While Heart’s career may have been on life support at various moments in time, the passion for music and dedication that both Ann and Nancy Wilson possess for their craft has consistently been far from dead.  Just by mastering their instruments, writing their own material, and taking the stage night after night with their own style and flair, the Wilson sisters have continuously redefined what it means to be a woman in rock.  Although they never intentionally set out on a path to bushwhack their way through this predominately male genre and stake their musical claim on behalf of all women, these godmothers of rock n’ roll did just that.  By overcoming the misogynistic and sexist beliefs of the recording industry, Ann and Nancy never allowed their gender to define or compromise their sound.  As a result, their music is laced with power, raw emotion, and grit that not only has stood the test of time, but also speaks for itself.  Furthermore, it is also admirable that neither of these individuals compromised their integrity by allowing their sexuality to eclipse their ability. 

Through a career that has spanned four decades, numerous hits on the Billboard charts and a 2013 induction into the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame, in their newly published autobiography, Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll, the Wilson sisters, with the help of Charles R. Cross, narrate their tale, and give fans the ultimate backstage pass with an all access introspective look into their personal lives as well as their superstardom.

As the curtain is pulled back, the Wilson sisters share their family heritage, early life, and vagabond military upbringing before finally planting roots in Bellevue, Washington.  On their mother’s side Ann and Nancy’s lineage can be traced back to the infamous, axe-wilding, Native American scalping, Hannah Dustin, whose story is well known amongst New Englanders.  On their father’s side, the power rock duo stems from a long line of proud Marines.  Their father kept this tradition alive as a decorated Korean soldier in his own right, and later a beloved English teacher.

Moreover, while the Wilson family household was filled with the hustle and bustle that one would expect from three growing girls, the Major and Mrs. Wilson exposed their daughters to various types of music – starting with lullaby’s from an early age.  Their father always had the radio on and even owned a high-end stereo where he would play vinyl of various genres.  The girls attended regular family hootenannies, and of course, there was church and regular sing-alongs in the car.  “It was never about being a great musician, or singing perfectly.  [They] grew up in an environment where music was part of the family every day.  It was an atmosphere where music was always fun, and fun always included music” (N. Wilson 23).  In a family where music is interwoven into the fabric of its very core, it is easy to understand how those fibers extend to each individual and help to shape one’s sense of self.  The Wilsons grew up in an environment of love, stability, support, and no judgment, “In our house, everything was safe, imagination was allowed, and everyone was accepted and loved” (N. Wilson 44).  

As a result of this open-minded upbringing, it was clear that even at an early age, Ann and Nancy were different.  This was further proven by the events that followed February 9, 1964 – the first time the Beatles appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show. While girls on both sides of the pond would swoon at the vaguest reference to this rock quartet, John, Paul, George, and Ringo meant much, much more to the Wilson sisters.  It wasn’t that Ann and Nancy couldn’t appreciate the aesthetic quality of the fab four, that wasn’t the issue. To the girls, the music the Beatles composed and played, as well as their cultural background of Great Britain transcended any typical schoolgirl crush.  Through this band, the Wilsons fell in love with rock n’ roll, and as a result, also caught their first glimpse of a world that was bigger than the military base where their father was stationed.  In the following days and weeks after their appearances on Ed Sullivan, as most of the world became engulfed in the frenzy that became known as Beatlemania, Ann and Nancy also became infected.  However, instead of staking a claim upon their favorite Beatle, as young girls tend to do with their friends, the Wilsons’s version of Batlemania occurred in a way more fitting for future rockstars.  “[They] took up air guitar pretending to be the Beatles.  [The Wilson sisters would] sing the songs [the Beatles] did on The Ed Sullivan Show in order, recreate their stage patter, and put on a Beatle performance “live for one afternoon only” in Camp Pendleton housing! (N. Wilson 43).  Ironically, these performances didn’t happen on one occasion — for weeks they became a daily occurrence.  Unfortunately, when the sisters extended invitations to their friends to “become part of the band,” the invitation was declined. The idea of being an individual with one’s own dreams and aspirations was so foreign, at that time, that most young women couldn’t conceive why anyone would want to be anything other than a wife or girlfriend.

However, with the seeds of the second wave of the feminist movement already being cultivated in this country, Ann and Nancy may not have had the specific words or even adult reasoning for wanting to be and do more than their peers, but they obviously did. Musically, this time period also brought forth the height of Motown.  While this became a wildly popular genre, adding a tremendous amount of soul to the flavor of American music, the powerhouse female artists and groups such as Diana Ross and the Supremes, Martha and the Vandellas, The Pointer Sisters, and even Aretha Franklin, sung beautifully, but did not play any instruments.  Furthermore, women also typically did not compose their own lyrics.  Instead, they were accompanied by bands, specifically male musicians, performing songs that other men wrote.  As Nancy so eloquently points out, “there were no female Beatles.  The thought that women could play instruments, write their own songs, and sing, the way the Beatles did, would have been ludicrous to anyone, maybe even us back then.  But the Beatles gave us a glimmer of a dream (44).” 

Through the pages of Kicking and Dreaming, readers are treated to what it was like during the early days of the fledgling rock band that would literally play any gig, including weddings and proms.  We travel through past memories to various places, such as Vancouver, British Columbia where Heart, then called Hocus Pocus, earned their chops to become the number one cabaret band in the city.  Night after night, the band played between three and five sets, covering everything from Led Zeppelin to the Rolling Stones to Yes and Deep Purple, while still managing to sneak in an original tune in here and there.  Through the eyes of Ann and Nancy, as well as bandmates Roger and Michael Fisher (who was also their manager), we gain firsthand insight on how the band name was finally decided upon, as well as how the addition of the sisters helped to musically and visually influence Heart and turn it into the musical sensation that would one day be recognized all over the world.

Light is shed on the origins of some of the band’s most famous songs, such as “Magic Man” and “Crazy on You”, which Ann penned for Michael Fisher, as well as the radio promoter that inspired “Barracuda,” as well as Ann and Nancy’s writing process, which many times included friend and collaborator, Sue Ennis.  Other points of interest include the drama of inter band romances, stories from the road encompassing tidbits of the sex, drugs, and rock n’ roll lifestyle, and interactions with some of the biggest names in the music industry, such as The Rolling Stones, Queen, Lynard Skynyrd, Van Halen, Stevie Nicks, Def Leppard and other artists and songwriters such as Sir Elton John and Bernie Taupin.  And, for those that remember the 1978 lawsuit between Heart and Mushroom Records, various details of their contract dispute are also discussed.

Still, while it could be said that Ann and Nancy chased their dream all the way to superstardom, it wasn’t all glitz and glamour.  Through the pages of Kicking and Dreaming,  Ann speaks candidly about her lap-band surgery, and the battle with her weight, which started from a young age.  She describes herself as being a “shy and sensitive girl,” who also began to studder later on in school (28).  Years later, even with a thicker skin developed, it is understandable how the low blows of the media and even the music industry began to take its toll.  In some respects, it didn’t seem to matter that Ann mastered the flute, could play the guitar, write her own music, and had a voice that can only be described as a cross somwehere between an angel and a siren — she always seemed to be under the microscope in terms of her weight.  Ann Wilson is beautiful in her own right, and even though her bodytype may not have neatly fit into the box that middle American deemes as acceptable, she serves as a beacon of hope for millions.    While maintaining a healthy weight is important, beauty doesn’t have to equal a size two, and for all the younger generations of little girls that are overly conscientious of their bodies, and feel like they don’t quite fit in, Ann is proof that any little girl can achieve any goal and dream that she sets her mind to – even becoming a rockstar. 

