As we close out the bottom ten of the Top 40 songs by Happy Rhodes, her penultimate album to date, Many Worlds are Born Tonight starts flexing its muscles with three more songs appearing. In addition, we say goodbye, for the most part, to her four earliest albums, with Rhodes II and Ecto each making an appearance. (There will be surprising return way up in the Top 10!) It’s actually very hard to compare the rich, layered instrumentation of Happy’s later work to the stripped-down acoustic guitar accompaniment of her early work. Both are beautiful but sonically so different. I think in the end I have a preference for the lush, keyboard-influenced works.
#35.) Looking Over Cliffs – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998) – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight is certainly one of Happy’s best albums, and Looking Over Cliffs is the second song from that album to appear in the Top 40. A lot of Happy’s songs are inspired by media and literature, and this song was inspired by the film The Last of the Mohicans, which is a film I really didn’t like at all. However, Happy takes that overblown moment when Daniel Day Lewis screams, “Stay alive at all costs! I will find you!” into Madeline Madeline Stowe’s face, and turns it into something raw and powerful. Actually the lyrics of Looking Over Cliffs are a little overblown as well, but what saves it is the emotion that Happy imbues into the song. The incredible bridge when Happy pushes her voice to give it a ragged edge, while the piano chimes away in the background is pretty chilling. That fretless bass work is pretty awesome too.
#34.) When the Rain Came Down – Ecto (1987) – It strikes me that my favorite song from Happy’s fourth album, Ecto is a bonus track that was not even included on the original cassette release. When the Rain Came Down sounds like it was dropped in from another album altogether, and even beyond the watery title, it is reminiscent of something Peter Gabriel might have sung in his early solo days. A nice tribal drum pattern starts things off before Happy’s voice gently begins the repeating melody in her deeper register. Then as is often the case, the chorus launches Happy into her upper register floating over some lovely synth-washes and gentle acoustic guitar arpeggios. The lyrics are vague, bringing to mind creation myths and how rain renews and refreshes. Last year, a compilation of Happy’s early work was collected on an album called Ectrophia, and When the Rain Came Down was released as the first single. Also included below is a cool live version from a living room concert.
#33.) Roy (Back from the Offworld) – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998) – Another movie-inspired track from Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, this song is all about the Rutger Hauer character form Blade Runner. Roy has the distinction of being the only Happy song to hit the charts, a remixed dance version of the song peaking at #42 on Billboard’s Dance charts. It’s catch chorus, and danceable beat make it one of Happy’s livelier songs, and it features some nifty guitar work as well. I always thought it was one of Happy’s more accessible songs as well. I’ve included the studio track, but also a jaunty live version as well.
#32.) The Revelation – Rhodes II (1986) – One of Happy’s earlier songs, from the Rhodes II album, follows the style of her work at the time: a gently finger-picked acoustic guitar, and Happy’s glorious soprano atop it. The gently falling melody that starts the song captures you immediately, with a plaintive, haunting tone. Lyrically, there are dark undertones, as is also customary for Happy’s early work, as she sings about there being so sun, only moon… nor is there reality. Perhaps there’s only delusion? Or madness? Or retreat for a little girl from something too horrible to comprehend, such as abuse? She seems to be singing to some character named Mikey, and she references “her beast” which call to mind the demonic figures that she painted for her early album cover work. Perhaps this beat, Mikey, is her protector in her world of escape. Either way, it’s a haunting tune that sticks with you long after you’ve listened.
#31.) Winter – Many Worlds Are Born Tonight (1998) – This is a truly gorgeous song that shows off Happy’s deeper register beautifully. Slow, languid, haunting, and dark Winter is lush with keyboard and guitar washes, while Happy draws out individual words until they are nearly meaningless, but suffused with a sadness of loss. Then midway through, some gentle percussion emerges, and Happy starts vocalizing with choppy mouth sounds and high warbling wails before returning to the main thru-line of the song, but something has changed lyrically? Has she moved on? Is winter passing? Or has she descended even deeper into her sorrow? I’ve included the stunning recording from Many Worlds Are Born Tonight, but I’ve also included a live version that also captures her vocal ranges.
People occasionally ask me why I m ake lists of my favorite songs by particular artists. It’s not because I think it’s particularly interesting to anyone but me, although I do hope that someone might stumble across something they’ve never heard before, and enjoy a new song or artist. The first list I did was for Canadian singer/songwriter/rock goddess Emm Gryner. I had been listening to Emm’s music for about 20 years after discovering her through a Happy Rhodes e-mail discussion group called Ecto, and she had released quite a few album. Emm is so prolific, and I am such a bad music listener (I rarely take the time to sit and just listen to music so I can learn titles and remember individual songs) I decided to go through Emm’s entire catalog and note my favorite songs. I enjoyed that process so much, listening to songs over and over to get them in just the right order, that I decided to replicate the process with two of my favorite bands, Fleetwood Mac and Heart.
