Bonnie Tyler
The Very Best of Bonnie Tyler

THE REVIEW

Me and Bonnie McGee Tyler: tale of love at first sight.

The 1980s were a disaster of enormous proportions for pop music: the flood, Ragnarok, Waterloo, Little Big Horn, Thermopylae, or whatever you prefer; the fact remains that from that decade pop would emerge completely destroyed, devalued, weakened and commercialized. But still, even in those years, a few wild seeds carried by the wind managed to germinate and bloom before being choked by weeds. I think of the lively, colorful yet anything but fake and superficial Cyndi Lauper, whose story is pretty emblematic, and I especially think of Gaynor Hopkins, known as Bonnie Tyler: a beautiful blonde and striking woman, the daughter of a Welsh miner.

In 1977, when she had just started her musical career, she risked having to say goodbye to her dream and her talent due to a vocal cord problem diagnosed too late, requiring a delicate operation; the beautiful Gaynor was at risk of being unable to sing again. But from that ailment, her greatest gift would bloom: the surgery that reshaped her vocal cords completely transformed her voice, turning it into a raspy and powerful growl: an extraordinary vocal power, immediately recognizable, and tremendously captivating. However, it is not an androgynous voice like Annie Lennox’s; no, Bonnie Tyler is wonderfully feminine, her singing is a crystalline expression of genuine, intense, overflowing femininity, non-conformist. Her climb to heaven could then begin; it was 1983, and Bonnie Tyler hit the big time: “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”, the lead single from the album "Faster Than The Speed Of Night" is one of those songs that leave a mark. Freddie Mercury would have given anything to write a song like this: the quintessence of the power-ballad, a gospel-orchestral crescendo of rare power, a song that makes typical 80s emphasis (often in a detrimental way) its strength, ennobled by uncommon refinement and above all by that very unique voice. A star was born, who (almost) like all the most beautiful things lasted only for the fleeting time of a hit, to then fade into anonymity, from which she deserves to be rescued and celebrated as she deserves.

Bonnie Tyler’s music is to be listened to at strictly high volume: pop, pop-rock, 80s AOR, adult contemporary, call it what you will, but it is still great music, a powerful music, determined, the kind that shakes you from within, that gives energy, grit, and a smile: songs that are immediate, direct, choruses to belt out at the top of your lungs. Bonnie is a simple interpreter, but her voice is so overwhelming, her interpretations so passionate that those evergreen melodies seem to be hers entirely; behind the synthesizers, the choirs, the guitars, there’s a beating heart, there’s emotion, there’s a true artist, and this 1993 collection captures her in all her splendor, at the height of her golden era: "The Very Best Of Bonnie Tyler" is a fundamental album for understanding how beautiful the real Pop is, and what an interpreter with a capital I is, especially in times where it’s said that insufferable second-rate artists like Anastacia and Beyonce have great voices.

Almost all the songs in this collection have a rock structure sometimes influenced by synth-pop, but never dominant; the arrangements are very well-curated, rich, and "bombastic", certainly a choice in line with the times, but it perfectly matches the powerful timbre of the Welsh singer; however, opening the dances is the cheeky and lighthearted pop-folk of "Lost In France", which allows appreciation of Bonnie Tyler's voice before the surgery, softer and lighter yet still intense and magnetic, followed by the country-flavored ballads "Here Am I" and the hit "It’s A Heartache". After this tasty preamble from 1977-1978, the collection gets into the thick of it, in all its 80s magnificence; in a decade when ABBA broke up, Elton John was a hyperproductive shadow of himself, and the Bee Gees literally sunk after "Living Eyes," Bonnie Tyler was collecting excellent albums and many great songs; she, who certainly is not a musical genius like the aforementioned gentlemen, with her grit, her feline growl, and her tenacity and humility outshines them all. "Total Eclipse Of The Heart", in all its magnificence, needs no further commentary, the equally epic "Loving You Is A Dirty Job But Somebody’s Gotta Do It", an almost eight-minute ride duetted with Todd Rundgren, "Hide Your Heart", a powerful hard-rock piece signed by Paul Stanley perfect for highlighting Bonnie Tyler’s feline growl, while "Holding Out For A Hero" draws heavily from 70s disco, resulting in an ultra-vitaminized "It’s Raining Men," of significant impact. "If You Were A Woman And I Were A Man" leaves you stunned with its nearly identical refrain to Bon Jovi’s contemporary "You Give Love A Bad Name"; after all, both songs are signed by the notorious Desmond Child, a professional hitmaker on an industrial scale, but, of course, Bonnie Tyler with her class manages to save the piece from the mediocre plastic-coated rock mediocrity it was otherwise destined for with more than dignified results. In any case, much better is the dreamy and refined electronics of "Islands", a beautiful collaboration with Mike Oldfield, the unreleased "I Can’t Leave Your Love Alone", which, due to its extensive use of synthesizers and intriguing and hypnotic melody, almost brings back the atmospheres of that unparalleled and excellent pop masterpiece that was "The Visitors" by ABBA with a touch more rock, and two tracks from the 1991 album "Bitterblue," namely "Against The Wind", an absolutely perfect power-ballad, and the title track, a song that, despite having as banal and predictable a text as possible, showcases an incredible drive both for the grit and infectious enthusiasm this incredible voice can unleash and for the perfect use of electronics, creating a forceful and anthemic melody without slipping into the tacky.

Among all the collections dedicated to Bonnie Tyler, this one is undoubtedly the best and the most comprehensive, although it should be noted a gross error like including the not-so-exceptional Bryan Adams cover "Straight From The Heart" at the expense of the wonderful "Faster Than The Speed Of Night," as well as excellent interpretations of "Piece Of My Heart" and "Have You Ever Seen The Rain," and also "Married Men (The World Is Full Of)," but this does not impair the perfect outcome of a collection that gives this wonderful voice of Pop, this authentic and misunderstood diva all the honor she deserves; even though she is not a figure of absolute depth, to this day there is no other Bonnie Tyler, there is no new voice even remotely comparable to hers; no one capable of reproducing this type of great entertainment music, this mix of AOR, pop, and fizzing, explosive electronics; the blonde Gaynor Hopkins thus remains the last of her kind, one of the last Popstars truly worthy of the title.