Finally, a career-spanning package!

The Essential Heart (2002.) One of many Heart hits compilations.



Without question, one of my favorite rock bands of all time is Heart. There is literally nothing Ann and Nancy Wilson can't do musically. From their 1976 debut album Dreamboat Annie right up to the modern age, the group has been releasing rock and roll masterpieces covering a plethora of different styles - from folksy rock to straight-up hard rock, Heart has done it all. Many a Heart hits compilation has been released over the years. Read on for my review for one of many, The Essential Heart.



PROS:

THIS IS THE BEST HEART COLLECTION EVER CONCEIVED. Why, you ask? Simple. IT SPANS THEIR ENTIRE CAREER! Hard to believe, but most compilations either cover the period before 1985, or the period from 1985 on. In The Essential collections, there are two types of compilations - crappy, single-disc ones that are vastly inferior to the band's official compilations, or dual-disc, career-spanning ones that put all other compilations the band did to shame. Needless to say, Heart's collection is the latter. The compilation is a two-disc set, with the first disc spanning everything up to and including 1983's Passionworks, and the second spanning everything from the 1985 self-titled album and beyond. There is a song from EVERY studio album on here (that was out at the time of this set's release), as well as plenty of live stuff. You even get a live Led Zeppelin cover - Rock And Roll. EVERY HIT IS HERE. And you get a TON of underrated masterpieces, too! One of my favorite things about this compilation is that it doesn't overlook the all-too-often-forgotten early eighties period, or the mid-nineties album Desire Walks On. You also get some excellent liner notes. For the most part, this set leaves no stone unturned. If you're a casual fan and you only want to get one Heart release, this would be the one to get.



CONS:

The reason I didn't give this compilation a perfect five is because I know that no hits compilation will ever be able to fully represent the Heart legacy (I'm THAT big of a fan.) While this compilation will be PERFECT to a casual fan, I have a few complaints. The omissions of many underrated gems like White Lightning And Wine, Sing Child, Devil Delight, Without You, City's Burning, and Johnny Moon disappointed me. One problem is that there is too much emphasis on some albums and not enough on others. Why does Heart (the 1985 self-titled album) get five tracks on here (HALF of that album), while Magazine only gets ONE? Although I feel this compilation as a whole is superior to the combination of both official compilations, they have something this one doesn't - rare/unreleased tracks. Still, for the most part it's the HITS that matter, so these flaws are ultimately very small.



OVERALL:

If you want all of Heart's hits in a single collection, and you also want to go beyond the hits and see just how great the band is otherwise, The Essential Heart is essential listening. One of classic rock's greatest bands has received a more than worthwhile collection here, which puts all others the band has released to shame. No classic rock collection is complete without the music of Heart. If you're only going to get a single Heart release, make it this one.

Finally, One That Lives Up To Its Name

Sony has been releasing cds from the "Essential Collection" series for years for artists like Billy Joel, Earth, Wind And Fire and Neil Diamond. They were all two discs (except Eddie Money's) and had lots of great tracks, but they left off a number of great songs as well. Then they took a stab at "The Essential Heart" and finally got it right. 37 tracks from the sister duo of Ann and Nancy Wilson, including all 29 of their Billboard chart hits spread out on two discs.



Disc 1 contains all their early hits (from 1976 - 1983). This was the time that they wrote awesome original songs that became rock classics like "Crazy On You", "Magic Man", "Straight On" and the classic "Barracuda". These are classic songs that still sound as fresh and original as they were 30 years ago. The early 1980s' stuff on the second half of disc 1 is not as good, I'm afraid. Other than some songs (namely "This Man Is Mine" and the top ten hit "Tell It Like It Is"), I really don't like the rest of the disc. What would've been nice to include was Ann Wilson's lone solo hit, the top ten duet with Mike Reno, "Almost Paradise".



Disc 2 focuses on their mid 1980s' comeback up to about 1995. I tend to listen to this disc more often than the first one, since it's much more consistent than the first disc (this whole disc is more or less great, the first one has some filler toward the end, as I said before). While most of the songs during the 1980s' up to 1990's "Brigade" were power ballads (e.g., the number one hits "These Dreams" and my personal favorite "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love To You"), Anne and Nancy clearly rememebered how to rock the hell out of a tune, if "If Looks Could Kill" and "Wild Child" are any indication. Toward the end of this disc, the group starts to return to their roots. For example, one of my favorite Heart songs ever, 1993's "Will You Be There (In The Morning)" features the Wilson sisters at their best - raw, stripped down and rocking out, even if they still hadn't returned to writing their own material yet. They continued with the "Barracuda" - like "Black On Black II", "Ring Them Bells" (featuring the late, great Layne Stanley of Alice In Chains) and, to fittingly close this collection, "The Road Home"



This is the best collection of Heart's best ever. If you love music, you have to pick up this set today. Emphasis on have to.

The Ultimate Girl Group Gets The Ultimate Greatest Hits Set

Heart was the first rock and roll group to be led by a woman to break into the mainstream. In fact, they were led by two woman, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson. With 20 top 40 hits and a string of hit albums, they are certainly the ultimate rock and roll group. After numerous slipshod greatest hits collections, fans finally got what they were looking for in 2002 with "The Essentail Heart", a comprehensive two disc sampling of all their best songs that any music fan should own.



"The Essential Heart" includes all of Heart's most well known songs, including "Magic Man", "Crazy On You", "Barracuda" (with one of the all time greatest guitar riffs of all time), "What About Love", "Never", "These Dreams" and "Alone".



To entice hardcore fans who already own these songs are in for a surprise because there are a lot of songs on here yet to appear on a Heart collection. I'm glad the producers of the album chose to include one of my favorite Heart songs ever, 1991's "Secret". From the somber keyboards to Anne's amazing vocals, this is an amazing song. Also, I am pleased that songs like "This Man Is Mine", "How Can I Refuse", "Allies", "Unchained Melody" (yes, the song from "Ghost") and "Black On Black II" were included as well



Coming with this collection is beautiful booklet filled with nice photos and excellent liner notes by music historian David Wild. You can't ask for a better collection of Heart's music than this. You must buy this cd.