Other interesting and touching aspects of this autobiography include the sisters’ frank opinions about the music videos the band made for MTV, Ann’s decision to adopt, Nancy’s difficulty conceiving with her then husband, screenwriter/director Cameron Crowe, which led them to explore surrogate options, and the death of the sister’s beloved mother after being diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease.  

This book is definitely for any Heart and/or Lovemonger fan that wishes to know more about their favorite band and the Wilson sisters.  While some stories may make readers chuckle, others will cause them to reach for a tissue.  Over all, this is a thoughtful and introspective text that doesn’t pull any punches.  It is also current -– concluding with the development of Heart’s 2012 album, Fanatic, and their first Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame nomination.  The only thing better than reading this memoir is listening to it on audio, where Ann and Nancy Wilson narrate their own tale.     Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock & Roll, will not only leave you with the need to catch one of Heart’s live shows as soon as possible, it will also make you want to pull out your record collection and give the band’s hits a second listen, now that you know the backstory behind each song.

www.heart-music.com

Heart is like a fine wine.  With time, experience, various line-up changes that have helped to evolve and shape the band’s sound, look, and brand, they have only gotten better with time.  Do not, however, consider Heart to be classic rock, because the backbone of the band, lead singer, Ann Wilson and her sister, lead guitarist, Nancy Wilson, play a form of rock n’ roll that will forever remain relevant and timeless. 

For a band that was first considered to be a one-hit wonder, by Mushroom Records in the mid 70s, Heart has proved to be a force to be reckoned with –- racking up Billboard hits, four Grammy nominations, various lifetime achievement awards, gaining the respect of other musicians, and even catching the eye of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to which they will be inducted in later this year; the Wilson sisters show no signs of slowing down. 

On Fanatic, Heart’s newest album, released in October of 2012 and produced by Ben Mink, Ann and Nancy Wilson does not disappoint.  In fact, while many of their contemporaries have fallen by the wayside, this band puts the Energizer bunny to shame.  Not only does Heart seem to keep going, and going, and going forty years later, but they can still rock the teeth right outta their fans’ heads’ one moment with incendiary guitar work, a tight rhythm section, and dynamic vocals, and the next moment, reduce an audience to tears with highly emotional driven lyrics that really say something.

Fanatic begins with a self-titled track that would fit in perfectly amongst the band’s previous hits, such as “Barracuda”, “If Looks Could Kill”, and “Tall, Dark Handsome Stranger.”   “Fanatic” is classic Heart, but with a modern 2012 grunge kick and a lot of heavy guitars.  This is everything any true music fan could want in a hard rock song –- a catchy riff, well-placed guitar effects that are not over done, and a chord that when struck sets the entire song a blaze.  Even the most closeted air guitarist will be hitting repeat for this tune!

The lyrics in “Dear Old America” are right from the Wilson sister’s lives, as discussed in their memoir, Kicking & Dreaming:  Story of Heart, Soul, and Rock and Roll.  While the song was largely inspired by their father’s service to the US Marine Corps, when Ann sings, “Standing in line on the depot floor/ Taking my time getting through the door/ Daddy said “go!” and Mama just cried/ Sister said “devil’s on the other side,” she could be hinting at her own life, when she was warned about the entertainment industry by her mother, but still left her home in Bellevue, Washington for Vancouver, Canada.  This song also hits home when one thinks about all the service men and women who have said goodbye to their loved ones, not knowing if or when they would see them again.    Other personal references include, “Shine that medal and wear that crown,” which relates back to Ann and Nancy’s father, who was awarded the Purple Heart in the Korean War.  Musically, this track opens on a bit of a classical note with some great violin work, then picking up some southern rock steam, before making yet another noticeable switch.  About half way though, the track explodes into a highly enjoyable Zeppelinesque montage of sound.  There is also some great guitar and vocal interplay with a noticeable cadence that runs through the song.  “Dear Old America” encompasses so many different sounds and genres, at times it feels carefully thrown together.   No doubt this was done deliberately, perhaps to reflect the American melting pot of different races, religions, and cultures.  Regardless, it all works! It’s a wild ride with some unexpected and fun turns; it’s a genuine and sincere salute to the military in a way that only Heart could accomplish.  

“Walkin’ Good” slows the album down a bit as Nancy picks up her acoustic guitar and takes the reigns.  Returning to her folk roots, this song also features Sarah McLachlan and is jam-packed with beautiful a melody, and fantastic vocal harmonies as well as visual imagery.  This track speaks directly to the human soul and leave listeners with the feeling of hope – that after their own “trouble’s gone,” they too will be “walking’ good”. 

Ann whispers into our ears in the beginning of “Skin and Bones” as Heart cranks up the heat for this gritty number — the perfect two parts blues, one part funk, with a splash of rock cocktail.  The vocals on this track are sultry, a bit raspy, and sexy enough to stop traffic.  

“A Million Miles” is a great all around rock song with pop sensibilities.  “Pennsylvania” is a melodic dream with no end and no beginning.  It’s an encapsulated moment in time – a feeling of love and loss.  “Mashallah” is probably reminiscent of the classic Heart that fans first fell in love with.  There is an element of natural organic rawness to this track that also encompasses a type of primal rock as Ann’s vocals soar.  

“Rock Deep (Vancouver)” is a touching ballad that was no doubt inspired by the Wilson sister’s own lives.  Once again, Nancy puts down her electric axe in favor of an electric one.  While the band shows much love for the city in which the sisters once lived, this song is also extremely introspective.  It contains the wisdom that one could only possess after many life experiences and personal maturity.   

“59 Crunch” is a toe tapping rock n’ roll goodtime.  Solid rock drumming, crunchy guitars, a smoldering bass line, and dueling vocals with euphonious harmonies by the ladies – it’s pure ear candy that will have anyone listening groove to the beat.  Who could ask for more from a Heart tune?

The album concludes with “Corduroy Road”.  A touch of the orient seems to bleed through in this track with the use of strings, violins, and drums. While there is an attractive quality to this song, lyrically there is also something unsettling about this particular track.  There is a darkness to “Corduroy Road” that works well, especially if careful attention is paid to the lyrics.  In some respects, it’s the musical equivalent to sleeping next to a cobra -– it could strike at anytime, and the result would be disastrous. 

It’s great to see the Wilson sisters continuing to produce new music; it is obvious that a single step hasn’t been missed.  Fanatic is a gumbo of rock with many flavors -– it is far from boring, and there is a little something for everyone.  Heart is still able to show the younger generations of rock how it’s done, and kick some musical ass in the process.

www.heart-music.com

For nearly four decades Ann and Nancy Wilson have been making music as Heart. They’ve sold over 35 million albums, played to millions of fans worldwide, and in 2011 were nominated for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. But despite that supersized career, their songs are ultimately intimate, small conversations between Ann and Nancy and their audience.

There have been hundreds of those conversations, hundreds of those songs, over thirteen albums. And over the decades there have even been several “best-of,” or “greatest hits” albums issued. This set, however, represents the first time Ann and Nancy have curated a collection of their work, and it is the only time they’ve opened up their vaults for demos and rarities never heard by the public.