At some point I realized that I was working my way toward the list of my favorite Kate Bush songs, which made me think about Happy Rhodes. Like Emm, Happy was quite prolific and had a major body of work. In addition, I discovered her just as she was releasing her sixth album, so once I fell in love with her music, I went back and bought her first five albums, all while she continued to release new music. Again, because of my poor music listening habits, I knew there were a handful of songs I really loved and could name if someone asked me, the rest of her music kind of blended together for me as music by an artists whose work I really admired. This was the perfect opportunity to really dig into Rhodes’ twelve albums and listen to each song carefully and multiple times to rank all of her music.
It took me weeks. Even now, as I am embarking on finally writing my list to the public, i suspect I may make a tweak or two as I go along. This was by far the most difficult list to rank to date. Happy’s music is so diverse and varied that I kept moving things around. Of the 120 plus songs I have ranked, I’m pretty confident with the first 75, as songs worthy of attention that I was able to rank. The remaining 45 didn’t stand out to me, so they are rather shoddily ranked. I’m going to focus on my Top 40 Happy Rhodes songs, with just a mention of some of the songs that didn’t make that cut.
Another reason why I was excited to write about Happy Rhodes, is that so very few people have heard her, or even heard OF her. Of the half a dozen people who may read my blog, I’m hoping that one or two may discover a new, incredible talent through this list of favorite Happy Rhodes songs, and of the other few, they already love Happy and we can compare our favorites. Since so few people know about Happy Rhodes, I will start with a brief summary of her musical career.
Happy Rhodes performing with her latest band, a Peter Gabriel appreciation combo, The Security Project.
Born Kimberley Rhodes, she was called “Happy” since infancy, and legally changed her name when she was 16. She was born in Poughkeepsie, NY and spent most of her life in upstate New York. She started out creating music after receiving an acoustic guitar as a gift form her mother at age 11. At age 14 she was performing her own songs at school talent shows, and after dropping out of high school at age 16, and getting her GED, she began her dream of performing by appearing at “Open Mic” nights in the Saratoga, NY area. Happy soon met the owner of a recording studio, Cathedral Sound Studios in Rensselaer, and became a studio intern to learn recording techniques. The studio owner was impressed with Rhodes’ voice and songwriting, and volunteered to record all of the songs she had written to that point.
Soon after, Happy met Kevin Bartlett, a musician who had his own recording label, Aural Gratification, and he released all the songs that she had recorded to date on cassette. She had enough songs to release three cassettes at the same time in 1986, Rhodes Vol. I, Rhodes Vol. II, and Rearmament, followed one year later by a fourth cassette release, Ecto. These first four albums all featured Happy on all instruments, with the first two largely just acoustic guitar and voice, and the latter two adding in electronic keyboards. These releases weren’t conceived as albums, but just collections of her previously written songs.
With the release of her fourth album, Warpaint, Happy was writing new songs, and adding in guest musicians. There was a notable maturing of her songwriting skills as she began to stretch her musicianship and her songwriting to the glorious heights I have come to love her for. She released four more albums on Aural Gratification in fairly quick succession, Equipoise, Rhodesongs, Building the Colossus and The Keep, before moving to another label to release her 10th album a few years later in 1998, Many Worlds Are Born Tonight. Her last album to date, Find Me, was recorded in 2001, but not released until 2007. Recently, a compilation of her early works from the first four albums was released on CD and vinyl on an album called Ectotrophia.
In my next entry I will start to count down my Top 40 songs by Happy Rhodes, but there were so many songs I wanted to fit into my Top 40, that as a preview, here are ten more songs that I just couldn’t leave off. I’ve linked them to their audio/video so go take a listen if you are so moved, and know that there are many more amazing songs to come! And a note for those who don’t know Happy… all the voices you hear are Happy’s, believe it or not.
50.) The Chosen One – Find Me (2007) – From Happy’s final studio release, this is a lovely song about someone who feels left behind as others around her are pairing off in marriage… about buying into the fairy tale and just feeling lonely. Not my favorite lyrically, but it’s a lovely song, and in addition to the link of the recording in the title, here’s a lovely live version.
49.) The Wretches Gone Awry – Rhodes I (1986) – A perfect example Happy’s early work; a simple, gently galloping acoustic guitar finger-picking its way through an enchanted world with Happy’s multiple angelic voices weaving and diving, and singing about the glories and the failings of humanity, and choosing to focus on the good.
48.) Suicide Song – Rhodes I (1986) – Also from Happy’s first release, she wrote this when she was very young, and this was the first song she ever recorded, probably on a portable cassette player. It’s a heart-breaking song that is about exactly what the title states. In addition to the original audio linked in the title, here’s a live version from a concert she performed in 2005.
47.) Dying – Building the Colossus (1994) – Jump forward a decade or so and Happy’s considerably expanded her production level. This lush song isn’t really about death, but about isolation, and fear of showing your heart to the world, and worse, being ignored by someone you love. I love who this song has multiple tempos and styles, something you will see a lot in Happy’s songs. Happy said in an interview that Building the Colossus is her least favorite album. Ironically, I think it’s my favorite.
