo: 137bpm
Energy: Classic Heart
Workout Rating: 8
Notes: This song feels like classic, 1970s Heart to me. It's got a tough, funky groove that is found in a lot of their classic music. It's just a great song. I love the addition of the horns in this track. They work so well with the boogie feel of this one.
Strange Night
Tempo: 157bpm
Energy: Driving, yet ethereal
Workout Rating: 7
Notes: This is an interesting song. The guitar and rhythm section in this one is just driving ahead with an interesting sound. Somebody got a chorus pedal for Christmas in 1979, it seems. I like it, and Ann's vocals are great as always. It's driving. It's fast. It's cool. It gets a 7 because it's a bit repetitive and I lost interest towards the end.
Raised On You
Tempo: 130bpm
Energy: 1970s AM Stereo Radio
Workout Rating: 7
Notes: If you had the pleasure of listening to AM pop radio in the 70s and early 80s, you know what I mean by this. This song is of the era for sure. But it's cool, and it's got a great piano background and a cool guitar solo that sets it apart. It's fast and fun, so I'll give it a 7. The drums are cool in this one too.
Pilot
Tempo: 113bpm
Energy: Easy and palatable
Workout Rating: 6
Notes: Hey there's that chorus pedal again! This one's cool. It's certainly a 1980 album. I get that AM radio feel again. I also get some Eagles here at points. It's a song of the time, and it's pretty cool. For a workout? Ehh.
Sweet Darlin
Tempo: 65bpm
Energy: Andrew Lloyd Weber
Workout Rating: 5
Notes: This is from a 1970s musical. It's not, but that's what came to mind first. It's quite beautiful. Ann's vocals are cool. The piano is nice. For a workout? You'd better be on your cooldown by this point. It's a nice close to a strong album.
The Bottom Line:
I enjoyed this album. As I said before, it's an album of its time. You hear 1980 in it - a lot. I think that's ok. Ann and Nancy Wilson are great songwriters and musicians. Ann is one of the great vocalists of the rock and roll era. Their band is fantastic. Heart is an often overlooked band when talking about some of the great album rock acts of the 1970s, but they shouldn't be. Not only do you hear their influences very clearly throughout the album, but you also hear places where they may have influenced others - not only in Ann Wilson's beautiful yet ferocious singing but also in the music itself.
That's not what we're here for. We're here to see how it holds up to a workout. Remembering that I am only counting Silver Wheels, the little interlude number, as a half song since it's instrumental and short:
Overall Album Score: 6.7
Heart edges out Idlewild South from the Allman Brothers Band and moves into 4th place out of the 5 records we've reviewed so far.
That's it for today. What are you listening to during your workout right now? Let me know in the comments or on social media.