The songs that follow, some familiar and some new, continue the long conversation between Ann and Nancy and their fans. To annotate and explain how these songs were first crafted, and what they mean, it seemed Ann and Nancy could tell the story best. Here is their guided tour through the Heart vaults in their own words.

 — Charles R. Cross

CD 1

1. Through Eyes And Glass (by Ann Wilson & The Daybreaks)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded January 9, 1969 at Audio Recording, Inc., Seattle, WA

Released as Topaz 45 #1312

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: This track was our first original recorded song. It came out on the Topaz label in 1968, and only sold a handful of copies, but it was the start of our career. We recorded this in a tiny studio in downtown Seattle under the Monorail. It may as well have been Abbey Road, because we’d never been in any recording studio before. The session came about because we were helping my friend Chris Blaine with a country band. That band only had a few songs, and there was a little time left in the day they’d booked, so we cut three covers, and snuck in this original song of our own.

NANCY WILSON: When the record came out, they left my name off the songwriting credit. They also misspelled the name of the band. But it was our welcome to the music business!

2. Magic Man (demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded 1975 at Can-Base Studios, Vancouver, BC

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This demo is the concept, the story, and the melody of “Magic Man,” but before the “rock” had been kicked into it. It is like a folk song in its infancy. Folk music was a side the band always had, even in those early club days. Ann sounds like she’s about ten-years-old on this version.

ANN WILSON: This was with Howard Leese at the controls, at Can-Base Studios in Vancouver, British Columbia, before Mike Flicker had been brought in to produce us. Howard was a staff producer in those days, and it wasn’t until a year later that Howard joined the band. This was a very rough demo we did so we could get approved to do a “real” demo for Mushroom Records, which was a tiny label in Canada in that day. This is my singing without anyone coaching me in any way; I sang it like a girl in a choir would sing it. The song’s lyrics, though, were straight out of my life — I had written them just a week before. The feelings I was expressing were happening at that moment. When I listen to this now, I can hear a young girl who is nervous, but also one who is deadly serious about what the song is about. This may be one of the most unselfconscious things we ever recorded.

3. How Deep It Goes (demo)

(A. Wilson)

Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded 1975 at Can-Base Studios, Vancouver, BC

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: This is the first song I wrote for Dreamboat Annie. I wrote it, like “Magic Man,” about my boyfriend Michael Fisher. That day Michael had gone out to do more endless errands involving our equipment.  While he was gone, I felt lonely, and wrote this to show him how I felt about our relationship. I played it for him on guitar when he came back. This version here is our later studio demo, but it is still very raw, and new. Nancy and our guitar player Roger Fisher added much to this song, and their interplay made it work. Like all of our early recordings, this is organic, with real instruments, and no bullshit.

4. Crazy On You (demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – R. Fisher)

Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded 1975 at Can-Base Studios, Vancouver, BC

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: I presented these lyrics to Mike Flicker, and he liked them, and so we cut this demo. Nancy’s guitar on this track is what I think really set her on the planet as a guitarist of record. Her acoustic is the signature of “Crazy On You” to me.

NANCY WILSON: This is what I’d call aggressive acoustic playing and that, together with Roger’s electric riffing, was a big part of our sound. When you add in Ann’s voice, that’s the troika of what I think was early Heart.

5. Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child) + Dreamboat Annie Reprise (edit)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed August 1975 at Can-Base Studios, Vancouver, BC

Produced by Mike Flicker

From the album Dreamboat Annie (Mushroom MRS-5005)

(P) 1976 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Capitol Records, LLC, under license from EMI Music Marketing

ANN WILSON: We wrote this when we were back visiting our parents in Bellevue, Washington. It started off as a Beach Boys-type song, but also was influenced by Harry Nilsson, and the Moody Blues, who were favorites of ours, too. We did three different versions of this track for the album: one had a banjo feel; another was orchestral; and there was a slow and easy one. We split the various takes up on the released album, but this version here combines them together for the first time.

6. Love Alive

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – R. Fisher)

Strange Euphoria Music / Universal Music – MGB Songs / Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed 1977 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker

From the album Little Queen (Portrait JR 34799)

(P) 1977 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: This was an ongoing jam that Roger and I came up with as we were, literally, playing guitar walking through fields. We’d play guitar together everywhere, all the time, and sometimes it was just for our joy. Sometimes, like this, actual songs would come out of those walks. This has a particularly strong gypsy element, both in the music, and in the fact that with constant touring we were living the life of gypsies as well. We were also big fans of Led Zeppelin’s “The Battle Of Evermore,” which we covered during early Heart shows, and later in the Lovemongers. That ancient haunting was a sound we were always searching for.

7. Sylvan Song

(N. Wilson – R. Fisher)

Know Music / Universal Music – MGB Songs (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed 1977 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker

From the album Little Queen (Portrait JR 34799)

(P) 1977 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: This track always struck me as flower child, hippie, authentic, and pure. Those were our intentions at the time. We recorded some of these sound effects at the Pike Place Market in the center of Seattle, and you can hear dogs barking in the background. Like much of the material from this era, we were greatly affected by the caravan nature of our touring lives, constantly travelling, and setting up temporary homes, only to move on as soon as we’d settled in.

ANN WILSON: The coins you can hear hitting the cup were recorded on a soundstage next to Kaye Smith Studios in Seattle, which later became Studio X. We experimented with many different denominations of coins for hours. Some of our sessions were difficult, but this one was nothing but joyful and fun.

8. Dream Of The Archer

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – R. Fisher)

Know Music / Strange Euphoria Music / Universal Music – MGB Songs (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed 1977 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker

From the album Little Queen (Portrait JR 34799)

(P) 1977 Sony Music Entertainment

ANN WILSON: “Dream Of The Archer” is our own little tale of yore. Back then, everyone was reading Zen And The Art Of Archery, and we crafted the song to sound magical…otherworldly, somehow spiritual in that ’70s rockgypsy way. It was a great place for mandolins and lots of soaring backup harmonies. You wouldn’t hear a song like this now. But then, you wouldn’t have heard another song like this then.

9. White Lightning And Wine (live at the Aquarius)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded June 1, 1976 at the Aquarius Tavern, Seattle, WA

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: This was one of the cornerstones of our live set during this era, as it was a funky song that worked great in a club. The lyrics, though, addressed what we felt was rock’s frequent inhumanity. But when we played this live, any meaning we intended was lost to most audiences, who simply danced. It was ironic, but I’m not sure our crowd understood how ironic it was…that it was really a rant.

10. Barracuda (live)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – R. Fisher – M. Derosier)

Strange Euphoria Music / Universal Music – MGB Songs / Know Music / Of the Roses Music

(ASCAP)

Recorded July 15, 1977 at Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, CA

Broadcast October 1, 1978 on the BBC’s “London Wavelength Concert Hour”

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This song is just a great, galloping steed. You can hear the energy in it, live particularly. When we play it in concert, it’s always more self-propelling, as if the energy is about to break loose. The recorded version we first cut for the LP had energy as well, but live it has always been off the charts.

ANN WILSON: This version of “Barracuda” was recorded live in 1977 at the Universal Amphitheatre in LA. At that time the Amphitheatre was still open to the sky, and the music from the stage would bounce all around the North Hollywood hills. Bob Hope was known for calling down from his house about the noise. He must have been gnashing his teeth the night this was recorded. This version was broadcast in England in 1978 on “London Wavelength Concert Hour.”

