Description
Heart – Heart – Vinyl Record
Heart’s self-titled 1985 album brought a new scale to a band that had already spent a decade combining hard rock, acoustic detail, and the complementary talents of Ann and Nancy Wilson. Their first album for Capitol became a major commercial renewal, with a run of singles that reached far beyond their established rock audience. Its slicker sound belongs unmistakably to the middle of the eighties, but the performances retain the force and personality that made the Wilson sisters stand out in the first place.
Producer Ron Nevison frames the songs with large drums, prominent keyboards, layered guitars, and choruses built to carry across an arena. Ann’s singing remains the most commanding instrument in that arrangement. She can put a cutting edge on a hard-rock phrase and then open a melody into a sustained, almost operatic line without losing its emotional directness. Nancy, Howard Leese, bassist Mark Andes, and drummer Denny Carmassi provide a band sound substantial enough to support those vocals, even when the production is at its most polished.
“What About Love” establishes the record’s balance of vulnerability and power, using a restrained opening to make its chorus land harder. “Never” takes a more rhythmic approach, with a bright, assertive hook that helped define Heart’s new radio presence. “Nothin’ at All” adds an exuberant pop-rock rush. Together, these songs explain the album’s broad appeal: each has an immediate melodic identity, while Ann gives the material a physical intensity that keeps it from becoming anonymous studio pop.
“These Dreams” provides a different center of gravity. Nancy takes the lead vocal on the Bernie Taupin and Martin Page composition, bringing a lighter, more hushed sound to its dreamlike imagery. The contrast with Ann’s performances is part of the album’s character, not merely a change of singer. Elsewhere, the opening “If Looks Could Kill” and the closing “Shell Shock” keep the hard-rock side in view. Those tracks make useful bookends for a record often remembered chiefly for its ballads and crossover singles.
The ten-song program also leaves room for “The Wolf,” “All Eyes,” “Nobody Home,” and “What He Don’t Know,” giving a fuller picture than the familiar hits alone. Heart marks a clear change from the folk-inflected textures of the group’s seventies work, with outside songwriting and contemporary production playing a larger role. Its achievement is the way the band makes that change recognizable as Heart. This vinyl edition presents the original album sequence, a concentrated document of the group’s successful move into the sound and scale of eighties mainstream rock.
Brand new, never played and still sealed in the factory plastic
Track Listing
If Looks Could Kill
What About Love
Never
These Dreams
The Wolf
All Eyes
Nobody Home
Nothin’ at All
What He Don’t Know
Shell Shock
