This is one of the more quintessential Jim Steinman songs to me, because it’s this enormous, glorious mess. Not all of the parts seem to belong, but they’re all good, and there are some just wonderfully garish lead guitars culminating in a fantastic solo from Todd Rundgren.
The song begins with a booming guitar chord on top of a flamenco-style piano riff that even non-Steinman obsessives will recognize as the later basis for “Holding out for a Hero.” A funky second guitar joins, then a wordless choir, then Roger Powell’s synthesizer, and finally Steinman’s vocals. It’s a loud sound, even for Steinman, and coming after the softness of “Lost Boys and Golden Girls” and then a speech, it’s almost jarring. The flamenco piano calms down into a more typical pop riff in the chorus but otherwise most stays the same. Musically, the song largely continues in the same wall of sound, except for a brief clapping breakdown using a faster version of the chorus of “Lost Boys and Golden Girls” after the second chorus that leads into a short-but-fun guitar solo from Davey Johnstone, Todd Rundgren, or both and then another, much longer, solo at the end.
Continue reading