11. Little Queen

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – R. Fisher – S. Fossen – H. Leese – M. Derosier)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Elbow Lips Music / Of the Roses Music / Universal Music – MGB Songs (ASCAP) / Primal Energy Music / Songs of Universal Inc. (BMI)

Recorded and mixed 1977 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker

From the album Little Queen (Portrait JR 34799)

(P) 1977 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: There has always been a duality to Heart, but it was never stronger than in the early years. “Little Queen” straddles our duality more than any of our songs. The middle part of the song gets very aching, and melancholy, and then it makes a stylistic shift, and becomes kind of raunchy. Then it slips back to a banshee thing. We wrote this in a democratic fashion, and everyone in the band put ideas together. There is a playfulness to the bass and drums. It was art by committee at work.

ANN WILSON: The rhythm section — of bass player Steve Fossen, and drummer Michael Derosier — really shine on this. It shows Derosier’s character, and his versatility. He was great at playing Led Zeppelin, but he was also versatile, as “Little Queen” shows.

12. Kick It Out

(A. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed 1977 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker

From the album Little Queen (Portrait JR 34799)

(P) 1977 Sony Music Entertainment

ANN WILSON: “Kick It Out” is a pretty straight-ahead rock song, in the classic sense, simple like “Johnny B. Goode.”

NANCY WILSON: Ann came up with this song on her own. Usually, when she wrote songs, they were romantic, but “Kick It Out” is all sass. After she wrote this, she played it for the band, but kept saying it was too simple, and that we shouldn’t record it. But the band kept at her. She kept calling the song “The Rooster’s Hindquarters,” because it was this song that she didn’t think was worth anything. We almost didn’t do it, since Ann won’t be coerced into doing anything she doesn’t want. But the song had an effect on her as well. She finally gave in to her own song, just as we all had.

13. Here Song (demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded 1976 at Can-Base Studios, Vancouver, BC

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: The first time Ann played this song for me it floored me. It was at our parents’ house at Christmas — she had either written all, or part of it, that morning. It was an instant favorite, and seemed to come into the world completely formed. It was like a dewdrop, a perfect little song. I just added some extra guitar when we recorded it later. On this demo, Ann is playing guitar too. It’s a lesser-known fact that Ann plays guitar well, and this demo demonstrates that.

14. Heartless (demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded 1976 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Vancouver, BC

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: Once we started touring, we struggled to find extended time to take off to write. So we began taking a reel-to-reel with us when we did soundchecks, and we worked on new songs. Mike Flicker recorded this demo at a soundcheck one day. You can really hear Elton John’s influence on Ann’s singing on this song. We were both totally gone for Elton in that era. She’s almost flirting with an Elton accent as she sings this.

15. Dog & Butterfly (acoustic demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1978 at Sea West Studios, Seattle, WA

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: This was written at a house that I had on Lake Washington, near Seattle. It was a spring day. I looked out the window, and saw my English sheepdog Moffa chasing a butterfly. It was one of those beautiful, spring Seattle days, when the sun is just out, and winter is over.

NANCY WILSON: We originally recorded this on a little cassette recorder I had that you had to keep pressing “play” over and over to get to operate. Ann, Sue Ennis, and myself were all just sitting there in Ann’s writing room. Sue is our best friend from when we were teenagers.

ANN WILSON: That was the first time Sue, Nancy, and I had collaborated as songwriters. I had the body of the words, the title, and as a threesome we fleshed and honed it out. It was a big turning point for us as songwriters. Here was our best friend Sue, an academic, someone who had shared all the ups and downs of our lives for a dozen turbulent years, and who worshipped John and Paul, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, and Bernie Taupin as we did. She was the perfect songwriting partner for us at the same time.

16. Straight On

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1978 at Sea West Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker, Heart and Michael Fisher

From the album Dog & Butterfly (Portrait FR 35555)

(P) 1978 Sony Music Entertainment

ANN WILSON: By this time were going down to visit Sue often in the Bay Area, where she was going to UC Berkeley. We’d take a suite at the Mark Hopkins Hotel, and hole up for the weekend and write. With this, we were trying to get a funky “Heard It Through the Grapevine”-type beat going, heavy on tom. This was one song where the concept, the lyrics, and the groove all came together simultaneously. We went in with nothing, and we came out with this.

NANCY WILSON: That was the real start of the mighty three — Ann, Sue, and I — as songwriters. We were experimenting with songs that had a groove. We weren’t taking ourselves as seriously as we had. We were trying to find fun in both the beat, and the song creation.

17. Nada One

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1978 at Sea West Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker, Heart and Michael Fisher

From the album Dog & Butterfly (Portrait FR 35555)

(P) 1978 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: The three of us continued to go on songwriting retreats to various places. One of those places was Ocean Shores, Washington, where a friend of our parents had a rustic cabin with no hot water, and plastic on the windows. We wrote this song with a wood fire burning in the background. We recorded the demo on a little battery-operated cassette recorder that wasn’t working well. You had to keep your finger on the play button for playback, because it was partially broken. Sue’s family owned this Hammond “Piper Auto Cord” keyboard system we nicknamed the “Fun Machine.” It also had started breaking, and it made these trippy sounds when it did. It was a machine in distress, too.

ANN WILSON: We had driven there in a new Cadillac Michael Fisher and I had just bought. When we went to leave after that writing weekend, all the batteries in the fancy car were dead, and we had to call for a tow. My new car was yet another machine in distress.

CD 2

1. Bebe le Strange

(A. Wilson – S. Ennis – N. Wilson – R. Fisher)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Universal Music – MGB Songs / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed 1979-1980 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker, Connie and Howie

From the album Bebe le Strange (Epic FE 36371)

(P) 1980 Sony Music Entertainment

ANN WILSON: This was another song that came out of our Bay Area writing sessions with Sue. We had picked her up in Berkeley, and we were driving to the Mark Hopkins. We saw a sign for a bar called “Jacques Le Strange,” and that inspired the title. Letters from our fans inspired the lyrics. There were so many letters that had the same sentiment, and we boiled them into this one song.

NANCY WILSON: The lyrics became about a character, and we gave her a moniker. So many of the letters said, “Thanks for the courage.” It’s what they call “empowerment” today. It was very cool to have that acknowledged by our fans. And it was even nicer that it seemed that the fans understood us.

2. Silver Wheels II

(N. Wilson)

Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed 1979-1980 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker, Connie and Howie

From the album Bebe le Strange (Epic FE 36371)

(P) 1980 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: I was trying to learn more classical-style guitar, but I had no time. I only ended up taking two lessons. This song was a result of me chasing the classic mode that I wanted Heart to have, and my two classical lessons. I wanted us to be the most versatile rock band in the history of rock. But this song was not what you’d expect. It’s the unexpected, which is the reason that the best of Heart worked so well. On the album, this song is an intro to “Break,” but here it is by itself.

3. Even It Up

(A. Wilson – S. Ennis – N. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed 1979-1980 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker, Connie and Howie

From the album Bebe le Strange (Epic FE 36371)

(P) 1980 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: “Even It Up” was a jam that was going to be another acoustic intro piece I’d written for another song. I was trying to make this sort of riff one of my signatures. At the time, this was my latest idea for an instrumental. I was playing it for Ann and Sue, and they started playing along. It wasn’t what I expected. Ann was playing bass, Sue guitar, and I had a drum machine that we called “Ringo.” Ringo was yet another machine in distress – he had only one beat that really rocked, and this was it. We started playing, and we kept playing, and we could not stop. We did that groove all day, the rest of the night, and the next day.

