4.5 stars - Heart begins their forgotten transitional era

Bebe Le Strange (1980.) Heart's fifth album.



By 1979, Heart had released four albums. On every album, they demonstrated excellent musical ability and diversity. They were one of the few bands of the day that could do both hard rockers and folksy tunes, and practically everything in between. But with the transition from the seventies to the eighties, the music industry was fast changing. Many of the classic seventies rock bands attempted to change with the times - and very few succeded. Following the transition between the times, Heart basically disappeared from the charts (although they'd resurface in a big way about half way through the decade.) Read on for my review of Bebe Le Strange, Heart's first album of the eighties.



As my review title states, this is first Heart's transitional album between two periods. And accordingly, you get plenty of diversity here. There is plenty of classic seventies-style rock that you had come to expect from the band in that decade, along with some of the folksy tunes. But what really makes this album stand out is the new elements that the band incorporated into their sound starting on this album. Nancy Wilson's guitar playing here is faster and more aggressive than what you had heard on earlier albums - the guitar work here is comparable to that of many of the early punk rock bands that were popular in the day and age. This, in many ways, serves as a premonition of the band's popular mid-late eighties material. This album's diversity is arguably its greatest strength. Unfortunately, though, the album was not one of the band's more popular releases, and the album never achieved the same kind of popularity as, say, Dreamboat Annie or the band's 1985 self-titled smash. The two albums that followed this one up gained even less popularity and are relatively unknown. This album marks Heart's entry into a new decade - and it didn't get half the audience it deserved.



Three of Heart's classic albums - Little Queen, Dog And Butterfly, and Bebe Le Strange all got remastered and rereleased. And the new versions of the albums feature expanded liner notes, track-by-track commentary, and even some rare bonus tracks! Do yourself a favor - if you don't have the albums yet, get the remasters.



Bebe Le Strange was the beginning of a new age for Heart, and despite it not being one of the band's larger commercial successes, it was still a very strong release. Although I wouldn't recommend this album for a fan who was just getting into the band, I would certainly recommend it to any tried and true Heart fan.

Heart: Bebe Le Strange (1980)

In February of 1980, Heart delivered their fifth album entitled, "Bebe Le Strange", their first album with Epic Records. Some long-time fans will reveal that they consider this to be Heart's last greatest album. But they are wrong. Heart was still pretty much well on their way. But this album is definitely one hell of an album. Fortunately, Heart modified their look just a bit, where the Ann & Nancy Wilson appeared with their hair permed in that rock perm look.



BEBE LE STRANGE

The first single from the album, and the album's title track. Another one HEART's greatest classic tunes.



DOWN ON ME

I was really impressed with this song. I can't help, but play this one over and over.



SILVER WHEELS

Instrumental song. The second single from the album. Not bad.



BREAK

The third single from the album. I remember the first I heard this song. I heard it when I saw the video on VH1 Classics. I knew that this song was from this album, because of the way Ann and Nancy wore their hair. But I had to wait until the end of the video to find out what the name of the song was. Once I knew the name of the song, I immediately said that this song was a kick a$$ song.



ROCKIN' HEAVEN DOWN

Not bad.



EVEN IT UP

The third single from the album. The music and arrangements are incredible, but the harmonies could have been better.



STRANGE NIGHT

Not bad.



RAISED ON YOU

Unbelievably incredible.



PILOT

Not bad.



SWEET DARLIN'

The fourth & final single from the album. Beautifully performed.



This is definitely an incredible album and all of you Heart fans out there should own a copy. I don't care what format the album is in: CD, CASSETTE, VINYL,... whatever. You all should own a copy of this album.

not bad

This is a nice album. Unlike what others said, it is not the best album ever made and it isn't even the best Heart album. This is Heart's fifth album and is probably their fifth best. I don't see how anyone could compare this to the monster Dreamboat Annie, or even Dog and Butterfly.

This album has three very good songs. Sweet Darlin' is a cross between rock and folk, which Heart does just about as good as anyone. Straight Night is a good straight ahead rocker-something that Heart does well sometimes, and sometimes not so well. Down On Me is a blues number, which is really a new area for Heart. It is always good to see a group explore and experiment and be successful at it. They should have continued doing more of this.

Raised On You is one of the few songs from the first five albums with Nancy on lead vocals. It sounds as if the band is trying to copy Fleetwood Mac (Christine McVie), with a little Grateful Dead (Donna Godcheaux thrown in). Nancy would eventually become the center piece of the band as Ann would gain wait and Heart went after the MTV crowd.

The rest of the songs are mediocre to bad. Bebe le Strange and Even It Up sound just like any other rocker Heart did on the first 4 albums.

Note that Roger Fischer left the group just before this album. His departure does seem to have a little impact on this album. His absence will really be felt in later albums. I always hated him. What was he doing with Nancy, when I wanted the Wilson sisters all to myself.