Heart Retrospective

by Jason Warburg

Once upon a time in Seattle, a pair of siblings grew up idolizing Led Zeppelin, imagining themselves as Robert Plant and Jimmy Page, one minute pounding out blues-rock thunder, the next delving into pastoral harmonies and mandolins.  And then, their dream care true... sort of.  The twist came in the fact that the siblings were sisters, and they had the talent to back up their daydreams.

  Heart's path forward would rarely be smooth, as the group would experience quick success, a lawsuit against its own label, personnel shifts, changing industry tastes and not one but two substantial comebacks.  Through it all the one constant has been the dream of the Wilson sisters, making music together as the female frontwomen of one of the era's longest-surviving and most commercially successful mainstream rock bands.

In recognition of that long and winding road of trial and perseverance and conquest, the Daily Vault is proud to name Heart our  February 2009 Artist Of The Month.

The group that became the vehicle for Ann and Nancy Wilson's musical ambitions actually started life as a very different outfit called the Army and then White Heart, founded by brothers/guitarists Roger and Michael Fisher and bassist Steve Fossen.  In quick succession they dropped "White," Ann and then Nancy joined the group, and they filled out their lineup with keyboardist Howard Leese and drummer Michael Derosier in time to issue their debut disc on Canada's Mushroom Records.

Dreamboat Annie, which mixed heavy rockers like "Crazy On You" with luminous acoustic ballads like "Soul Of The Sea," was an immediate success both north and south of the border.  After suing for their freedom and signing with Portrait, the band rattled off a series of hit albums and singles, including Little Queen (Barracuda"), Magazine ("Heartless") and Dog & Butterfly ("Straight On").  Around this time a series of personnel shifts began that would eventually leave the Wilson sisters as the only original members and captains of the legacy of the band.

As with many mainstream rock bands of the era, the 80s presented major challeges for Heart.  With their commercial fortunes flagging and style achieving ascendancy over substance, acts like Heart had to adapt just to survive, and the Wilsons did, bringing in outside songwriters to help them buff their arena-rock / power-balladeering chops and adopting for 1985's reboot album Heart a sort of flashy retro-chic image that melded Little Queen Renaissance costumes with primary-color spandex.  However calculated, the changes were successful in putting the band back on top, delivering a string of hit singles including "What About Love?", "These Dreams," "Never," "Alone," and "All I Want To Do Is Make Love To You."

The 90s saw Heart, like many of its peers, in retreat as grunge and then alt-rock dominated the airwaves.  After a quiet period, though, Heart would return strong as ever with the powerful classic-rock throwback Jupiter's Darling, the joyous debut-revisiting Dreamboat Annie Live, and a well-received tripleheader tour with fellow 70s survivors Journey and Cheap Trick.

This February the Daily Vault will feature 18 reviews covering Heart's entire studio catalog, plus a smattering of live issues, collections and surprises, beginning on Wednesday, February 4 and continuing through Friday, February 27. The majority of these reviews will be appearing on the Vault for the first time.