01-10-2012, 15:24
online listen
pleasantly surprised
the girls can still rock, in the studio anyway
not so sure about live
this scrapes into the like range
sounds like.......uh.....Heart
1.7 from me and a converted 2.2 from the pros at allmusic
from the album - Fanatic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-xUityXYVc
released Oct 2nd, 2012
![[Image: 51G5z5ld5JL._SL500_AA300_.jpg]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51G5z5ld5JL._SL500_AA300_.jpg)
Bio - from allmusic
Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson are the creative spark behind Heart, a hard rock group who initially found success in
the mid-'70s only to reach greater heights after engineering a major comeback a decade later. The daughters of a
Marine Corps captain, Ann (born June 19, 1950) and Nancy (born March 16, 1954) grew up in both Southern California
and Taiwan before the Wilson family settled in Seattle, Washington. Throughout their formative years, both were
interested in folk and pop music; while Ann never took any formal music lessons as a child (she later learned to
play several instruments), Nancy took up guitar and flute. After both sisters spent some time at college, they
decided to try their hand as professional musicians, and while Nancy began performing as a folksinger, Ann joined
the all-male vocal group Heart.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Heart was actually formed in 1963 by bassist Steve Fossen and brothers Roger
Fisher and Mike Fisher; initially dubbed the Army, they later became White Heart before settling on simply Heart at
the beginning of the '70s. After her arrival in the group, Ann became romantically involved with guitarist Mike
Fisher; when Nancy joined in 1974, she in turn began a relationship with guitarist Roger Fisher. Soon after Nancy's
arrival, Mike Fisher retired from active performing to become the band's sound engineer. After gaining a following
in Vancouver, Heart was approached by Shelly Siegel, the owner of the Canadian label Mushroom and, augmented by
keyboardist Howard Leese and drummer Michael Derosier, they recorded their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, in 1975.
After selling more than 30,000 copies north of the border, Mushroom issued the LP in the U.S., where it quickly
achieved platinum status on the strength of the hit singles "Crazy On You" and "Magic Man." In 1977, Heart jumped
ship to the CBS affiliate Portrait, resulting in a protracted legal battle with Siegel, who in 1978 released the
unfinished LP Magazine on Mushroom shortly after the band issued its true follow-up, Little Queen, on Portrait. The
single "Barracuda" was another massive hit, and like its predecessor, Little Queen sold over a million copies.
After 1978's Dog & Butterfly, both of the Wilson/Fisher romances ended and Roger Fisher left the group. In 1980,
Heart issued Bebe le Strange; following a lengthy U.S. tour, both Fossen and Derosier exited and were replaced by
ex-Spirit and Firefall bassist Mark Andes and former Gamma drummer Denny Carmassi. After 1982's Private Audition and
1983's Passionworks slumped, the group was largely written off by industry watchers, and moved to Capitol Records.
In 1985, however, Heart emerged with a self-titled effort that ultimately sold more than five million copies on its
way to launching four Top Ten hits: "What About Love?," "Never," the chart-topping "These Dreams," and "Nothin' at
All." 1987's Bad Animals continued their comeback success; "Alone" was another number one hit, and both "Who Will
You Run To" and "There's the Girl" achieved considerable airplay as well. Brigade, issued in 1990, featured the
number two smash "All I Want to Do Is Make Love to You," as well as the Top 25 hits "I Didn't Want to Need You" and
"Stranded." In the early '90s, the Wilson sisters took a brief hiatus from Heart to form the Lovemongers, an
acoustic quartet fleshed out by Sue Ennis and Frank Cox; in 1992, they issued a four-song EP that included a cover
of Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore." Heart returned in 1993 with Desire Walks On, on which Andes and Carmassi
were replaced with bassist Fernando Saunders and drummer Denny Fongheiser. With 1995's The Road Home, Heart enlisted
onetime Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones to produce a live acoustic set, reprising hits like "Dreamboat Annie,"
"Crazy On You," and "Barracuda."
