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Trip down memory lane is coming…
When I was in high school I got a chance to see ZZ Top perform live when they first became news. But this isn’t about them. It’s about who opened for them at an Edmonton concert in the mid 70’s. It was (at least for us small town hicks that went) a new band that was for us, totally unheard of. Comprised of a couple girls (sisters actually); one was the lead singer, the other a guitar player. One dark haired, the other blonde, both knockouts that would set any healthy teen guy’s hormones raging. Ann and Nancy Wilson, billed on the concert header but better known now as Heart.
They were so good, that when they left the stage after their set and the three cool (?) guys from Texas took the stage, many patrons in the audience left in dismay at the upstage of these two mystery chicks. I don’t mean us, we’d travelled over two hours to get there and we weren’t leaving no how.
But this November, the Wilson sisters are touring again (they’ve settled their artistic differences apparently) and are coming to Edmonton once more. I still have their first hit album Dreamboat Annie although it has definitely played itself out and I won’t subject my stylus to the carnage that was dealt to the pressing in my younger more rambunctious days. I do have it on CD as well so I don’t need Youtube to hear it any time I want.
They also covered a very famous Led Zeppelin song at a certain R&R HOF induction that really left the original artists astounded at the performance. But I doubt that will be on the set list in November….
So to go along with this, I will share the title song from the album, along with one of the other hits from it.
Dreamboat Annie – Bing video
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youtube dreamboat annie videos - Bing
Bingin älykäs haku auttaa sinua löytämään etsimäsi nopeammin ja palkitsee sinut.
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21 Replies
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Hi Daryl
I remember Heart in the 70s was the first female rock stars I knew. Barracuda!
Thanks for sharing that story about Heart, you witnessed their performance even before they were well known, nice! Dream Boat Annie is a great ballad. Another one they did later on the in 80s that I really liked was Alone. Not to be confused with another absolute brilliant beautiful ballad by our favourite female twins.
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Yes, I remember that song very well. Ann has a very powerful voice, but she can be very smooth as well. A friend of mine actually spent a few minutes with her in a limo outside a club in Reno back in the 80’s. It was after a show Heart did at one of the casinos that he and three other buddies attended. He wasn’t really invited but the door was open and she was sitting there “alone” so to speak. So he just hopped in and they chatted about the performance and music stuff (he’s a bassist). She was quite open to the discussion according to Art. Of course it didn’t take very long before her security team politely removed him from the car, but that’s one experience not everyone gets in their life! 🤣
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Daryl
Thanks for starting a post on Heart. They’ve been one of my favorite bands since I first heard them in the 70’s. I had that Dreamboat Annie album cover posted on my bedroom wall. I saw them in concert in 1978 at the Mary E. Sawyer auditorium in La Crosse Wisconsin. It was the first real date I had with my future wife. What a great night and Ann Wilson had that place shaking. They tore down that theatre a short time after that which was probably easy because she had already loosened the bricks, Lol.
I remember watching the night she sang the Led Zep anthem at the Kennedy Center. I had tears in my eyes it was so great. Imagine being a 60+ year old singing Stairway to Heaven in front of Page, Plant, and Jones, not to mention a sitting President and first lady with Jason Bonham on drums. No pressure, Ann just nailed it.
I heard they were going to tour again. On Randy Bachman’s Facebook page he said BTO were doing some shows with Heart this year. That would be a great concert. He also had a story about Heart opening for them years ago. BTO was big at the time and Heart was just starting out and they were literally starving artists playing for a meal. After Heart would open and BTO was on stage, they would go into BTO’s dressing room and help themselves to the catered food. Ann confirmed the story and said they owed Randy’s band a turkey dinner.
That night in La Crosse they played a couple songs from their latest album including the title track called Dog and Butterfly. Here’s a version from just a few years ago and they still sound fantastic. Brings back a lot of memories.
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That is a beautiful rendition of a great song. Really showcases their mutual talents and how they mesh so cleanly as a duo. I honestly don’t know where the rift came in, but I’m sure happy the patched things up.
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Ann had such a strong beautiful voice, and the harmonies between the two was great!
I don’t know how true this story is, I read that the record company kept pushing Ann to lose weight to the point where she just walked away, this also caused friction between the sisters. witch they finally mended.
Again I don’t know if this is true, if it is , it goes to show how nasty the record company’s can be. If anyone can back this story up would interesting.
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I know from personal experience how brutal labels can be to artists. A family member used to be an agent and the things she has told me about Warner/Chapel are horrendous. I’m still friends with most of the band members that she managed, but all of them don’t have great things to say about record companies. Only one of them is still actively recording (Duane Steele), but the others still work as professional musicians. Darn good ones too.
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Hi Mike
I heard a story not long ago and I wish I could remember who said it, I know it was a YouTube interview but don’t remember who, but the story was Nancy Wilson and her husband would take their dogs with them on their tour bus and Ann got upset over something to do with the dogs. It started a fight between the two that ended in a split. I don’t remember the exact story but the thing is, especially with family or people that have been close for a long time, a lot of little stuff gets bottled up and later a small argument can explode into a major split. It’s happened in my family several times. I’ve heard a lot of bad stories about record companies and execs and I’m sure it’s very tough for women to deal with too. The song Barracuda came about because of their dealings with their first record company. Ann and Nancy admittingly sold out to their record company in the 80’s who wanted the big hair and sexy clothes and more “pop” flavored music and Ann’s weight was a problem for them. I’m glad they finally got inducted into the Rock Hall of Fame. I’m almost sure they battled harder than most male groups to stay successful in that business for more than 40 years.