46.) If Love is a Game, I Win – Ecto (1987) – Heavy synths drive this song that nicely showcases both of Happy’s vocal ranges in a looping melody and storyline about being thoroughly happy in love. Incidentally, Ecto was the last of Happy’s albums that I owned. I thought I had them all, and as I was preparing for this series of posts, I realized that I didn’t have this one, so I quickly dowloaded it I knew many of the songs from various compilations, but I was shocked that I didn’t already own it! Now, my collection is complete.
45.) The Flaming Threshold – Rhodes I (1986) – Another in the vein of Wretches, solo acoustic guitar and Happy using her voice like the instrument it is. I like how Happy pushes her voice a bit on the verses, giving it a little bit of an edge. This one’s about desire, risk and the rush of performance — you reach out, sometimes you’re going to get burned. It’s an interesting point of view told from a performer and looking at the desire in their fans’ eyes and choosing to reach out directly to them. Surprisingly, this one, like Suicide Song were bonus tracks added to Rhodes I when it was released on CD.
44.) Charlie– Find Me (2007) – And here’s the first of the dark rockers that I like to think of as a little bit like juggernauts. They have a heavy power the propels them inexorably forward. This one is taken from her last album, and combines her deep register with some electronically distorted shrieks to tell the story of a disturbed, hopeless man who killed himself, and how the singer could have just as easily been in his position, as could all of us. Happy often writes about literary and film characters, so I don’t know if Charlie is one of those, or completely comes from Happy’s imagination.
43.) Wrong Century– Warpaint (1991) – Happy definitely mines science fiction themes i her songs, and again, whether Wrong Century is based on another work or just Happy’s own imagination, she paints the picture of a man trapped in a woman’s body in another time period than their own. What’s notable about this song is the dramatic duet with Mitch Elrod in the chorus. Their songs blend together really well and make for quite the powerful moment.
42.) If So – Ecto (1987) – In this song, the singer has been horribly hurt by someone she loves. She asks what they did was worth it, and to tell her the truth, and if it’s true, then it’s over between them. Happy’s vocals are deceptively gentle, making the tone of the song much more chilling. The live clip below was taken from a 1996 concert at the Tin Angel in Philadelphia.
41.) I Say – Equipoise (1993) – My first experience with Ms. Rhodes came when I purchased Equipoise. I’m very glad my first impressions of her were during this period, when she was experimenting with more lush, expansive production, combining her gentle acoustic work with more electronic sounds. This album closer is a gentle ode to claiming one’s own identity and cautioning others not to rely on the words of others to define them. It’s another complex song where Happy creates multiple sections that all have a different feel, while maintaining the themes and gentle momentum of the song as a whole.
Before closing, I need to thank Vickie Williams, Happy’s greatest evangelist, without whom it is doubtful that I would have ever heard of her. Many of the audio and video clips linked here from YouTube are courtesy of Vickie and her husband. Thanks for bringing some Happy into my life, Vickie!
My #4 book of the year, hasn’t technically even been released yet. I got an advanced reader’s copy of it from Random House, and it should be released in early March of 2019. I devoured my #3 book in a few days… just the type of book to feed my fandom, bringing my love of books and geekiness about music together. Technically not as well written as many of the other books around it, but for sheer enjoyment, it earns its slot.
#4 – How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
Imbolo Mbue follows up her magnificent debut, Behold the Dreamers (#12 on my list of Best Books Read in 2016) with a hard-hitting tale of corporate destruction and governmental greed from the perspective of the community in a small African Village whose way of life faces destruction. When an American corporation begins drilling for oil under the fictional village of Kosawa, the effects are felt for generations to come. Crops shrivel, water becomes tainted, and children begin to die. Over the course of three generations, various attempts are made to stop the destruction of their way of life, from pleading with the corporate interests, to violence, to radical organizing, uncovering layers of opposition.
Mbue follows one family in particular, which centers around Thula, a young woman who gains the incredible educational opportunity to go to college in New York, where she encounters others like herself, willing to take on the man in the hopes for a better future. She gives up everything for her community, while it hangs on by a thread back home, her cohort of age-mates struggling between subterfuge and out and out revolution to repay the violence and injustice suffered through the years.
With a keen eye and heart examining responses from villagers across educational and generational lines, Mbue uses an impartial eye, even while breaking our hearts for this communities suffering. Her writing is powerful and pulls no punches as the reader is taken on a harrowing journey as a tiny village tries to overcome insurmountable odds for a better life.
#3 – Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac’s Most Anticipated Album by Ken Caillat and Hernan Rojas
For a rabid Fleetwood Mac fan who’s been listening to the albums for over 45 years, saw them in concert a handful of times, find their music to be incomparably amazing, and am endlessly fascinated by the individuals who make up this messy, emotional trainwreck of a band, this book is like crack. I haven’t finished a book this quickly in years. Tusk was the band’s 12th album, but it was the follow-up to the mega-monster smash, Rumours. The anticipation around this album was stratospheric, and the 13-month recording session nearly tore the already fragile band apart.
