Customer Reviews

Essential Heart

5 star:		(58)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(3)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

When I review a `greatest', `best of', or in this case, `essential', CD I try to consider two aspects of the CD. The first aspect is whether the CD is good in and of itself, and the other is what the CD brings to the collected works of the artist or artists.

This collection is more comprehensive than Heart's previous greatest hits collection. Thus this collection adds another CD of material, much of which is good and worthy of having. Of course, you can hardly go wrong with any Heart music, hard rockers that have been around since the mid-70s. Many of their songs are now standards on classic rock stations and rate as some of the best songs in rock. While nearly anyone reading this review should know those classics, some of the better known are `Barracuda' (that riff is absolutely classic), `Magic Man', `Heartless', `What About Love', `Alone', `Never', and if I don't stop now I'll be repeating the entire CD list. All of their biggest hits are on this CD.

The difficulty is whether this CD meets the standard of `essential'. Certainly the `essential' part of the CD is here, but so are a number of songs that might be good, but are hardly essential. However, I've noticed that some business manager somewhere has creatively figured out that if Heart offers greatest hits CDs with few greatest hits, and they offer this one with two CDs worth that truly contain the greatest hits with some other songs to fill out two CDs, the choice will force most people looking for depth to buy this CD. It's unfortunate that the original Heart CD `These Dreams: Heart Greatest Hits', which really had the greatest hits on a single CD, no longer appears to be available.

The music industry has recognized that one way to milk music that has sold a lot of CDs in the past is to keep repackaging the music in various ways to get people to buy the same music over and over. In the case of this CD, the artists are true greats, the music is great, and the CD was truly unnecessary to release, given that there was a previous CD. This CD gets 4 stars because the music is awesome and well done, subtracting 1 star for overly clever business practices that will anger people and wonder whether they should buy any music at all.

I know there have been way too many Heart collections released as of late. (I think they must be in a competition with Donna Summer to see who can repackage their material the most.) However, this is still by far the BEST compilation out there. All the hits are represented--even lesser known ones--and I'm THRILLED that they included the reprise of "Dreamboat Annie" since the orchestral part towards the end of the song is absolutely gorgeous. They also included the great "Allies" from PASSIONWORKS, as well as one of my favorite Heart rockers, "Wild Child" from BRIGADE. There are also several great photos of Ann, Nancy, and the band from earlier in their career (no big-hair photos from the 80's, fortunately) and well-written liner notes. My only complaint about this collection and every other one out there is that there was a version of "There's the Girl" I heard on the radio that added the following lines to the chorus: "She's setting you up, my friend. She's gonna break your heart again," and I have yet to find any collection that includes that special version. Oh well....

In response to the other poster who was upset over the different vocals represented on disc two, please remember that "Never" and "Nothin' At All" had both an album version and a single version. This collection represents the ALBUM versions of the tracks, so there was no messing around on Sony's part. When I got rid of my silver disc of HEART and purchased the gold disc several years back, I noticed that they had replaced the album versions with the single versions (with the different vocal). No big deal to me because they're both good. If, however, you're partial to the single versions, I recommend hunting down the gold disc of HEART or GREATEST HITS: 1985-1995.

As a general rule, these ESSENTIAL collections are outstanding. The only one I DON'T recommend is the Neil Diamond collection, but you can read for yourself other reviews about that one. The Barbra Streisand, Johnny Cash, and Kenny Loggins collections are superb. (Pardon the digression. :-))

THE BAND: Ann Wilson (lead vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, violin, harp, percussion), Nancy Wilson (guitars, vocals, mandolin, bass, keyboards) and assorted band members throughout the decades - including Roger Fisher (guitar), Steve Fossen (bass), Michael DeRosier (drums), Howard Leese (guitars, keyboards), Mark Andes (guitar, bass), Denny Carmassi (drums).

THE DISCS: (2002) 37 tracks on 2 discs (disc-1 at 79:15, disc-2 at 78:44). Included with the discs is a 6-page foldout containing several band pictures, a 3-page intro from 'Rolling Stone' editor David Wild, what songs came from which albums, and thank you's. Digitally remastered sound. Previous labels include Mushroom, Sony and Capitol. This release - Epic/Capitol label.

ALBUM REPRESENTATION: Dreamboat Annie (4 songs), Little Queen (4), Magazine (1), Dog & Butterfly (2), Bebe le Strange (1), Greatest Hits: Live (3), Private Auditions (1), Passionworks (2), Heart (5), Bad Animals (4), Brigade (5), Rock The House - Live (1), Desire Walks On (3), The Road Home (1).

