Rebel Yell is Billy Idol's high-water mark, the place where he spun his breakthrough hit "White Wedding" into a full-blown rock & roll lifestyle. Maintaining the synth-drenched New Wave stance of his eponymous 1982 debut -- the album is lousy with synths; they set the pace and color the margins -- Idol ramps up the heavy metal guitar of his accomplice Steve Stevens, pushing solo pyrotechnics as hard as power chords. The slick, cavernous sound provides the perfect setting for Idol's evolution into a cartoon rocker, one who sings every song as if he were Jim Morrison attempting an Elvis Presley impression. Idol's strokes may be broad but they're effective: he's as comfortable pounding his fist to "Rebel Yell" as he is indulging in the goth fantasia of "Flesh for Fantasy" or crooning "Eyes Without a Face," a power ballad with a melody so dreamy it launched the former punk into the Billboard Top Ten. Those three singles anchor an album that also finds space for undiluted new wave ("Daytime Drama," "Crank Call"), sax-boosted pop ("Catch My Fall"), gilded hard rock ("Blue Highway"), and nocturnal neon synth-rock ("The Dead Next Door"). Each stylistic turn is distinguished by Idol's gusto. He's unafraid to be gloriously, shameless tacky, a quality that separated him from his new wave peers then and continues to give Rebel Yell a trashy kick years after its release.
- Stephen Thomas Erlewine (allmusic.com)
