The Big Heat (album)

This article is about the Stan Ridgway album. For the Leslie Cheung album, see Big Heat (album).

The Big Heat
Studio album by Stan Ridgway
Released	1986
Studio	Fiddler's Studio, J.C. Studios and The Lighthouse, Hollywood, CA
Genre	New wave, alternative rock, avant-pop [1]
Length	42:15
Label	I.R.S.
Producer	Joe Chiccarelli, Mitchell Froom, Hugh Jones, Bill Noland, Stan Ridgway, Louis van den Berg
Stan Ridgway chronology
The Big Heat (1986) Mosquitos (1989)

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[2]
The Village Voice	B [3]

The Big Heat is the debut solo album by American musician Stan Ridgway (former Wall of Voodoo vocalist), released in 1986 by I.R.S. Records. Named after the 1953 film noir of the same name, the original release consisted of nine songs, including the No. 4 UK hit "Camouflage". ^[4] In 1986, the album reached No. 131 on the Billboard 200. The album was re-released in 1993 with six additional tracks and again re-released in 2007.

Recording

Ridgway said of the album, "I wanted to bring a lot of influences to the surface. In Voodoo, we would take the influences and hide them. I wanted to move along and be able to do a jazz song. My heroes are people like Miles Davis who go through different musical stages and don't get stagnant." ^[5]

Reception

Spin said, "A man of few words, he makes every line count for something — either an image that evokes a scene or a line of dialogue that evokes a character. His decision to build and record in his own studio has paid off with a well-balanced sound that has lots of space for odd acoustic instruments to dart in and out of his synth-based arrangements." ^[6]

Track listing

All tracks are written by Stan Ridgway, except where otherwise indicated.

Side one

No.	Title	Length
1.	"The Big Heat"	4:26
2.	"Pick It Up (And Put It in Your Pocket)"	4:32
3.	"Can't Stop the Show"	3:45
4.	"Pile Driver"	4:44
5.	"Walkin' Home Alone"	4:31

Side two

No.	Title	Length
1.	"Drive, She Said"	4:11
2.	"Salesman"	5:23
3.	"Twisted"	3:37
4.	"Camouflage"	7:05

CD edition bonus track

No.	Title	Length
10.	"Rio Greyhound"	3:12

1993 remastered CD track listing

No.	Title	Writer(s)	Length
11.	"Stormy Side of Town"		5:02
12.	"Foggy River"	Fred Rose	4:32
13.	"End of the Line"		5:51
14.	"Nadine"	Chuck Berry	3:26
15.	"Can't Stop the Show" (live)		3:53
16.	"Drive, She Said" (live)		4:39

• Before the album's release, the track "Pick It Up (And Put It in Your Pocket)" was used in a 1985 episode of Miami Vice .

Accolades

Year	Publication	Country	Accolade	Rank
1986	Best	France	"Albums of the Year"	3	[7]
1986	Q	United Kingdom	"Albums of the Year"	*	[8]
1986	Sounds	United Kingdom	"Albums of the Year"	*	[9]
1990	Mucchio Selvaggio	Italy	"The Best Albums of the 80s"	*	[10]
1990	Velvet	Italy	"The 100 Best Albums of the 80s"	*	[11]
1991	Rock & Folk	France	"The 250 Best Albums from 1966-1991"	3	[ citation needed ]
1999	Panorama	Norway	"The 30 Best Albums of the Year 1970-98"	19	[ citation needed ]
2002	Mucchio Selvaggio	Italy	"100 Best Albums by Decade"	1-20	[ citation needed ]
"*" denotes an unordered list.

Chart positions

Album Chart (1986) Peak position Australia (Kent Music Report) [12] 61 Germany (Media Control Charts) [13] 38 Netherlands (MegaCharts) [14] 62 Norway (VG-lista) [15] 11 Switzerland (Swiss Hitparade) [16] 27 US Top Pop Albums (Billboard) [17] 131

Singles Year Title Peak Chart positions AUS [18] AUT [19] BE [20] GER [21] IRE [22] NLD [23] SWI [24] UK [25] UK Indie [26] 1985 "The Big Heat" — — — — — — — — 13 "Drive She Said" 60 — — — — — — — — 1986 "Camouflage" 76 17 7 8 2 11 11 4 — "The Big Heat (Remix)" 91 — — — — — — — — "—" denotes singles that were released but did not chart.

