Heart Strange Euphoria
Epic Records/Legacy
For many their affiliation with heart goes back to the eighties when the band were having massive worldwide success with tracks like These Dreams, alone and albums like the self-titled Heart album and bad Animals; this to those in the know is known as the “Hair Years”. Heart as a band goes all the way back to the sixties and I was lucky enough to get into the band when their first album Dreamboat Annie came out in 1976. I first saw the band on a British TV show called Supersonic where they were performing the songs Magic man and Crazy On You. I was hooked
Fronted by the two Wilson Sisters Ann (Vocals) and Nancy (Guitar) they looked and sounded so different. I followed the band through the various albums and concerts until by the time of the self-titled Heart album in the mid-eighties I really was an old hand in terms of Heart
For those of us who go back far enough Strange Euphoria is the boxed set we always hoped the band would release. Across the four discs you get some amazing music much of it previously unreleased and a whole lotta info in the accompanying book. I say “Whole Lotta” with my tongue firmly in my cheek because the band really did model themselves musically on their heroes Led Zeppelin. Nothing wrong with that particularly as the band only took their influence from the band and made it their own.
In terms of content the three CDs and one DVD are a treasure trove of material and I was knocked out to hear the two demos of the two songs that first got me into the band (Magic Man and Crazy On You) and there is an amazing version of Barracuda from a BBC broadcast but there is something from all the relevant eras of the bands history so there will be something for everyone whenever the” heart attack” struck. So the eighties are also well represented.
The final disc is a DVD and it is a television performance from the band filmed for a small television company in 1976 right at the start of their success. The band put in a fantastic performance featuring songs from Dreamboat Annie and the quality is way better than the many bootlegs that I have seen in the past so another tick in the box as for reasons to buy Strange Euphoria
The band is currently on tour in America through until September so I urge you to visit their website and check out the dates. They are a quite magnificent band in the live arena and certainly a band well worth catching.
There will be an official biography from Ann and Nancy Wilson in the autumn and I am also hoping for a new album and a British tour maybe next year but in the meantime Strange Euphoria is the ultimate Heart “Fan” release. There has been a lot of time love and effort put into this boxed set and it shows. If only all boxed sets were fan oriented like this.
Heart Official Website :http://www.heart-music.com/
Win A Copy of Strange Euphoria Here:
http://www.classicrockradio.eu/win-a-copy-of-the-new-heart-boxed-set-strange-euphoria/
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