Dream Boat Annie....

[WCGreen]

I remember when Heart came on the scene, two ballsy women carving out their place in the male dominated hard rock genre of the late 70's and early 80's.

Not since Janis had a woman taken a song and threw it right back at the audience with as much gusto as any tight pants wearing ass hat.

Ann Wilson has one of the best voices in Rock-n-roll period. No studio doctoring' here. Shakara has as much belt out power as Ann but the range of Ms. Wilson is several octaves. And she stayed on key live. And she still can.

Live, they just played their hearts out.

Nancy, well all that fancy acoustic guitar work that was every bit as good as anything Jimmy Page laid down puts her in the big league for sure.

I remember seeing them on their very first tour in Cleveland. It was at a converted A&P in a strip mall far from downtown Cleveland. The crowd was small but very vocal and very supportive.

By the end of that summer of '76, Heart was touring the country and playing before tens of thousands in festival settings.

just wanted to remind everyone about a great band that is often overlooked.

they should be in the Hall of Fame.

[Swede]

1. Heart is one of my favorites.

And,yes they should be in the hall of fame.

[HopeHoops]

2. I trust you know the background of Barracuda then.

If not, I'll make it short. The women felt betrayed after agreeing to the cover-art photo shoot for Dreamboat Annie. They were at a launch party for the album and were subjected to almost endless comments about the "lesbian sisters", as well as the obligatory requests for private favors. They were so disgusted with the male-dominated chauvinist bullshit that they inserted a previously unscheduled song at the beginning of Little Queen - "Barracuda".

The line "you'd have me down, down, down, down, on my knees, now wouldn't ya?" is a direct reference to the music executives.

It shouldn't be a shock that they objected to Palin using their song since she is the political whore equivalent of what they were objecting to with the song.

Now, that said, there are a wealth of YouTube videos of some of their older live work.

This is one of my favorites: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5PKULglde8&feature=related

[WCGreen]

4. I remember that, now that you mention it...

And for a while there, an urban legand had them as Manson followers on a commune in Oregon.

[HopeHoops]

5. Um, well, the Manson stuff is bullshit.

Also, hunt around a little. Most of the old Barracuda clips are from a 1977 performance where they were lip syncing. There is one I've seen that is really live and there's a Magic Man performance at some small bar that is amazing.

[WCGreen]

9. They just played the whole album live on VH1

30 year anniversary recording...

[pokerfan]

7. Parody cease and desist letter

published in The Stranger, Seattle's free weekly alternative tabloid...



http://gawker.com/5052797/heart-to-john-mccain-up-yours-you-old-fart

Great song but they did borrow that riff from Achilles Last Stand...

[Bunny]

3. I think that song is pretty.

Ann's voice really is incredible.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Their music has always touched me...

Lucky you to get to see them! Especially so early in their career...

And I agree about the Hall of Fame.

They have more than earned it.

[BeachBaby]

8. "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man".

Raw vocal power. Those songs never fail to give me goose bumps when I hear them.

Thanks to you, I think I'm gonna hunt down that CD and play it right now! :hi:

[Orsino]

10. ...and "Barracuda" might be the best female rock vocal performance ever.

"Love Alive" is another great one, though the second album isn't as good overall.

[BeachBaby]

13. McCain/Palin tainted my love for "Barracuda".

:P

Hopefully, one day I can shake that nightmare off.

[dana_b]

11. great group

female or not. Ann's voice is one of my favorite voices ever and they put on a really good show too.

[begin_within]

12. I saw them in concert in 1978,

and was very impressed with Ann Wilson's singing. Truly one of the best voices in rock history. I remember nothing about Nancy, except her doing an extended acoustic introduction to "Crazy on You" but that's all. It was mainly the Ann Wilson show. I hope she someday gets the recognition she deserves for her work.