Rebel Yell is the second album by British rocker Billy Idol, released in 1984 (see 1984 in music). "Eyes Without a Face" and "Flesh for Fantasy" had hit videos on MTV. The album reunited the hit-making team of Billy Idol, Steve Stevens and Keith Forsey , after their success with Idol's solo debut, Billy Idol (1982).

In 1999, EMI re-issued the album as part of their "Expanded" series. The new version of the album included previously unreleased bonus tracks and expanded liner notes.

Track listing

Original 1984 release

1. "Rebel Yell" (Idol/Stevens) - 4:45
2. "Daytime Drama" (Idol/Stevens) - 4:02
3. "Eyes Without a Face" (Idol/Stevens) - 4:58
4. "Blue Highway" (Idol/Stevens) - 5:05
5. "Flesh for Fantasy" (Idol/Stevens) - 4:37
6. "Catch My Fall" (Idol) - 3:57
7. "Crank Call" (Idol/Stevens) - 3:56
8. "(Do Not) Stand in the Shadows" (Idol/Stevens) - 3:10
9. "The Dead Next Door" (Idol/Stevens) - 3:45

1999 Expanded Edition reissue

1. "Rebel Yell" (4:45)
2. "Daytime Drama" (4:02)
3. "Eyes Without a Face" (4:58)
4. "Blue Highway" (5:05)
5. "Flesh for Fantasy" (4:37)
6. "Catch My Fall" (3:57)
7. "Crank Call" (3:56)
8. "(Do Not) Stand in the Shadows" (3:10)
9. "The Dead Next Door" (3:45)
10. "Rebel Yell (Session Take)" (5.27)
11. "Motorbikin' (Session Take)" (4.16)
12. "Catch My Fall (Original Demo)" (4.11)
13. "Flesh For Fantasy (Session Take)" (5.09)
14. "Blue Highway (Original Demo)" (5.00)

Singles

1. "Rebel Yell" (1/1984 - IDOL 2)
2. "Eyes Without A Face" (6/1984 - IDOL 3)
3. "Flesh For Fantasy" (9/1984 - IDOL 4)
4. "Rebel Yell (re-release)" (9/1985 - IDOL 6)
5. "Catch My Fall" (8/1988 - IDOL 13)

The 1985 remix album, "Vital Idol " included remixes of the singles "Flesh For Fantasy (Below The Belt Mix)" and "Catch My Fall (Remix Fix)".

Personnel

• Billy Idol - Guitar, Arranger, Vocals, Liner Notes
• Steve Stevens - Synthesizer, Bass, Guitar, Arranger, Keyboards, Casio
• Keith Forsey - Producer
• Sal Cuevas - Bass
• Judi Dozier - Keyboards
• Michael Frondelli - Engineer, Mixing
• Gregg Gerson - Drums
• Brian Griffin - Photography
• Gary Hellman - Engineer
• Perri Lister - Vocals, Vocals (bckgr)
• Michael MacNeil - Cover Design
• George Marino - Mastering
• Thommy Price - Drums
• Steve Rinkoff - Engineer
• Jack Waldman - Keyboards
• Steve Webster - Bass
• Mars Williams - Saxophone
• Dave Wittman - Engineer, Mixing
• Pete Thea - Engineer
• Kevin Flaherty - Compilation
• Stephanie Tudor - Production Coordination

Reviews

"Billy Idol classic Rebel Yell gets reissue (3.5/5)

"In the midnight hour she cried more more more."

Apparently EMI is hoping fans will cry that famous "Rebel Yell" lyric for a bloated rerelease of Billy Idol's seminal 1984 album of the same name.

To keep fans buying albums they already have, and to make new fans for long faded rock stars, EMI has hit upon the expanded edition series. These new releases feature the original album as well as extra material to bring a 1980s length album (40 minutes) up to CD bursting 1990s length (60-70 minutes).

This time around, a 38 minute "Rebel Yell" has been expanded with session takes and demos to a more respectable 62 minutes.

In the oversight department, the expanded liner notes still house a stunning lack of lyrics, save for the original snippets found in the track listing. "...so my good friends..." is all there is to work with for Blue Highway, for instance.

MUSICAL PAYDIRT

With the "Rebel Yell" album, Billy Idol had finally hit paydirt. The songs were hardhitting, yet poppy and this collection really showed Idol and his band at their zenith. Far enough removed from both ends of his career - the Generation X punk of the 70s and the failed "Cyberpunk" album of the 90s - "Rebel Yell" was the product of a team that could do no wrong.

As was later evident, that team only worked when all three members - Idol, guitarist Steve Stevens and producer Keith Forsey - were present.

In the recently written liner notes, Idol attempts to explain the direction for the album, "we wanted to weave into one album all the remix, rap, techno and rock'n'roll we had been part of since the breakthrough of punk in '77."

Despite the baffling inclusion of "rap" and "techno" in that list, many of these songs still sound great today, due in part to the 20-bit remastering that is part of the Expanded Edition collection.

The singles - Rebel Yell, Flesh For Fantasy, Catch My Fall and Eyes Without A Face all resound with a harder techno-tinged edge than was obvious in the charts of 1983-1984. That could explain why most of these singles, now considered classic Idol, failed to make the US top 40 when they were first released.

Still, it was this album (not to mention the trademark spiky, bleach-blond hair) that projected Idol and crew to international star status. As Idol's liner notes explain, "with this record we went from clubs and colleges to arenas and big outdoors sheds."

CURIOSITY

A curiosity of Idol's early solo career, each album's 'sides' were consecutively numbered from release to release. "Billy Idol" contained sides 1 and 2, "Rebel Yell" contained sides 3 and 4 and "Whiplash Smile" contained sides 5 and 6.

In the "Rebel Yell" liner notes, the track listing maintains the sides 3 and 4 demarcation, a firm but subtle nod to an era when you still flipped recorded medium (vinyl or tape) to listen to the whole thing.

There's much on this disc to take you down memory lane. If your memories are fond however, you'll want to stay away from most of the bonus material. There's a reason these are labelled demos and session takes: they're terrible. The quasi-techno sheen that adorns the finished work has been stripped away in most of the 'in-progress' versions to show nothing more than a meandering barebones musical mess.

DISAPPOINTING BONUSES

The biggest shame is with Catch My Fall. For the intro, the album version offers a driving bassline and slick production, while the demo cut attempts to emulate the bassline on an acoustic guitar, all the time sounding like some cheezy hillbilly tune.

Similarly disappointing is the session take of Flesh For Fantasy which actually cuts out abruptly (as opposed to fading out), making the listener think that there's probably another 10 minutes of unlistenable rambling sitting on a cutting room floor somewhere.

The band used to warm up to the fifth bonus track, Chris Spedding's Motorbikin, in the studio. This has never been released before and is interesting only from a historian's point of view.

"Rebel Yell" (in it's highly polished finished form) was the shining moment of Idol's solo career. The follow up, 1987's "Whiplash Smile" continued in the same musical vein but failed to capitalize on his previous success.

EMI really hit the nail on the head with the choice of this album for the 'Expanded Edition' series. It's just a shame all the remixes have already been released because they would have made an infinite improvement over the messy, meandering demos and session takes." -- Richard John, Jam! Showbiz