When you think of the gods and goddesses of classic rock and roll, who comes to mind? Everybody will likely have a different list. For me, it's pretty easy. Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, Foreigner, Journey, Queen, the Doors, Aerosmith, the Beatles, the Police, etc. Ok, maybe it's not so easy. But one group that will forever be on the list regardless of what mood I'm in is Heart. Ann and Nancy Wilson are my "Queens of Rock and Roll."
So when they released Strange Euphoria, a box set spanning nearly four decades of amazing music, it caught my attention. It didn't hurt that me and my family had a chance to see the band this past July in Denver. {Both of my daughters, ages 7 and 11, are huge Heart fans and can sing damn near any Heart tune that comes across the radio waves.}
The box set includes three CDs, a concert DVD, and a booklet describing every track. CD 1 begins with the song "Through Eyes & Glass" by Ann Wilson & The Daybreaks done in 1969 and a demo of "Magic Man" recorded in 1975 and ends with "Straight On" and "Nada One" recorded in 1978. Many of these songs, like "Magic Man," "Crazy On You," "Love Alive," "Barracuda," "Heartless," "Dog & Butterfly," and "Straight On" I have listened to over and over and over again since discovering Heart in the 1980s—my early childhood was a bit sheltered music-wise. These tracks make up what I think of as the "heart" of Heart, which they've torn apart and rebuilt many times in their rockin' history.
CD 2 starts with "Bebe Le Strange" and "Silver Wheels II," recorded back in 1979-1980, and ends with a demo of "Under the Sky" recorded in 1989 and a live version of "Desire Walks On" recorded at a concert in 1993. So at this point we're in the 1980s era of big hair and MTV, which I'll always associate with "These Dreams" and "Alone" from the Bad Animals album. In fact, while writing this review I decided to pull up the music videos for both those songs. I'm still amazed that we have any ozone after the amazing amount of hairspray used during the decade.
Article comments
1 - Matt Wardlaw
Really fantastic set. I like the fact that the "hits" that are here are often presented as versions that you haven't heard before - demos for "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man" and a killer live version of "Never," featuring John Paul Jones on bass, just to name a few.
Heart fans will love this set - it was totally done right (although I wish the CDs were easier to get in/out of the package). The book of song reflections is top notch, as is the live DVD. Great value, great set.