bub107 Tanya Tucker – Tear Me Apart
December 11, 2007
Original Release: November 1979
MCA Records #5106
First let me tell you that Bubbatunes actually did a reissue of this album back in 2004 (see bub39) and that was a very good reissue, it had new artwork, the great remastering-ish skills of my pal Luther and his pristine record player and even had some bonus tracks which were actually just the pop songs from Tanya’s 1978 highlight
TNT. When I decided to do
the Tanya Reissues I wasn’t going to redo this album but after thinking about it and realizing how I wanted to be able to listen to each and every Tanya album right in a row without having back tracking bonus tracks, I decided to do it. So I dumped the
TNT songs since if you are listening to Tanya in succession then you have just listened to
TNT and now it’s time for
Tear Me Apart.
Tanya's rock album of 1979,
Tear Me Apart is one of my all time favorite albums ever, and I'm not even kidding! When I figured out how to take my vinyl records and put them into the computer to make a CDR,
Tear Me Apart was the very first album I had to do. Luckily, my pal Luther had a better stereo and a better system to do this and he did a little "remastering" and this classic, and oft overlooked little ditty is now available on CD!
Tear Me Apart has intrigued me ever since I was a little kid. The album was the follow up to 1978's
TNT which had shown Miss T heading to a more pop/rock orientated style than the country she had been known for. It only made sense to me that she would go this route as she was only about 21 years old at the time and though she had made country records for the last 6 years, I could hear the rock voice in her just itching to come out. Around 1978/79 producer Mike Chapman approached our girl about producing a full on rock album for her, even (according to Tanya) offering not to charge her if the album wasn't successful.
Mike Chapman is one of my all time fav producers, having taken
Blondie to brand new heights in 1978 and through to the end of the first incarnation of their career. He also produced parts of
Pat Benatar's debut album that came out in October 1979. Rumor has it that Tanya Tucker was even in the recording booth during Blondie's
Eat To The Beat sessions early in the summer of 1979. Anyway, Mike had also been responsible for Nick Gilder's "Hot Child In The City", The Knack's album (“My Sharona”), Smokie, Sweet ("Ballroom Blitz") and Suzi Quatro ("Happy Days" Leather Tuscadero).
So he opted to take our girl T into the valley and record what would become
Tear Me Apart. I've always liked the album but due to bad vinyl copies, I was never able to fully appreciate it until now when it's all cleaned up and I have to say I love it, love it. In fact I can't stop listening to it.
Listening to it now,
Tear Me Apart isn't as radical, or rock and roll for that matter, as it probably seemed upon its release. There are even twinges of country on some of the songs but in 1979 and with Mike Chapman at the helm, I'm sure the album was perceived as completely out there.
As for the music, Tanya sounds incredible - she is harsh, she is raw, she is fun! The album opens with the straight up in your face rock of "
Blind Love". Tanya as the rock goddess is a very convincing thing once you hear this number, with its keyboards and drums. Of course the rock and roll reflected on
Tear Me Apart is a little more subtle than say Pat Benatar's
"Heartbreaker" but it is very much in the vein of Suzi Quatro and Sweet - the glam rock/southern rock hybrid Mike Chapman had been perfecting for years.
Mike even uses his own back catalog for Tanya's album with "
Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone" and
"Tear Me Apart" - both of which were done by his other female protégé Suzi Quatro. To me Tanya's raspiness really takes the songs to new levels, particularly
“Lay Back In The Arms Of Someone.” The song was chosen as the first single and it should’ve been a huge hit if not in country (it has some twang to it) at least on the 1979 pop scene. It's an interesting note that Juice Newton known as one of the first to successfully blend pop and country recorded the song the same year only Juice’s was more country sounding… strange isn’t it?
