Fierce Heart

Fierce Heart is the eighth solo album by British musician Jim Capaldi. The album has a far more synth-heavy approach than any of his previous albums, though the songs are mostly in the same aggressive rock/pop vein that Capaldi had long been associated with. This synth-heavy pop sound was exactly what 1980s audiences were looking for, and the songs "That's Love"(which broke the top 40 in the USA^[1]) and "Living on the Edge" became hit singles.^[2] The album itself reached number 91 in the Billboard 200.^[2]

Capaldi was not as fond of Fierce Heart as his other works, and as little as five years after its release he was publicly professing that he thought it fell too much into the adult alternative vein.^[3]

The album is dedicated to the memory of Rebop Kwaku Baah, Jim Capaldi's former bandmate in Traffic, who died in January of the year the album was released.

Background

As with Capaldi's two previous albums, The Sweet Smell of... Success and Let the Thunder Cry, a significant portion of Fierce Heart drew inspiration from his new second home, Brazil. At least three of the songs ("Tonight You're Mine", "Back at My Place", and "That's Love") were mostly composed in Brazil and finished in England, and "Don't Let Them Control You" is actually a cover of a Brazilian song originally recorded by Sandra Ca, with new lyrics by Capaldi.^[4] In addition, the lyrics to "Gifts of Unknown Things" were inspired by the book of the same name, which in Capaldi's words "deals with the mysteries of life in Brazil."^[4]

The minor hit "Living on the Edge" was written while on tour in Germany, with a lyric based on the Nagual Don Juan.^[4]

"I'll Always be Your Fool" dates back to Capaldi's time with Traffic. He says that the original idea for the song was "laid down with rhythm box and piano in 1972."^[4]

Recording

Capaldi and Steve Winwood had maintained a working partnership since Traffic's dissolution; Winwood played on at least one track on all of Capaldi's albums save Electric Nights. With Fierce Heart, Capaldi enlisted his old partner as a major collaborator. Winwood co-produced the album with Capaldi, co-engineered it, played on every track (including solos on four of the tracks), and even arranged three of the songs: "Back at my Place", "Don't Let Them Control You", and the hit single "Living on the Edge". In a press release, Capaldi claimed that Winwood also co-wrote the music to "Living on the Edge",^[4] though the song is officially credited as solely written by Capaldi.^[5]

Fierce Heart was the first solo album by Jim Capaldi on which he played most of the drums himself. It was recorded at five different studios, with some of the songs containing tracks recorded at three different studios. Capaldi used two songs ("Runaway" and "Bad Breaks") from the 1982 album Runaway by the Dutch band Solution, for which he wrote most of the lyrics.

Most of the tracks were mixed to place emphasis on the synthesizers. Only "Runaway" was recorded without synthesizers, though "I'll Always be Your Fool" and "Gifts of Unknown Things" use them sparingly. Only three tracks use electric bass; the instrument is synthesized on the remaining tracks.

Track listing

All music written by Jim Capaldi, except where noted. Almost all lyrics written by Jim Capaldi.

1. "Tonight You're Mine" - 4:09
   • Jim Capaldi - vocals, drums; Steve Winwood - synthesizers, electric guitar; Van Morrison - acoustic guitar
2. "Living on the Edge" - 4:40
   • Jim Capaldi - vocals, drums; Steve Winwood - synthesizers, guitar
3. "Bad Breaks" (music: Willem Ennes) - 3:06
   • Jim Capaldi - lead vocal, miscellaneous percussion; Steve Winwood - synthesizers, guitar solo, backing vocal; Bryson Graham - drums; Brent Forbes - bass; Pete Bonas - guitar; Chris Parren - additional keyboards; Ray Otu Allen - congas
4. "Runaway" (music: Solution) - 3:24
   • Jim Capaldi - lead vocal; Steve Winwood - organ, piano, backing vocal; Bryson Graham - drums; Pete Bonas - bass, guitar
5. "Back at my Place" - 3:02
   • Jim Capaldi - vocals, drums, acoustic guitar; Steve Winwood - synthesizers; John Mizarolli - lead acoustic guitar
6. "That's Love" - 3:37
   • Jim Capaldi - lead vocal, drums, percussion; Steve Winwood - synthesizers, backing vocal; Nicole Winwood - backing vocal; Pete Bonas - acoustic guitar
7. "I'll Always be Your Fool" - 3:48
   • Jim Capaldi - lead vocal, drums, acoustic piano, glockenspiel, percussion; Steve Winwood - synthesizers; Mel Collins - saxophone; Ray Otu Allen - percussion, congas; Stevie Lange - backing vocal; Simon Bell - backing vocal
8. "Don't Let Them Control You" (music: Macau) - 5:10
   • Jim Capaldi - vocals, drums; Steve Winwood - synthesizers, guitar; Mel Collins - saxophone solo; Geoff Driscoll - saxophone; Martin Drover - trumpet; Ray Otu Allen - congas, percussion
9. "Gifts of Unknown Things" - 5:10
   • Jim Capaldi - lead vocal, percussion; Steve Winwood - backing vocal, marimba; Bryson Graham - drums; Jim Leverton - bass; Pete Bonas - ovation guitar; Chris Parren - synthesizers; Ray Otu Allen - congas

Additional personnel

• Linn drum patterns by Jim Capaldi and Steve Winwood
• Engineered by Steve Winwood (except tracks 5 and 7), Nobby Clark (except tracks 5 and 7), Dave Belotti (track 9), John Etchells (track 9), Phil Bodger (track 6), Mark Freegard (except track 2), Jon Walls (except track 2), Graham Watts (except track 2), Keith Fernley (except track 2) and Tom O'Leary (track 4)

References