COMMENTS: Heart is in the same ranks as several other well known artists (i.e. Aerosmith, Chicago, Rush, Motley Crue and Kiss come to mind) with their "Best Of" compilations - and I have to ask how much is enough? To date I know of the following Heart compilations: "Essential Heart", "Greatest Hits: Live", "Greatest Hits 1976-83", "Greatest Hits 1985-95", "The Collection", "The Definitive Collection", "Love Songs", "Ballads & Greatest Hits". With that being said, hands down, this "Essential" collection is THE best one of the bunch. It covers their entire career - from their debut in 1975 ("Dreamboat Annie") through 1994's live and unplugged "The Road Home". Every studio album between these dates are represented (with the exception of "Jupiter's Darling" released after the fact in 2004). All the staples are here - "Crazy On You", "Barracuda", "Magic Man", "Love Alive", "Heartless", "Straight On'", "Tell It Like It Is", "What About Love?" "Never", "These Dreams", Who Will You Run To", "There's The Girl", "Alone", etc. As well as a few hidden live gems with "You're The Voice", "The Road Home" and a cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll". Heart has always sounded great 'live'... even in 2005-06 touring in the small venues... Ann's voice is still an extremely powerful instrument decades later. No compilation is perfect... if there's one out there I haven't seen it. This "Essential" collection is extremely close to being dead on accurate. I've noted only a few minor things wrong: 1. Three glaring song omissions - the live or studio version of "Mistral Wind" (the live track was on "Greatest Hits: Live" and it's a truly chilling version of the song); the title track from the album of the same name "Bebe Le Strange" or "Even It Up", and a deeper (not so glaring) track "RSVP" (from "Bad Animals"); 2. Five songs from "Brigade" is crazy, and 3. One song from "Private Auditions" was probably one song too many (but I respect the fact that they did include something from this mess of an album). There are so many great songs on this set of discs... you will absolutely not go wrong. A great introduction for the beginners, as well as having so many wonderful songs all in one jewel case for the veteran Heart fans. Classic any way you slice it (5 stars).

"The Essential Heart" is probably the one stop Heart record casual fans will need, which is fine, because as a compliation it does it's job gathering all of their big hits and (nearly) all of their noteworthy album cuts.

Their are noteworthy tunes abound. Disc 1 walks through their 70's work, Stand-outs being the mystical feel of "Magic man", the heavy distortion of Barracuda". And the folky riff of "Crazy on you". The latter being the ideal opener.
After a brief dry spell, the hits kept coming, which brings us to Disc 2. Many of these songs have a lighter, more radio friendly sound. Ballad-fare such as the sentimental and heartfelt (no pun intended) "These Dreams".

If there's one questionable omission, it's from the "Little Queen" album: the acoustic "Cry to me". Which was also released as the B-Side to the "Barracuda" single. It definetely deserves it's place alongside these classics and it's absence made my head itch. So for that I must deduct a star from my rating.

Anyways despite that, "The Essential Heart" is definitely one of the better titles in the series. In hindsight given Sony's botched Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Dylan, Blue Oyster Cult, and Billy Joel compilations, they for once got it right. If you're on a budget looking for Heart's music, "The Essential Heart" is the way to go.

Yes, there have been multiple best-ofs from the Wilson sisters over the course of their career. if you have both the Capitol Greatest 1985/1995 and the 1998 Epic Greatest Hits collection, there may not be much of a reason for picking this up.

There are a few differences. First, as one reviewer below noted, some of the songs from their 1985 S/T album sound different. Songs such as Nothing At All are actually the original vinyl mixes. These were remixed and redone for CD.

Second, we get Allies (not found on the Epic best-of) and Unchained Melody from 1980's Greatest Hits/Live which was on the vinyl and the cassette, but deleted from the Cd due to time constraints (I didn't miss it).

The booklet contains at least one error. Silver Wheels is not from Dreamboat Annie but from Bebe le Strange. This album does get short shrift on this collection. I would have liked to see the Unchained Melody get the axe for maybe Mistral Wind.

Finally, they once again used the inferior reprise of Dreamboat Annie instead of the radio played title track. This makes as much sense as using Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band reprise on the Beatles 1967-1970 CD instead of the title track.

Still, the Epic material contains better sound than the 1998 collection, the booklet is pretty concise and has lots of pictures. You also get those rare LP mixes.

So, it's a toss up!

The 70's gave the Wilson Sisters a chance to demonstrate their talents and they surely did. Not only could they write some of the nicest ballads I have ever heard (Dreamboat Annie, Love Alive), but they could belt out some of great rock tunes too. All of which have become rock classics (Magic Man, Crazy on You, Barracuda).

