Customer Reviews

Little Queen

5 star:		(34)
4 star:		(18)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

OK, that get to it. Let's break this album down and tell you just what a classic it really is.

BARRACUDA - Heart's signature song. Rocks hard from beginning to end. By the final note of the song, the listener is wore out by the hard rock guitar licks of Roger Fisher and the brilliant rhythm section of Steve Fossen and Michael Derosier. One of Ann's best vocal performances.

LOVE ALIVE - A timeless classic. Beautiful acoustic guitar and flute that kicks into a true classic rock album format of the 70's. Certainly one of Heart's best songs ever.

SYLVAN SONG / DREAM OF THE ARCHER - These two tracks go together. Without one, there could not be the other. No one has ever arranged a mandolin driven song better. This song is what gives Little Queen it's forest feel. Many have said that Dreamboat Annie was Heart's water album and Little Queen is the forest album. Ann's best vocal performance ever. She holds the last note of this song beautifully and with strong vocal chords.

KICK IT OUT - Short and sweet like the songs length, kick your ass hard rock and roll.

Let's turn this vinyl album over now to side two.

LITTLE QUEEN - Again more forest and great harmonies. Great musicianship from the whole band. I'd love to see Heart play this one live again. It's been way to long. Simply put, a Heart classic.

TREAT ME WELL - Nancy sings lead on this rather bluesy ballad. Dark and mysterious song and moody. Probably the weakest song on the album. But believe me, there are no weak songs on this album.

SAY HELLO - The happiest and most fun song on the album. Great harmonies and Michael Derosier plays brilliant on his drum kit. One of my favorites from this album.

CRY TO ME - Ann's vocals are superb! Beautifully, sad song. Would love to hear this live someday.

GO ON CRY - Far forgotten, but probably another one of Heart's best songs. Nearly no lyrics other than the title begging you to go on and cry, cry, cry.

If you have ever thought about buying this and didn't, just do it! You won't be sorry.

Heart's classic 1977 album "Little Queen" finally gets the remastering it deserves. The sound quality is excellent and is much better than the old version on Epic Records. The album was slightly harder than Heart's debut released a year earlier called "Dreamboat Annie". Fm radio stations jumped on the Led Zeppelin influenced rocker "Barracuda" (it's still a favorite on many classic rock stations today) which in my opinion is the best song on the album, followed closely by "Kick It Out" and the funky "Little Queen". But the album contains some acoustic gems as well such as "Love Alive", "Treat Me Well" and "Cry To Me". There are several bonus tracks, "Too Long A Time" which is an early demo version of "Love Alive" and a "live" cover version of Led Zeppelin's "Stairway To Heaven" which is excellent (Heart lead guitarist Roger Fisher does a fine job copying Zep's Jimmy Page's guitar licks on this classic song). Unfortunately, the liner notes are minimal, but there are some colorful pics of the band. A classic Heart cd worth adding to any rock lover's collection. Also, out now and newly remastered are Heart's "Bebe Le Strange" and "Dog And Butterfly".

I had this album on vinyl, 8Trac and casset. I wore every one out.

I remember seeing Heart just before this album was released. Like every other young man in the room I fell in love when Ann Wilson sang "Love Alive." I bought it the week it came out and have loved it ever since. Like Dreamboat, and now Jupiter.

So here's the deal...
This is an album that every Rock fan should own. The remastered values are good and the added tracks fit in whith the theme of the album well. Long live the Queens of Rock!

I used to play "Love Alive" every morning on my way to work, so I have strong memories of hearing that music play as the sun was coming up through the trees along the highway. What Heart created here, with their whole Renaissance thing, has been so strong, and it has lived on and on. For example, I've heard Outgrabe talk about the influence of Heart on them, and you can really hear it in their song "Witching Hour," which reminds me of "Dream of the Archer."

I never get tired of listening to this CD and Dreamboat Annie. I guess it's the combination of wistfulness and power. Something about this music speaks right to the core of who I am.

Like other Heart fans, I awaited this release to be re-mastered, and was happy it finally had been. But oh no...a very tin-eared engineer has poorly performed such an enjoyable task! The other glowing reviews about sound (on this page and elsewhere) are way off. Apparently, they are unfamiliar with the original sound of the vinyl...the depth, detail, and richness that the LP had. So, it's a great release that sounds awful...stick with the LP for now!

