Much in spirit of the Aerosmisth of a while back,I'm trying to tell some of you pups that some of the
bands of the 1970's were MUCH better than you have been led to beleive....if you judged Aerosmith purely on post-1980 shit, well, gag!......"Love in the Elevator", geez......I know how hard it must but for you youngsters to believe that they once were actually GOOD, but check my post, and ya gotta see what I be talking about.....that is why yer uncle actually saw em THREE times on the stage, not because of "Rag Doll" or some shit like that
Heart (shut up) falls into the same category....for a while in the 70's they were a fine, hard rock, Zeppelin-influenced band, some awesome FM-album tracks ("Magic Man" and "Barracuda" were among the best, "White Lightning and Wine", "Kick it Out" were fab as well), although they were a bit short on REALLY good material and their albums always came up lacking (to a point), they really did bring the noise and were a fine AND sexy 1970's treat, at least for this guy! I saw THEM three times as well, and this was well before their Top-40 era of the 1980's.
OK, to briefly summarize the albums I'm NOT posting here anyway: "Dreamboat Annie" was the best (4 star, I guess...) "Little Queen" was nearly as good, maybe 3.5 star....."Magazine" is not very well appreciated, but I'd at least give it 2.5, the same as "Dog and Butterfly", and "Bebe LeStrange", maybe 3......and that's it.....the remainder I will live without as they venture over into the dreaded "pop-rock" field, shit like "How Will Get You Alone" (answer: STOP YELLING AT HIM) and "Who You Gonna Run To) are fucking shit that Pat Benetar or someone would kick out of bed. But for a little while, they were the shit, in particular (but not TOTALLY) as a live act, and like I did with Aerosmith, let me attempt to drive that point home with some kick ass live boots you may not have had the pleasure of hearing....for a little while, they were BAD ASS, I would have ate-out EITHER of the Wilson sisters on stage in the middle of a solo, and they really, really did bring the Zeppelin-like chops, on stage but also on record....this is in memory of THAT Heart, not of the ridiculous pop act of 1985 or so plus.....
So what do I got fer ya? Well, let us start with "Double Live Gold" a vinyl rip that rocks like a mofo, STOLE it off a kid I knew back in the day (2 bucks!).....not "dated", but is from around the "Dreamboat Annie" era, featuring rowdy versions of (my fave) "White Lightning And Wine" (sample lyric: "In the morning light you didn't look so nice, guess you better hitchhike home!"......eeeeeyyoooowwww!).......also an extended "Magic Man" an early version of "Devil Delight", and an excellent cover of Led Zeppelin's "The Rover" . Fine, fine bootleg.....Next up is "Secret Heart Illustrated" (Chicago)...incredibly there are (out of 8 songs) THREE Zep
covers ("The Rover", "Rock N Roll", and "The Battle of Evermore", apparently they were attempting to be Zeppelin Jr. in concert, but it also includes the staples from "Dreamboat Annie", it's a decent (not as good as the previous one) disc.
Also from 1976 is a set from Shorline Washington, believe it or not with yet another slavish Zeppelin cover, (not kidding) "Stairway to Heaven:, talk about wearing one's influences on one's sleeves! And ALL this was before "Barracuda" had even been released!
So, by 1977, I would assume "Little Queen" had come out, as this Philadelphia set has a lot of material from that LP (the great "Barracuda" and "Kick It Out",also "Little Queen", "Love Alive" and more, they knew where their bread was buttered) and still loaded the set with "Dreamboat Annie" material and encored with "Rock N Roll"......hey, they were LIMITED, I'll be the first to say that they didn't exactly have a wealth of material at their disposal.
Another set from 1977 is from the Universal Ampitheater, again, lots of material from the first two albums (their best albums, of course, so that is OK), "Magic Man" and "Barracuda" back to back gets pretty frantic, I still kinda wish they'd have forgotten "Rock N Roll" was ever written, but so it goes....
Next up, from 1978, we have a fine BBC broadcast.....STILL basically the same setlist, but a fine
performance nonetheless, including a good "Crazy On You" encore. We will wrap this up with a 2-disc set from 1979, Passaic New Jersey, which at least contains some fresh material ("Cook With Fire", "High Time", "Straight On",) a good bit of stuff from (the underrated) "Magazine"and from "Dog and Butterfly"......yes, there is ANOTHER version of "Rock N Roll"I GUESS they thought they were "good at it"....they weren't, but hey.......
