Stan Ridgway - The Big Heat (Remastered) (2018)

AllMusic Review by Steven McDonald
The Big Heat has Stan Ridgway's love of film noir and Jim Thompson-style stories splashed gaudily all over it. The album is tremendous fun, even with its dependence on synthesizers and drum-machine work, since Ridgway's cynical delivery gives everything else an edge, even in the romance-gone-wrong atmosphere of "Walkin' Home Alone." The standouts include the Ennio Morricone-influenced title track, the demented "Pile Driver," "Drive She Said," and the over-the-top Vietnam tale "Camouflage."