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Tell Me About Heart


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I miss the "Tell Me"s of days gone by.

I was singing along to "Magic Man" on my car radio at the top of my lungs yesterday when I really realized how much I liked Heart. I'm a child of the 80s, so I am most familiar with their power ballad-y songs. But I don't know much about their 70s music.

School me, Songfactors.

What do you think of early Heart? Favorite songs, best albums, various and sundry facts, whatever you've got. Thank you in advance. :grin:

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"Crazy On You", good.

"Never", "Alone", "These Dreams", bad.

Nancy Wilson, hot guitar playing lady.

"Magic Man", awesome guitar solo.

Cover of "The Battle Of Evermore", excellent.

"Barracuda", excellently rocking.

"Never", "Alone", "These Dreams", bad.

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They were a kick-arse band, inspired by Zep and other classic rockers of the era. In the 70's the Wilson sisters were flat out hot and inspired many a teenage boys rock girl fantasies. Ann wore those unique flowing robes, dresses, gowns...whatever....left over from some Medieval Orgy and Nancy, hammered away on guitar.

Their Dreamboat Annie cover spread the rumour of them being Lesbian, sister, rocker freaks and they did nothing to deny it. However, they were swapping and swinging heavily with the boys in the band.

Magic Man and Crazy On You stand the classic rock test of time. Barracuda has hung in there too. Kick It Out was a fave of mine.

I saw Heart in concert on August 16th, 1977 at Convention Hall in Asbury Park, NJ. How do I remember the date (no it wasn't because my Ann wilson fantasy came true)....it was the day Elvis died, and I heard it on the radio on the trip down the shore. The band made mention of it on stage that night and played an Elvis tune. In classic rock fashion, Ann forgot what town she was playing, she said, "It's great to be in, er, a, this place tonight."

I say, rock on, to Heart.

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I remember their Dreamboat Annie album, and loving "Crazy On You" and "Magic Man." I know that "These Dreams" is the only song that Nancy sang lead on. I think "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You" is the most awful I'maslutandnotafraidtobragaboutit song I've ever heard. "Straight On" was a pretty good one, too, from the late '70s...

those are my random thoughts on Heart.

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the 70's Heart was amazing, considering they were really the only girl group of the time not doing "Poppy" type music. The 80's degenerated to some degree, I've always thought due to internal pressures, and of course Anns weight was always an issue for her. I disagree with Shawna on All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You. I hear a lot of people say that is the ultimate slut song. But if you listen to the lyrics, she is in love with another, who cannot give her a child. That is why she just wants to make love. She knows it's wrong, but wants a child so badly, and asks his forgiveness. This is not much different than the things people do today....

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I disagree with Shawna on All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You. I hear a lot of people say that is the ultimate slut song. But if you listen to the lyrics, she is in love with another, who cannot give her a child. That is why she just wants to make love. She knows it's wrong, but wants a child so badly, and asks his forgiveness. This is not much different than the things people do today....

harumph. You dare to disagree with ME? }:(

:grin:

Actually, I have listened to the lyrics - quite often, in fact - so I know what the song is about. But being one of those individuals who was not able to have my own (biological) child, I suppose I'm glad that my (now)ex did not go and get with another woman to have his baby... rather we went through IVF, and finally adopted. I still think it sends an awful message, that song.

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we shall agree to disagree, how bout that? :)

It's not a perfect message to send, but options in the 70's were not what they are now. Many songs have not the best of messages, but they are still good. Instead of the ultimate slut song, I just think of the message as misguided.

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I really like Heart, I recently had to replace my copy of 'Dreamboat Annie' because the other one was ruined.

I first heard about Heart when I was only little, my mum has the record of 'All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You' and she played it all the time (nothing to do with the message in the song, she just liked it for what is was - a song). I liked that song then, but not really anymore.

I was reintroduced to Heart through the movie 'The Virgin Suicides' which has two Heart songs on the soundtrack, 'Crazy On You' and 'Magic Man'. These two plus 'Barracuda' are my favourites and 'Dreamboat Annie' is a really good album.

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I like the song too Katie. Just as it is, a song.

Ann wilson is married to Cameron Crowe...she wrote and sings the title track to his newest movie Elizabethtown

now there's an interesting little tidbit I didn't know.

And while 'Barracuda' is inarguably a good rock song, I don't get it. Can anyone tell me what this verse means:

"Sell me, sell you, the porpoise said

Dive down, deep down to save my head"

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This was bugging me after I posted it. The song title is listed as "60B (The Elizabethtown Theme)". Crazy On You, and Magic Man, and Kick It Out are probably my 3 favorites. I have absolutely no idea what the porpoise line is supposed to mean.

