September 1975 - Heart and Dreamboat Annie

A little over a month since my last release, a new band joins my library when Heart released their first album "Dreamboat Annie" in September of 1975. I am not a huge Heart fan, but this first album did have two really cool songs that I like. But who is Heart? They were originally a four-piece from Seattle, Washington, but this album was mostly made in Vancouver, British Columbia by the line-up of Steve Fossen (bass), Roger Fisher (electric guitar), and sisters Nancy Wilson (acoustic guitar, backing vocals) and Ann Wilson (lead vocals, flute). Additional guitarist Howard Leese and drummer Mike Derosier became official members by the time of release, but are not on all the songs. Leese is on both songs I have, but Derosier is on neither as each song has its own session drummer. 

The first one I have is the album opener, "Magic Man" which opens with a bass-led simple riff with some cool electric guitar licks overtop. Ann's voice sounds pretty good in the verse and I like it even more when she hits some higher notes in the chorus. The lyrics are about a man who cast his magic spell of love over her and we hear a short guitar solo after a couple verses. After a couple more chorus's we hear a bit of a longer solo that sounds pretty cool. Leese plays the cool synthesizer that we hear and he goes off for some cool stuff while the Wilson sisters "ahhh" in the background. They play one final chorus to finish off this cool intro to the band. The only other song off this album I have is "Crazy On You". Nancy Wilson plays some really cool acoustic guitar to start this one off and her speedy riff leads nicely into the main verse with a heavier electric guitar overtop. Once again, Ann's singing in the verses is a softer, nice voice while she hits her higher notes in the chorus. They move to a new part with some more great acoustic before it's back to the chorus again. They repeat the cycle a few more times as both of these songs were pretty cool, but neither truly amazing. That's it for now for Heart, but I think they've got some more cool stuff up their sleeve.

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