Authors Ken Caillat, producer and engineer who worked on Rumours, Tusk, Live, Mirage, and The Chain box set and Tusk recording engineer Hernan Rojas, give a detailed behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating what at the time was one of the industry’s biggest disappointments, and in hindsight, is lauded by many as a bold, creative step forward by a multi-talented band.
It was the late-70’s, and Fleetwood Mac were mega-stars. Every excess was their for the taking, and the took a lot. Already known for their intense, soap opera-like personal relationships that were devoured by millions through Rumours, and just coming off a year+ long concert tour, the band immediately began the grueling process of creating the follow-up album in a state-of-the-art recording studio with enough food, alcohol, and drugs to keep an army happy. The band’s history with drugs, particularly cocaine, is well-documented, and it just boggles my mind that they were able to operate at all under the influence of so many mind-altering substances. I wish they reach out to Pacific Ridge – a reliable rehab center. Add to that singer/songwriter/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham’s creative evolution, that while perceptive and brilliant, was housed in the mind of a rich and successful, spoiled, damage, emotionally-stunted musical genius. While the rest of the band, and the crew that surrounded them arrived at the studio ready to make another album that met and surpassed the exquisite pop-rock Rumours, Lindsey had other ideas. Latching on to the burgeoning punk/new wave sounds that were starting to herald the coming of the 80’s, Lindsey want something entirely different, and he threatened to walk if he didn’t get it. Caillat and Rojas alternate in telling the tales of this process, which works well because they experienced the same scenarios, but came at them from different perspectives and temperaments.
What makes this book so delightful for me, is the fact the two authors are first and foremost, recording engineers, who go into rich, geeky detail about each song on the album: how it was recorded, the instrumentation, how they were created. I found that endless fascinating, and thrilled the long-buried musician in me. After each song was worked on and discussed in the book, I found I had to go listen to it and note the details and anecdotes that were revealed in the book.
The detailed aspect of the creation and recording of the album lifted it out of what could have been just a sensationalistic celebrity tell-all. Not that it didn’t occasionally slip into that territory, and not to say I didn’t occasionally enjoy that aspect, the film did lag a little when the boys would veer off into their sexual escapades and dalliances. Rojas did spend the latter months of the recording of Tusk in a passionate affair with Stevie Nicks, who, I might add, just ended her affair with drummer Mick Fleetwood months before, and who, two years prior, ended a 7-year relationship with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. It made for some interesting personal dynamics. I am pleased to say that this book only served to make me love Christine McVie even more.
To sum up, as a massive admirer of Fleetwood Mac and their music, and quite specifically, the Tusk album, this book was nearly everything I’d hoped for. It certainly provided a glimpse into the working and personal lives of world-famous musicians during a very particular time in history that was fun and rewarding.
As we close in on my Top 10 Heart songs, we really start cookin’ with fire (true Heart fans will get that reference.) This upper half of the Top 20 really starts to illuminate the power of their fourth studio album, Dog & Butterfly as well. Surprisingly, one last hit from their big-hair days makes an appearance alongside a couple of classics, and a couple of deep cuts that have some lasting fan-appeal.
#15 Who Will You Run To? – Bad Animals (1987) written by Diane Warren
If it hasn’t become apparent to the handful of people reading this blog, Heart’s mid to late 80’s mega-hit phase was definitely not my favorite. I hung in there with them, buying their albums, even seeing them in concert, but other than Ann’s outstanding vocals, they were basically playing the role of any pop-rock band out there. Still, just because they used hit-writers to provide their biggest songs, doesn’t mean there weren’t any great songs in that batch, and Diane Warren’s Who Will You Run To? form their ninth studio album, Bad Animals, is definitely my favorite of the batch.
Released as the follow-up fo their #1 smash Alone, Who Will You Run To? shucked the power ballad formula, and went straight to a balls-to-the-wall anthem; rock and roll with an 80’s pop sheen. It kept Heart in the top 10 by climbing all the way to #7 on billboard’s Hot 100.
While I enjoy the chunkiness of the guitars and Howard’s soaring guitar solos, and the heavy driving of the drums, I have to imagine this song would have been completely unremarkable without Ann Willson’s vocals and attitude to power it. Just listen to the very first verse, as she sings, “You’re not sure what you want to do with your live, but you sure don’t want me in it. Yeah you’re sure the life you’re living with me can’t go on one single minute.” You can hear the sneer on Ann’s lips (in fact, in the video, there is definitely a faint hint of a sneer) and the disdain dripping from each word. Then with each couplet before the chorus, she just winds it up and hits it right out of the park. My particular favorite moment is in the second verse with “You can tell the whole world how you’re gonna make it. You can follow you heart but what you do when someone breaks it.” The way she attacks the word world is just glorious. Then she’s got that one crazy ad lib toward the end that comes out of nowhere in the stratosphere… Ann totally own this song and that really is what puts it so high on my list.
