AMG Review of Elan [Bonus Tracks]

William Ruhlmann
All Music Guide

Firefall crested with its third album, Elan, which was prefaced by "Strange Way," an unusually vituperative leadoff single from the group who had broken through with songs of romantic devotion like "You Are the Woman" and "Just Remember I Love You." This time, lead singer and songwriter Rick Roberts was unmoved by a weepy lover, calling her emotional outbursts "a strange way to tell me you love me," and adding that, if she wanted to cry to somebody, "don't cry to me." The single, which peaked just outside the Top Ten, introduced a somewhat more aggressive album from Firefall that rocked a bit harder, notably on such tracks as "Anymore," and added a horn chart to the closing track, "Winds of Change." For the most part, however, the album's dominant tone was determined by Roberts' romantic anguish, further expressed on the second single, "Goodbye, I Love You," which scraped into the Top 40 on the pop charts and made the Top Ten on the adult contemporary charts. Elan itself enjoyed about the same chart success as its predecessor, Luna Sea, but ultimately sold a little better, reaching a million-seller certification and marking Firefall's commercial peak. [The Rhino reissue adds two previously unreleased songs, "New Man" and "Sharpshootin' at the Senator," both written by Larry Burnett, and an alternate version of Roberts' "Headed for a Fall," later a Top 40 hit from the 1980 Undertow album.]