Heart was on hiatus by the late '90s, as the Wilson sisters concentrated on the Lovemongers, issuing a pair of
albums: 1997's Whirlygig and 1998's Here Is Christmas. But Heart wasn't completely silent: they were the subject of
one of the better episodes of VH1's Behind the Music; a pair of best-of sets were issued (1998's Greatest Hits
covered their early classics, while their later years were spotlighted on 2000's Greatest Hits: 1985-1995), and
their music continued to pop up in movie soundtracks (2000's The Virgin Suicides, among others). In 1999, Nancy
released her first solo album, Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop, and a year later penned the score to her husband
Cameron Crowe's hit motion picture Almost Famous, while Ann continued to play with others -- in the summer of 2001,
she participated in the A Walk Down Abbey Road: A Tribute to the Beatles tour, which also featured Todd Rundgren,
John Entwistle (the Who), and Alan Parsons (the Alan Parsons Project). Heart returned to active recording for
Jupiters Darling, released on Sovereign Artists in 2004, and issued Dreamboat Annie Live (a live performance of
tracks from the band's debut album, recorded in Los Angeles in 2007) three years later. Red Velvet Car, an all-new
collection of original material, was released in August 2010.
Heart picked up the pace in 2012. In June, Legacy released the retrospective box set, Strange Euphoria. In
September, the Wilson sisters' became authors with the publication of their memoir, Kicking and Dreaming: A Story of
Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll. Capping off the year was Fanatic, a collection of all-new studio material that
appeared in October.
Album Review - from allmusic
2012 has been quite a year for Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson. In June, the multi-disc box set retrospective Strange
Euphoria was released. It was followed in September by the publication of their memoir, Kicking & Dreaming: A Story
of Heart, Soul and Rock and Roll. And in October comes Fanatic, a brand new studio offering. The band re-teams with
producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Mink (who helmed the sessions for 2010's Red Velvet Car). He also co-wrote
the material with the pair. Lyrically the album is almost a counterpart to their memoir; its songs detail life
events, changes, and a lifetime of ups and downs. Things get off to a rumbling start with the title track, a
squalling, big production, hard rock number, with Nancy Wilson's big, meaty riffs, Mink's enormous drums, and Ann
Wilson's earthshaking voice. The tune's bluesy, soulful choruses fold well inside Mink's sonic treatments, giving it
a thunderous power. On "Dear Old America," slide guitars, a crunchy riff, controlled feedback, and ethereal layers
of violin and viola (a nice touch by Mink recalling moments on the band's earliest records) meet hard blues-rock and
latter day psychedelia. Other rockers include "A Million Miles" and the Led Zeppelin-esque "Mashallah," which are
also clear standouts. "Skin and Bones marries basic blues-rock to high-tech programming (Ã la ZZ Top) and works far
better than it should. "59 Crunch" is Heart in pure post-psych terrain, where everything is mixed in the red as the
sisters trade verses up front. There are a couple of missteps, however. The first is "Walkin' Good," with guest
Sarah McLachlan in duet with Nancy. The strings are too prominent, the acoustic guitars too muddy, and the banjo
simply corny. The other clunker is "Rock Deep (Vancouver)," a balladic, overly sentimental paean to the place that
Heart adopted as their first home after Seattle. It's well-intentioned, but it falls flat. While these tracks do add
balance, they don't match the quality of the rockers. The Led Zeppelin motif returns on the trippy closer "Corduroy
Road," with its use of space, layered echoes, reverbed guitars, cracking snares, and North African modalities, all
framed inside Heart's classic psych-rock sound. In sum, in a career that spans nearly 40 years, on Fanatic, the
Wilsons prove they can not only not re-create a sound they trademarked in the '70s, but can revision it creatively
for the 21st century.
