They're touring with Joan Jett and Cheap Trick, and I was amazed to find that the tickets weren't priced in the hundred dollar range. This collection of performers isn't just amazing, it's a slice of rock and roll history.
It's with a certain amount of shame that I direct attention away from Jett and (um) Trick to focus on the Wilson sisters, but their music has had the greatest impact on me, and their story is one that I find powerful.
Before Anna and Elsa, there was Ann Wilson and her little sister Nancy. As the daughters of a U.S. Marine, the family would have to move around frequently, and the girls turned to music for a sense of consistency. There are some artists who clearly love music, and then there are those who embody it. And there's just something about the Wilson sisters where you can feel the emotions poured into their work. There's a pain laced through every album, from failed relationships to on stage panic attacks, but there's also the unyielding hope that refuses to be snuffed out.
You're undoubtedly familiar with their power ballads from the mid to late eighties (Alone, Never, These Dreams and What About Love), and they were all really good songs. But when you compare them to some of their lesser known or in-danger-of-being-forgotten gems, I think you'll find they may not be the absolute best compositions.
So as a bit of a love letter to the Wilsons, I've put together what I consider, in my superficially humble opinion, to be the ultimate album showcasing Heart's soul. On vinyl, because it sounds better.
A Dozen Roses
Side A:
1 Bebe le Strange (live) -Greatest Hits/Live (1980)
The album version of this song is good enough, but when you hear them perform it live it adds a whole new layer of energy. And that's one thing worth mentioning right out of the gate: Heart can play live! And they play the hell out of this song. The lyrics are about a female rock star receiving a fan letter from someone who has been captivated by her. Interestingly, it has nothing to do with the way she looks, but the way she handles her guitar. It's possible this song is based on the fan mail the sisters were receiving themselves, but I prefer to think of it as a fictional account of what drove them into the industry in the first place.
2 Magic Man -Dreamboat Annie (1975)
This is THE definitive Heart song, and the first one you hear if you listen to the albums in order. A woman is being seduced by a man, even against her conscious better judgment. She's doomed and she knows it, but she's addicted. It's all the more poignant by the omission of any details about this man other than his eye color. The guitar is exciting and haunting at the same time. There's more of an emotional arc in this five minute track than Stephanie Meyer's entire body of work.
3 Without You -Magazine (1977)
I hate this song. "Wait, what?" you cry, "Then why do you have it on the album?" First off, there's no need to cry, it's just a blog. Second, I'm talking about the actual Badfinger song written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans, and everyone from Harry Nilsson to freaking Mariah Carey seems to think it's some sort of romantic love ballad. It's not. Whether Ham and Evans realized it during the writing (no joke here: both committed suicide), this is the epitome of an unhealthy one-sided relationship. Ann Wilson is the only singer I've ever heard who sounds like she's singing it from this approach. As far as I'm concerned, that makes this the only version of this song.
4 Barracuda -Little Queen (1977)
Oh boy. The origin of this song is just painful. A Detroit radio promoter flippantly (and sincerely) asked Ann about her lover, referring to her sister Nancy. Ann was outraged, and went back to the hotel room, pouring everything she was feeling into writing this song. Then Nancy heard what had happened and channeled her fury into the melody and bridge. The result was one of the all time great Heart songs, and probably the sister as their most vulnerable.
5 Make Me -Jupiter's Darling (2004)
I literally discovered this song a few days ago. Post-eighties Heart is where the entity of the band really is defined as the Wilson sisters (being the only consistent force since the inception). The eighties was a productive time where musicians and studios had a solid working relationship. The nineties was the decade of the breakup between artists and establishment. "Make Me" has a clear return to roots feel, similar to Pat Benatar's overlooked 1997 sapphire Innamorata. Nancy shows she doesn't need studio technology to kill it on lead guitar, and nobody is going to keep Ann's powerhouse voice down.