ANN WILSON: Then, we needed a song for the groove. The lyrics weren’t even in a notebook, yet. It was written on the spot. I don’t think we sat outside and said, “Let’s write a feminist anthem.” But the song came from a place of deep dissatisfaction.

4. Sweet Darlin’

(A. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music (ASCAP)

Recorded and mixed 1979-1980 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Mike Flicker, Connie and Howie

From the album Bebe le Strange (Epic FE 36371)

(P) 1980 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: This is one of a handful of perfect Ann Wilson songs. It came from that Ann Wilson place, a place that is nowhere else but inside Ann. There is a simplicity this song has that just lives. It has the most universal conversation.

ANN WILSON: The song was about moving on. We were moving on as a band, and I was moving on in my relationship. This song was one piano and a voice. It was subtle, and it never was a great big production. It was a simple love song, but it was also bittersweet.

5. City’s Burning

(A. Wilson – S. Ennis – N. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music / Sheer Music / Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1981 at Studio 55, Los Angeles, CA

Mixed at Record Plant, NYC

Produced by Connie and Howie

From the album Private Audition (Epic FE 38049)

(P) 1982 Sony Music Entertainment

ANN WILSON: We were trying to get the band to really fire up on this song. We wanted a sound that was jagged and tight, at the same time. And there was a lot of chaos in the different verses of this song, with people reacting to bad news. The main inspiration was the truly horrific news of the death of John Lennon. With that as a backdrop, you had one couple fighting, a guy screaming, and a woman crying. The result was a lot of people freaking out. And we wanted the band to sound like an emotional freak-out.

6. Angels

(A. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Strange Euphoria Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1981 at Studio 55, Los Angeles, CA

Mixed at Record Plant, NYC

Produced by Connie and Howie

From the album Private Audition (Epic FE 38049)

(P) 1982 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: You can’t underestimate the sadness we felt about the loss of John, and this was another song about that.

ANN WILSON: John was an artist, a peacenik, a world changer, and a love monger. He didn’t even get a chance to leave in a dignified way. It was so hard to understand. We were working on this album in New York, and we had walked in Central Park, and done a pilgrimage to the Dakota. But even before that, his death felt like a personal loss. We mixed this song in a studio in New York City where John had worked. And when you walked in you saw a picture of John right there, so you felt him loud and clear.

7. Love Mistake

(N. Wilson)

Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1983 at Goodnight L.A., Van Nuys, CA

Produced and arranged by Keith Olsen

From the album Passionworks (Epic QE 38800)

(P) 1983 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: I wrote this song about my dear old friend Kelly Curtis, who later became Pearl Jam’s manager. We were all staying in New York, and Kelly had just gone through his first big heartbreak. The song was a total message of support to somebody going through massive heartbreak. He was happy, and sad, to hear it because it brought it all back. I think the song helped him to work through some of that, and to know that he had a friend who got it, and got him, and was standing by him.

8. Lucky Day (demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – L. Dalbello)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / DalBello Toonz Inc. (CAPAC/ASCAP)

Recorded at Bad Animals, Seattle, WA, date unknown

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This was a song we wrote with Lisa Dalbello. We thought she was insanely talented, and we spent a weekend together with her at my farmhouse writing songs. She had a rough of the track, and together we came up with this. This demo was recorded in my basement, and it’s never been released before.

ANN WILSON: Lisa’s voice was a really good blend with Nancy and I. It was almost like a sister blend. It’s one of the only times you can hear Nancy and I singing together with another woman, other than our sister Lynn, on an album track.

9. Never (live) (with John Paul Jones)

(H. Knight – G. Bloch – Connie)

Mike Chapman Publishing Enterprises / Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music (ASCAP)

Rehearsal, recorded August 1994 at The Backstage, Seattle, WA

Mixed by Thom Cadley

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Capitol Records, LLC, under license from EMI Music Marketing

ANN WILSON: We recorded this live at the Backstage in Seattle’s Ballard neighborhood. John Paul Jones came out to work with us, and he was our musical director. He wrote string charts for this whole thing. He plays mandolin on this. He was a prince among men. He always made us feel like he was just one of us. It was the era when the idea of being unplugged was just formulating. We’d already taken it so far into bombast that we wanted to go the other way, and that’s what we were doing here.

NANCY WILSON: This is the best version of “Never.” It’s kind of unplugged, but not completely. Only in this version, with John Paul Jones, did the song get the rootsy vibe that stands up to time. We were breathing the fresh air of the acoustic thing, and it felt like we were breathing for the first time in a while.

10. These Dreams

(B. Taupin – M. Page)

Little Mole Music / Universal Music – Z Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded January-April 1985 at the Record Plant, LA and the Plant Studios, Sausalito, CA

Produced and engineered by Ron Nevison

From the album Heart (Capitol ST-12410)

(P) 1985 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Capitol Records, LLC, under license from EMI Music Marketing

NANCY WILSON: Most fans know this was our first Number One hit. But most don’t know how hard I had to fight to be able to do the song in the first place. I had to argue inside the band, because there was no framework that said this song was a Heart song, and I had to fight outside the band to get the song. When Bernie Taupin and Martin Page originally wrote “These Dreams” it was presented to Stevie Nicks. She wasn’t considering outside material at the time, so she passed. I fought to get us to record it, and for me to sing it. It wasn’t right for Ann’s voice.

ANN WILSON: It was one of those things that happen just occasionally where a voice and a song really marry. I heard that song, and I thought it’s so cool, and I tried to sing a verse or two, but it didn’t work for me. It was really Nancy’s song. The authentic sentiment is exactly the kind of song she might have written herself.

11. Nobody Home

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music (ASCAP)

Recorded January-April 1985 at the Record Plant, LA and the Plant Studios, Sausalito, CA

Produced and engineered by Ron Nevison

From the album Heart (Capitol ST-12410)

(P) 1985 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Capitol Records, LLC, under license from EMI Music Marketing

NANCY WILSON: This was another perfect Ann song. It has a family ethic that is much more universal than just rock ’n’ roll. It’s another friend song, like a lot in our catalog. It’s about when you are looking out for somebody you love, and you see they are going too far out of bounds. Then you say, “I’m here now. I’m here for you.”

ANN WILSON: We wrote a lot of songs for the self-titled Heart album, but this was one of the few of ours that made it on that LP. We were lucky to slip any of our songs through that pinhole that our label, producer, and manager put up at that time of what “Heart” was in the 1980s.

NANCY WILSON: No matter how much you might love a song when you sing it, when you write a song, it’s you speaking. It’s not you fitting yourself into something else. This is Ann speaking, as well as singing.

12. Alone

(T. Kelly – B. Steinberg)

Sony/ATV Tunes LLC (ASCAP)

Recorded 1986 at A&M Studios, Los Angeles, CA

Produced and engineered by Ron Nevison

From the album Bad Animals (Capitol CDP 546676)

(P) 1987 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Capitol Records, LLC, under license from EMI Music Marketing

ANN WILSON: Billy Steinberg and Tom Kelly wrote “Alone,” and they also wrote “True Colors,” “Like a Virgin,” and many other great songs. They had a way of writing soulful stuff that was no bullshit. On “Alone” it all came together. It’s a song where the voice and the song shake hands. Maybe that’s why everybody tries to do it on competition shows, because they want to try to make it their own. There are a lot of physical challenges in the song. It’s a standard of what a singer can hold herself to, like a high jumper.

