Accept - EAT THE HEAT

Another entry in my continuing series of "Stuff I Haven't Listened To In Awhile" posts...

Thoughts on this one? It got a LOT of hate from the Accept fanbase when it was first released back in '89, I didn't like it much at all when I first heard it, but strangely over the years it's kinda grown on me. Of course, David Reece is no Udo, and the band might've been better off changing the name of the band since this is an Accept album in name only without him. It's definitely not what you would call a "classic" sounding Accept record.

On the other hand, as a plain ol' late 80s commercial metal record, EAT THE HEAT has some decent stuff on it. I like "X-T-C," "D-Train," "Hellhammer," and "Turn The Wheel," and of course the single "Generation Clash" is irresistible... love that thumping bass line and the ominous voice going "generation....... claaaaaash...."

It does have a couple of clunkers though, like the silly "Stand 4 What U R" (borrowing from Prince's book of Weird Spelling?) and the godawful power ballad "Mistreated," but the good stuff outnumbers the clams on this one for me.

On a side note, anyone know what the deal is with the two different covers for this album? My old cassette copy has the cover seen on the left, but when I upgraded to CD a few years ago it has the cover seen on the right on it, which I'd never even seen before.

It's not a bad pop metal album but like you said, they really should have changed the band name. This was obvious record company involvement trying to make Accept into a commodity they were not. No Udo, no Accept. X-T-C is a good song and was obviously written with Udo in mind. Just take a listen to the U.D.O. version of the song. It annihilates.

At the same time U.D.O.'s "Animal House" sounds more like Accept than "Eat the Heat" did. The songs were written by Accept and Udo's distinctive voice is present. Personally I prefer it to "Eat the Heat".

David Reece is a good vocalist. Unfortunately he was thrown into a role that was a no win situation from the start. Longtime Accept fans just were not going to accept him (pun intended). His Bangalore Choir and Sircle of Silence material is great. I highly recommend it. My good friend Larry Farkas plays guitar on the Sircle of Silence material.

ult

ultmetal wrote:

At the same time U.D.O.'s "Animal House" sounds more like Accept than "Eat the Heat" did. The songs were written by Accept and Udo's distinctive voice is present. Personally I prefer it to "Eat the Heat".

Oh yea, I totally agree. UDO's ANIMAL HOUSE smokes this disc without even breaking a sweat.

I believe Udo did sing some backup vocals on EAT THE HEAT by the way, I forget where I read about that but I swear that I can hear him in the background on "D-Train."

I read an interview with Udo years ago that said he was working on ANIMAL HOUSE in the same studio at the same time as Accept while they were working on EAT THE HEAT. He could see that Accept were having a tough time of it and they realized that they had made a HUGE mistake but by then it was too late to get out of it... Udo's album was released first and Accept's record didn't come out till nearly a year and a half later. By then, obviously, the Accept fan base had already decided to carry their flags over to Camp Udo.

I love this album. David Reece is actually from my neighborhood! I think he is still good friends with and does some work with Lance King (also a Minneapolis guy).

SAXON1500 wrote:

I love this album. David Reece is actually from my neighborhood! I think he is still good friends with and does some work with Lance King (also a Minneapolis guy).

That's cool. I heard somewhere a while ago that Reece was claiming he had been considered for the vocalist spot in Judas Priest when they were trying to replace Halford. Any idea if that's true or just a B.S. story?

I jusr recently reviewd I for my website. I really like the album, but of course it is no longer Accept. How could it be?

Oh, and the story of the cover art is, as far as I can tell, an American release and one European release.

I was actually thinking of this album the other day. This is an album I have never heard and have always been hesitent to do so. Guess I'll have to check it out.

It's an okay record. Like Ult mentioned the band should have changed their name because it wasn't Accept.

i just never got into this album. i never considered it a real Accept release.

U.D.O.'s version of X-T-C absolutely smokes the one on "Eat The Heat".From what ive heard Reese had a serious drug problem when he was in Accept.

IronAge wrote:

U.D.O.'s version of X-T-C absolutely smokes the one on
"Eat The Heat".From what ive heard Reese had a serious drug problem
when he was in Accept.

Actually, I remember reading an interview where the band said the
biggest problem was the language barrier. English is a second language
to Accept and many of them didn't speak it very well. In the past the
band spoke in German to each other. Reece only spoke English, so it
became this weird thing with the band. I can imagine that would be a
problem. Not being able to communicate well must suck.

ultmetal wrote:

IronAge wrote:

U.D.O.'s version of X-T-C absolutely smokes the one on
"Eat The Heat".From what ive heard Reese had a serious drug problem
when he was in Accept.

Actually, I remember reading an interview where the band said the
biggest problem was the language barrier. English is a second language
to Accept and many of them didn't speak it very well. In the past the
band spoke in German to each other. Reece only spoke English, so it
became this weird thing with the band. I can imagine that would be a
problem. Not being able to communicate well must suck.

Yeah...you're right.I think i read that same interview.I heard something elsewhere about him being high alot and having a falling out with Baltes' involving a chick or something.Oh well....