ACCEPT / U.D.O. - Discography

I have some good memories from this album,. But time played a little trick on me, and I had forgotten most of the tracks on this record when I finally bought a CD version some years ago. It's a classic piece of heavy metal, indeed, but there are actually more fillers than top notch songs here. The opener, "Fast As A Shark", is still a gigantic favorite, for some the proto-type for speed and thrash metal. The title track is also great, but then the album falls down a bit, in my eyes (or should I say ears). And it doesn't really pick up again, until the now newly discovered "Don't Go Stealing My Soul Away". Then again, what a finale we get in the awesome "Princess Of The Dawn"! But why on earth haven't they fixed the little mistake from the vinyl edition? The track still stops brutally, as the vinyl B-side ran out of wax! You would have thought they fixed this when they recorded it onto CD. Maybe it's the original tape that ran out, and the problem never was with the vinyl? Hope they have fixed it on the remastered series, because now I got to hunt for that one.

Killer tracks: Fast As A Shark, Restless And Wild, Neon Nights, Princess Of The Dawn

Oh, and you have the WRONG cover art dispayed

Great album!!! The first one I heard because my library had an Lp of it(My library had the coolest vinyl selection!)........... so I dubbed it and enjoyed!


Get Ready is a fun song that has that Livin After Midnight kinda beginning.

The first Accept album I got, a minor classic. Still holds up well.

This was the second Accept I heard, bought it because it was cheap, and bought it on vinyl back in the day.

One of the heavier releases I owned when I was 13, right before I became aware of thrash metal.

A very good album, that holds up well.

"Feeling the power of lost when the guy's passing by...Wrecking one's brain and I'm going insane don't know why"


BALLS TO THE WALL (1983)


1. Balls To The Wall
2. London Leather Boys
3. Fight It Back
4. Head Over Heels
5. Losing More Than You’ve Ever Had
6. Love Child
7. Turn Me On
8. Losers And Winners
9. Guardians Of The Night
10. Winterdreams



In 1983 Accept released what Martin Popoff has commented as "the best metal album of the 80's". I don't know about that, but I see why he would say that. The album has a sound that many other bands wouldn't achieve for a couple more years. "Balls To The Wall" takes the raw energy that was established with "Restless and Wild" and reigns it in just a bit, to make a more commercial album that can't be seen as a sellout. Not surprisingly, this is the album that broke the band in the States. Back in those days the music scene in America was actually important.


The album starts out with what could be called Accept's signature song, "Balls To The Wall". A great song with a sing along chorus, that signals what will come later in the album. Enter "London Leatherboys". Not a personal favorite, but a strong, slightly homoerotic anthem. The remainder of side one is just as strong as the first 2 tracks. One wonders if this band would ever let up on the intensity.


The album's second song about the ga-hey community, "Love Child" starts off the second side with a bang. Once again, tunes such as "Losers and Winners" (a personal favorite Accept track) and "Turn Me On" bash in your skull with intensive fire. The only song that kind of misses the mark for me is "Guardian of the Night". In fact, I forgot it was on this album until today. The metallic ballad "Winterdreams" finishes up the album nicely.


All in all, "Balls To The Wall" is a perfect mix of the raw power of "Restless and Wild", and the more commercial appeal of "Metal Heart". This is an album I would recommend even to my grandma, if I could ever get her out of your bed. "BTTW" kicks arse!

The first Accept album I ever heard and my favorite Accept album!

WRITE A LETTER!
WHAT'S THE MATTER?
YOU'LL FEEL BETTER!
WRITE A LETTER!



That little lyrical section never ceases to get me laughing.

Great album though, pretty much a textbook metal album in both good (the music) and bad (the lyrics). It's a quintessential album from the 80s.

This was a the second (and last) Accept album that I bought, I got distracted by thrash not long after this album came out and never got back around to them.

Loved this album, with their chorus you could hear coming a mile away.

Interesting that a metal band openly sang about being g-ay, even thou none of the members played for that team.

I remember the album made a huge impact on me as kid.

When my Dad was looking through my LP collection he pulled out Balls To The Wall and Judas Priest's Unleashed In The East...looked at the covers...and said "these bands should play nightly at the Blue Oyster Bar from the Police Academy movies!"

S.D. wrote:

When my Dad was looking through my LP collection he pulled out Balls To The Wall and Judas Priest's Unleashed In The East...looked at the covers...and said "these bands should play nightly at the Blue Oyster Bar from the Police Academy movies!"

Outside of Paul Stanley, the two most thought to be GLTB singers in my circle were Halford and Udo. I remember when Halford came out of the closet - no one was shocked at all. NOr did anyone think any less of him.

Although I play it up in my review, I am almost positive the ga-hey references are more an unfortunate coincidence or can be played off because the words were written by Deaffy, who is female.

SpectreFate wrote:

Although I play it up in my review, I am almost positive the ga-hey references are more an unfortunate coincidence or can be played off because the words were written by Deaffy, who is female.

I'm sure it most likely is...but still hard to ignore.

When I hear "London Leatherboys" I immediately see everyone's favorite military commander say "that's a bit suspect I think".

