Track Listing

1. Magic Man
2. Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child)
3. Crazy on You
4. Soul of the Sea
5. Dreamboat Annie
6. White Lightning & Wine
7. (Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song
8. Sing Child
9. How Deep It Goes
10. Dreamboat Annie (Reprise)

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1900 in Music
• Released on: 1995-06-16
• Number of discs: 1

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After futzing around Seattle and Vancouver for a few years, Heart finally secured a record deal in 1976. It wasn't with Epic or Capitol (which they would later sign with), but with a tiny Canadian label called Mushroom. The resulting album, Dreamboat Annie, was an impressive hard rock debut. "Crazy on You," which spotlighted the piercing vocals of singer Ann Wilson and the chunky guitar bluster of her sister Nancy, entered the top 40, and the more mystical "Magic Man" climbed to No. 9. Dreamboat Annie also exposed a more vulnerable side of the band: the title track, for example, was an easy listening, harmony-laden folk song replete with banjo plucks. --Jon Wiederhorn

Customer Reviews

Heart's debut is still a classic musical breeze after 30 years
Heart's classic debut album Dreamboat Annie was released in April of 1976(30 years ago).
Prior to Heart coming along, women were pushed to the background in rock and roll but there were some noted exceptions being Janis Joplin, Grace Slick of Jefferson Airplane, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac. Then Heart, which was fronted by The Wilson sisters (lead singer Ann and her guitar-slinger sister Nancy), put women into the forefront in rock and roll.
The Dreamboat Annie album introduced the world to a band which was previously known as White Heart until Seattle born lead singer Ann Wilson joined up with guitarists Roger Fisher and Howard Leese and bass player Steve Fossen. They had several drummers until settling on drummer Michael DeRosier and then subsequently Ann's sister guitarist Nancy Wilson rounded up the lineup after joining in 1974 (Ann and Nancy would write all of Heart's songs in the early years pretty much).
The group did well in Seattle and Canada but American record labels would not touch the band as US labels were more into disco so Heart signed with a small Canadian label Mushroom Records and released its debut. Was the album a masterpiece or was it lame, read on.
The album opens up with the rocker "Magic Man" which was about a girl who's spellbound with a man of her dreams, to the chagrin of her mother (turns out Ann Wilson wrote these lyrics about her own experience). Ann's vocals were amazing on this track and the acoustic work of Nancy was amazing and Roger Fisher's guitar work was unbelievable. Next is the first of three versions of the album's title track which was the short "Fantasy Child" version, which opens with ocean waves, Nancy's gentle acoustic guitar and Ann proving she can sing ballads as well as rocking out. This then segues into Nancy's classic acoustic guitar intro which segued into the rocker "Crazy On You". This rocker was inspired somewhat by The Moody Blues classic The Answer with its fast acoustic riff and then counter-balanced with the Jimmy Page-ish guitar fills from Roger. Next is the album's epic "Soul Of The Sea" which is another great track. It reminds me of Led Zeppelin's Rain Song in some ways and Ann's vocals here showed she could sing, croon and scream (she has the greatest female voice ever to come out of rock and roll). The first half concluded with the title track, which is a nice relaxing number and also had a bit of banjo in it but still a great song.
The great rocker "White Lightning and Wine" kicks the second half of the album off and is a superb song. Next is another ballad "(Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song" and Ann and Nancy sing the track superbly and is one of Heart's best ballads. The rocker "Sing Child" is next and sounds a lot like Led Zeppelin and some of Ann's vocal phrasings resemble Robert Plant's and Ann does a superb flute solo here (and we thought Jethro Tull's Ian Anderson and Genesis' Peter Gabriel were the only rock musicians to use flute) and then Roger does a killer solo which just rocked. Michael DeRosier's drum fill in the song's fade-out was also excellent. "How Deep It Goes" is next and is another exquisite ballad which is a sweet song. The album closes with the reprise version of the album's title track and is slow in the same vein as the Fantasy Child version but a great version nevertheless. Then we have a flute solo then the band stops and an orchestra with tympani come in and help finish the song before Nancy's guitar comes in and Ann sings the bridge and ending lines with ocean breeze floating by.
Dreamboat Annie today still sounds fresh and was the album that broke Heart out nationwide and peaked at #4 on the Billboard album charts and sold over 2 million copies in the 1970s alone (not bad).
The album was re-released in 1986 by Capitol Records in the US to cash in on the success of the band's 1985 self-titled comeback album and is the only version available although Capitol did re-issue a remastered version in 1999 with a mini-LP sleeve.
Dreamboat Annie is still a classic and has aged well and doesn't sound like a 30 year old record. If you want a great intro to Heart, start with Dreamboat Annie and then buy all of their 1970s efforts.
RECOMMENDED!

