Reviewed by Jim Coursey
Released: 1981 R.A.F. The Heat's On Genre: Theatrical Hard Rock New Wave Rating: 2.5 out of 5 Highlights: Easy Come Is Easy Go Stop Her On Sight RAF was the project of David Valentine, and apparently the demos for his self-titled 1980 first album were all the rage with A&M’s execs. I suppose I can see where his rather theatrical mix of hard rock and new wave might seem like it would catch on, but looking back over forty years later, it’s hard to get excited about it. Bands like ELO and Styx were doing this highly polished and orchestrated futuristic hard rock better. RAF turns my head when it goes in the Synth-pop / Eurodisco direction, but those moments are fleeting and pretty soon we’re back with the second rate Styx-type fare. “Easy Come Is Easy Go” keeps the new wave vibe up most consistently, and “Stop Her On Sight” might be the most interesting tune, but neither of these modest highlights are particularly memorable. There’s plenty of lowlights too: “Tightrope”, starts as a cool, eerie Synth-pop tune with a Eurodisco feel, before opening up into an annoying cheese fest. Apparently the song features a “tribute” to the recently deceased John Lennon, in the way of a reference to “Ticket to Ride”, [1] but I can’t be bothered to relisten to the whole thing to find it. (I’m sure John was rolling in his fresh grave at the news.) “Miracles” features lines like “I believe in Miracles… and I believe in you”, and is every bit as cloying and saccharine as it looks on paper. It makes the Mike and the Mechanics song with a similar lyric seem poetic. “Holocaust” underscores the fact that not every subject needs to be expressed as a disco anthem. (“Someone’s gonna push it someday, someone’s gonna cause a hoooo-loooo-caust!” Nope.) The worst aside, the album is probably worth a spin for fans of the genre, especially those with too much time on their hands. I came to it out of the blue, and for me, it was no discovery. ********** 1. http://heartbeatstudio.co.uk/raf
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