Despite the album’s rock flavor, it’s the ballads that have really captured me. The first ballad we hear is
"Somebody Must've Loved You Right Last Night" the story of an affair from the wounded woman's point of view set to a 1979 synthesized keyboard. The song contains such brazen delights as
"I don't think that smile’s for me/ you didn't make it home till after 3" but it's the chorus and her delivery which grabs me.. " "Somebody must've loved you right last night cuz you're so faraway today/somebody turned your love light on in a different way." The second verse continues with
“Don’t you get tired of using me,” a line which she growls so ferociously I get chills.
“Am I just the fool you come home to/ after someone else has had the best of you?” The song shows the guts behind the glory that is Tanya Tucker. Sure, she’s being used and sure she’s sad but she’s not about to let you just walk in without her getting some things off her chest. I think it’s one of Tanya's best vocal performances and one of her best songs.
“San Francisco (Be Sure Wear Flowers In Your Hair)/I Left My Heart In San Francisco” always seemed to be such a strange selection. Particularly since this was the time in Tanya’s life where she was hitting the Hollywood scene with fervor. Perhaps she wanted to celebrate California life in general and found this song (s) to be the best way to do it. The song has some good guitar playing in it but it doesn’t particularly stand out as anything much more than filler, though the added change in the song to incorporate
“I Left My Heart In San Francisco” (the only line of that song used here) is a fairly creative turn.
"Tear Me Apart" and its next number
"Crossfire Of Desire" are more rock in flavor than anything else on the album.
“I’ve been seen in the back of a limousine/I may not own it but it’s bigger than you’ve ever seen/She’ll ride around and think she’s a star/if you please she’s a tease you won’t get far/Tear Me Apart/if you want to win my heart” growls the Texas Queen in the title track.
“Crossfire” is a pretty hilarious song in terms of its subject manner. The crossfire Tanya finds herself in is whether to cheat with a complete stranger or head home to her lover. Typical flavor for a country tune I think but the piano churning and the synthesized guitar riff coming through shines as Tanya says,
“I know he would never understand if passion finds me in a one night stand/but I can’t let the pleasures so close at hand slip by.” What a slut, I love her.
“Crossfire Of Desire” has the additional delight of a killer sax solo and backup vocals whispering "crossfire" filling up the middle of the song before the guitars kick back in and Tanya finishes up the cut.
Both
"Tear Me Apart" and
"Crossfire Of Desire" are absolutely spectacular songs and wonderful vehicles for Tanya's voice, which can be very fairly argued is pretty much made for rock and roll (which is why she's so wonderful when she growls in her country tunes).
“Better Late Than Never” is a strange little song but one strange little song I can’t get enough of. The song opens with Tanya half singing/half talking;
“The insults and the punches flew/just like they always have” and then she growls,
“He knocked me down and left the room/but I came running back/and I said, “Hey look around/Hey look in the mirror/Lay your ego down/it will get so much clearer.” The song has by this time become a country rock hybrid with a twangy guitar pushing the drama through. The chorus is brilliant as Tanya delivers,
“Put up the flag/lay down your weapon/this perpetual battle royal here is a long way from Heaven/Call it a mistake/or call it whatever/let’s just call it off/better late than never.”
The second verse continues the talk/sing part before breaking into some of my favorite lines ever, “
So you keep the car/and all those passionate letters/it won’t get you that far/they won’t make you feel better…” The chorus comes up again and before we get another refrain Tanya crashes in singing,
“I’m through with you, you son of a ….” And I fall off my chair every time I hear it! In fact, don’t be too surprised if you hear a Swivek rendition in the near future.
"I've Never Said No Before" is the ballad that is more in the Tanya vein people were probably used to in 1979. Ever since 1975's
Tanya Tucker album, Tanya was moving slowly into a more pop attitude and would incorporate electric guitar, keyboards and the like into her ballads.
“I’ve Never Said…” could have fit in on any of those country albums and a reworking today would no doubt work on country radio without any problems.
and because I love you all so and it is the season for giving - I'm not messing around with piddly little mp3 downloads - no my friends, today you get the rare opportunity to download the entire Tear Me Apart album including the bubbatunes artwork - so enjoy (this is for a limited time)
