Disco de Heart: “Greatest Hits: 1985-1995”

When I first got this cd a couple months ago I doubted that I would like it that much but now I love it. This collection of hits from 1985-1995 starts out with "What About Love" which made it to #10. It is a well written song about telling someone what you are really feeling about them. "If Looks Could Kill" lets Heart show that they can get up in your face as well as they can sing about love, which made it to #54. "Never" is another one of those up in your face songs from the band that hit #4. The #1 hit "These Dreams" is one of the mellow, laid back songs on this album and is very well written. "Nothin' At All" is one of the first songs of Hearts that I heard and it is also one of my favorites that made it to #10. Another #1 hit from the group "Alone" is another one of the stand out tracks on this compilation. "Who Will You Run To" (#7) shows off Ann Wilson's vocal abilities. "There's The Girl" (#10) is a good song with great vocals and says that not all girls are what they seem to be. "Surrender To Me" which was a track with Ann Wilson and Robin Zander made it to #6 is a corny song if you ask me. "All I Wanna Do...." (#2) caused a little controversy when it first it was also originally written for Don Henley. "I Didn't Want To Need You" (#23) is a good song about not needing someone after it was a little too late. "Tall,Dark,Handsome Stranger" is a good rock track that is meant to be loud when played if not it is boring. "Stranded" (#13) is a good song about a break up and how everything isn't like a fairy tale. "You're The Voice" was another song that stirred up some controversy love and not war theme and "Back To Avalon" is a acoustic and contrasts some of their other works. "Black on Black II" is an awesome song that reminds me of "Barracuda" with it's guitar riffs. "Will You Be There" lets both of the sisters share mic in this song which made it to #30. "The Road Home" is a live track on the album. If you like Heart and want the hits without buying a mess load of cds this is for you..

In 2000, Heart had released their seventeenth album entitled, GREATEST HITS 1985-1995. This album is sort of like a sequel to 1998's GREATEST HITS (which only featured Heart's greatest hits from 1976 to 1983). Another great compilation from Heart, where this album gives us fans two surprises that we all would really like.

WHAT ABOUT LOVE

From the album HEART (1985). Great power ballad. This is one of my favorites.

IF LOOKS COULD KILL

From the album HEART (1985). Another great tune. Don't ever cheat on Ann Wilson.

NEVER

From the album HEART (1985). Another awesome hit.

THESE DREAMS

From the album HEART (1985). My all-time favorite Heart song appearing on another Heart abum once again. As they always say, "...A Classic Never Dies..."

NOTHIN' AT ALL

From the album HEART (1985). Great song.

ALONE

From the album BAD ANIMALS (1987). Another great song. I even on this single on the original 45, where the B-Side is the live version of "Barracuda" from their 1986 tour.

WHO WILL YOU RUN TO

From the album BAD ANIMALS (1987). Great song.

THERE'S THE GIRL

From the album BAD ANIMALS (1987). Great song.

SURRENDER TO ME (performed by Ann Wilson of HEART & Robin Zander of CHEAP TRICK)

From the original motion picture & motion picture soundtrack, "Tequilla Sunrise" (1988). This is the first of the two surprise I mentioned. An Ann Wilson duet that is now featured on a Heart album. This would be Ann Wilson's second duet with another recording artist, where the first duet was between Ann Wilson and Mike Reno (of Loverboy), where they recorded "Almost Paradise" for the 1984 hit film, "Footloose". This is a great ballad.

ALL I WANNA DO IS MAKE LOVE TO YOU

From the album BRIGADE (1990). Another great power ballad that should have been #1, not #2.

I DIDN'T WANT TO NEED YOU

From the album BRIGADE (1990). Great song.

TALL, DARK HANDSOME STRANGER

From the album BRIGADE (1990). Love this rocker.

STRANDED

From the album BRIGADE (1990). Not one of my favorites, but a rather good song.

YOU'RE THE VOICE (Studio Recorded Version)

Live version from the album ROCK THE HOUSE LIVE! (1991). This is the second of the two surprises I had mentioned. The live version of this tune was featured on Heart's live album entitled, ROCK THE HOUSE LIVE! and it was the only version of the song that you could get. This studio version always existed, you just couldn't get a copy of it until Heart included it here. Great studio version. Heart did a good job with making both versions sound exactly alike.

BACK TO AVALON

From the album DESIRE WALKS ON (1993). Not one of my favorites, but an okay song.

BLACK ON BLACK II

From the album DESIRE WALKS ON (1993). Awesome rocker. Can't get enough of this song.

WILL YOU BE THERE (IN THE MORNING)

From the album DESIRE WALKS ON (1993). Great tune.

THE ROAD HOME (Live)

From the album THE ROAD HOME (1995). Great song.

This album features many of Heart's greatest hits of the '80s (Heart's best era in my opinion) and '90s. This is a great album to have, even if you only buy it just to have all of Heart's album.

Made in CAN in 2000, Serial# 72435-26803-2-0, Playing Time 72:58

This is the second consecutive "greatest hits" package to be released by Capitol (the 1st in 1997 was called "These Dreams"), but this time it focuses on the 1985-1995 era only.

The problem is, 10 out of these 18 tracks were on its predecessor, so I feel a bit cheated. On the other hand, this time we get the tracks in chronological order, which I believe is the best way to follow the changes in sound the band went through.

Here's a quick run-down of the sources for the material, all included in full-length form:

Tracks 1 to 5 from "Heart", tracks 6 to 8 from "Bad Animals", track 9 is from the soundtrack to "Tequila Sunrise" (Richard Marx recorded his own song on his 1997 "Flesh And Bone" album); tracks 10 to 13 from "Brigade"; track 14 from a promo-only single (studio version, but available live on "Rock The House"; also a HUGE hit in the mid-80's by John Farnham, on his "Whispering Jack" album); tracks 15 to 17 from "Desire Walks On"; track 18 is the uncredited and last track on "The Road Home".

Most of the material on this disc is "electric" and shows the powerful side of Heart. The trouble with "greatest hits" or "best of" albums is that you're favorite might not be on it. If you're fairly new to the band, especially from that era, this CD puts together many of their most popular songs from these albums. And it sounds a lot more cohesive than the "These Dreams" CD.

Highly recommended to the HEART newbie, but also recommended for the fan because I don't think you'll skip any of the tracks on this CD.

Not that we haven't had a lot of this before, but I think that this is the most superior hits collection yet. A lot of songs I hadn't heard in years and had forgetten how good they were. The remastering is excellent as the tracks sound as if they were just recorded yesterday. I combined this album with the recently released "Greatest Hits" in one of those 2-CD jewel cases and made a double album out them. They're great together or as stand alone albums.

This CD is the greatest of Heart's work!! I enjoy every song and the older ones bring back memories. I look forward to more of their great songs.