Back when I used to have accidental surges of inspiration, I made a post on the singles pulled from Bonnie Tyler’s Faster than the Speed of Night album. In that post, I said that I eventually would get to the singles from Secret Dreams & Forbidden Fire, that other album she did with Jim Steinman. It took me a year to get there, but here it is.
The first proper single—we’ll get to the other one later—from the album was “Loving You’s a Dirty Job But Somebody’s Gotta Do It”, a duet with Todd Rundgren. It’s B-side, “Under Suspicion” is the most interesting of the whole bunch by far. Like the original B-sides for the previous album, it was co-written by Bonnie, but unlike those tracks, this one was produced by Steinman. In fact, the cassette version of the album includes this track.
⇒ Download Under Suspicion (right click, save as…)
The “If You Were a Woman (And I Was a Man)” single is only noteable for the strong similarities of this track with Bon Jovi’s “You Give Love a Bad Name”. Both versions of the single included a different edit, and “Under Suspicion” was, once again, the B-side. The 12? version also includes the album version “Straight from the Heart”.
Today I learned that the third single, a cover of Freda Payne’s “Band of Gold”, was written by Holland/Dozier/Holland under the pseudonym Ronald Dunbar and Edith Wayne. It was released in three different versions: the remix single I covered earlier, and two regular versions with an edit and the original B-side “It’s Not Enough”.
⇒ Download It’s Not Enough (right click, save as…)
If you bought either the cassette or CD version of the album back in 1986, the “No Way to Treat a Lady” single would have been another one you could ignore. But if you bought the LP, the B-side “Before this Night is Through” would be brand-spanking new, as it was omitted from the record.
⇒ Download Before This Night Is Through (right click, save as…)
The final single in Europe was my favorite track of the album, “Rebel Without a Clue”. The B-side “I Do It for You” would later re-appear on the final US-single, “Lovers Again”.
⇒ Download I Do It for You (right click, save as…)
So far, we’re up to six singles, and seven of the nine tracks on the album. The opening track “Ravishing” was the only one wasn’t put on a single. The closing track was. In 1984, two years before it would end up on the record.
“Holding Out for a Hero” made it’s first appearance on the soundtrack of Footloose, starring Kevin Bacon and Jon Lithgow, and went on to become one of Tyler’s signature songs. The maxi-single contains a dance remix by Jellybean Benitez, as well as an instrumental version. As an added bonus, I’ve included the Disconet remix.
⇒ Download Holding Out for a Hero (extended remix version) (right click, save as…)
⇒ Download Holding Out for a Hero (instrumental) (right click, save as…)
⇒ Download Holding Out for a Hero (Disconet remix) (right click, save as…)
Now that I’ve finally taken care of this, I can feel free to see what else I can dig up from vinyl.