Track Listing

1. Desire
2. Black on Black II
3. Back to Avalon
4. Woman in Me
5. Rage
6. In Walks the Night
7. My Crazy Head
8. Ring Them Bells
9. Will You Be There (In the Morning)
10. Voodoo Doll
11. Anything Is Possible
12. Avalon (Reprise)
13. Desire Walks On
14. Mujer Que Hay en Mi
15. Quedaras [En la Manana]

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #62428 in Music
• Released on: 1993-11-16
• Number of discs: 1

Customer Reviews

Tragically overlooked masterpiece.
I don't think I'm going out on a limb by saying this is Heart's best work since Bebe Le Strange. This disc screams from beginning to end and is a joyful return to their roots. (Sort of) It's actually a combination of the best of the 70's and 80's versions of Heart.

The primary thing that separates this disc from the 3 prior albums is the fact that the band is back in charge of the songwriting. Check the credits- you'll only find about 2 songs written by actual bandmembers on Heart, Bad Animals or Brigade. But this one has 8 tracks primarily authored by the Wilsons. While I thoroughly enjoyed the 80's version of Heart*, I'll also be the first to admit that it didn't come close to the depth and power of the early years. This disc however DOES rival their early material.

(* apparently I'm the only one who will admit this, even though those albums sold something like a billion copies each. C'mon people! SOMEBODY bought them- fess up!)

The other key point is the sound quality. I'd have to say that this one has the best production values of any Heart album. Exceedingly well mixed with very tight attention to sound selection, this one sounds so clean you could eat off it.

Starting with "Black on Black II" (so titled because it's deliberately derived from a tune originally by Lisa Dalbello, who co-wrote this version as well) this album just screams power. This first track is a guitar chugfest highly reminiscent of Barracuda, but with a powerful modern edge. "Back to Avalon" feels like the long lost bonus track that should have been included on the Dog and Butterfly album. These two tracks alone are worth the price of admission!

"The Woman in Me" is one of their most sensetive and tense ballads ever. Not a Wilson song, it doesn't sound much like anything you've ever heard by Heart before.

Then they break out the heavy artillery with "Rage". This could be Heart's heaviest song ever. I have a hard time comparing it to anything except maybe the title track from Bad Animals.

The next two tracks, "In Walks the Night" and "My Crazy Head" sound much more like Heart's more recent material, yet they are more solid and listenable than almost anything from their 80's canon, which only suggests to me that they should have continued their own songwriting in the 80's. Following these is a beautifully harmonized cover of Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells".

Their one serious attempt at a hit single from this album was the obligatory Mutt Lange contribution "Will You Be There in the Morning". Inexplicably, they didn't get much airplay for this song. This is rather hard to understand because it succeeds in everyway that the atrocious "All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You" failed. (Except the commercial level of course...)

"Voodoo Doll" is just plain old spooky. You haven't heard anything like it by Heart before. Very progressive and ethereal, but with some serious bite.

"Anything Is Possible", another co-write with Lisa Dalbello is a stock power ballad. Far more melodic than say... "Alone" or
"Stranded", though not quite so powerful. Very much a feel good tune. Probably the weakest song here, but even this one rates a solid B+.

The title track, "Desire Walks On" brings this collection full circle with a wicked chord progession that rivals "Sing Child" from the first album. This is a 5-star rocker that will make you sweat, with a killer progressive breakdown including a slap-bass groove. Miss this one at your own peril!

The great tragedy of this album is that it was the last hurrah for a great band. The faithful had been waiting for over a decade for this album, but when they finally returned to form... it was all over. I suppose we should just be thankful that they didn't stop after Brigade.

