Although it was ultimately an unsatisfying album, failing to live up to the promise of its fabulous single "To Be a Lover,"
Whiplash Smile
still burned clean with an immediately recognizable 1980s energy. Like
Billy Idol
himself, who affected the punk archetype but cut it with a two-dimensional, cartoonish plasticity perfect for the decade,
expands on the sound of the 1983 breakthrough
Rebel Yell
while cleverly leaving its key elements unchanged.
Idol
's inherent
Jim Morrison
-ness was fleshed out, and
Steve Stevens
' already atmospheric guitar work was blended even more seamlessly with a percolating pot of shifting styles, new wave dance beats, and synth-heavy production. "Soul Standing By" and "Man for All Seasons" certainly rocked --
Stevens
' guitar work crackles with inventiveness, even augmented as it is with multiple overdubs. But like most of
Whiplash
, the songs seemed to exist in a phantom zone akin to the prismatic holding cell of General Zod and his cohorts in Superman II. The plodding "Beyond Belief" and the weird,
Marty Robbins
-meets-
Del Shannon
-in-space vibe of "Sweet Sixteen" are similarly opaque. There's plenty to listen for on
, and
's attempt to expand his palette is admirable. Unfortunately, there's nary a memorable hook here outside of the single and whatever mileage can be gained from his trademark sneer. In that sense, the album is similar to so much music of the decade, which got by with rayon flash and giddy video posturing but little in the way of reality. But that means that
is also disappointing:
's best work was equally as era-defining, yet it lived on to be just as memorable after the calendar flipped on the 1980s. ~ Johnny Loftus