I even like the video, despite the fact that it follows the, make sure we keep Ann’s face in tight close-up or shoot her from far away or in shadow so no one can see she’s not skinny, and the let’s have Nancy roll around on the ground with her guitar, trends of the time. The abandoned warehouse setting provides a nice grungy backdrop. Ann looks incredible… her final smile at the end of her closing line is transcendent (she’s probably glad the video shoot is almost over). And I like the way they use five different styles of animation to bring to life the five “bad animal” icons that represent the band members from the Bad Animals album cover. Youtube won’t let me embed the video, so here’s the link https://youtu.be/fM44F-M78Vs. Below is the remastered audio version.
#14 Dog & Butterfly – Dog & Butterfly (1978) written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis
From their very first album, Dreamboat Annie what made Heart special was the way they blended the Led Zeppelin-esque, hard-rock they loved so much and did so well, with folk-influenced acoustic numbers that evoked everything from Tolkien to the Beatles. With their fourth release, the formalized this duality by creating an album (this was back when we listened to records and we had an A-side and a B-side) with a rock & roll side, they titled “Dog,” and an acoustic side they titled, “Butterfly.” The album beautiful encapsulated the duality of the band, even allowing for some songs to transcend the categories and incorporate both acoustic balladry and hard-rocking yowling.
The title track, of this fourth album, Dog & Butterfly, is a beautiful example of the finesse and skill at which the Wilson sisters and their writing partner, Sue Ennis, approached this type of balladry. Ann was inspired by watching her dog playing in the backyard by chasing a butterfly as it flitted through the garden. The dog was never able to get close to capturing the butterfly, but she never gave up, she just kept trying. Ann turned that into one of Heart’s most enduring ballads about just keeping at it, not giving up. Dog & Butterfly also features some of Heart’s finest lyrics, and Nancy’s delicious, 12-string acoustic picking and ethereal harmonies are in top form. I also loved the flanged electric piano… flangers were so big in the late 70’s/early 80’s.
After a string of hard-rocking hits, Heart released Dog & Butterfly as the second single off the album. Apparently the broader audience who fell in love with Barracuda and Crazy On You weren’t quite ready for a Heart ballad, but it still charted a respectable #34 on Billboard‘s Hot 100, and #33 on Billboard’s Adult Contemporary chart. Despite this, Dog & Butterfly has remained a staple in most Heart concert set-lists. I’ve included the studio versio off the 1978 album, and a live version performed by the two sisters in 2002. I love the emotions in Ann’s voice. She’s just incredible.
#13 Magic Man – Dreamboat Annie (1975) written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
And here come some of the classics. Magic Man is Heart’s first song to catch radio’s attention in Canada, but it’s probably not the first Heart song I ever heard, and least knowing who or what I was listening to. I first discovered Heart when my brother bought the Little Queen album, which was their second release in the States. By then, I was familiar with Barracuda from the radio, and I fell in love with the album, sneaking it out of his room frequently to listen to it. When I found out they had an earlier album, I did go out and buy Dreamboat Annie myself, and promptly fell in love with it as well. Two tracks on that album were familiar to me, Crazy on You and Magic Man, but only as songs I knew I had heard on the radio before. Crazy on You was actually released first in the U.S., and cracked the Top 40, but Magic Man was quickly released as the follow-up single and it climbed all the way to #9 on Billboard‘s Hot 100 singles.
Kicking off the album with that chunky rhythm and a rip-roaring guitar lick that is actually recorded backwards, the song is instantly enthralling. It’s a bit of a trippy song about a young woman who falls in love with a man who seems to cast a spell over her. Ann’s vocals are powerful and assured, but there is also a naivety and innocence there that you rarely hear from the singer. Ann wrote the song about her then boyfriend, Mike Fisher, who started as one of the band’s guitarists, and went on to become their manager and sound engineer. Ann followed him to Canada when he moved there to avoid being drafted. The lines about her Mama begging her to come home reflected Ann’s real mother who helped keep her daughter grounded while she was under the “spell” of this “magic man.” Without the context of the song, it can be interpreted as a man preying on a younger, innocent girl/woman, and perhaps there is a little bit of that taken from reality, but the two shared a lengthy relationship, and many of Ann’s songs were inspired by Fisher.
Instrumentally the song is powerful and pretty amazing. It really shows off the guitar work and interplay between Roger Fisher and Howard Leese. The two trade guitar solos throughout the song, and Nancy’s powerful acoustic guitar adds a lot of texture. Magic Man is also remembered for the minimoog synthesizer solo Howard throws in at the end of a nearly two-minute instrumental break. In fact the extended guitar solos are cut out of the single version , which is really a shame, but coming in at over five minutes, that was too long for singles radio. I’ve included the original audio track from the album so you can really hear the nuance of the music, but I’ve also included a live version with the original Heart line-up to really see them perform this classic.
