Heart Album: “Alive in Seattle”

Recorded in Seattle, during the last show of their 2002 Summer Of Love Tour, sisters Ann (Lead vocals) and Nancy Wilson (vocals & guitar)and company put on one great show. New memebers of the group include Scott Olson on guitar (longtime guitarist Howard Leese is no longer with the band), Mike Inez on bass guitar, Ben Smith on drums and Tom Kellock on keyboards. Heart performs some of their classics such as "Crazy On You", "Magic Man", "Dreamboat Annie", "Barracuda", "Straight On", "Dog & Butterfly",etc. and later songs such as "These Dreams" and "Alone". They also do quite a few covers as well. Led Zeppelin is represented here with "Black Dog" and "The Battle Of Evermore", Elton John with "Mona Lisas And Mad Hatters" and The Sonics with "The Witch". Heart also performs three new songs such as "Sister Wild Rose", "Heaven" and "Break The Rock" (all of which could have come from one their 70's albums). Heart still sounds great after all these years (27+) and after hearing this "live" 2-cd set I'm sure you'd agree. Of note, these cd's are designed to be used in both cd-compatible as well as super audio cd players. If you enjoy listening to seventies rock then this cd would make a nice addition to anyone's collection. Recommended!

The girls seem to be having a great time in Seattle, and Mistrial Wind blew my cowboy boots off, along with the Zep and Elton covers. Does it get better than this? Maybe, but I love the DVD everytime I watch it, and love the CD everytime I hit the mountains in my auto. Viva La Heart.

This is a great CD. A great live CD that some people obviously didn't get. Lacluster performances?. Sorry, no. They haven't played like this in years. Quite literally. This is the first time they have been the rock 'n' roll Heart in concert in a while. Some people complain that it sounds like it could of come out of the 70's. That's kinda the point people. This is supposed to be more of the Heart from the '70's, instead of the glossy glam pop of the 80's. Poor song selection?. What do you want them to play?. Nothing?. They hit on most of their classic hits and ones that were missing weren't much to of been included anyways. Some people have no idea about what this was supposed to be. Anyways, A great CD!. Shows that the girls still have it.

Not only doing their smash classics,but the classic standards of Led Zep and Elton John to boot.Robert Plant could not have had a better female compliment than Annie Wilson covering his 'Battle' and 'Black Dog'.Also many of their newer best tunes performed.The Wilson Sisters shine up their old gems and make them sparkle brillantly.Their Seattle show was almost flawless,95% perfect.This is a great live double cd recording,of one of the best classic rock bands still rocking.Don't miss this awesome show!

Anne and Nancy Wilson prove in this five star performance that they still have it. This is a passionate performance and it is obvious that they are having a blast. Anne's voice is a little on the raspy side, as one reviewer complained, but I am into vocals that sound a bit gritty. Bonnie Rait has always had a raspy voice and that is part of its charm. Anne nails every song vocally with total command .

The song set at this show was top shelf, including wonderful performances of their hits, along with "Minstral Wind", "Love Alive", and some new material (well, new to them at the time of the show) that hold its own with the Heart classics. I enjoyed the acoustic set that includes "Alone" (originally recorded by the band, i-Ten), and a powerful take on Zepplin's "Battle of Evermore" where Nancy breaks out the mandolin.

The most fun in this performance is "Black Dog", done as part of their encore. Zepplin purists may cringe at the idea of these ladies taking on this classic, but I must say, they nailed it. Anne's vocals are Plantesque. The guitar tones are so close to the sound of Page's guitar that if you heard this and was told that Anne Wilson sang lead with Jimmy Page, you might believe it. The audience appeared stunned at first, as the band rocked hard through this classic. Wow!

Alright, now for the down side for me. The audio mix is weak. There is a tinny shrill in the ways Anne's vocals were either recorded, or compressed in the mix. The drums sound light, like drums sound on a weak studio mix of a pop song. Nancy's guitar sounds pretty good, but the lead guitar is barely audible at times, even during solos. These sound guys that feel the need to completely separate two guitars into left and right channels drive me nuts. That is not how it sounded at the show, I'm sure. The guitars at the show fill the room with power and guts. But, for us experiencing this concert at home, we get the left and right separation, which at times, washes out a great lead guitar riff. If you mix guitars 60-40 or 70-30 left-right, you still hear that the performers are on different sides of the stage, without the feeling that they are on opposite sides of the stage, when the guitars are recorded 100-0 left-right. Quit doing that!

So, bottom line is this is a five-star show with a three-star sound, and overall a four-star review.