“These Dreams”/“Never” by Heart

Discussion in 'Music Corner' started by PsychedelicWheelz, May 15, 2020.

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  1. Bobby Morrow

    Bobby Morrow Senior Member

    I love the Heart album and these two songs are the highlights of it. In fact, Never was the track that made me buy the album.
     
  2. McLover

    McLover Senior Member

    I wish these were also recorded to the same standard as "Dreamboat Annie", where I can listen to the music, and not be distracted by the excessive compression and lack of the "Breath Of Life" that this album had in droves. Ron Nevison's Crunchy sonics are a major weakness on what's a strong album, with great material and performance. And my system is far from excessively forensic, which would make this recording a painful listen on.
     
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  3. Lilainjil

    Lilainjil Forum Resident

    Power ballads normally have me reaching for the dial, but the chorus of These Dreams will always stop me in my tracks.
     
  4. George P

    George P Notable Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Agreed!
     
  5. krisjay

    krisjay Psychedelic Wave Rider

    Location:
    Maine
    Decent enough pop songs, sure, Mistral Wind they ae not.
     
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  6. Michael

    Michael I LOVE WIDE S-T-E-R-E-O!

    add Nothing At All, If Looks Could Kill...they are my 4 favorites! yes, I really dislike the remixes...
     
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  7. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Dreamboat Annie does sound wonderful but I've always enjoyed Ron Nevison's work too, as different as it is.
     
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  8. manxman

    manxman Forum Resident

    Location:
    Isle of Man
    Unlike Jefferson Starship's transition into Starship, Heart still sound like themselves on the self-titled album and at least 50% of it is decent. (Among the lesser-known tracks, I'm rather fond of "Nobody Home", which is a lovely ballad and has lyrics that sum up a lot of relationships.) Bad Animals has a great opening double whammy with "Who Will You Run To?" and "Alone", but I could take or leave the rest and it sounds less like Heart than its predecessor. Brigade was a surprising return to form, with two stunning original compositions ("Under The Sky" and "I Love You"), but it's a long, unfocused album and would have been better had they removed the two Diane Warren songs.
     
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  9. Thorpy

    Thorpy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Ripley, Surrey, UK
    There's The Girl gets my vote for being a very beautiful, melancholy melody sung so well - great single! Obviously from the Bad Animals album...
     
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  10. Curveboy

    Curveboy Forum Resident

    Location:
    New York City
    The original mix of Never has almost no guitar either...the more popular "remix" version has the guitars up in the mix.
    I remember I had the cassette first, and then I got the vinyl and was like "what did they do to Never?"
     
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  11. George Co-Stanza

    George Co-Stanza Forum Resident

    Location:
    America
    I like that one a lot as well. The first two songs from Side 1, Who Will You Run To and Alone, were the big hits, and both are nice songs, but the rest of Side 1 was where it was at for me: There's That Girl, I Want You So Bad and Wait for an Answer.
     
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  12. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Wait For An Answer is a candidate for Ann's best ever recorded performance. She's remarkable on it.
     
  13. bataclan2002

    bataclan2002 All You Need Is Now.

    I never realized there was an original mix of “If Looks Could Kill.” It really stomps all over the remix, which sounds way too thin and bright. They should have left the album alone and issued the remixes for radio and single releases, IMO.
     
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  14. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    On over 99% of songs, I'd agree, but not this one. Ann's pipes are not needed and Nancy's more ethereal sound is the perfect fit.
     
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  15. kwadguy

    kwadguy Senior Member

    Location:
    Cambridge, MA
    These are good pop hits, but, as someone else noted, they're pretty much faceless readymades that sound exactly like the year they were released.

    I think Alone rises above the rest, and it requires a good vocalist to pull off. As a result, it has a bit more of Ann's personality.

    These mid-80s producer albums are fine but are missing individuality. They are better than the 80s albums that came before them, but don't sound like the work of an artistic entity. Dreamboat, Magazine, Little Queen, Dog & Butterfly: Those are albums that sound like they were made by a functioning band.
     
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  16. MikeVielhaber

    MikeVielhaber Forum Resident

    Location:
    Memphis, TN
    Ann and Nancy co-wrote over half the songs on the album. And among the ones they didn't, they weren't all previously done by someone else, thus not covers. Hardly an entire album of covers.
     
  17. classicrockguy

    classicrockguy Forum Resident

    Location:
    Livingston NJ
    Wow I haven't listened to "Bad Animals" since the 80s but i can still hum the chorus of "Who Will you Run To", great album opener ! The self titled also has a great opener, "If Looks Could Kill", equally memorable

    the self titled album was better as an album though
     
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  18. mbrownp1

    mbrownp1 Forum Resident

    They're decent songs but they aren't really Heart...Ann and Nancy hate them.
     
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  19. walrus

    walrus Staring into nothing

    Location:
    Nashville
    Covers of largely unknown songs, donated songs, what's the difference? They're okay songs, just...Chicago or Starship could've just as easily gotten them and they'd have been basically the same in the end (and probably had the same chart success). Just kind of a bummer, considering how great some of those bands were before the song doctors and (in Chicago's case) studio musicians came in.

    Also, as far as I can tell, a Wilson sister is only credited on 4 songs out of 10, if you don't count the "Connie" ones, which is super weird, but makes me think they didn't have anything to do with writing it beyond maybe a couple lyric changes or something. And of course, none of the 4 actual credited Ann/Nancy songs were released as singles or really got any notoriety or promotional push at all.
     
  20. Fischman

    Fischman RockMonster, ClassicalMaster, and JazzMeister

    Location:
    New Mexico
    I always liked the Heart s/t.

    Sure, it's nowhere as unique.... or good... as the 70s albums, but even as generic 80s pop/rock, the songs are quite good.

    I saw Heart on this tour, not intentionally though. I had seen Heart on the '81 tour and they totally stunk up the place, so I had no intention of ever seeing them again. I was interested in the opening act and got tickets, then hung around for Heart, half expecting to walk out early. But they put on a helluva show... very much back in form. So even if the album was rather generic, the group wasn't, which was cool.

    My only real complaint with the s/t is it is transitional... more directly signaling the transition from that great 70s band to the total capitulation to mass produced generic rock. The s/t was the gateway to Bad Animals and Brigade, both of which are completely intolerable (yes, including Alone, despite Ann's vocal chops). Very much like how I liked Jefferson Starship's Winds of Change, but you could tell the winds would blow sour on the next release, which they did.
     
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  21. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    Agree to differ! :righton:
     
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  22. Eric_Generic

    Eric_Generic Enigma

    Location:
    Berkshire
    Well, this was my introduction to Heart and I still love those mid-80s albums. It's a sound, and an era, that evokes strong emotions and reactions in me. The songwriting, whoever it's by, is top-notch and I love the vocals by Ann and Nancy.

    It made me fan, and opened the door to the rest of their work. But I still love Heart and Bad Animals the most.

    EG.
     
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  23. Trader Joe

    Trader Joe Forum Resident

    Location:
    New Hampshire
    Great songs.
     
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  24. JDeanB

    JDeanB Senior Member

    Location:
    Newton, NC USA
    I believe "Never" and "There's The Girl" are the only two hits on Capitol that Ann or Nancy had a hand in writing.
     
  25. carlwm

    carlwm Forum Resident

    Location:
    wales
    They do that Led Zeppelin in drag thing well enough, but it's those Eighties albums that I go back to most, regardless of what The Wilsons think of them.
     
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