6 I Want Your World to Turn -Brigade (1990)
Ann Wilson may very well have the greatest female hard rock voice in music history; I'd certainly support her claim of the title. But little attention has been given to Nancy as a singer. She really could have made it as a solo artist. I've listened to this song since the album came out and I've only just found out that it was Nancy singing lead, not Ann. This is another 'dirty' love song that Heart is so virtuoso at performing. Here we have a woman in love with someone who is openly non-monogamous. She doesn't seem to have a problem with it conceptually, but she's developing a sense of possessiveness. It's a fresh set up, and Nancy's voice is awesome.
7 Wild Child -Brigade (1990)
You can't go into Rock and Roll if you only like nice songs. At its core, rock is about the dark side of passion, but once in a while you get a song like "Wild Child" which feels like it has all of the grit and ash of typical rock, but is actually a purely happy song. Sexually happy, yes, but we're in a place devoid of pain (temporarily anyway). This is just pure, wild, unbridled fun; an inner child released into an adult carnival.
Side B:
1 Dog & Butterfly -Dog & Butterfly (1978)
I take an interest in the order that songs appear on an album, and this beautiful folk song is the perfect way to begin side two (a la "Here Comes the Sun"). I've loved this song since I was a teenager, (even if I had difficulty convincing my peers of its merit) and I still want it performed at my memorial service [There, mom. I finally wrote it down. Happy?]. This is what this song is about. You have a dog and a butterfly (duh). The butterfly can fly, and the dog can't. But the dog forgets this because it's playing so intensely with the butterfly. And when it winds up on its back on the ground, the dog laughs at its own foolishness. And it does it again and again, because the experience of failing at flying is so delightful on its own. Then you wrap that chorus in a few verses of someone experiencing defeat and finding the strength to get back up in this image. It always brings me tears. All the more reason I shouldn't be working on this blog in a public place.
2 If Looks Could Kill -Heart (1985)
The concept of this song is pretty basic, confronting someone who has betrayed you. The execution on the other hand is awesome. It has a fast tempo and a driving guitar riff, making it the most dangerous Heart song to drive in rush hour traffic to. Sadly, that's all I have to say about it. But take my finite word, it's a great song.
3 Mistral Wind (live)/Hit Single/Strange Euphoria -Greatest Hits/Live (1980)
Kind of a cheat here, but this has always felt to me like one very long surreal track. "Mistral Wind" kicks us off with a sailing in uncharted waters metaphor. The seven minute piece has an ethereal sound to it, conveying the emotions of someone who feels touched by something 'out there'. Ann's passion (particularly in the live version) comes across as almost agonizing that she can't experience this force all the time. But as the melody fades into a simple music box measure, we move into "Hit Single"; a dreamlike arrangement of outtakes from studio recording sessions. This bizarre tension builds, and then an abrupt silence. And from out of the dark comes...I'm not even sure what this is, but I really wouldn't mind it going on for twice as long. The aptly named "Strange Euphoria" just paints a picture of what a world devoid of ego would sound like. I really can't tell you what happens on this three track journey, but it's something quite special.
4 I Love You -Brigade (1990)
There are so many wonderful Heart songs that I know I'm doing a disservice to by not including them ("Crazy On You", "Heartless", and "Tall, Dark, Handsome Stranger" to name a few), and I very nearly overlooked this one. But then I remembered what it was about. Unlike "Magic Man" or "If Looks Could Kill" where there's a clear 'victim' in the narrative, "I Love You" is about a couple who truly love each other but have also had a fight so huge that they may have irreparably damaged the relationship. This is Ann Wilson of the early nineties, singing from the voice of adult maturity. And while she's not having the adolescent meltdown of "Without You" you can sense the subtext may be coming from the most broken place in any of the songs. The fact that the question of reconciliation remains unanswered makes this song all the more grueling.
5 I've Got the Music in Me (live) -Magazine (1977)
It's kind of a pity that I have to end things on one of the songs the sisters didn't write, but there really is no other song that captures the essence of 'this is what Heart is'. It's another fantastic live song, and when you place it after several of the more painful numbers, it feels like a rebirth. As I said at the beginning, Ann and Nancy's collective claim of having the music in them is more than just a pretty chorus. It's an anthem. Rock and roll is this whole ambiguous world. Thank God for our heroes, or in this case heroines, who can enter that wild realm and bring some of that magic back out for the rest of us.
See you on September 20th!
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