That shocked me, "These dreams" being Nancy... because she never sounded rough like that, before. Her voice reminded me of Debby Boone, truth be told.
I saw them live in 1985, and she wasn't all that heavy. Granted she was bigger than in 1976, but it's not like she was some big tub o lard or anything. She looked like she went from a size 9 to about a 12. Then of course... everyone had to freak out about it, how to hide her body, etc. Totally ridiculous. I think all their best work was behind them. All the stuff from here on out comes across as more formula corporate rock, and not that wonderful creative folk tinged fusion they used to be. This is my favorite song of theirs, so awesome.
Nicks would have killed on "These Dreams" I think. Could easily have been a #1 hit for her as well...
N Not so much early in the era of this album but you can notice a gain in the Nothing At All video, nothing drastic but still given the shallowness of music video and pop stardom. Come Bad Animals and suddenly it's all wide angles, Ann decked out in funeral blacks and her being framed further and further from the camera. I wonder if this treatment is instrumental in their general dismissal of this era of their career even if they sold more albums and had more hits 1985-1990 than they did in the 70s
The worst case would be the Secret video, at the tail end of their comeback run. It was one of those "life on the road" trope videos seemingly every band had, but if you look at the video, Ann is onscreen less than ten seconds. That would be one thing if Nancy was singing lead but it was an Ann song.
Ridiculous how Ann was treated back then. Completely needless. I'll say again, though, that I really enjoy 80s-early 90s Heart. The production was big, but it was also precise. And the songs are great vocal showcases. Heart may not like how 80s they got, but many bands 80s'd much worse.
It was very attractive when done right, not too over the top. I've been looking at some of those Michelob commercials from around 86-89 that Stanley Kubrick was fond of and could not but help kind of wishing girls today would adopt some of those styles again.
These Dreams I really like Heart. I like both the early stuff and the 80s glossy stuff. The 80s stuff suffers from overexposure, which for me causes me not to want to hear it much. I will still crank up "If Looks Could Kill" or "Nothin' At All." The ballads were never my bread and butter, but are certainly well done and listenable. Ann Wilson's voice is stellar. One of the best ever. I have mixed feelings about the treatment of her weight gain. I am personally attracted to thinness and repulsed by fat (Ann in 1973 was very physically attractive to me), so I understand the desire by record company folks to make her as attractive as possible by "hiding" her obesity. I'm sure Ann was the most affected by her weight gain, and it probably caused her embarrassment to have the powers that be try to minimize her weight gain. I also know that for obese people, they do not generally like being reminded of their obesity, and front and center exposure wearing form fitting clothes in a music video would also have likely made Ann uncomfortable, so she may not have opposed the hiding in the videos. There is not really a winning position. I know it can be extremely difficult to lose weight and maintain a healthy weight and lifestyle. Physical and mental problems get in the way. We should love everybody regardless of their struggles and I love Ann and wish her the best. It doesn't change that I am repulsed by obesity, but I am also not in a romantic relationship with Ann Wilson so it really doesn't matter that much. I would never treat anyone different regardless of body size other than in a potential relationship. In that instance how attracted I am is a vitally important part of the process. For music, it means nothing. These Dreams is well-produced but kind of generic and boring. Well-sung and played, but lacking in depth. I really can't say much bad about it but it does little to excite me.
By trying to hide the fact that Ann had gained a lot of weight, they just drew more attention to the fact she had gained a lot of weight. I remember one '80s Heart video where they showed Ann from the side and you could see they stretched out her image to make her seem thinner. It just made the poor woman look like a freak. Did they really think people wouldn't buy Heart albums if Ann was fat? Ann was a hottie in the '70s, prettier than Nancy even IMO, and she was still pretty in the '80s, weight gain or not. Besides, they had Nancy to step to the front and be the hottie when Ann gained weight. Poor Ann's self-esteem must have really taken a blow in the '80s with how the record company treated her weight gain.
Yeah, it's possible, but Stevie had that raspy cocaine-voice thing going in the '80s, and the thing I actually like about the otherwise boring "These Dreams" is Nancy's soft fragile voice. But, charts are hard to predict, especially in the mid to late '80s when bland was king
Regarding Ann and weight, she actually looks great these days. She had gastric 10-ish years ago and she looks closer to her 1970s self than her 80s/90s look
It was very odd when she got heavy. It was like her teeny original face was just surrounded by this large, puffy, skin halo. I've seen people bloat up as they age, but usually not quite like that. Well, obesity remains a mystery. I suspect there are many causes, which is why we've had so many issues trying to find drugs to treat it.
Did she? Does alcohol cause that? I'm trying to think of others who gained weight like that, and if they had a drinking problem...
Not the cause, but a cause . . . but I seem to remember reading in recent years her detailing her struggles with the bottle.
A couple clarifications... Ann Wilson had a lap band procedure, not gastric bypass. She’s never stated if she had it later removed but she was very forthcoming with the details at the time she did it in the early 00’s. Her reasoning wasn’t vanity, but bad back and knees combined with the extra weight made it harder to play with her then young kids. To summarize her thoughts on her weight issues, Ann stated in the Wilson sisters memoir that once Capitol realized how insanely huge their record sales could get via videos compared to just radio, they went into overdrive with the budgets, big hair, and trying to sexualize them. The group began to refer to itself as “Heart, Featuring Breasts.” (Nancy infamously rides a horse in a video just so the director could get in a bouncing shot) This was the same period where the weight issues began. Ann says the explosion of the album basically lead to a year with maybe 2 days off. Otherwise, she was onstage, in the studio, on a video set, or traveling for promotion. This led to late night eating and overindulgence in food and drink. The pressure from the label & some group members mixed in having a number one album just intensified the issue as she used those vices to cope with the pressure. She also points out that video directors did tricks like putting her on a box then shooting her from below, using effects to shrink or distort images, and once using so much smoke because they thought it would make her look 5 pounds lighter that it took 6 hours to perfect it so they could be called to the set.
Blame Capitol Records and MTV/video directors regarding this one because they're the ones who made so much focus on Ann's weight in their subsequent videos. We've had Mariah Carey and Janet Jackson as two well known examples who have yo-yo'd a number of times but it was never the focus the way that they pushed Ann into the background (hiding her in dark shadows, doing shots to avoid her chin, stretching her out, etc.... I did go and watch the three Bad Animals videos on YouTube after this discussion and all of those things happened) of videos of songs she sang lead on to the extent that it caused the sisters to harbor resentment for this chapter in their career, even if it was their most successful. The fans never cared about Ann's weight, but the label was obsessed with it