NANCY WILSON: Nobody does it like Ann. In concert, we call this song the “touchdown.” No matter where we are, in any circumstance, if we are in a field of mud, that song just flattens people. Ann kills it, and then the crowd sings it to us. When that happens, the road crew all throw up their hands on the side of the stage like a ref indicating a touchdown. If we didn’t have the audience by that point in the show, we have them then.

13. Wait For An Answer

(L. Dalbello)

DalBello Toonz Inc. (CAPAC/ASCAP)

Recorded 1986 at One On One, North Hollywood, CA; Power Station, NY; Rumbo Recorders, Canoga Park, CA; and Can Am, Tarzana, CA

Produced and engineered by Ron Nevison

From the album Bad Animals (Capitol CDP 546676)

(P) 1987 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Capitol Records, LLC, under license from EMI Music Marketing

ANN WILSON: As a singer, you have to internalize a song. By the end of this song, I was just letting it out. The song goes through five keys. It’s a sophisticated song.

NANCY WILSON: Lisa Dalbello had already released her own version, so this might be the first time we put a song on an album that had already come out by another artist. I never knew why Lisa’s version didn’t catch fire because it was great as well. The song is a clinic on how it feels to be unanswered in a relationship. It’s such a perfectly drawn out emotional song, and it reminds me of a song that could have been written by Peter Gabriel.

14. Unconditional Love (demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1986 at home, Seattle, WA

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This is a really good demo. It’s another farm demo recorded in the rumpus room. It was Ann, Sue, and myself, with a drum machine, some notebooks, and guitars. We were again channeling our funkier groove, and also tipping our hats to the girl groups of the Motown era. That’s a side of us that many don’t know, that we were huge fans of the Chiffons, Ann Peebles, Aretha, and all the great singers of the earlier R&B era. Listening to that stuff for us was like going to church.

15. High Romance (demo)

(N. Wilson – S. Ennis – A. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1986 at home, Seattle, WA

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This is another one of our basement tapes, recorded in the rumpus room. It’s Ann, Sue, and I playing all the parts. We were trying to do a few girl group ideas. This one was more of a slow dance, inspired by songs like “Tell It Like It Is.” We loved all the stuff that came before the Beatles nearly as much as we loved the Beatles.

ANN WILSON: We originally started working on this song in the backyard of my house in Seattle. Then the song moved to Nancy’s house. It became a two-house song.

16. Under The Sky (demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded March 27, 1989 at Bad Animals, Seattle, WA

Previously unreleased

(P) 1990 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Capitol Records, LLC, under license from EMI Music Marketing

ANN WILSON: This was written at the beach, at a time when we felt much more refreshed as songwriters. We were starting to shift away from the big hair eighties, and we were feeling a lot better about being creative and writing ourselves. This was us busting out of the chains that were around us.

NANCY WILSON: You can hear that we are relaxed. This was written on a beautiful summer day that stretched into a beach fire on a summer night. We were comfortable and inspired, and this song was a real celebration of a creative return. We had a pent-up desire, and it was a hard-won return, through frustration, to get back to that place.

17. Desire Walks On (“Beach demo” version)

(N. Wilson – S. Ennis – A. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1993, Seaside, OR

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This was one of those mad scientist kind of songs, that was put together small, and then got big. We managed to squeeze a big rock song onto a very small format in that demo. Often when you are writing a song, you fall in love with an energy that happens when you write it, and that happened here. And this demo has more of that energy than any other version we did. It might lack sound fidelity, but it had the energy. This has always been our favorite version of this song.

ANN WILSON: The lyrics talk about desire being an unstoppable force. But we were also inspired by the passion of the enchanted mop in “The Sorcerer’s Apprentice” in Fantasia. We were writing about magic!

CD 3

1. Kiss (by The Lovemongers)

(A. Wilson – S. Ennis – N. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music / Beatle Boots Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1997 at Synergy Studio, Redmond, WA, and Mighty Mite, Los Angeles, CA

Produced by The Lovemongers

From the Lovemongers album Whirlygig (Will 048)

(P) 1997 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON “Kiss” was originally written for the movie French Kiss starring Meg Ryan and Kevin Klein. It was intended to orchestrate the romantic love scene on a hilltop winery in the south of France…and that idea sparked our imaginations naturally. A simple heartbeat, Nancy’s guitars translucent like watercolors, an intimate, passionate vocal breathing words of Love. Perfect!
The movie guys chose to go with Jazz standards.

2. Sand (by The Lovemongers)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis – F. Cox)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Sheer Music / Spodie Music (ASCAP)

Recorded September 18, 1997 at The Backstage, Seattle, WA

Produced by The Lovemongers

From the Lovemongers album Whirlygig (Will 048)

(P) 1997 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: This is a song that is timeless, in a way, about a friend of ours who had passed away. We did it first with the Lovemongers, and then later we put it on Red Velvet Car. It’s a song that could have been written any year of the band’s history, and you can’t pin it down to any decade. It’s another family song. Our parents would have loved this song, maybe as much as anything in our catalog.

3. Everything (live) (by Nancy Wilson)

(N. Wilson)

Beatle Boots Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1999 at McCabe’s Guitar Shop, Santa Monica, CA

Produced by Brian Foraker

From the Nancy Wilson album Live At McCabe’s Guitar Shop (Epic EK 69837)

(P) 1999 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: Ann was off doing another tour while I was in Los Angeles working on movie stuff, and starting a family. But I did occasionally escape to the beach to write, and at one point I took my three dogs as part of an annual sabbatical. This sound came out of that trip, just my dogs and me. This was the first song I wrote by myself in a decade without collaborating with anyone. Later, I did a live gig at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica, and it was recorded for an album there.

4. She Still Believes (live)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Skivvey-Shirt Song Service / Beatle Boots Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded August 18, 1999, Ann & Nancy Live Tour, Saratoga Mountain Winery, CA

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: Nancy and I eventually toured again together, and we called it the “Ann and Nancy” tour, and this is from that tour, which had a lot of duets. We were getting into some good songwriting. We’d had a breath, and we were starting to reach out to each other as songwriters again. We wrote this about a close sister friend who was constantly having romantic problems. She was a muse for us in a way, and this is about her.

NANCY WILSON: You could see her continuing to go down this road, and it looked similar every time. You knew it wouldn’t turn out well. We were saying, “Don’t do it again to yourself. It’s a pattern.” She liked the song, but I’m not sure the advice was taken!

5. Any Woman’s Blues (demo) (with the Seattle Blues Revue Horns)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Strange Euphoria Music / Know Music / Sheer Music (ASCAP)

Recorded at Bad Animals, Seattle, WA, date unknown

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: We did a few demos of this song. This is the second demo, which was even better than the first demo. We wanted it to be a Heart song, but it never quite worked for that. It was funky. We were paying homage to the R&B that we loved. It’s chasing the soulful muse, chasing Bessie Smith. When we put the blues and R&B through our filter, it became something else again.