This album rocks!
Ok, I remember buying this in the early 90's and I ejoyed it then, but I never realized that over ten years later I would still be listening to it and loving it even more. I get tired of mainstream music and find myself falling back to music that I listened to a decade or more ago. Maybe I am in a time warp but music just seemed better then. These sisters have the best voices I have ever heard. I love rock when it is actually really rock. Who has a voice like Ann Wilson?? NO ONE. Her voice gives me chills and thrills. "Desire Walks On" is a fabulous song. It is an exciting song I can listen to again and again. "Will you be there in the morning" is the song I most admired all those years ago and it is still great. "In walks the night" is a very sensual song and well let me just say every song on this album is hot except I do not care for "Ring them bells" so much, but I adore this album. It is my favorite of Heart.

The end of Heart's second wind
Upon listening to this on the in-store play at my workplace back in 1993, I sadly thought, this is it. Heart's second wind has officially entered the doldrums. They are no longer relevant. To use a phrase from a song, better they sail back to Avalon. I didn't even buy this upon first release--that's how I felt, and I was a big Heart fan then. Years later, I bought it and some of that feeling dissapated. This year, and I found myself thinking, "Man, what was I thinking? This was indeed a glorious last stand studiowise, albeit with a few flaws."

From the opening chugging guitar that had never seen the likes of since "Barracuda," "Black On Black II" seemed to be a promise that Heart was continuing back on the rock treadmill that defined Brigade. The dynamic of opposites is emphasized on the chorus, "pleasure and pain", "the sacred and the profane", "ice and fire". Ann really lets it rip on this one.

With "Back To Avalon", there seemed to be a slight return to the pleasant minstrel acoustic rock that defined Little Queen. There is also a bluesy feel in some of the guitars. However, the lyrics, "I can't stay here anymore, I'm leaving with the tide" might also reflect the feelings they felt with the new grunge sound emerging from Seattle. To the Nirvana/Soundgarden generation, Heart sadly seemed to be as relevant as Gerald Ford-brand toilet seats. The phoenix flying back to that mystical island of Avalon...nice image.

With the keyboard synth and Howard Leese's pronounced bass and haunting melody, the "The Woman In Me" sounds like a cross between a mellowed "These Dreams" and the Cars' "Drive."

The pounding rock rhythms of "Rage" seems directed against a frustrating and superficial world. "Addiction", "plastic", "styrofoam", "amphetamine vapors" are just some of the words to describe the sense of despair. Ann really does channel the rage in those throaty vocals of hers.

The power ballad "In Walks The Night" describes a nightmarish mental and emotional blackness that floods after remembering a former loved one. "In walks the night/in walks my fantasy/darkness all around me/and I'm dying for the light/I reach down for a little strength deep inside/I reach down for my sanity." Ann and Nancy's harmonies really shine out in this gem.

"My Crazy Head" is what one's wayward angel is to sanctify. Despite being by the Wilsons and Sue Ennis, it shows that even the best of collaborations can yield a duff song. Then comes two standouts, a cover of Bob Dylan's "Ring Them Bells" from his 1989 Oh Mercy album, and "Will You Be There" penned by Mutt Lange. With assistance from Alice In Chains' Layne Staley, Ann sings for bells to ring for souls for the good and the not so good. A slowed down rhythm similar to "All I Wanna Do" starts the power ballad "Will You Be There." The lyrics seem unsubstantial, which the pleasant piano and electric guitar riffs more than make up for.

Ann declares herself in control and no one's slave in the bizarre "Voodoo Doll." Then comes the proclamation of emotional support in "Anything Is Possible": "I know you're my friend/hold on and transcend/I know anything is possible." Bring out those lighters and wave! I can picture Aerosmith or Bon Jovi trying to do this... and failing. Only the Wilsons could make this so special.

After a reprise of "Back To Avalon" comes the title track, which is hard-driving, but lyrically unsubstantial despite the Wilsons/Ennis collaboration, which score a 1/3 here. Ironically, songs co-written with Dalbello and others do better; it's good to see the Wilsons go back to songwriting. Despite no new studio albums, the sun didn't completely set on Heart yet. There was still The Lovemongers, The Road Home, and Alive In Seattle to come.