Shot No. 3 - with a Bullens

DAILY NEWS 61 EXTRA ENTERTAI NMENTC 3 ON THE RECORDS HUGH WYATT No. 3 tint HEN SINGER-GUITAR- ist Cindy Bullens recorded VlW her song "Survivor," lecturing the world on how to succeed in this mean, cruel world, she had no idea she'd end up facing the music herself. "I was absolutely devastated," Bullens recalled of the ordeal the other day after an absence of nearly a decade from the music scene. "I had expended so much time and energy, and felt there was no point in going on." Bullens was referring to how, on two separate occasions, she had been a victim of record company mergers. She said that when that happens, all promotion and other activity namely sales come to a halt A case in point was her 1979 song, "Survivor," which was climbing the charts and suddenly fell. "The mergers were compounded by the fact that the industry itself was having economic difficulties," explained Bullens, who used the time off to get married, have two girls and move from Los Angeles to Weston, Conn. Prior to her ordeal, the Boston-born Bullens had successfully performed and recorded as a backup singer, beginning at age 19 with Elton John, Bob Dylan and Rod Stewart, establishing herself as one of the most promising young performers on the contemporary pop music scene. CINDY BULLENS Cindy Bullens (MCA) It's not every day that a performer can get a third shot at the top, especially under the auspices of a major label. But Cindy Bullens proves on this new recording that she is, indeed, a survivor. She has apparently been listening to her own words from Grammy-nominated "Survivor," which go in part: "You're a survi- . vor . . . you'll work it out . . . And you'll carry on." She does exactly that on this new recording, but the listener would never know of her problems by the lyrics because they focus more on love and romance than on the hardships of the world. Even so, the lyrics on this new album's 10 songs carry a certain ' amount of depth, maturity and intelligence, which reflect the singer's musical persona. She wrote the lyrics for all the songs and both the words and music on three of them demonstrating that not only is she a talented songwriter, but remains one of the most compelling singer-guitarists in rock 'n' roll. In the vein of John Mellencamp, Bob Seger and Bruce Springsteen, Bullens performs a down-to-earth style of straightforward rock 'n' roll the kind that many are now calling "classic" rock. She does not jump on today's heavy metal bandwagon, but instead picks up where she left off and enhances it She has also been influenced by some of the so-called "girl singers," like Nancy Wilson of Heart, Joan Jett and Pat Benatar. The album's choicest cut is "Letters of Fire," a thoroughly lovely ballad that could win her some sort of a literary prize it's so llllllSIl: J!?ffC " lillif Wllllllllllllillil: - -sw3- stow '4":J'' it 4 f i ' J SURVIVAL INSTINCTS: Rocker Cindy Bullens is out front once again. grandly constructed. Note the mood swings on this tune and her own brand of scatting, which is one of the highlights of the album. Another favorite is the moderately paced "Breakin' The Chain," a gem of a tune with intriguing chord progressions that immediately bring to mind the urgency and simplicity of Mellencamp's style. Bullens is a belting alto who sings quite comfortably in the middle range, although I'm convinced she could probably climb to the stratosphere if she were so inclined. Bullens is a marvelous singer, and the music on this album is one of the most thrilling things to happen to "classic" rock 'n' roll.