6. Strange Euphoria

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Know Music / Sheer Music / Strange Euphoria Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1980 at Kaye-Smith Studios, Seattle, WA

Produced by Heart

From the album Greatest Hits/Live (Epic EG 36888)

(P) 1980 Sony Music Entertainment

NANCY WILSON: “Strange Euphoria” is a comedy collage, and a title we’ve always liked. We even used the name for our music publishing company, and now this box set. We cut the song “Strange Euphoria” in the studio between other songs, and this was our chance to blow off some steam. We had run up against so much sexual pigeonholing. This song is us being exactly all of who we are — way outside where girls are expected to go.
ANN WILSON: There was a little smoke in the air at the “Strange Euphoria” session. Very loose and uninhibited, like a disco down the rabbit hole.

7. Boppy’s Back (demo)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Skivvey-Shirt Song Service / Beatle Boots Music (ASCAP)

Recorded 1993, Seaside, OR

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: Sue had written us a suburban rock opera for Christmas, as kind of a gag, and we countered that with a project of our own called “Our New Direction.” It was sarcastic. It was our own little in-joke to respond to the outside pressure that was always telling us we had to come up with “the next big ’80s thing” for Heart. This was a folk song, with a reference to my dog Boppy. It’s about Boppy standing on my lap inside a limo, looking out at the world going by outside, as she always did on tour.

NANCY WILSON: Our joke, between us, was that “Our New Direction” was “no direction.” It was like a Christopher Guest movie, like A Mighty Wind, but a few years before anyone might have gotten how straight that joke was being played.

8. Friend Meets Friend (by The Lovemongers)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – S. Ennis)

Know Music / Sheer Music / Strange Euphoria Music (ASCAP)

Recorded September, 1997 at The Backstage, Seattle, WA

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: This was another “Connie” song written at Nancy’s farmhouse, sitting at her kitchen table. Our music has always been about celebrating connection, and friendship, within our family, our band, and our songwriting partnership with Sue, and others. Many of our songs address that concept, but this song was our way of explicitly calling out the magic of those relationships.

NANCY WILSON: We all loved the line “Remember Roy and Ray,” but thought no one would know who we were talking about. So we were happy to find the rhyme “What’d I Say” to clarify it was Ray Charles (and Roy Orbison, of course). You can also hear the Joni Mitchell influence in the second verse, with the reference to the “Last Time I Saw Richard.”

9. Love Or Madness (Live)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Know Music / Strange Euphoria Music (ASCAP)

Recorded August 18, 1999, Ann & Nancy Live Tour, Saratoga Mountain Winery, CA

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: This song is a live version from the duet tour that was just Nance and I. It’s important to listen to the harmonica, because that’s Nancy’s amazing playing. We also had a lot of old blues influences as well, one of our many personas, that people don’t know about. If you listen closely, you can imagine a ten-year-old Nancy Wilson listening to albums by John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers. She heard that album before she’d even become a teenager, but it stuck with her.

10. Skin To Skin

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson)

Know Music / Strange Euphoria Music (ASCAP)

Produced by Daniel Mendez

Recorded at Synergia Studio, Redmond, WA, date unknown

Previously unreleased

(P) 2012 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: We had a lot of fun with this song. It’s got a dance beat, but still rocking. It’s only got one chord, and we had a hard time selling it to anyone who wanted stereotyped “Heart” songs. But our perception of Heart, and how wide Heart is and can be, never has matched what others perceive. We grew up in the era of the Beatles’ White Album, and that was as wide as we thought all rock albums could be. Our spectrum of Heart is always evolving, and widening. Our spectrum can encompass “Magic Man,” and “Barracuda,” and “Alone,” but also “Boppy’s Back,” and “Hey You.” And sometimes, as with this box set, Heart returns to places we began from, even as we move forward.

11. Fallen Ones

(N. Wilson – A. Wilson – C. Bartock)

EMI Virgin Music, Inc. / Know Music / Lanstock Publishing / Strange Euphoria Music / Universal Music Corporation (ASCAP)

Recorded 2004 at Whoville, Seattle; The Back Yard, Los Angeles; Ice Station Zebra, Seattle; and Vaughn Verdi’s house, Los Angeles

Produced by Nancy Wilson and Craig Bartock

From the album Jupiter’s Darling (Sovereign Artists 1953-2)

(P) 2004 Heart General Partnership

ANN WILSON: This is about anybody who goes to bat for anything and loses. It’s really beautiful Nancy Wilson poetry. Whenever we really believe in a song, it is always worth keeping. And this song is one of them.

NANCY WILSON: We’re military brats, and this song is our salute to the ones that didn’t make it back. It wasn’t specifically about the Iraq War, but when we played it during that era live, people were very emotional, because I think it’s been forgotten how many people died, or were wounded, in that conflict.

12. Enough

(C. Bartock – A. Wilson)

EMI Virgin Music Inc. / Lanstock Publishing / Strange Euphoria Music / Universal Music Corporation (ASCAP)

Recorded 2004 at Whoville, Seattle; The Back Yard, Los Angeles; Ice Station Zebra, Seattle; and Vaughn Verdi’s house, Los Angeles

Produced by Nancy Wilson and Craig Bartock

From the album Jupiter’s Darling (Sovereign Artists 1953-2)

(P) 2004 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This song was on Jupiter’s Darling. The song is an Ann Wilson and Craig Bartock composition. Craig, our current guitar player, had the beautiful music and the melodies, and Ann found the words.

ANN WILSON: This is a killer heartbreak song.  Someone who has put out a hand, opened up their heart and been shut down.  Classic aching ballad.

13. Lost Angel

(N. Wilson)

Know Music / Universal Music Corporation (ASCAP)

Recorded 2006 at the Trump Taj Mahal, Atlantic City, from VH1 Classic’s “Decades Of Rock Live” (aired March 10, 2006)

Executive Producer: Barry Summers; Producer: Tisha Fein and Terry Lickona; Supervising Producer: Barry Ehrman.

© 2006 World Productions, LLC: Used By Permission. All Rights Reserved

NANCY WILSON: I wrote this song when we went into Iraq. I wanted to address the angels of mercy that float around war, and how sometimes even those angels get buffeted into conflict, whether they be personal conflicts, or real battles. I wanted to write a song that had almost a “Stairway To Heaven” vibe to it as a tribute to the angelic part of our better natures.

ANN WILSON: We once played this song live introducing it as a “kind of prayer,” and that confused some of our fans. “Lost Angel” is not a “prayer” in any religious sense, but in the way that it pleads for an antidote to the poison of violence and hatred. It asks for some cool water to pour on the fire of sadness in this world. I guess we’ll always be unashamed to pray for that, no matter what decade we’re writing in. “Lost Angel” was our wish that any person of any mindset, religious or otherwise, can hold in the center of themselves.

14. Little Problems, Little Lies (by Ann Wilson)

(B. Mink – A. Wilson)

Strange Euphoria Music (ASCAP) / Zavion Enterprises (ASCAP)

Recorded 2007, Seattle, WA

Produced by Ben Mink

From the Ann Wilson album Hope And Glory (Zoe 01143-1085-2)

℗ 2007 Ann Wilson & Zoe Records, a Rounder Records Company

Courtesy of New Rounder LLC

ANN WILSON: Our current producer Ben Mink and I wrote this song together. I really wanted to write a song in the first person of a soldier in Iraq. It took me a long time to figure out what voice to do it in. I decided to write in the voice of this young scared American person, in an SUV that gets blown up. This was the first time I’d ever written with Ben Mink. It was a nice collaboration, and that relationship has yielded a lot of great fruit as we’ve continued to work with him.