#12 Cook with Fire – Dog & Butterfly (1978) written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Roger Fisher, Sue Ennis, Howard Leese
While Dog & Butterfly was Heart’s fourth album, it was the first “new” album by the band that I bought, and I was really excited when it was released. And when I put the needle down on track one, with the crowd cheering in the background and the announcer welcoming Heart to the stage to the pounding of tribal drumbeats, I went nuts. I found out years later with the release of the remastered CD that the song was recorded in the studio and the crowd was overlaid to give it a live feel, which was a little disappointing.
Cook with Fire is a great opener, a get-em-up-on-their feet song with really great, heavy drum work, stellar rock & roll vocals from Ann, and how fun was it to hear Nancy killing it on the harmonica. Some nice bass work and guitar licks really round out the sound, and let you know, as in a lot of their early work, that this is a band, not just the Wilson sisters, but an accomplished, and talented rock & roll band. It’s really quite a straightforward rock & roll song, but it really gets me going. Love the bridge, I think the lyrics are fun, and again, Ann’s vocals kill it. I lover Roger Fisher’s subtle guitar solo too. And the way Nancy’s harmonicas fills in so beautifully. Plus, this was opener on their 1979 Dog & Butterfly tour, which happened to be my first ever rock & roll concert. When the drums started pounding and they came running out on stage, it was like I was transported to another world. The first of hundreds of amazing concerts throughout my life
I leave you with the psuedo-live album version, and a live version from 2010 so you can see how they changed things up and let Ann do a little flutework in place of the harmonica!
11 – Mistral Wind – Dog & Butterfly (1978) written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis, Roger Fisher
From here on out, I had a lot of trouble ranking these amazing Heart songs. I so wanted to get Mistral Wind into the top 10, but that tail-shaking filly sitting at #10 just wouldn’t move out of the way, not even for a storm whipped up by a mistral wind! Even so Mistral Wind, the Dog & Butterfly closing track, and a high point of any Heart concert at which it’s performed is truly one of Heart’s best songs. The way the song is structured is perfect, the dynamics, the calm, gentle, acoustic opening that whirls into the tempestuous mid-section, then winds back down to a gentle outro… it’s quite the piece. A fitting number as well to be the final Heart song that featured Roger Fisher, and boy, does it ever. Perhaps the stormy relationships in the band that were ending were channelled through this song. Nancy and Roger ended their relationship, and Ann and Michael Fisher ended theirs as well. Sure to shake up the dynamic of any band.
A mistral wind is a strong, cold, northwesterly wind that blows from southern France into the Gulf of Lion in the northern Mediterranean. In the song, quite clearly, the singer is a sailor, and her lover is represented by the mistral wind, it helps power her and move her, but it can also roar into a tempest that can take control for better or for worse. Heart uses the lyrics to create the three-part structure of the song, with Nancy’s excellent acoustic guitar work powering the first section. When Michael DeRosier’s powerful drums kick in around the 2:30 minute mark, you know a storm has struck. Roger’s dizzying guitar licks that swarm around Ann between each line perfectly capture the storm tossing his lover across the stormy seas. Howard’s moog synthesizer lends an ominous quality as the music starts to calm and Nancy’s acoustic guitar starts to take over again. DeRosier’s incredible drum fills representing the last gasps of the fading storm. Then, I swear, at the 5:00 minute mark, the music so perfectly represents the sun breaking through the storm clouds I can see it in my mind. A couple last lingering crashes of thunder before the wind dies and the seas is calm again.
Ann’s vocals. I didn’t even mention Ann’s vocals as they just go beyond human understanding in this song. Gentle, soothing, angelic to start, then building to banshee-like wails as the storm overcomes her. It’s pretty incredible vocal work, and fits the song exquisitely. Nancy Wilson said, “In many ways, this is the ultimate Heart song. It’s very visual and a lot of care was put into painting a musical landscape that described the words.” She also noted that it was one of her favorites from Dog & Butterfly because it dealt with “love, inspiration, and insanity all at the same time.” So very true. It’s also a beautiful homage to their inspirations, Led Zeppelin.
I couldn’t decide which live version to leave you with in addition to the original studio track. There are two that really stand out. I chose the 2002, Live in Seattle recording, because I think Ann sounds the best, and there’s a nice energy to the performance, but I also highly recommend the 2007, Dreamboat Annie Live show, which has a nice string section accompanying them. The link to that video is https://youtu.be/VQdPKMS9V4U.
As we enter the Top 20, we get an interesting mix of songs from all different points of Heart’s career. Nancy reaches her highest point on the chart with one of the songs on which she sings lead. There’s early Heart, there’s mid-career, big hair Heart, and there’s another Heart remake from their latest studio album. Still a little scattershot, but it all starts to coalesce soon. For now, let’s take a look at the Top 20!