S.D. wrote:

When my Dad was looking through my LP collection he pulled out Balls To The Wall and Judas Priest's Unleashed In The East...looked at the covers...and said "these bands should play nightly at the Blue Oyster Bar from the Police Academy movies!"

When I look back on that stuff (including my old Duran Duran, Culture Club, etc) it really makes me wonder why I'm not ga-hey.

SpectreFate wrote:

Although I play it up in my review, I am almost positive the ga-hey references are more an unfortunate coincidence or can be played off because the words were written by Deaffy, who is female.

The hairy drumstick in hotpants on the cover and mention of balls doesn't help that case either.

Accept were on a roll in the early to mid-eighties, and here is another killer album from them. 'Balls To The Wall' is almost like the blueprint for German 80's metal. The album starts of with the classic title-track, and it doesn't really slow down after that. I don't care as much for the last 3 tracks, but the rest are all metal-history! The 2 extra tracks on this remastered edition are, as far as I can see, picked from the 'Kaizuko-Ban' EP. The live rendition of "Head Over Heals" is outstanding! A MUST!

Killer tracks: Balls To The Wall, London Leatherboys, Head Over Heals, Love Child

I've never let what somebody does in the privacy of the bedroom have an effect on whether I like the music they play.

Good album, but I like the one before it a lil better

Agree with kmorg on "Restless and Wild". Not sure why everyone goes that crazy about the album, overall the songs are weaker than on "Breaker". Sure it has 4 beast tracks, but the others are really average.

"Balls to the Wall" is the metal album. That one and "Defenders of the Faith" are the example of how it should be played. Each track is brilliant. "Winterdreams" still owns every ballad ever written. The album is that good, even S.D. likes it.

James B. wrote:

Good album, but I like the one before it a lil better

I recant that statement

Listened to both albums back to back last night and "Balls To The Walls" is better in ALOT of ways.

METAL HEART (1985)


1. METAL HEART
2. MIDNIGHT MOVER
3. UP TO THE LIMIT
4. WRONG IS RIGHT
5. SCREAMING FOR A LOVE BITE
6. TOO HIGH TO GET IT RIGHT
7. DOGS ON LEADS
8. TEACH US TO SURVIVE
9. LIVING FOR TONITE
10. BOUND TO FAIL


Accept's "Metal Heart" came at a time that was the peak of the band's popularity. The band was selling out large venues in Japan, and the band was known worldwide, although not as popular as they should have been. Naturally the band would have to produce a more commercial album to appeal to the ever growing "metal" crowd in America, although many of these new fans were just pop music fans in disguise. (See: Me)


In my personal opinion, "Metal Heart" is tied with "Restless & Wild" as the band's greatest effort. Every song is solid on this album and they added just enough melody to make their tunes more generally digestible. This album fires on all cylinders most likely because of the pressure put on the band by producer Dieter Dierks. The band sounded hungry for success.


As for the tracklisting, if you are an Accept fan, how can you NOT like songs such as the title track with its Tchaikovsky intro (from the composer's "Slavonic March"), "Midnight Mover", or "Screaming For A Love Bite"? Those are some of the best mainstream metal songs of the 80's! The only misstep is the odd jazz-like stylings of "Teach Us To Survive". Just weird, and kind of out of place.


Listening to this album gives me goosebumps every time, and it is the Accept record I listen to the most.

I've been busy dealing with Hurricane Sandy aftermath for the past week and a half so I haven't been able to participate in these threads as much as I'd like. So to get me caught up....

Accept/I'm A Rebel: both albums have their share of decent stuff on 'em (particularly "Rebel") but the band is still trying to find their "own" sound on 'em. They've got the potential, but it's just not quite "there" yet.

Breaker - Now THIS is more like it.


Restless:
"Hiiiiiiii-dee-hi-do, hi-da
Hiiiiiiii-dee-hi-do, hi-da
Hi-dee, hi-do, hi-da-hahahahahahahaha...."
(scratching sound)
"AAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!"

...nuff said.

Balls to the Wall: This was one of the last LPs (yes, I have it on vinyl) that my Mom ever bought for me, for my fifteenth birthday in 1985. She handed it to me on my big day and told me "from now on, you are on your OWN if you want to buy these things!" and at that moment I knew I was a man. Thanks, Mom! The album is a stone cold classic to this very day, if you can only own one Accept album this should be the one.

Metal Heart: Pretty much picks up where Balls left off, and that's not a bad thing. Accept were on a roll by this point.

Metal Heart - was a big let down when it was released. It has grown on me over the years and I now consider ti a good album

I loved 'Metal Heart' and I remember it being printed on the cover, that it was recorded digitally, I had no idea what that meant, but it sounded pretty cool to me.

The sound was crisp and they were as tight as a fishes' bun hole. The only thing that bothered me is that 'Living for Tonight' sounded like a left over Scorpions track, a good song but sounded to my ears to much like the Scorps.

Great great album.

Fish have bungholes?

SpectreFate wrote:

Fish have bungholes?

and tight ones at that