Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #99899 in Books
• Published on: 2008-06-01
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 252 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781550228311
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

Review

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Customer Reviews

The Story Lacks HEART
This book is highly informative, especially if you're a producer looking to use certain equipment. Technical details tend to go on far too long. The casual fan/reader will easily get lost. There's little explanation as to why the equipment is used or as to the ideas behind the wiring techniques in some cases. Much of it means nothing to me.

There are glaring editing mistakes sprinkled throughout. For example, Wynonna's name is misspelled and spelled differently on the same page. Some of the album sales information is also a little bit off, as if the writer is interjecting wishful views into certain parts of Heart's ups and downs. Completely skipped over is the recording of Heart's stellar 1995 album "The Road Home", or the 2003 release of "Alive In Seattle".

The book is lacking strongly in two areas. The first, stories behind the songs. What was the inspiring spark? Not just of the best known 1970s hits any fan can recite, but the stories behind songs the band wrote in the 1980s to the present. The other missing link is Ann & Nancy's side of the story. Life-long friend and co-writer Sue Ennis fills in gaps wonderfully, as does long time guitarist Howard Leese, however, Ann & Nancy's comments are reduced to magazine article quotes for the most part, especially the further into their career you read. Did they have no interest in sharing the glory of their successes? They offer up none of their personal views of the pressures of recording. It's all second hand information, and praise for the most part. (What happens on an off day? How do you go about choosing the final tracks for an album if you've recorded two times too many to fit?) For example, there's a story about the recording of Mutt Lang's (of Def Leppard) material. In view of that story, what was his reaction to his music being completely rearranged into an acoustic setting on "The Road Home"? Or, why present the image the band loves a new album ("Heart, "Bad Animals", "Brigade", "Desire Walks On") upon its release, and years later, feel the need to look back on such incredible work with such disdain?

I recommend any fan pick up this book. Simply beware of holding some parts of it as definitive gospel. If you have a good memory, or stacks of magazines and fanclub newsletters to sift through, the mistakes will be very easy to find. The story presented in this book takes human beings and turns them into unapproachable gods simply because of the lacking parts. If those holes were filled in, this book might be a complete band autobiography. Maybe it's time something of that nature was penned. Otherwise, "Heart - In The Studio" still receives high marks from me! Even with its flaws, it's time the sisters Wilson were given the recognition they so richly deserve.

A must-have for fans, but flawed...
Like the other reviewers, this is a great book for fans. Some previously unknown stuff is brought out for each album, details we like and rarely find. But the mistakes are common and terrible. Names of people and equipment were often screwed up - the spelling of "Nevison" and "Levison" used in the same paragraph! Obviously no one proofread this book. (I was confused when he talked about two studios "Can Base" and "Mushroom", but I did online research and found it was the same place, but they didn't mention this in the book.)

Technical details ARE nice for those of us musicians who care, like the famous "Recording the Beatles" book - it shows how the technique affects a record's sound - like the first Heart album and why it sounds so good. But the writer doesn't really know the technical side, so the explanations are jumbled - confusing both the technical and average reader.

This book could do with a BIG rewrite....

pass
I am a huge Heart fan and I found the book a little boring and full of errors. There are some great parts with insights by Sue Ennis, but that is about it. I was disappointed. If you are a Heart fan it will be nice to own, if not, then pass on this one.