#20 City’s Burning – Private Audition/Beautiful Broken (1982/2016) written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis
Harkening back to Dreamboat Annie’sCrazy On You, City’s Burning kicks off 1982 Private Audition album with an explosive acoustic guitar riff before the drums and electric guitar lead into Ann Wilson’s wailing vocals. It was a much needed kick in the pants for Heart to go back to their rock ‘n roll roots, yet interesting in that it’s one of the few rockers to appear on the album.
Inspired by the murder of John Lennon, City’s Burning tells the tale of a young, urban couple who hear the news and each react in their own, very different way. The energy and desperation are clearly evident in the vocals and instrumentation. The song also makes a nice tempo and mood shift midway through the song that leads into Howard Leese’s soulful, yet blistering guitar lead. It’s also one of the last times to really enjoy the amazing contribution that drummer Michael DeRosier brought to the table.
Why the band chose to re-record City’s Burning in 2016 for Beautiful Broken, I can’t tell you. Perhaps it was to reflect the times we were living in with Trump about to take office? This version is significantly different, rather than improved. The band sadly ditches the galloping acoustic guitar, and adds in the middle-eastern influenced keyboards that Heart favored at the time. The drums and electric guitar and heavy and ponderous giving the song a chunkier and dirtier feel that works. I like how you can hear the original electric guitar riff faintly in the background of the second chorus, and the bridge is more soulful, with some Rhodesy electric piano added in. The band surprisingly downplayed the lead guitar solo, but they threw in a new build with the guitar riff at the end. While the re-recorded version sounds more mature, I do miss the youthful enthusiasm of the original.
City’s Burning reached No. 15 on the US Billboard Rock Albums & Top Tracks chart, after the disappointing performance of the lead single, This Man Is Mine, and it was the song that received the most praise on the album reviews. Joe Konz of The Indianapolis Star wrote: City’s Burning promises to be one of the most powerful songs of the year. Its deficient lyrical clout is more than offset by an instrumental tour de force, a ravaging display of heavy metal rock. Equipped with the same harsh phrasing, shrill vocals and heavy-metal guitar licks that powered the hits Magic Man and Barracuda, City’s Burning runs roughshod over everything else on the band’s new LP.” While I tend to disagree with the harshness of that last statement, it is the highest charting song for me from Private Audition. Included below is the promotional video featuring a pretty stilted performance by the Wilson sisters and Mr. Leese, and the audio version of the re-recorded cut.
#19 Nada One – Dog & Butterfly (1978) written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Sue Ennis
Nada One marks the first of six songs to appear in my top 40 from 1978’s Dog & Butterfly album. It’s the final album that founding guitarist Roger Fisher was a member of the band, and also the album they toured for when I first saw them live. It’s the fourth studio album released by the band climbing to #17 on Billboard’s Top 200, and certified double platinum. Instead of an A and B side, the vinyl release featured a Dog side, focusing on their more rock-oriented sound, and a Butterfly side, which featured some gorgeous ballads and acoustic numbers. Nada One appeared on the Butterfly side.
This is also the highest appearance of a song featuring lead vocals by Nancy, whose softer, less assured vocals served the song well. This is a really complex song featuring several different movements, really fantastic acoustic guitar work by Nancy, another great orchestral arrangement by Howard Leese, and some of the most gorgeous harmonies between the two sisters. Nancy recounts where the unusual introduction came to be. “Sue’s (Ennis) family owned this Hammond ‘Piper Auto Cord’ keyboard system we nicknamed the ‘Fun Machine.’ It had started breaking, and it made these trippy sounds when it did. It was a machine in distress…” It sets a tone of mystery and leads into Nancy’s acoustic finger-picking intro that is really exquisite.
The instrumental break a little past the halfway mark is a decided change of tone, and another opportunity for Nancy to show off her guitar work, before Michael DeRosier’s stellar drums come rolling in and it all crescendos into another tonal shift where Ann and Nancy kill it with the vocals. That last big vocal sequence rolls through my had at night before I fall asleep and gives me shivers. Is it my imagination, or does Nada One channel a bit of Joni Mitchell?
#18 Heartless – Magazine (1978) written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson
Kicking off both the 1976 unauthorized release, and the 1978 authorized release of Magazine, Heartless is a full throttle rock & roll number, that also introduces that underlying funk feel that Heart uses so well in subsequent tracks such as Even it Up and Straight On. The song opens with a synth-laced, electric, finger-picking intro before a burst of drums kicks things off with some intricate bass and guitar interplay that sets the tone for things to come. I love the way Hearts often uses cool guitar lines rather than chunky power chords, as illustrated so beautifully on this number.
Ann’s killer vocals power this song through, as she blasts her lover for being heartless even as she finds herself coming back to him over and over. Add in Heart’s trademark harmonies, fantastic drumming, a return of the Moog synthesizer made famous in Magic Man as well as some funky, honky-tonk piano, some tight, funky bass riffs leading into the guitar solo, and a scorching double lead riff with Roger and Nancy, and it all adds up to a rock & roll classic that you can dance to. Great ending too.