If you have followed Heart the way I have, you will know that there were 2 journeys for this band. The fab 70's where they played the way they wanted to play, and recorded songs they wanted to record. However, record companies in the 80's weren't so accepting or generous and groups had to conform to 'standards'. My first impression of Heart's 1985 album "Heart" was "omigod, they have died". Gone were the great rock and folks songs. Here we had big hairdo's, big power ballads and synthesizer city. But that's what the 80's were about. Heart still received hit after hit (What about Love, Never, Alone) and the 80's albums kept coming. I was disappointed with the change that Heart adopted, by understand it so much better now. Alot of the 80's stuff wasn't their choice. Interesting to note, that none of the 80's hits that Heart sang, were actually written by Heart. This pleased me because I just felt that Anne or Nancy couldn't write such crappy songs (eg. All I Want to Do is Make Love to You).

The Wilson sisters, have said, in one way or another, that they are glad the 80's have passed, and that they can return to what they really do best ie. folk and rock.

What 'Essential' does, is give an impressive look at the career of this great band. Disc 1 is obviously my favourite as it features most of the 70's classics (with some strange omissions) while Disc 2 features those 80's power ballads, and some early 90's stuff which sees them Heart returning to the true Heart.

Who was the idiot though who picked the wrong version of DREAMBOAT ANNIE on it. It should have been the single version which is faster.

This is indeed the best HEART compilation to date, out of the many "Hits" compilations the Wilson Sisters have been honored with in the past decade. "The Essential Heart" includes classic hits and music from the two gold and platinum adorned HEART eras of the 70's and 80's, which continued well into the 90's before the band fell into a lower profile. However, disc one is a bit cluttered and somewhat wasted on such pointless "filler" tracks as their insipid teasing cover of Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll" and the classic jazz-pop torcher, "Unchained Melody"...with all the Heart "Live" cd-albums still in print, WHY rehash these two boring tracks? Ann & Nancy should have preferred to wisely mine their catalogue so as to dazzle their multi-generations of fans with remastered inclusions of more VINTAGE and impeccable HEART gems such as "White Lightning & Wine", the gorgeously aged "Just The Wine", their artistically defining epic "Rockin'Heaven Down", the gritty rocker "Bebe Le Strange" and possibly their enchanting "Devil Delight" tracks instead of the ill chosen and mindless "Little Queen", "Kick It Out", "Silver Wheels" and the two before mentioned pointless "live" tracks. The second disc is a perfectly chosen and chronilogically paced "hit singles" collection of the band's second coming, sets the pace and poises Heart for their third [forthcoming] era of commercial success. Hopefully, the Wilsons will continue to impress us for many more years to come.

...and no, it can never be topped. Why is this?? Because Sony included EVERY SINGLE Billboard chart entry on this collection, and then some more!! Sony also improved on the 1-disc 1998 "Greatest Hits" in at least two ways...

One being the expanding to two CDs (CD1 being the Epic and Mushroom material, 1975 to 1983) and CD2 being the Capitol stuff, 1985 to 1995, much kudos going to Capitol in being great sports in allowing all 19 of these songs to be licensed over to Sony), with all tracks in chronological order, which is cool in following the evolution of the band.

Two being CD1 + CD2 themselves, serious improvements on the individual Epic "Greatest Hits" and Capitol "Greatest Hits 1985-1995", correcting the errors in missing songs, remastering, etc, making this 2CD collection REALLY Essential Heart indeed!! Overall, the whole thing played together nonstop packs a serious wallop, an incredible journey to be taken.

The songs themselves are all classics, and to be honest, the overly slick, somewhat corporate 80s material holds up better than one would imagine. Heart gets VERY close to the line of formula and banality here, but never crosses it, thus retaining the soul of what makes Heart HEART (the soulful, powerful voice of Ann + guitar grace of Nancy, their way with a good song, killer riffs, etc). They seem to make these Diane Warren songs, and LA songwriter tunes THEIRS. I mean, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Heart do "These Dreams" so beautifully, correct??

Now, to sum it all up, Heart is like a female Led Zeppelin, and this comes through, espesh in the early, rawer, more homespun material, like "Crazy On You", "Magic Man", "Barricuda", and even the orchestral "Dreamboat Annie". The 1st disc is a cool summation of their Epic and Mushroom years. The 2nd disc is the 80s-90s Capitol stuff, from their self-titled 1985 comeback album that landed FOUR top 10's in a row, up through their 1994 largely acoustic live album, "The Road Home", produced by none other than Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones!! What comes around, goes around, it seems!!

