Rocktrospectiva: Heart's Succesful Self-Titled Album Turns 40

Released on 21 June 1985 "Heart" was the 8th., studio album by US band Heart, the album was a contination of the band's transition into mainstream rock, this album become Heart's only record to top the Billboard 200 to date, spawning five singles such as the band's first number-one single, "These Dreams", along with four other singles: "What About Love", "Never", "Nothin' at All", and "If Looks Could Kill". 

The Seattle rockers had a decent succesful early in the 80's, scoring a top 40 with "How Can I Refuse?" & "Almost Paradise." This boosted Heart but ironically they had little difficulty courting new label suitors, with Capitol duly stepping in and offering the band the deal.

With their new label, Heart’s conscious decision to streamline their sound, with the acoustic and folk-inclined textures of their early work sidelined in favor of the leaner mainstream rock sound they would pursue on their next studio album: a rebirth of a record they would title simply Heart. The album was produced by Ron Nevison. 

Nevison gave Heart a vigorous, radio-friendly polish, his crisp production eschewed the worst of the opulent studio techniques which have since dated many big-budget rock and pop albums from the mid-80s. Some stilted keyboard sounds aside, the album’s ten songs have aged acceptably well, though the inherent quality of the songwriting itself has been the biggest factor in the record weathering the ravages of time. Heart eventually bequeathed a formidable quartet of US Top 10 hits, with Ann Wilson playing the smoldering, revenge-plotting woman scorned to perfection on the adrenalized "If Looks Could Kill," before three of her team’s classic hits followed in quick succession. Featuring a cameo from Grace Slick, the lingering "What About Love?" and the anthemic, positivity-fueled "Never" both went Top 10, while "These Dreams" a show-stopping ballad with lyrics supplied by Elton John wordsmith Bernie Taupin gave Heart their first US No.1.

The album had many others power tracks, in metal style on the "The Wolf" and  "Shell Shock," and again paraded their diversity on the swaying, keyboard-swathed “Nobody Home.” Critics were nice praising the songs and producction, the band was enjoying a sustained success, topping the US Billboard 200 and spending an impressive 92 weeks on the chart, earning a Grammy Award nomination, while Heart were gearing up to deliver their next smash multi-platinum smash, Bad Animals. According to Ann Wilson: the album was self-titled because the band "didn’t write a whole lot of the songs on there, so that aspect of closeness with the work was gone and it was much harder for us to come up with a title that was real."

 

Heart Track List: 

 

1. If Looks Could Kill

2. What About Love

3. Never  

4. These Dreams 

5. The Wolf  

6. All Eyes

7. Nobody Home

8. Nothin' At All

9. What He Don't Know

10. Shell Shock