2012 has been a big year for sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson and their band Heart. They released a new album titled Fanatic. They released a career spanning box set Strange Euphoria and published their own biography called Kicking & Dreaming: A Story of Heart, Soul and Rock & Roll. It was also announced earlier this month that they would be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013. So, I thought I would write about the album that started it all for the band….Dreamboat Annie.
The band consisting of sisters Ann & Nancy Wilson, guitarist Roger Fisher, bassist Steve Fossen had started as a touring bar band in Canada in the early 70’s. They originated from the Seattle area. But, because Roger Fisher’s brother(and de facto manager) Michael was dodging the draft in Canada, they opted for pursuing music in the Great White North(around Vancouver BC). Later, members Howard Leese(guitars and keyboards) and drummer Michael DeRosier would join during the recording of this album. The album was originally released by Canadian record label Mushroom Records. Eventually, the album would be released by Capital records after the small Mushroom record company folded. The album was then released in America on Valentine’s day (February 14th, 1976).
I was almost 9 years old when this album was released. I’ve stated before that many of the hard rock tastes I would have later develop in my teenage and college years were from discovering bands through friends, record stores, and various rock magazines. But, I heard this album either that summer of 76 or in 77 by way of an 8-track in my brother-in-law and sister’s Jeep on a family excursion.
For a few years from 76-78, My family of 3 sisters, myself and (then) baby brother along with our parents would drive from North Platte, NE to the small town of Ord, NE and meet up with my uncle Galen(my mom’s brother) his wife and their four kids on Labor day weekend for nice little picnic and get together. My uncle’s family lived outside of my mom’s hometown of Creighton, NE. We used travel to Creighton many times during the summers of my childhood along with various holidays too. But, the trip could be a lengthy one..especially for an antsy kid like me that just wanted to get there. According to Google Maps (in 2012), it takes about 4 1/2 hours to get there. Back then, it seemed much longer(like 5 or 6). So to split up the trip, the two families had decided to meet in Ord as a mid-point. In 1976, my sister Pam and my brother-in-law Steve had been married almost 2 years. They had my niece in the Spring of 1975. I always looked forward to spending time with both of them. I could play with my niece and I could hang with my big sis too. On this occasion, I was either asked if I wanted to drive back with them or I begged to drive back with them. As we drove from Ord, I remember seeing the 8-track for Heart’s Dreamboat Annie in their 8-Track deck and I’m sure we listened to it the entire trip back to North Platte.
Of course, songs like Magic Man and Crazy on You became big hits for the band from this album. I think even my sister Kathy had this on an 8-track too. So, this album was playing a big part as a soundtrack in my life at the time. In Ann & Nancy’s book, one of the issues that they address is that here were two women fronting a ROCK band. This wasn’t a Phil Spector girl group like the Ronettes or a Motown girl group like the Supremes. They weren’t folk singers like Joni Mitchell or a disco diva like Donna Summer that had become prevalent in the mid to late 70’s. For that time in Rock history, two women fronting a Rock band was looked at as a strange combination. Since I grew up with this album, it didn’t seem all that odd. It just seemed to be the norm.
As the 70’s became the 80’s, Heart were still contributing to the world of popular music and would continue to come up with great music on albums like Little Queen and Dog and Butterfly. But, when the 80’s became a decade dominated by image and MTV music videos, the band seemed to be categorized as a band from another decade. They ended up signing with a management company that groomed them for the image conscious 80’s. In 1985, I found myself getting into this band I had once heard on an 8-track player. I bought the 1985 self-titled album that would become their big comeback album and would propel their careers for another 5-6 years.
I remember one beautiful day in the Fall of 1985 where myself and some of my college friends decided to go down to the local park a few blocks from campus. We ended up playing a game of touch football with some other guys. But, as we were playing, someone had a portable stereo/boom box playing a cassette of Heart’s Greatest Hits album. I started hearing all these old memorable songs that I had known. But, at the end of the tape was a cover of Led Zeppelin’s Rock and Roll. My ears perked up as this Zeppelin sound came out of the speakers. At first listen, I couldn’t tell much difference to the Zeppelin version. I soon discovered that Heart had a love for Zeppelin. Since my freshman year was the beginning of my Zeppelin obsession, I suddenly had developed a new love for Heart and their diverse styles.
I don’t want to go through the entire catalog of Heart’s extensive career. I just want to concentrate on the monumental debut album. When I went back and listened to the original album you can hear the freshness and the mysteriousness of Magic Man. It has a 70’s Moog synthesizer sound layered with a great electric guitar. Although, the song is a staple of the band’s live act all these years later, there’s an absolute mystical feeling of the original recording. The common theme of the Dreamboat Annie keeps the album going through a bit of dreamy ethereal transition into the rest of the songs.
As I entered my college years, the sounds of this album lay dormant in the back of my mind. When a chance would come to hear the album again, I would take it. I had actually been enjoying the band’s catalog of music in the 80’s. I was a fan of 1987’s Bad Animals. After the release of the single There’s The Girl, I actually had a dream where suddenly guitarist Nancy Wilson was my girlfriend. It wasn’t one of “those” kind of dreams. It was very sweet and I think it surprised me so much that I practically woke up from the dream instantly. I had bought the single for the song Alone which the B-side was a current live version of the song Barracuda. I loved this version of the song. So, I bought the Little Queen album and anything else by the band. I think I eventually bought a used LP copy of Dreamboat Annie. From there, I obviously played the album at Dustys Records.