Track Listing
1. Fantatic
2. Dear Old America
3. Walkin Good
4. Skin and Bones
5. Million Miles
6. Pennsylvania
7. Mashallah
8. Rock Deep Vancouver
9. 59 Crunch
10. Corduroy Road
pleasantly surprised
the girls can still rock, in the studio anyway
not so sure about live
this scrapes into the like range
sounds like.......uh.....Heart
1.7 from me and a converted 2.2 from the pros at allmusic
from the album - Fanatic
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-xUityXYVc
released Oct 2nd, 2012
Bio - from allmusic
Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson are the creative spark behind Heart, a hard rock group who initially found success in
the mid-'70s only to reach greater heights after engineering a major comeback a decade later. The daughters of a
Marine Corps captain, Ann (born June 19, 1950) and Nancy (born March 16, 1954) grew up in both Southern California
and Taiwan before the Wilson family settled in Seattle, Washington. Throughout their formative years, both were
interested in folk and pop music; while Ann never took any formal music lessons as a child (she later learned to
play several instruments), Nancy took up guitar and flute. After both sisters spent some time at college, they
decided to try their hand as professional musicians, and while Nancy began performing as a folksinger, Ann joined
the all-male vocal group Heart.
Based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Heart was actually formed in 1963 by bassist Steve Fossen and brothers Roger
Fisher and Mike Fisher; initially dubbed the Army, they later became White Heart before settling on simply Heart at
the beginning of the '70s. After her arrival in the group, Ann became romantically involved with guitarist Mike
Fisher; when Nancy joined in 1974, she in turn began a relationship with guitarist Roger Fisher. Soon after Nancy's
arrival, Mike Fisher retired from active performing to become the band's sound engineer. After gaining a following
in Vancouver, Heart was approached by Shelly Siegel, the owner of the Canadian label Mushroom and, augmented by
keyboardist Howard Leese and drummer Michael Derosier, they recorded their debut album, Dreamboat Annie, in 1975.
After selling more than 30,000 copies north of the border, Mushroom issued the LP in the U.S., where it quickly
achieved platinum status on the strength of the hit singles "Crazy On You" and "Magic Man." In 1977, Heart jumped
ship to the CBS affiliate Portrait, resulting in a protracted legal battle with Siegel, who in 1978 released the
unfinished LP Magazine on Mushroom shortly after the band issued its true follow-up, Little Queen, on Portrait. The
single "Barracuda" was another massive hit, and like its predecessor, Little Queen sold over a million copies.
After 1978's Dog & Butterfly, both of the Wilson/Fisher romances ended and Roger Fisher left the group. In 1980,
Heart issued Bebe le Strange; following a lengthy U.S. tour, both Fossen and Derosier exited and were replaced by
ex-Spirit and Firefall bassist Mark Andes and former Gamma drummer Denny Carmassi. After 1982's Private Audition and
1983's Passionworks slumped, the group was largely written off by industry watchers, and moved to Capitol Records.
In 1985, however, Heart emerged with a self-titled effort that ultimately sold more than five million copies on its
way to launching four Top Ten hits: "What About Love?," "Never," the chart-topping "These Dreams," and "Nothin' at
All." 1987's Bad Animals continued their comeback success; "Alone" was another number one hit, and both "Who Will
You Run To" and "There's the Girl" achieved considerable airplay as well. Brigade, issued in 1990, featured the
number two smash "All I Want to Do Is Make Love to You," as well as the Top 25 hits "I Didn't Want to Need You" and
"Stranded." In the early '90s, the Wilson sisters took a brief hiatus from Heart to form the Lovemongers, an
acoustic quartet fleshed out by Sue Ennis and Frank Cox; in 1992, they issued a four-song EP that included a cover
of Led Zeppelin's "The Battle of Evermore." Heart returned in 1993 with Desire Walks On, on which Andes and Carmassi
were replaced with bassist Fernando Saunders and drummer Denny Fongheiser. With 1995's The Road Home, Heart enlisted
onetime Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones to produce a live acoustic set, reprising hits like "Dreamboat Annie,"
"Crazy On You," and "Barracuda."