Lastly, besides their wonderfully written material, Heart also has a winning way with a cover tune, evident on "Alive In Seattle"'s numerous covers of Elton John and Led Zeppelin. Here on "The Essential Heart", here are the covers included, just to cover up some confusion. I just wish with some of the more obscure ones, they were more VOCAL about which songs are actually covers and whom they were originally by...here goes:

CD1--
1-- "Rock & Roll" (Live): of course Led Zeppelin!!
2-- "Tell It Like It Is": Aaron Neville
3-- "Unchaineed Melody" (Live): of course The Righteous Brothers!

CD2-- (here's where people may not be so aware of...)
1-- "Wild Child": this song was by UK band ROMEO'S DAUGHTER, from their obscure, cool 1988 self-titled album on Jive, produced by Mutt Lange, sounds like a female fronted Def Leppard!!
2-- "You're The Voice" (Live): this song was by Australian superstar John Farnham, recorded on his 1986 comeback album "Whispering Jack". He was a onetime member of the Little River Band, and this song was also featured on that 1989 collection "Greenpeace: Rainbow Warriors", which is probably where Ann + Nancy first heard this great song. I did too, and I thought it was a fantastic song!!
3-- "Black On Black II": originally by Lisa Dalbello, known as just Dalbello. Her song was first released on the 1986 soundtrack to "9 1/2 Weeks", in a demo version. The fully-realized recording was released on her 1987, delayed to 1989 in Canada, album "She". Now, why is Heart's version called "Black On Black II" when it was originally just called "Black On Black"?? Because Ann + Nancy changed the lyrics, maybe they wanted to add their own something, I don't know, their own lyrics are cool and they do work. Lisa has worked with them in the past, both on that 4-woman tour of Ann, Nancy, Debra Dobkin and Lisa, BUT Heart also covered Lisa's 1984 song "Wait For An Answer" on "Bad Animals". Lisa's original was on her 1984 career-turning opus "Whomanfoursays", along with "Gonna Get Close To You", that Queensryche covered on their 1986 CD "Rage For Order". Lisa Dalbello is still kicking...
4-- "Ring Them Bells" (with Layne Staley of Alice In Chains): originally by Bob Dylan. 'Nuff said.

Sure, I found, maybe 3 errors in the booklet, but they are minor, so I just corrected them myself with a copy machine, very simple...

Heart are classic and still going...most excellent, the new songs are GREAT!!!!

Looking over the songs on the 2 CD's, I see most of my favorites. It's a good survey of their music as well. Obviously a ton of great songs here, and Ann and Nancy are a great combo. It spans their old school rock era as well as their reinvention into different sounds. Highly recommended.

I'll type in the entire song list from my discs since I don't see them listed, give me a "helpful" rating if it's useful :)

Crazy on You
Magic Man
Dreamboat Annie (Reprise)
Barracuda
Little Queen
Kick It out
Love Alive
Heartless
Straight On
Dog and Butterfly
Silver Wheels
Even it Up
Rock and Roll [Live]
Tell it Like it Is
Unchained Melody [Live]
This Man is Mine
How Can I Refuse
Allies

What About Love
Never
These Dreams
Nothin' At All
If Looks Could Kill
Alone
Who Will You Run To
There's The Girl
I Want You So Bad
All I Wanna Do is Make Love To You
Wild Child
I Don't Want to Need You
Stranded
Secret
You're The Voice [Live]
Will You Be There (In the Morning)
Back on Black II
Ring Them Bells
The Road Home [Edit]

I am becoming more and more of a fan of these Essential collections. They truly do deliver the best of the artists being showcased for a great value.
The Essential Heart does not disappoint. Their entire career is documented in this 2 CD collection from their first hit, "Crazy On You" to one of their last pop hits, "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You."

VH1 recently did a live concert with Heart featured along with other artists lending their voices such as Rufus Wainwright, Grethen Wilson and LeeAnn Womack, to name a few. This inspired me to go and purchase a Heart CD.

There are several compilation CD's out there for Heart, many more than I anticipated. I was very happy to find The Essential Heart, since all of the other Cd's I've purchased under the "Essential" title have all been great purchases.

A Sampling of the songs which I like the best are:
Crazy On You
Barracuda
Even It Up
Dog & Butterfly
Unchained Melody - An amazing live version!
What About Love
Never
These Dreams
Alone
There's The Girl.

Ann Wilson has a phenomenal voice, one of the best in the business. Even in the VH1 concert she still sounded great.

To sum it up, this is a great collection of hits for a great value and does not disappoint!