OK I found a Portland Oregon set from 1987 (!) out of all my shit, good point of comparison as it contains SOME classic material ("Barracuda", "Crazy On You"), while also focussing on more recent, crappy material like "Alone" and "What About Love" and "Who Will You Run To" (secret guilty pleasure: I KINDA like that one), compare the two eras and see what I mean.....in my high school years (late 70's) we LOVED some Heart, both their rocking tunes and wanting to do em, then Annie got REALLY heavy (I'd still do her) and their music went downhill quickly (I DO wish one of these boots had a live version of "Bebe Le Strange"'s fabulous "Break"), but hey gals, you gave it a hell of a run, seriously not kidding.....one of my high school faves, and for all their (many) flaws, I'm glad they were there, and I than them.....AND I hope that you guys my age APPRECIATE these fine boots, and you know-nothin' kiddies, I hope you learnt somethin'.....Heart could bring the fuckin goods, in small doses...they were far from perfect, far from even being "great" but they were part of the soundtrack of MY highschool years, and for that, I am appreciative. Hope you gals are well, wherever you are!
DOUBLE LIVE GOLD-01 White Lightning and Wine/02 Dreamboat Annie/03 Crazy On You/04 Sing Child/05 Mother Earth Blues/06 You Shook Me/07 Without You/08 Magic Man/09 I Got the Music In Me/10 Devil Delight/11 The Rover
SHORLINE WASHINGTON 6/1/76-01 Intro/02 White Lightning and Wine/03 Dreamboat Annie/04 Silver Wheels/05 Crazy on You/06 Sing Child/07 Blues Medley/08 Without You/09 Magic Man/10 I've Got the Music In Me/11 Devil Delight/12 The Rover/13 Stairway to Heaven
KANSAS CITY 1976-01 Station Intro/02 Intro/03 Countdown/04 Heartless/05 Sing Child/06 Dreamboat Annie/07 Silver Wheels/08 Magazine/09 Song of the Sea/10 Devil Delight/11 Magic Man/12 Crazy on You/13 Crowd and DJ/14 White Lightning and Wine/15 Rock N Roll/16 Crowd and DJ/17 Without You
PHILADELPHIA 8/10/77-01 Sylvan Song/02 Dream of the Archer/03 Love ALive/04 Say Hello/05 Sing Child/06 Kick It Out/07 Silver Wheels/08 Dreamboat Annie/09 Soul of the Sea/10 Little Queen/11 Devil Delight/12 Magic Man/13 Barracuda/14 Crazy On You/15 White Lightning and Wine/16 Rock N Roll
UNIVERSAL AMPITHEAER 9/1/77-01 Kick It Out/02 Sing Child/03 Silver Wheels/04 Dreamboat Annie/05 Little Queen/06 Magic Man/07 Barracuda/08 Crazy On You/09 White Lightning and Wine/10 Rock N Roll/11 Without You
BBC 10/1/78-01 Intro/Silver Wheels/02 Dreamboat Annie/03 Little Queen/04 Commercials/05 White Lightning and Wine/06 Rock N Roll/07 Kick It Out/08 Sing Child/09 Commercials/10 Magic Man/11 Barricuda/12 Crazy On You/Outro
PASSAIC NJ 10/1/79DISC 1-01 Intro/02 Cook With Fire/03 High Time/04 Heartless/05 Devil Delight/06 Straight On/07 Magic Man/08 Love Alive/09 Magazine/10 Mistral Wind/11 Dog and Butterfly
PASSAIC NJ 10/1/79 DISC 2-01 Crazy On You Intro/02 Crazy On You/03 Kick It Out/04Barracuda/05 Encore B #1/DJ Talking/06 White Lightning and Wine/07 Rock N Roll/08 Encore Break #2/ DJ Talking/09 Without You/10 Backstage Interview With Ann and Nancy Wilson
PORTLAND OREGON 7/2/87-01 Bad Animals/02 The Wolf/03 Barracuda/04 Nothing at All/05 What About Love/06 Dreamboat Annie/07 These Dreams/08 Straight On/09 Who Will You Run To/10 Never/11 How Can I Refuse/12 Crazy On You/13 If Looks Could Kill/14 Bebe Le Strange/15 Alone/16 Keep-a-Knockin'/Rock N Roll/17 Cities Burning
This is a little different from what I usually do...in all honesty, I could label these as "Guilty Pleasures" as much as "History Lessons" (Ha Ha you like HEART, what next some KANSAS?)....as I keep saying VARIETY is for what I strive....if you hate 1970's-Heart-"corporate rock", PLEASE SAY SO.......if you think it's a cool rememberance of the 1970's say THAT TOO.....just say SOMETHING and let me know how I'm FUCKING DOING, YOU FUCKERS!