I’ve stated before that music has a way of transporting us (through memories) to a place and people we associate with those albums. When I thought of this album, one person I thought of was my college buddy and fellow Dustys employee Bob. I asked Bob what his memories of this album were. Bob’s response was,
“I heard the entire album of Dreamboat Annie at Dusty's and I remember the minute it came on it calmed everyone down. There is something about that voice. The burliest manliest man loves Ann Wilson's voice. Ever met a biker that did not love Steppenwolf and Heart? My other memory is this. When I heard that album I felt like I understood where an entire generation of women in rock came from. It was like finding the source.”
One of the things that’s continually talked about with Heart is the vocal prowess of Ann Wilson. She can have a gentle calmness to her delivery. But, She can also conjure up some deep emotions and unleash a wrath of inner demons that will leave the listener rendered helpless. Whenever I see a story on Ann and something is said about her voice, I find myself nodding my head, agreeing and inevitably putting on some Heart music to confirm what I already know. She is an absolute incredible singer and vocalist.
The Wilson sisters are obvious fans of Led Zeppelin and Ann certainly delivers when challenged with a Zep song. According to their stories in the biography, they would include Zeppelin songs within their sets of the early bar days. They even tell a story when they were playing a club in Canada and Robert Plant and Jimmy Page entered the club while they were performing some of their Zeppelin songs. Their 1995 live acoustic album The Road Home was produced by former Zeppelin bassist John Paul Jones. This Zeppelin connection continues even in 2012 as Led Zeppelin was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in early December and Ann and Nancy performed Stairway to Heaven to honor the band.
In 2007, Heart would follow the trend that many acts of the Classic Rock genre had been doing and performed one of their classic albums in its entirety. Of course, the logical choice for Ann and Nancy is Dreamboat Annie. My college friend and former roommate Matt recorded the live show off of VH1 and made a DVD copy for me. When I played it back, all the great nuances of the original album came back to me. For me, the great surprises were performances of lesser known songs like Soul of the Sea, Sing Child, White Lightning and Wine and (Love me like Music) I’ll Be Your Song. They have added the Stockholm Strings for the performance and Ann breaks out her flute and plays again like she did on the original album. It gives it so much added bravado and emotion to the performance.
I asked Matt what his memories of the album were and he responded:
“I remember my brother Tom had Dreamboat Annie on 8-track...and honestly, all I really remember specifically about it at that time was the album cover...the name always struck me as sort of quirky...and I wondered which one of them was Annie. Of course, Heart was hitting it big in the 80's with their self-titled record, and as many teenage boys were at the time, I was taking notice of the Wilson sisters in their glitzy videos. It wasn't until my college years, when I thought that I needed to expand my horizons beyond Pink Floyd and Bruce Springsteen, that I actually bought it to add to my ever-expanding CD collection...I figured "hey, my brother had this on 8-track, so it HAS to be a good album!" As an aspiring guitar player, I wished so much that I could play that acoustic opening riff to "Crazy On You," but my skills were not even close to being able to pull that off. I knew the hit songs on the record..."Magic Man" - with it's rumored ties to being about Charles Manson, the aforementioned "Crazy On You"...and very vague memories of hearing the title track in my brother's car.
Then, it just kind of sat amongst my CD's for years. It wasn't until I watched the concert on VH1 of them performing the whole album that I re-discovered this gem. I listened to it on my iPod at work, and was completely immersed again into what an amazing collection of songs it truly is.”
There had been a rumor going around that Ann Wilson had written Magic Man about mass murderer Charles Manson. I can’t remember where this rumor started or how rumors like that gain the traction they do. According to the stories told by Ann in their biography (and many others), Magic Man is/was about Michael Fisher who is the brother of original guitarist Roger Fisher and also the band’s early manager. Ann and Michael became romantically involved and the lyrics were actually autobiographical in where Ann had those conversations with her “Mama” back in Seattle.
“Come on home, girl" Mama cried on the phone
"Too soon to lose my baby yet, my girl should be at home"
But try to understand....try to understand
Try, try, try to understand..he's a magic man, Mama...ah...he's a magic man”
Some may say since this album was released back in the 70’s that it sounds dated or it’s a classic rock album. But, for me, the music of Heart is something that I actually listen to on a weekly or monthly basis. They are truly one of my all-time favorite bands. I can listen to them at any time and usually do. So, that being said, their music is timeless for me. When I read their biography I noticed that both Ann and Nancy and love for music is different than the females they grew up with. When they first saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan show in 1964, they wanted to BE the Beatles. Where other girls of the 60’s wanted to be wives or girlfriends of Paul, John, George or Ringo. Ann and Nancy wanted to be those four guys and not be the female companions of the band. For many years, I’ve felt that a lot of females like different bands because the singer or guitar player is cute or dreamy or whatever. Not all but many have expressed those feelings. But, Ann and Nancy’s dreams of BEING the Beatles speaks volumes to me. Now, if a woman ever told me to “Love me like music and I’ll be your song”, we could be talking about someone who understands me and that could be the start of a beautiful relationship. Oh well, a guy can always dream!
In the meantime, SING CHILD SING!!
