Description

“The Big Heat”, named after the 1953 film noir of the same name, is the 1986 debut solo album by former Wall of Voodoo vocalist Stan Ridgway. With “The Big Heat” Stan Ridgway began paving a new way for singer-songwriters using a synthesizer and a drum-machine. “The Big Heat” makes his goal clear, with music that is both catchy, sophisticated and an ode to noir cinema. Stan Ridgway‘s cynical delivery gives everything else an edge, even in the romance-gone-wrong atmosphere of “Walkin’ Home Alone.” The standouts includes the demented “Pile Driver,” “Drive She Said,” and the over-the-top Vietnam tale “Camouflage,” as released in 1993 with six additional tracks.