Heart (studio album) by Heart

By 1985 Heart had become a dinosaur 70s band and their previous two albums (1983's Passionworks and 1982's Private Audition) did not sell as well as their first five albums, all of which had hit the US Top 10 and were certified platinum. Heart had never been a singles band, but those previous two albums only had one song "This Man is Mine" crack the US Top 40 at #33 ("How Can I Refuse from Passionworks was a #1 Mainstream Rock single with tons of airplay on hard rock stations, but only managed #44 on the Billboard Hot 100).

After the relative failure of those two albums, the band signed on with Capitol and was given a hair metal makeover by the label's management. In addition, the record company made it a condition of their signing that they consider outside writers in addition to their self-written material. The band had a number of "firsts" as a result of these changes:

- Their first album to top the Billboard 200 album chart
- First album to spawn more than three hit singles (It had five: What About Love, Never, These Dreams, Nothin' At All, If Looks Could Kill)
- First album to have more than one Top 10 single (it had four)
- First Number One single (These Dreams)
- First hit single with Nancy on vocals (These Dreams)
- First album to sell over five million copies

'Heart' took a much different direction than the band's previous mix of hard rock and acoustic folk. There is no acoustic on this album -- even the ballads have heavy power chords throughout -- so while the fanbase grew significantly with the popularity of this album, there was a segment of the earlier fan base who felt alienated by the move toward hair metal. This album was closer to Motley Crue than Led Zeppelin, and several of the songs by outside writers lacked the introspective depth of early Heart.

'Heart' is a great album, and the heavier songs like "If Looks Could Kill", "Shell Shock", and "The Wolf" are the epitome of MTV-era hair metal. "What About Love" brought Heart back into the Top 10 started one of the biggest comebacks in rock history. "Never", "These Dreams", and "Nothin' At All" each became huge hits.

Although it's a commercial album, Ann Wilson's voice is at it's absolute peak here. The outro of "What About Love" and "Shell Shock" include some of the sharpest screams/wails of Wilson's career.

Although i enjoy this album there are a couple of minor quibbles: First, several of the hard rockers end with a jam session, but all of them fade far too soon. "If Looks Could Kill", "The Wolf", and "Shell Shock" all have great jams at the end that all should have gone on another 1.5 to 2 minutes. But the bigger issue to me is Ron Nevison's "bassless" production. There is hardly any bass in the mix, the synths are mixed way too far up front, and the production is so glossy that is sounds very dated now.

Minor issues aside, this is a solid album that is a fun listen. It's definitely not deep and mystical like the old classic Heart albums, but it's more consistent a listen from front to back. Like many of the more successful bands such Aerosmith, Kiss, and Alice Cooper, Heart embraced glam metal era and it paid off by giving them new life and propelling them to superstardom. Some will argue that this album was Heart selling out, but without this comeback Heart would have faded into irrelevancy like most of their peers from the 70s, and would likely never have made it into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

From ExTeaSea 12/25/2022 20:48

Proof they sound great as an 80s pop rock act and not just a great hard rock act.

From Jboy56 02/08/2022 16:24

I give this album a better score than the song average would suffice. A solid power-pop album amidst the new wave and dark pop is a welcome addition and deserves a place like other bands. The album sounds great and the band plays tightly.

This album is steeped in the sounds of the eighties and I love it for everything that it is! I still have the tape which I bought the year it came out and if I can pick this up on a good quality vinyl I shall be very happy! 'If Looks Could Kill' and 'These Dreams' are cracking tracks!

From Fischman 12/07/2018 20:59

This is a transitional album between Heart's hard rockin' origins and their sappy arena ballad sellout. Somehow, despite the negative artistic drift, this is still an excellent album with mostly high quality songs. Too bad they would use that success to drive a plunge into the artistic abyss thereafter.

Heart, and their label etc pulled out all the stops to ensure this would be big. This era was the Wilson's least favourite, but this record has sold over 7 million.

From timtooky 05/03/2014 21:40

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From junodog4 06/18/2013 17:11

Heart was fully immersed in the commercial sounds of the 80s... It made them a tonne of money, but I don't get excited about it.

A great comeback for Heart, with the first half entirely consisted of hits that made Top 10. But the songs in the second half all sound the same, despite those songs being good.

Image and style typical of the mid-eighties, but listen to it quite nicely. Of course, this is not a revelation but the typical music of the eighties