Despite the myriad troubles with Mushroom Records that I’ve detailed earlier in this blog, the song, released as the first single from the authorized release, climbed to #24 on Billboard‘s Hot 100. Because of the reissue of the approved recording, only 5 months passed before the release of their subsequent album, Dog & Butterfly. I’ve included the re-recorded authorized version fro the 1978 release of Magazine, then a jacked up live version from very early Heart days for your viewing pleasure.
#17 Wait for an Answer – Bad Animals (1987) written by Lisa Dal Bello
It’s a little surprising that a cover song should make so high on my list, but this cover is pretty special. First recorded by Dalbello (yep, she’s back again) on her 1984 album, Whomanfoursays, Wait for an Answer seems to be written specifically for Ann Wilson to sing. It helps that while the timbre of their voices are wildly different, Lisa Dalbello and Ann Wilson’s voice share power and range, and what seems dark, ominous and strange when sung by Dalbello, seems anthemic and filled with emotion when sung by Ann Wilson. Like many Heart songs, Ann’s massively overwrought vocals are really the main reason why this song makes it so high on this list. The instrumentation is fairly standard, with grand synths, pounding drums, and minor chords the start fairly sparsely, allowing Ann’s voice to fill the spaces, before spiraling into a vertigo-inducing crescendo skyward leaving everything in the dust hurrying after her. Honestly, it just keeps getting bigger and bigger, higher and higher, you can’t believe she’s still going… and it’s really just because she can.
There’s just the right note of concern and desperation in both Ann’s voice and the music, which serves the mysterious lyrics well. There’s some sort of danger, and the singer is trying to both protect someone and find them at the same time. It’s all very cloak and dagger which suits to song perfectly. Big credit to Dalbello for writing this song, and putting her own spin on it, but in this case, I’ve got to say I like the cover better than the original. Ann owns this song. I’ve included both so you can make up your own mind, although Dalbello also gets point for performing the song live and still nailing it.
#16 Back to Avalon – Desire Walks On/The Road Home (1993/1995) written by Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson, Kit Hain
The seventh and final track to appear on my Heart Top 40 from the Desire Walks On album, got an extra boost for the live version that appeared on their 1995 album, The Road Home. As I’ve mentioned before, Desire Walks On marked Heart’s tentative departure from the hit-making machine reliance that Capitol Records forced on them. While their one big single off the album, Will You Be There (In the Morning) was in that mode, the video was a marked departure, even with Nancy on lead vocals. No more cleavage bearing tops, or Nancy wagging her butt for the camera, no more hiding Ann in the shadows, or intense close-ups of her face to hide that fact that she wasn’t a toothpick. All this to say, if you read the lyrics of Back to Avalon, it’s clear that this is their “fuck-you, we’ve had enough of MTV-style, over-emphasis on image and hit songs” song.
“Forgive me I can’t stay here anymore I’m leaving with the tide This evening another breeze blew round my door and stirred me up inside I’m breaking out of this tired old spell I braved it out long and so well And the phoenix flies straight and high back to Avalon Now I’m on my way back where I belong, gonna go down with the sun Back to Avalon”
While you could interpret this as being about a relationship, knowing the journey that Heart had been on since the start of their career, and the marked change in direction heralded by Desire Walks On, I think it’s clear it’s about their career. And it’s got such a great opener with Nancy showing her stuff on the acoustic guitar again. Great three part harmonies with Ann, Nancy and Howard on the chorus, and I love when Ann lets loose for the bridge. Classic acoustic Heart all the way. Take a listen to the original studio track from Desire, then check out an acoustic, live performance from the mid-90’s (which also give you the intro to Crazy On You as a bonus). I actually might like the live version better!
At some point I realized that I was working my way toward the list of my favorite Kate Bush songs, which made me think about Happy Rhodes. Like Emm, Happy was quite prolific and had a major body of work. In addition, I discovered her just as she was releasing her sixth album, so once I fell in love with her music, I went back and bought her first five albums, all while she continued to release new music. Again, because of my poor music listening habits, I knew there were a handful of songs I really loved and could name if someone asked me, the rest of her music kind of blended together for me as music by an artists whose work I really admired. This was the perfect opportunity to really dig into Rhodes’ twelve albums and listen to each song carefully and multiple times to rank all of her music. 
Soon after, Happy met Kevin Bartlett, a musician who had his own recording label, Aural Gratification, and he released all the songs that she had recorded to date on cassette. She had enough songs to release three cassettes at the same time in 1986, Rhodes Vol. I, Rhodes Vol. II, and Rearmament, followed one year later by a fourth cassette release, Ecto. These first four albums all featured Happy on all instruments, with the first two largely just acoustic guitar and voice, and the latter two adding in electronic keyboards. These releases weren’t conceived as albums, but just collections of her previously written songs.
#4 – How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue
#3 – Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac’s Most Anticipated Album by Ken Caillat and Hernan Rojas