"He's got the magic hands, mama"...I love that.

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Ann Wilson has one ofthe best voices in rock. I would give an arm to have that voice! I got to know them in the '80's and didn't think that their stuff was so bad.

I like "If Looks could Kill" and "Black on Black II" on top of the songs already mentioned.

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Ann wilson is married to Cameron Crowe...she wrote and sings the title track to his newest movie Elizabethtown

CeeCee....it is Nancy that is married to Cameron Crowe. Ann has never married, but she adopted a girl a few years back. Nancy has done music for quite a few of Cameron's movies. In fact she has a cameo in Fast Times At Ridgemont High.

I have been a Heart fan since the 70's. Ann has an amazing voice range and she can rock like wild. Nancy kicks butt on guitar playing. I have seen Heart 3 times in concert and was never disappointed. My top favorite albums of theirs are Dreamboat Annie, Little Queen, and Bebe Le Strange. The sisters can rock with the best of the boys, but I like when they go acoustic. You can find some great acoustic tracks on Dreamboat Annie and Little Queen. You can find most of their hits done live acoustically on The Road Home. They are talented songwriters and they have a good friend Sue Ennis who has written some great songs with the Wilson sisters. I didn't get into their music too much in the 80's. Their style changed a little but they still rocked. Bad Animals and Brigade both came out in the 80's and those albums have some good Heart music on them. I hated that the press attacked Ann for gaining weight in the 80's. It seemed they only cared what she looked like and not the music the band was making. Funny how a rocker dude can gain pounds and that is ok. Anyway, I am a true fan of the sisters and will pass their music on to my daughter. Here are some songs I love to hear and not all are hits...

Crazy on You

Magic Man

Knocking Heaven Down

Sweet Darling

Love Alive

Bebe Le Strange

Even It Up

Mistral Wind

White Lightening and Wine

Little Queen

Mother Earth Blues

Raised On You

There are more, but the come to mind off the top of my head. I would suggest that anyone who has not listened to Heart, take a listen. Start with the 70's music and move forward. And when they cover Zeppelin tunes, it kicks azz!!

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IMHO Heart were a storming Rock band early on and...I, like many others of a certain age, found the sisters both beautiful and very talented...the dark one could really sing and the blonde really could play guitar...the first three albums are all great and...intriguingly, very similar in their own ways to the first five Zep albums...distilled and spread around a bit. Barracuda is definitely their pastiche of Communication Breakdown and the Immigrant Song....both of which they would do live during the 70's.....they completely lost it when the were taken into the corporate rock fold and started doing songs composed for (and by) poodle haired rocksters with an eye on middle America...

IMHO :blush:

Edited by Guest
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I agree to some extent that in the 80's and 90's Heart was not the group I fell in love with in the 70's. Do I feel that they sold out? Yes, after they put out Bebe Le Strange in 1980 I feel they did. Ann and Nancy and their writing partner Sue Ennis didn't contribute very many songs on the albums during that time. And they are very talented song writers. I do think that they probably had no choice in the matter and it was pressure from management and their record label to slam out those top 40 hits. And if you were a true Heart fan, you weren't looking for top 40 hits, you were wanting the sisters to rock! They had personal problems also going on from what I was reading and I think the time they took for themselves, Ann having a daughter, and Nancy working with her husband Cameron Crowe gave them the breathing space they needed to come back fresh. I bought their 2004 Jupiters Darling album after reading great reviews of the album. And I was not disappointed, the Wilson sisters are back rockin' taking us back to the Heart we loved from the 70's and writing all tunes on the album but one. Ann and Nancy once again giving their fans music we love. The soul-searching and other projects they did during their break was worth the wait. So don't hang Heart out to dry, they are back and hopefully with keep rockin' in the future!

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Just about all Heart is good Heart IMO; this includes the Lovemongers & their cover of Led Zeppelin's Battle of Evermore which was featured on the soundtrack to the 1991 Grunge Seattle inspired movie "Singles" by Cameron Crowe.

I know that "These Dreams" is the only song that Nancy sang lead on.

I also have a softspot & am partial to the video for 'These Dreams', the distinct memory of this classic, (otherwise panned by most songfactors) brings back a personal key touch, I think it's encrypted into Nancy's vocals. It's a shame this was the only song she lead sang.

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