Personnel

Adapted from The Big Heat liner notes. ^[27]

Stan Ridgway  – lead vocals, guitar (A3, A5, B1, B2, B4), keyboards (A1, A4, B2-B4), harmonica (A1, B1), banjo (A2), bass guitar (B3), production (A3-A5), engineering (A3-A5) Musicians K. K. Barrett  – drums (B1) Chris Becerra – drums (B4) Joe Berardi – drums (A5) Hugo Burnham  – percussion (A2) Luis Cabaza – bass guitar (B2) Mr. Christopher – violin (A1), cello (A1) Mark Cohen – banjo (A4), mandolin (A4) John Dentino – keyboards (A1) Bruce Fowler  – trombone (A5) Richard Gibbs  – instruments (B2) Richard Greene  – violin (A2) Mark Lewis – backing vocals (B4) Mark Morris – backing vocals (B4) Bill Noland  – keyboards (A1, B1, B2), piano (A2), production (B2)

Musicians (cont.) Joe Ramirez – backing vocals (A4), drum programming (A4), guitar (B1) Tom Rechoin – percussion (A2) Steve Reid  – percussion (B2) Mark Terlizzi – bass guitar (A3) Louis van den Berg – keyboards (A3-A5, B3, B4), producer (A3-A5), engineering (A3-A5) Mike Watt  – bass guitar (A3) Pietra Wexstun – backing vocals (A3) Eric Williams – guitar feedback Bruce Zelesnik – drums (A1) Production and additional personnel Joe Chiccarelli  – production (B2), engineering (B2), mixing (B2) Mitchell Froom  – production (A2), keyboards (A2) Carl Grasso – art direction Jim Hill – engineering (A2) Hugh Jones  – production (A1, B1), engineering (A1, B1), mixing (A1), keyboards (A1) Scott Lindgren – photography, cover art Andy Waterman – mixing (A2-A5, B1)

Release history

Region	Date	Label	Format	Catalog
Spain	1986	Epic	CD, CS, LP	40-2687
United Kingdom		I.R.S.	CD, LP	1008
United States			CD, LP	5637
	1993		CD	X2 0777 7 13125 26
United Kingdom	2012	Water	CD	Water252

References

1. Grimstad, Paul. "What is Avant-Pop?". The Brooklyn Rail .
2. McDonald, Steven. "The Big Heat – Stan Ridgway". AllMusic . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
3. Christgau, Robert (July 1, 1986). "Christgau's Consumer Guide". The Village Voice . Retrieved December 7, 2009.
4. Stan Ridgway: Camouflage OfficialCharts.com Accessed September 2, 2007.
5. Bill Forman (21 May 1986). "The Far Side of Voodoo". RAM . No. 284. p. 16.
6. Mark Fleischmann (May 1986). "Spins". Spin . No. 13. p. 34.
7. "Best - Albums of the Year". Best. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
8. "Q - Albums of the Year". Q . Archived from the original on January 4, 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
9. "Sounds - Albums of the Year". Rocklist.net. Archived from the original on February 16, 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
10. "Mucchio Selvaggio - The Best Albums of the 80s". Mucchio Selvaggio. Archived from the original on May 16, 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
11. "Velvet - The 100 Best Albums of the 80s". Velvet. Archived from the original on May 16, 2006. Retrieved 2009-12-03.
12. Kent, David (1993). Australian Chart Book 1970–1992 (illustrated ed.). St Ives, N.S.W.: Australian Chart Book. p. 252. ISBN   0-646-11917-6.
13. "Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat". offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
14. "Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
15. "Stan Ridgeway - The Big Heat". NorwegianCharts.com. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
16. "Stan Ridgeway - The Big Heat". HitParade.ch. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
17. "Billboard.com - Artist Chart History - Stan Ridgway". Nielsen Company, Billboard . Retrieved 2008-06-03.
18. "Stan Ridgway". australian-charts.com. Archived from the original on September 21, 2016. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
19. "Stan Ridgway". austriancharts.at. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
20. "Stan Ridgway". ultratop.be. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
21. "Stan Ridgway". offiziellecharts.de. Retrieved August 9, 2016.
22. "Stan Ridgway Discography". irishcharts.ie. Retrieved 2009-12-02.
23. "Stan Ridgway". dutchcharts.nl. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
24. "Stan Ridgway". hitParade.ch. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
25. "Stan Ridgway Discography". officialcharts.com. Retrieved August 8, 2016.
26. Lazell, Barry (1997). Indie Hits 1980-1989. Cherry Red Books. Archived from the original on June 5, 2011. Retrieved June 29, 2015.
27. The Big Heat (sleeve). Stan Ridgway. Hollywood, California: I.R.S. Records. 1985.

External links

• The Big Heat at Discogs (list of releases)