I must say I disagree with Jon Wiederhorn's introductory review of this Heart work. This album is much more accessable than their debut effort and clearly reveals their Zeppelin influences with heavy mandolin/acoustic guitar plays. The other reviewer who liked Dream of the Archer and said he did not like Sylvan Song seems unaware that Sylvan Song is the lead in or introduction of Dream of the Archer. I'm uncertain how you can dislike one and prefer the other. No more is it clear that this is a 70's album when one hears Ann play the flute. As much as I enjoy their new work Jupiters Darling, I miss hearing that wonderful flute sound! To me this is the best album that Heart released and it's too bad there's not more music out there like this today. Pick up the newly remastered version of this today and enjoy a couple of extra tunes as well.

This one is my personal Heart favorite. I've been listening to it now for about 27 years and it still sounds just as good as it did when I was in High School. Great rock and roll fronted by a woman with a piercingly strong voice and another with grade A guitar chops. My favorite songs on this disc are "Barracuda", "Love Alive", "Dream of the Archer", and "Kick it Out"- but others like "Say Hello", "Cry to Me/Go on Cry", and "Treat Me Well" are classic Heart with great arrangements and creativity.
I've heard other reviewers refer to this cd as full of filler, and I couldn't disagree more. Yes, Dreamboat Annie is a classic and so is Dog and Butterfly- but for me- I'd choose this one to bring with me on that mythical deserted island.
Anyone new to Heart would do well to begin with any of the three discs mentioned so far. I'd also recommend Magazine (a little uneven but still good), Bebe LeStrange (their last great cd of their early days), and The Road Home (a brilliant live album).

Most of the time, my reviews reflect the critics, but this is not one of those times. This is a wonderful CD. Every Song either rocks or is beautiful. "Barracuda" rocks and I think that's what led to the downfall of this album. Everyone heard "Barracuda" on the radio and thought the whole album was going to be some female heavy metal excursion. Instead they got songs like "Love Alive" which is much prettier than anything Jewel is putting out right now. "Sylvan Song/Dream of the Archer" has lovely Mandolin riffs, a tuly beautiful pair of songs. "Kick It Out" and "Little Queen" get the band rocking again and "Treat Me Well" is another beautiful song in the "Love Alive" vein. The last three tracks, while passable are not up to the level of the rest and keep this from being a 5 star album. P.S. The Wilson sisters we're definitely at their most beautiful on the cover of this album.

One of my very favourite albums. Heart wear their Zeppelin influence on their sleeve for this one, with opening track "Barracuda" making their intentions clear upfront, drawing heavily on "Achilles Last Stand" off Presence, and it's no surprise to see Stairway appear as an extra track on the remasters.
There is some great guitar work on this album, with a broad range of sounds & styles, much like Zeppelin: big rock numbers (Barra, Kick It Out) right thru to gentle (& not-so-gentle) ballads (Love Alive). I've always especially liked "Go On Cry", which builds from a gentle but slightly sinister guitar motif up to a rousing solo then back down to a Floyd-ish finale. Leese & Fischer's guitars are a joy together.
Anne's voice is stunningly powerful on several tracks - a real feature of the album. What is it about Canadian girl/rock bands? And she wasn't (isn't?) just a studio performer, Heart's live albums show her to be a simply amazing live singer.
And if all this wasn't enough, the amazing guitar & songwriting skills of (dare I say beautiful??) Nancy Wilson. Who wasn't in love with her in 1978??
As an example of the best of it's style at the time, you can't go far past this one.

Heart's second album is a classic all the way. It's a gypsy ride through rock and roll as only Ann and Nancy Wilson could navigate. This is the album that "Barracuda" came from, but there are many more great tunes here. "Love Alive" has become a Heart classic and is one of those songs that you can play 1,000 times and never tire of its beauty. Ann's vocals are untouchable throughout this album. "Cry to Me" is a pure folk song. Simple and beautiful. The mandolin driven "Sylvan Song" and "Dream of the Archer" are the cement here - - two songs that will transport you to a world of thick forsets and mossy rocks. There is no filler on this album, just great music from a band that can play any style of music and make it sound amazing.