Heart was on hiatus by the late '90s, as the Wilson sisters concentrated on the Lovemongers, issuing a pair of
albums: 1997's Whirlygig and 1998's Here Is Christmas. But Heart wasn't completely silent: they were the subject of
one of the better episodes of VH1's Behind the Music; a pair of best-of sets were issued (1998's Greatest Hits
covered their early classics, while their later years were spotlighted on 2000's Greatest Hits: 1985-1995), and
their music continued to pop up in movie soundtracks (2000's The Virgin Suicides, among others). In 1999, Nancy
released her first solo album, Live at McCabe's Guitar Shop, and a year later penned the score to her husband
Cameron Crowe's hit motion picture Almost Famous, while Ann continued to play with others -- in the summer of 2001,
she participated in the A Walk Down Abbey Road: A Tribute to the Beatles tour, which also featured Todd Rundgren,
John Entwistle (the Who), and Alan Parsons (the Alan Parsons Project). Heart returned to active recording for
Jupiters Darling, released on Sovereign Artists in 2004, and issued Dreamboat Annie Live (a live performance of
tracks from the band's debut album, recorded in Los Angeles in 2007) three years later. Red Velvet Car, an all-new
collection of original material, was released in August 2010.
Heart picked up the pace in 2012. In June, Legacy released the retrospective box set, Strange Euphoria. In
September, the Wilson sisters' became authors with the publication of their memoir, Kicking and Dreaming: A Story of
Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll. Capping off the year was Fanatic, a collection of all-new studio material that
appeared in October.
Album Review - from allmusic
2012 has been quite a year for Heart's Ann and Nancy Wilson. In June, the multi-disc box set retrospective Strange
Euphoria was released. It was followed in September by the publication of their memoir, Kicking & Dreaming: A Story
of Heart, Soul and Rock and Roll. And in October comes Fanatic, a brand new studio offering. The band re-teams with
producer and multi-instrumentalist Ben Mink (who helmed the sessions for 2010's Red Velvet Car). He also co-wrote
the material with the pair. Lyrically the album is almost a counterpart to their memoir; its songs detail life
events, changes, and a lifetime of ups and downs. Things get off to a rumbling start with the title track, a
squalling, big production, hard rock number, with Nancy Wilson's big, meaty riffs, Mink's enormous drums, and Ann
Wilson's earthshaking voice. The tune's bluesy, soulful choruses fold well inside Mink's sonic treatments, giving it
a thunderous power. On "Dear Old America," slide guitars, a crunchy riff, controlled feedback, and ethereal layers
of violin and viola (a nice touch by Mink recalling moments on the band's earliest records) meet hard blues-rock and
latter day psychedelia. Other rockers include "A Million Miles" and the Led Zeppelin-esque "Mashallah," which are
also clear standouts. "Skin and Bones marries basic blues-rock to high-tech programming (Ã la ZZ Top) and works far
better than it should. "59 Crunch" is Heart in pure post-psych terrain, where everything is mixed in the red as the
sisters trade verses up front. There are a couple of missteps, however. The first is "Walkin' Good," with guest
Sarah McLachlan in duet with Nancy. The strings are too prominent, the acoustic guitars too muddy, and the banjo
simply corny. The other clunker is "Rock Deep (Vancouver)," a balladic, overly sentimental paean to the place that
Heart adopted as their first home after Seattle. It's well-intentioned, but it falls flat. While these tracks do add
balance, they don't match the quality of the rockers. The Led Zeppelin motif returns on the trippy closer "Corduroy
Road," with its use of space, layered echoes, reverbed guitars, cracking snares, and North African modalities, all
framed inside Heart's classic psych-rock sound. In sum, in a career that spans nearly 40 years, on Fanatic, the
Wilsons prove they can not only not re-create a sound they trademarked in the '70s, but can revision it creatively
for the 21st century.
Track Listing
1. Fantatic
2. Dear Old America
3. Walkin Good
4. Skin and Bones
5. Million Miles
6. Pennsylvania
7. Mashallah
8. Rock Deep Vancouver
9. 59 Crunch
10. Corduroy Road
