Flawless

Indeed, the best of the original Heart. The album shows excellent songwriting and musicianship. It was a work on which all band members at the time, seem to finally reach a group apex. I highly suggest you get this album, if no other Heart album. A must have for any collection.

Heart's forgotten 1978 masterpiece

Dog And Butterfly (1978.) Heart's fourth album.



Heart had already begun to prove themselves to the musical world in the late eighties. Hard to believe, a band that went nearly a decade with zero popularity had almost instantaneously started climbing the charts. In just a few short years, Heart had gone from an indie label to a major one, and had become one of America's most beloved rock and roll bands of the day. To the time, Heart had released three albums - 1976's Dreamboat Annie, 1977's Little Queen, and 1978's Magazine. Later in 1978, the group recorded and released their fourth album, Dog And Butterfly. How does this release measure up? Read on for my review.



On this album, Heart takes on a more gritty, down-to-earth hard blues rock sound. The latter songs on the band's previous albun, Magazine, hinted at the band's blues rock roots, and here they give us almost an entire album's worth of tunes that fall into that category. The band's attempt at this style is excellent. One interesting thing the band did to start off the album was to use a live track. Cook With Fire, the first song on the album, was recorded live in Memphis, and it makes for white the attention getter. It's gritty bluesy rock the way it was meant to be heard. High Time, the next track on the album, is another rocker, but it's got a slightly poppy sound to it. It's not unlike Kick It Out from their Little Queen album. Hijinx is one of the most bluesy songs on the album (it's more of a blues song than a rock song), and it's one of my favorites. Straight On was the big hit from the album, and no track really depicts this era of the band better than this song does. It's only natural this masterpiece became such a hit. Nancy's guitar in this song, particuarly in the chorus, really must be heard to be appreciated. Next up we have the title track. This is an acoustic, slow-paced ballad. Prior to their Heart days, Ann and Nancy Wilson played in a folk-oriented rock band, and this is a song that excellently depicts that side of the band. Lighter Touch is one of the more interesting songs featured on the album - it's the happy medium between a rocker from Heart and seventies singer-songwriter pop. Another track you've gotta hear to appreciate. Nada One is another acoustic track, which is pretty similar to the title track. Of course, being similar to the title track, in this case, is a GOOD thing - people tend to overlook the band's acoustic work. Closing out the album is Mistral Wind. Many rock styles are fused on this track, making it a rather interesting closer. The first two minutes or so are acoustic and folksy, but after that it becomes a straight-up rocker. Nancy even serves up some riffs that sound like they'd be more at home in an eighties heavy metal composition! The hard rock continues through the rest of the track, until it shifts back to acoustics for one minute. This track closes the album out excellently. In the end, this is a great album - one of my favorites from the band.



Three of Heart's classic Portrait albums - Little Queen, Dog And Butterfly, and Bebe Le Strange, all got remastering treatment. The remasters even feature track-by-track commentary, expanded liner notes, and of course, bonus tracks. For bonus tracks you get demos, unreleased studio outtakes, live versions, and all sorts of other cool songs. Record companies take note - THIS is how you do remasters! It's just a shame the band's other albums aren't likely to get the same treatment.



Dog And Butterfly is a masterpiece of rock and roll. Heart's last release of the seventies has truly stood the test of time. Although this isn't an album I'd recommend to a new fan of the band (start with Dreamboat Annie), it's still a masterpiece (although you'll appreciate it more if you hear Dreamboat Annie and Little Queen first.) If you're a fan of Heart, do not hesitate to add this album to your collection - it's a worthwhile masterpiece.

Heart: Dog & Butterfly (1978)

Heart was on a roll, getting everywhere with their success. Their fourth album, "Dog & Butterfly", was released in November of 1978, just eight months after the release of "Magazine". This album is a four-star album, because it is not quite as good as the other three, but I still enjoy hearing this album in every way. It went on to show how Ann's voice became even more powerful. It went on to show that both Ann and Nancy were becoming even sexier than they were when they released "Dreamboat Annie".



COOK WITH FIRE (Live performance)

Heart sounds great when performing live, especially on this song.



HIGH TIME (Live performance)

Not bad.



HIJINX

Okay.



STRAIGHT ON

The first single from the album. One of HEART's best songs.



DOG & BUTTERFLY

The second single from the album, and the album's title track. I can't help, but play this relentlessly because of its mellow and subtle sound.



LIGHTER TOUGH

Not bad.



NADA ONE

Not bad.



MISTRAL WIND

The third & final single from the album. Great Song.



This album was Heart's last album of the 70s. It was Heart's last album under the direction of Portrait Records. It was Heart's last album with Roger Fisher. By the time this album was released, Roger Fisher and Nancy Wilson had long since ended their affair. But Roger went on with harrassing Nancy, leading the band to fire Roger Fisher in 1979. This album is just about worth the money. So if you want to buy it, then buy it.



After they fired Roger Fisher, Heart carried on as a quintet with the remaining line-up: Ann Wilson (on lead vocals), Nancy Wilson (on guitars, vocals, and, sometimes, lead vocals), Howard Leese (on keyboards and background vocals), Steve Fossen (on bass), & Michael Deroiser (on drums). After making the slight line-up change, Heart left Portrait Records and signed with Epic Records.