Their are noteworthy tunes abound. Disc 1 walks through their 70's work, Stand-outs being the mystical feel of "Magic man", the heavy distortion of Barracuda". And the folky riff of "Crazy on you". The latter being the ideal opener. After a brief dry spell, the hits kept coming, which brings us to Disc 2. Many of these songs have a lighter, more radio friendly sound. Ballad-fare such as the sentimental and heartfelt (no pun intended) "These Dreams".
If there's one questionable omission, it's from the "Little Queen" album: the acoustic "Cry to me". Which was also released as the B-Side to the "Barracuda" single. It definetely deserves it's place alongside these classics and it's absence made my head itch. So for that I must deduct a star from my rating.
Anyways despite that, "The Essential Heart" is definitely one of the better titles in the series. In hindsight given Sony's botched Ozzy Osbourne, Bob Dylan, Blue Oyster Cult, and Billy Joel compilations, they for once got it right. If you're on a budget looking for Heart's music, "The Essential Heart" is the way to go.
One being the expanding to two CDs (CD1 being the Epic and Mushroom material, 1975 to 1983) and CD2 being the Capitol stuff, 1985 to 1995, much kudos going to Capitol in being great sports in allowing all 19 of these songs to be licensed over to Sony), with all tracks in chronological order, which is cool in following the evolution of the band.
Two being CD1 + CD2 themselves, serious improvements on the individual Epic "Greatest Hits" and Capitol "Greatest Hits 1985-1995", correcting the errors in missing songs, remastering, etc, making this 2CD collection REALLY Essential Heart indeed!! Overall, the whole thing played together nonstop packs a serious wallop, an incredible journey to be taken.
The songs themselves are all classics, and to be honest, the overly slick, somewhat corporate 80s material holds up better than one would imagine. Heart gets VERY close to the line of formula and banality here, but never crosses it, thus retaining the soul of what makes Heart HEART (the soulful, powerful voice of Ann + guitar grace of Nancy, their way with a good song, killer riffs, etc). They seem to make these Diane Warren songs, and LA songwriter tunes THEIRS. I mean, it's hard to imagine anyone other than Heart do "These Dreams" so beautifully, correct??
Now, to sum it all up, Heart is like a female Led Zeppelin, and this comes through, espesh in the early, rawer, more homespun material, like "Crazy On You", "Magic Man", "Barricuda", and even the orchestral "Dreamboat Annie". The 1st disc is a cool summation of their Epic and Mushroom years. The 2nd disc is the 80s-90s Capitol stuff, from their self-titled 1985 comeback album that landed FOUR top 10's in a row, up through their 1994 largely acoustic live album, "The Road Home", produced by none other than Led Zeppelin's John Paul Jones!! What comes around, goes around, it seems!!
Lastly, besides their wonderfully written material, Heart also has a winning way with a cover tune, evident on "Alive In Seattle"'s numerous covers of Elton John and Led Zeppelin. Here on "The Essential Heart", here are the covers included, just to cover up some confusion. I just wish with some of the more obscure ones, they were more VOCAL about which songs are actually covers and whom they were originally by...here goes:
CD1--1-- "Rock & Roll" (Live): of course Led Zeppelin!!2-- "Tell It Like It Is": Aaron Neville3-- "Unchaineed Melody" (Live): of course The Righteous Brothers!
CD2-- (here's where people may not be so aware of...)1-- "Wild Child": this song was by UK band ROMEO'S DAUGHTER, from their obscure, cool 1988 self-titled album on Jive, produced by Mutt Lange, sounds like a female fronted Def Leppard!!2-- "You're The Voice" (Live): this song was by Australian superstar John Farnham, recorded on his 1986 comeback album "Whispering Jack". He was a onetime member of the Little River Band, and this song was also featured on that 1989 collection "Greenpeace: Rainbow Warriors", which is probably where Ann + Nancy first heard this great song. I did too, and I thought it was a fantastic song!!3-- "Black On Black II": originally by Lisa Dalbello, known as just Dalbello. Her song was first released on the 1986 soundtrack to "9 1/2 Weeks", in a demo version. The fully-realized recording was released on her 1987, delayed to 1989 in Canada, album "She". Now, why is Heart's version called "Black On Black II" when it was originally just called "Black On Black"?? Because Ann + Nancy changed the lyrics, maybe they wanted to add their own something, I don't know, their own lyrics are cool and they do work. Lisa has worked with them in the past, both on that 4-woman tour of Ann, Nancy, Debra Dobkin and Lisa, BUT Heart also covered Lisa's 1984 song "Wait For An Answer" on "Bad Animals". Lisa's original was on her 1984 career-turning opus "Whomanfoursays", along with "Gonna Get Close To You", that Queensryche covered on their 1986 CD "Rage For Order". Lisa Dalbello is still kicking...4-- "Ring Them Bells" (with Layne Staley of Alice In Chains): originally by Bob Dylan. 'Nuff said.
Sure, I found, maybe 3 errors in the booklet, but they are minor, so I just corrected them myself with a copy machine, very simple...
Heart are classic and still going...most excellent, the new songs are GREAT!!!!