Melodic Hard Rock at its finest
Heart and its 1976 debut album was a breakthrough on several levels. Heart, which featured sisters Ann & Nancy Wilson, is a group that was inspired by the likes of Led Zeppelin and The Who. Ann, the lead vocalist is among the greats of all time, she can rock with the heaviest and also sing with soothing grace and gentleness. Nancy, is a diverse and gifted guitarist.

Along with guitarist Roger Fisher, bassist Steve Fossen and drummer Michael Derosier, absolute magic is created on this album. Dreamboat Annie is a terrific balance between driving rock n roll and etheral folk styled music. The Wilson sisters are also the main songwriters of the band as well

Magic Man and Crazy On You are Classic Rock staples, while Soul Of The Sea, How Deep It Goes and the Dreamboat Annie suite are amongst their best songs as well. Heart was a breath of fresh air and achieved a unique balance in their music throughout their history.

Try to understand--he's a magic man!
After getting into Heart's eponymous breakthrough album long ago, I decided to go back in time and pick up their early stuff, and was it a revelation! A different sound, more pure rock and blues,... were these really the same women who did the raging "If Looks Could Kill"?

A fiery bluesy guitar opens on one of their all-time classics. "Magic Man" is about a girl who's spellbound with a man of her dreams, to the chagrin of her mother. That pulsing bass keeping rhythm works to advantage on this bluesy rock number. Ann and Nancy's choir-like vocals highlight the second part of the song, after the pause. Then that pulsing guitar that rises until Ann starts singing the chorus again: "But try to understand/Try to understand/Try try try to understand/I'm a magic man." Aw yeah!

Then comes version 1 of 3 of the title track, this one the short Fantasy Child version, which opens with ocean waves, a gentle acoustic guitar, and Ann proving she can do a quiet ballad as well as rock out.

This then segues into their second great single, which should've risen higher than the Top 40--"Crazy On You." It dwells on the safety of having one's partner throughout the madness of a chaos and trouble-torn world, "bombs and the devils", and personal "the kids keep coming." It's quicker than "Magic Man" and between the two, I favour this tune. It is alternately poignant, "Wild man's world is crying in pain/What you gonna do when everyone is insane/So afraid of wanting, so afraid of you/What you gonna do....?" and beautifully lyrical at the same time: "My love is the evening breeze touching your skin/The gentle sweet singing of leaves in the wind/The whisper that calls, after you in the night/And kisses your ear in the early light" and "I was a willow last night in my dream/I bent down over a clear running stream/I sang you the song that I heard up above/And you keep me alive with your sweet, flowing love." Wonderful stuff!

For the most part, "Soul Of The Sea" is another lush guitar ballad with string arrangements about casting one's sorrowful past after meeting that someone. "Time, time, time, time/Never ask what's become of us/Just dedicate your sorrow/Here and now/To the soul of the sea/And me." The bridge then turns into the disillusioning daily drudgery a female worker has to deal with, complete with typewriter keys clacking in one section. After Ann belts out "No silence", the tempo returns to the lush romantic tempo of before.

Then comes the title track, whose tempo is a light canter, but it's at least longer than its predecessor version.

"White Lightning & Wine" is another mid-paced bluesy-rock number and is about the effects the title drink has on a woman's perception of a bar pickup--a variation on someone not gifted in the looks department looking pretty after a few too many. A woman's gonna have to drink a gallon of that stuff before she takes a shine to me, I'll tell you.

Acoustic ballad time with "(Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song" and seeing as Ann's a singer/musician, comparing her to a song is appropriate. Ann and Nancy sing together in the second verse, and the effects are angelic. Their harmonies and the following lyric really prove the Wilsons to be the bad angels of rock ballads.

The rocker "Sing Child" sounds a lot like early Zeppelin, and some of Ann's vocal phrasings resemble Robert Plant's.

Sweet ballad time with "How Deep It Goes," and the piano and violin make this one of my favourites. The flute solo after the second verse is a sweet touch. The following line makes me wonder if the whole thing is a reference to Vietnam: "If I could leave anymore, even though there's a scar/Still fresh from the war, don't think about it no more/Letting new love flow."

The reprise version of the title track is slow in the same vein as the Fantasy Child version, and the piano makes this nicer, but after the flute solo, it goes into lush strings, highlighted by kettle drums. The imagery of the opening lyrics is stunning: "Heading out this morning into the sun/Riding on the diamond waves, little darlin' one." and the portrait of a dreamer is aptly put in the line, "Going down the city sidewalk alone in the crowd/No one knows the lonely one whose head's in the clouds." Alone in the crowd, lonely one, head in the clouds... oh, that's me!

A brilliant debut and one of the best albums of the 1970's.