Every Saturday, Paste will be revisiting albums that came out before the magazine was founded in July 2002 and assessing its current cultural relevance. This week, we’re looking at the Wilson sisters’ blood-pumping debut, which showed how rock music could be tough and gentle, all while embracing an admiration for both the hard and soft rock palettes that were dominating the zeitgeist in the mid-to-late 1970s.
The title of “female Led Zeppelin” for Heart is a major disservice to the talents and sheer power of the Wilson sisters—and I say this as a Zeppelin fan. I grew up hearing “Crazy On You” play on the radio with my mom, and we both applauded Ann Wilson’s dominant vocal ability and Nancy Wilson’s trailblazing guitar work for future female rock stars. Dreamboat Annie’s cover spotlights the two forces of sibling nature standing back to back, seemingly naked, donning hairstyles I’ve been desperately trying to emulate for years. It’s a picture that’s burned into my brain, and I remember rediscovering Dreamboat Annie when I started trying to learn guitar in middle school. I would scream alongside Ann, trying to mimic the impressive guitar work of Nancy—to little avail. The record has remained a staple in my collection ever since.
Dreamboat Annie is a blood-pumping debut record that showed how rock music could be tough and gentle, all while holding an admiration for both the hard and soft rock tones that were dominating the zeitgeist in the mid-to-late 1970s—with its harsh dividing line amongst other artists being shattered by the Wilson sisters. The Seattle-based band took off to Vancouver to record their debut, initially only releasing it in Canada. Soon after the success of “Magic Man” in the North—hitting #26 on the RPM “Top Singles” chart—their small-time label Mushroom Records expanded to the US solely to capitalize on Heart’s burgeoning success. Though the relationship between Mushroom and Heart was short-lived following tense royalty negotiations and a distasteful ad in Rolling Stone, Heart’s successes were just kicking off.
The mid-‘70s was the perfect era for Heart to begin making assertive and dynamic rock ‘n’ roll alongside their badass contemporaries like Debbie Harry, Joan Jett, Suzi Quatro and Stevie Nicks—all of whom were following in the footsteps of early rock pioneers like Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, the Ronettes and, of course, the incomparable Sister Rosetta Tharpe. It was becoming more common for rock to be fronted by women then, but even still, the in-your-face nature of Heart’s sound was unique for a time when soft rock leaned toward the dominating, folky stylings of singer-songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Linda Ronstadt. Though all these artists were disruptive in their own right, Heart decided that being loud wasn’t just for dudes on Dreamboat Annie, and that’s not to say that Dreamboat Annie is all hard rock. No, it is the perfect blend of both sides of the rock scene of the 1970s, where bands typically remained in one lane. Similar to how the two sisters’ talents complemented each other flawlessly, these two sides of their musical personality crafted a debut full of surprises.
The first time I heard “Magic Man” was in Sofia Coppola’s The Virgin Suicides as Trip Fontaine struts on the screen to that searing opening riff in his brown leather jacket with his mushroom-shaped hair. “Try to understand / He’s a magic man,” Ann pleads over a nasty groove from the rhythm section and, staring at Josh Hartnett, I more than understood. This track is one of Heart’s biggest hits for a reason: All the pieces of Heart thrive together, from Ann’s attitude-laden wail to Nancy’s groovy guitar backing to Howard Leese’s funky keyboard synth to Roger Fisher’s slick guitar solo, making for five-and-a-half minutes of pure rock bliss.
“Crazy On You” pits the strength of Ann’s distinctive howl against Nancy’s fierce acoustic riffage in a magnificent power struggle. Heart’s most intense—emotionally and musically—and iconic track is about Ann’s lover, Mike Fisher, and an exploration of how her devotion to their romance kept her sane during significant unrest in the world. “Wild man’s world is crying in pain / What you gonna do when everybody’s insane,” she questions, referring to the multiple wars occurring across the globe, the energy crisis, Presidential assassination attempts and day-to-day racial and political tensions, knowing the only solace is her burning passion for her man. Amping up the volume and energy from the laid-back, sultry album opener “Crazy On You” is definitive star-power, dynamic production and sheer force.
Often, the album’s first side is considered to be far and away the superior offering from Dreamboat Annie—an understandable take, considering the blistering firepower of “Magic Man” and “Crazy On You”—but there are some major hidden gems on the more experimental side of Heart’s debut. The most Led Zeppelin they ever get is on “Sing Child,” with a head-banging, gritty opening riff and anthemic harmonies stuck in tow. The funkier energy returns during “White Lightning and Wine,” one of the band’s more underrated jams, letting Ann’s cry open up alongside Nancy’s screeching guitar solo. Plus, who doesn’t love a little cowbell in their classic rock stew?
The Wilson sisters get to their dreamier side with slower folk-influenced jams like “Soul of the Sea” and the twinkling, slightly jazzy “How Deep It Goes,” leaning into dramatic orchestral flair. The former dips into the serenity of a rolling ocean as Nancy’s 12- and 6-string acoustic melodies fuse in mesmerizing harmony, while the latter adds layered strings and piano to diversify the musicality of the record. The opener of “(Love Me Like Music) I’ll Be Your Song” could easily be mistaken for a Fleetwood Mac song, as its flawless harmonies become relaxed guitar melodies. However, the track leans away from abstract mysticism by embracing a subtle clap-along arrangement, as Ann reckons with being addicted to love with an admittedly cheesy line: “But if you love me like music / I’ll be your song.”
The album boasts three versions of the titular “Dreamboat Annie,” a sexy, free-spirited woman standing on her own, with the first being the bright-eyed version in “Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child),” who drifts on the “ship of dreams” alongside a stunning cascade of acoustic guitar and a more delicate side of Ann’s vocal ability in dreamy serenity. The second version, simply titled “Dreamboat Annie,” is more magical than its predecessor, with spritely chimes and an unexpected banjo backing as the sisters harmonize about the lonely dreamer who escapes to a fantasy world: “Going down the city sidewalk / Alone in the crowd / No one knows the lonely one / Whose head’s in the clouds.” The final chapter of the adventurous Annie is a dramatic, orchestral reprise with a ’60s romp and stunning flute solo from Ann about the mysterious gal who is “heading out to somewhere won’t be back for a while.”
While the electric sound of Dreamboat Annie wouldn’t have been complete without the accompaniment of musicians Roger Fisher, Howard Leese, Steve Fossen, Mike Derosier and producer Mike Flicker, the vision of the album’s galvanized balance of power was all Ann and Nancy Wilson. The lasting impact of Heart’s debut paved the way for women to scream their lungs out then, and it’s a collection of music that still rocks out just as loud as the men who had been stealing the spotlight from them for far too long. “Magic Man” and “Crazy On You” have become immortal tokens of rock for a reason.
Olivia Abercrombie is Paste‘s Associate Music Editor, reporting from Austin, Texas. To hear her chat more about her favorite music, gush about old horror films, or rant about Survivor, you can follow her on Twitter @o_abercrombie.