I’ve got to post a video too because the best thing about Heart is their music. This is from the same show as the Dog and Butterfly video I posted. I’m not sure what year the concert was but the video was posted in 2016. Ann would have been 66 years old. I think she looks great and looks like she is having a great time. Maybe because it was the last show of that tour.
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Thanks for the reply Tim. I can’t recall where I heard my info, it was many years ago. The fact your info can be backed up is more believable . I also agree with you on how tough it had to be on them or any female group having to deal with record companies. I admire the Wagner’s choice of doing their music their way. I don’t think being told what to sing, how to dress, who to talk too, how to talk, would be a pleasant way to live
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I gotta admit, before I joined this club my knowledge of Heart was virtually nil. My only previous interaction with them was in 1986, when I was eagerly tuning into MTV every day to watch episodes of the Monkees TV series. I always switched the set on a couple of minutes early, and it was frequently in the middle of the video for These Dreams. (I know a lot of the hit songs from 1986 due to this phenomenon!)
Here’s an amusing blurb from Wikipedia about These Dreams: “When it came time for Nancy Wilson to record her vocals, she was suffering from a cold and sounded somewhat raspy and gravelly. After the song reached commercial success, producers reportedly wanted Wilson to recreate the vocal style on future recordings, asking her: ‘Can’t you just get sick again?'”
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David,
That’s a good example of how insensitive and utterly ruthless some record executives can be. It seems they don’t understand they are dealing with human beings that have feelings, maybe because they themselves do not have a Heart (pun intended). In fact they are Heartless Barracudas, two more great songs by the band Heart.
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Daryl and Mike
I found the story about the dogs that ultimately caused the sisters to split for a few years. The story is at the end of this podcast by Janda Lane about the band Heart, the Wilson sisters, and the song Barracuda. Janda is a DJ in Chicago and does a great job with these podcasts about famous songs. She goes into great detail about the songs and this episode really tells Ann and Nancy’s dealings with ruthless record execs and promoters. It’s a miracle they or any women have made it 40 plus years in the music industry. The Twins are very fortunate and very smart to be taking their own path. Other artists would be wise to take notice.
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YouTube has shown me that Heart performed Barracuda on the Tonight Show just two weeks ago!
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That’s amazing David, Ann is 74 years old this year and I believe Nancy is 70. I hope I have that much energy when I’m that age, heck I hope I even see that age. Would be fun to go see them again.
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Tim, that video pretty much shoots holes in my story, thank you for finding that. I have heard stories about the record companies, but that is as LOW as you can get. When you sign a contract you are just a piece of meat. I would assume Papa Rudi, being in that realm of work knew of this and steered the family to where they are today. The Wagner team is talented, smart and HAPPY.
Thanks again Tim!
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Mike,
This is an interesting subject to talk about. I sure am glad the Twins are sticking to the independent route. I know it has to be a lot of work building and sustaining a career this way too but at least you are not putting the creativity as well as the profits in the hands of an executive that probably can’t tell you where a C chord is on a guitar. I’m sure Papa Rudi has advised them well and Mona and Lisa seem very intelligent to me. I bet they have heard stories from people like Steve Harley and John Sebastian too. I can’t help but think of all the stars that have had drug addictions and how much of that was caused by the business they are in. And then you look at Mona and Lisa and they are always happy and smiling and enjoying making their music.
Heart has admitted they sold out to the record companies in the 80’s to sell millions of records. I just hope it was worth it and they did produce a lot of great records. It was still Ann and Nancy’s talent that drove the songs. I actually liked a lot of their music from that period. Some of it really rocked too. This was one of my favorites from that era.
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I agree Tim, I really believe if they signed with a label they could make a boat load of money, but I don’t think you would see the happy go lucky twins we all know and love. The whole family has unbelievable talent. They are in control of their own destiny, and I wish them health, fortune, and most of all HAPPINESS!
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Here’s another of Heart’s timeless classics (to me anyway) that was recorded shortly after the release of the debut Dreamboat Annie album. As always, Ann’s lead vocal is superb, but Nancy’s guitar and backup vocals are totally righteous.
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Daryl,
That’s one of their best right there. They still have great musicians working with them and Nancy is fantastic but that original band had a great sound. Good hard rock but crisp and clean, it was different from most rock bands at the time. Here’s another of my early favorites from Heart.
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Almost makes me wish it was late November already….almost.😉
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Love me some Heart! Ann has an incredible set of vocal chords! And Nancy is one hell of a guitarist.
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There’s nothing like the sound of those early Heart songs. So many nights I would put Dreamboat Annie or Little Queen on my cheap stereo, throw on my headphones and crawl into bed and drift off to sleep listening to that beautiful sound. Here’s a great live version of the title track from Little Queen. It still sounds amazing.
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