Nightout

by

Ellen Foley

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Hooray! The grandeur of Ellen Foley's first solo album is finally available again on CD. With this album Foley and her producers wrapped her powerful, passionate voice in guitar-driven, Phil Spector meets 70s glam production and came up with a rough-edged diamond. Mick Ronson's guitar work is a feature but despite the production, which can occasionally sound a bit murky, it's Foley's sonic voice that deservedly stands out, rising up out of the wall-of-sound surrounding her. Highlights are the sublime first single We Belong To The Night, the retro What's A Matter Baby and the (apparently) single take piano ballad Don't Let Go. Yes it definitely sounds 70s but it also still most definitely sounds fab.

A lost treasure that I was really hoping to fall madly in love with - Ellen Foley was the voice heard (but not seen) on Meat Loaf's opus Bat Out Of Hell album, and while Karla DeVito did the actual lipsynching in the videos Ellen went on to a couple acting gigs like Night Court and the film Married To The Mob, she also hung out and either married or just slept with Mick Jones of the Clash - but it was Night Out which was her first solo album and only scoring album.

At the time a few other women rockers were making their debuts including one Miss Pat Benatar who was a tad ticked to find out that Ellen also put a radiator on the cover of her album, both Night Out and Pat's In The Heat Of The Night seemed to go for the same type of mood - the ethereal, moody, sexy and sisnister inner city. Pat's If You Think You Know How To Love Me, In The Heat Of The Night, Heartbreaker, all had that feel, as did the cover of her album but Ellen, well not so much.

Sure the ideas are there - the title cut is exactly that mood and "Young Lust" and a version of "Stupid Girl" has the idea patented in their rocking form but the problem is the songs just aren't as catchy as they could be. The single "What's A Matter Baby" is an exception with its nod to 60s girl pop with Ellen's independant late 70s bitchiness and the arrangement ready for the 80s - a theme addressed also in "Sad Song" which is a song Rachel Sweet also did the same year - but some of the others just fall flat and it's not Ellen's fault - her voice is strong and proud - anyone familiar with the Meat Loaf album knows that, but something was lacking.

The opus opener "We Belong To The Night" is powerful but even with its wall of sound, I don't think the lyrics are very strong. It's really too bad too cuz I wanted to love this one so much and every once in awhile I pull it out again just to see if there's something I'm missing and even if I don't find the brilliance I've been informed is really there, it's still a nice nod to the female rocker phenomen that was bearing its stiletto in 1979.