Desire Wire

Cindy Bullens

This is Cindy Bullens' first solo album from 1978. She started as a back-up singer for Elton John and toured with him several times. She then was featured on the Grease soundtrack performing several songs that won her an Grammy nomination. Desire Wire is an album that reflects many of her Grease roots as a singer/songwriter and a soulful rock icon. This collection of songs has more hooks than a fisherman's cap. There are several hard rockin' tunes, i.e. Survivor, High School History, and Finally Rockin' most noticeably. The other songs are slower but are real heart-string tuggers, i.e. Desire Wire, Knee Deep In Love. This album gained her another Grammy nomination. Her next two albums echoed the feel of Desire Wire and were released in 1981 and 1986, both are great, if you can find them. Neither has been issued on CD to my knowledge. Her albums after that are more folk than rock and her new group, The Refugees, while very good, are just not my style. If you like rock from the late seventies, pick up this hidden diamond for your enjoyment! As allmusic.com and vinylhistory.com once said: One of the great lost rock albums of the '70s, Bullens' debut release is full of tough, passionate, incredibly catchy rock & roll played to the hilt and sung with fire. Bullens followed it up with Steal the Night in 1979. Ten years later, she made Cindy Bullens, and they're almost as good, although no one noticed. So life is unfair. Search those used-record stores for any of them. Bullens has the heart and soul of a straight ahead no-nonsense female rocker. She writes good songs, sings well, and can open up on guitar, the few times she has a chance. This album suffered for two reasons. Number one, the producers made a mess of the entire proceedings. They were clueless about what to do with her, so rather than let her be herself they decided to get in there and really produce! Number two, the record company managed to lock Bullens in the cellar, and forget she was there. "Desire Wire" should have been a hit! Despite all this incompetence, it's not a bad debut, but it could have been much more.