15. Queen City

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – C. Bartock – B. Mink)

Craig Bartock Music / Know Music / Strange Euphoria Music / Zavion Enterprises Inc. (ASCAP)

Recorded 2010 at Octopus’ Garden, Los Angeles, CA

Produced by Ben Mink

From the album Red Velvet Car (Legacy 73800)

(P) 2010 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This is a song I started when I was writing material for Jupiter’s Darling. It was a song about how I missed Seattle, how I missed my hometown. Seattle used be to called the Queen City, a name that goes deep in the city’s history. When you miss Seattle, it’s like missing somebody big in your life. It’s not a frivolous place; that’s how Seattle is. We didn’t use the song on that album. Later, we brought the song up again, and Ann and Ben Mink helped finished it with me. It helped set a tone for the rest of the Red Velvet Car album. There was a lot of travel on that record, but also a lot of longing for home, and for childhood.

16. Hey You

(N. Wilson – B. Mink)

Know Music / Zavion Enterprises Inc. (ASCAP)

Recorded 2010 at Octopus’ Garden, Los Angeles, CA

Produced by Ben Mink

From the album Red Velvet Car (Legacy 73800)

(P) 2010 Heart General Partnership

NANCY WILSON: This was a song I’d been working on for many years. I’d made a lot of different versions of it along the way, but it was never finished. I brought it up again with Ben Mink, and working with him allowed me to find a way to finish the song. I found the encouragement in my relationship with Ben to complete it. And the song is a joy to play; it always gets people to tap their toes, and hum along.

ANN WILSON: It was a fine moment when Nancy and I and Ben Mink got together in the same room to work on Heart. It was one of those partnerships that we’ve been able to touch a few times in our career. With producers, it started first with Mike Flicker on Dreamboat Annie. Later, we had a different, but also productive relationship with Ron Nevison who produced the Heart album. But with Ben Mink, and Red Velvet Car, it was like being reunited with your artistic self. It was very satisfying to find that union again.

17. Avalon (Reprise)

(A. Wilson – N. Wilson – K. Grindstaff)

Kittus Corporation / Know Music / Strange Euphoria Music / WB Music Corporation (ASCAP)

Produced by John Purdell and Duane Baron

From the album Desire Walks On (Capitol CDP 0777 7 99627

(P) 1993 Capitol Records, LLC. All rights reserved.

Courtesy of Capitol Records, LLC, under license from EMI Music Marketing

ANN WILSON: “Back To Avalon” features Nancy’s acoustic doing that thing she does…that no one else does. At a time when she was being told by industry people that “acoustic guitars were not IN,” she responded by taking it up a notch as you can hear in this song. It’s a song about escaping from imprisonment and flying free…one of our most perennial themes. This song has no decade.

If you want to have beautiful Celtic flavored Christmas music playing during your holiday gatherings, I highly recommend “A Winter Gathering” by Shauna Burns. This compilation of Celtic holiday music is well arranged and her voice is simply stunning! Clearly one of the best winter music collections of the season!

Shauna is one of the most dynamic and critically acclaimed multi-talents on today’s indie music scene. Her latest release, “A Winter Gathering” is a collection of newfangled carols and original songs performed by her with her husband, drummer James Clark, and guest performers Caroline Kemper, Rick Kemper, Lindsey Springer, Ryan Whyte Maloney, and a five piece vocal choir.

Bringing unique new elements and sounds to her trademark style, Burns offers new twists to classic songs like “Carol of the Bells,” “God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen” and “Silent Night.” The collection also includes several original pieces Shauna calls “Songscapes” and more holiday favorites such as “What a Wonderful World” and “White Christmas.”

Enjoy!!

John@CoolGrrrls

To find out more about Shauna Burns you can visit her website at www.shaunaburns.com.

“Troubled By Fire”
Bella Union
$$$$

Ms. Veirs is a twenty-first century Seattle girl pushing a traditional-down-home-back-porch sound. Her third album, “Troubled By Fire,” is nothing less then beautiful, mixing blues with folk to banjo-rock to everything on the in-between. Wi th a gift for quietly intermingling her opinions into her lyrics, she leaves us with insightful songs like, ‘Cannon Fodder’ and ‘The Ballad of John Vogelin’. Her rich voice can fill a room as heard in ‘Bedroom Eyes,’ which plops you down into a blissful world of rocking chairs and mint ice tea. Veirs is the green sky before a storm, the perfect mix of splendor and melancholy, and an album to be revered by all. If your a folk connoisseur or just a fan of the alt-country Lucinda Williams, Ani Difranco scene then you should put this CD at the top of your ‘to buy’ list.

-Suzie Sorenson

www.lauraveirs.com
www.bellaunion.com

“I Never Knew” is a soothing record filled with sultry pop songs. It is filled with raw emotional lyrics that leave the listener emotional and dreamy. Music is secondary on this record. The things that really stand out about it are Sa’s voice and deeply personal lyrics. Talent runs in Sa’s family. Her older sister rose to local fame in the Canadian music industry. 20-year-old Kristina has plenty of musical experience-recording original songs in her basement along with briefly joining an all-girl group that eventually fell apart-but it is on her debut album “I Never Knew” that she really shines. Keep your eye on this glittering gem.

-Katie Kiedyk

www.kristinesa.com
www.nemesismusic.com

With a deep throaty voice and highly poetic lyrics, Sophe Lux reminds me highly of one of her influences, PJ Harvey, but Lux has added a unique twist to the old story of solo women singers. The result is splendor, power and a cd that you won’t want to stop listening to. Originally from Southern California, Sophe Lux was born into, and kept company with the people of the arts. Sophie is a smart woman with a firm grasp on all things liberal arts. Her music is mellow, sad and beautiful-quite a reflection on the worldly culture of today. One of the songs I enjoyed was “Freddy’s Tune” which has a slight country feel to it where as songs like “Perfect Love” and “Buried” have more of an indie feel to it. I love PJ so naturally I was draw to Sophe Lux’s cd. It is a rich blend of all of the best qualities of some of the world’s best folk and indie legends.

-Katie Kiedyk

It is truly a rare thing for me to listen to live anything. I am not a great fan of live performances from mainstream artist. But after listening to Live & Unreleased From Farmclub.Com, I was impressed. With top rated acts such as Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Powerman 5000, DMX, Mystical, you can’t go wrong.

I grew up listening to Rap, Hip-Hop, and R&B, then followed my own musical taste of the more “alternative” music. This release definitely shows me the both sides of what I like. It’s also two that are somewhat merging together, such as the hit “N2Gether Now” with rockstars Limp Bizkit, along with the talented rapper Method Man. It’s a musical marriage.

If you like Hip-Hop hits along with Rock, I definitely recommend this release from Farmclub.Com. It’s already a hot seller at the records stores here!

–Special CoolGrrrl Correspondent, Nancy Tsai

P.O.D. + Methods of Mayhem + 311 = Mix Mob. I’m not into rap, but this CD isn’t that bad. “Madhouse” is a pretty good song. There’s some punk-ish riffs here and there. I don’t know what genre you would classify this band, because you hear so much different stuff in here. In 3 songs, I’m hearing 3 different genres. The first song was something Tommy Lee would sing, the vocals sounded like Tommy too. Then on the second song, it was more of P.O.D, 311…If you are up for a mix of stuff, check these cool dudes out.

-Laura Encarnado

links: www.mixmob.tv