Heart has delivered pretty much what they promised for
"Red Velvet Car". It is throwback (waaaay back, to the 70's and "Dreamboat Annie"). It has a raw, in-your-face, "live" sound. It also features mountains of chingy, changy acoustic guitars and a stripped instrumental approach. Those that covet the plush 80s sound or the electric flurries of the late 70s will be disappointed over the minimalist attitude. However, this comes as no surprise, given their outspoken love for this type of musical instrumentation, and their previous "Jupiter's Darling" album and Lovemongers outings.
Ann and Nancy are worthy of recieving kudos for
"Red Velvet Car" anyhow, due to it having a rather timeless appeal, taking nothing from current pop tarts to keep it "relevant" (thank goodness), and staying true to their roots and vision.
There is certainly nothing wrong with the songs themselves, as skeleton bare as they may be. Given some plushing up, these tracks could be absolutely fantastic. But, even in their stripped form, there is a certain intimacy in the recordings that make
"Red Velvet Car" worthwhile.
Despite walls of clanging acoustic, the raw emotional vocals of Ann and her backup vocalist/sister Nancy, push the urgency to the breaking with the intense opener
"There You Go". While it doesn't employ all the instrumental walls of sound and
AOR tricks that made
Heart a household name, the core of the song is undeniably all
Heart, and the chorus is as slick as anything. Perhaps it is even more remarkable, considering its stripped nature, how compelling the track is even with all the filigree bits stripped away. The only true punkish rock breakout is the siren shattering
"WTF" that is underlaced with Nancy's thick fuzzy aggressive guitar riffs. It is a quick explosion of anger and pointed growls, that does the letters of its title justice.
"Death Valley" raises the ghosts of
Led Zeppelin and lets the 70s rock influences shine in some tasty vocals that match Robert Plant's wailing angst. The ladies show their love for the rock side of music in this fierce, energetic piece. Another largely acoustic track,
"Queen City" turns the Wilsons' hometown of Seattle into a pirate bay, with some
"yo ho ho's" in the catchy chorus and autobiographal brush.
"Red Velvet Car" turns the lights down and paints a very distinct picture of the blues, in all their hues. The clanging acoustic still in the forefront. As it does again for
"Safronia's Mark", this time with a gypsy flavor whirling about it. Like "Queen City", its story is firmly in Seattle, and is illustrated with a touch of mandolin.
"Hey You" begins life as a country flavored piece, and then whips around into a 60s pop tune that is more about broken hearts than happy candy sunshine.
"Wheels" was a song developed with the movie Midnight Run as its intentions, and it has popped up here after all these years. It feels like a soundtrack song, and spins a story as well as it burns up the pavement with its giddy open road feel. Nancy crafted
"Sunflower" for Ann as a birthday present, and has tender lyrics and a matching sound.
"Sand" closes the album, an older piece, originally popped up in their acoustic group the Lovemongers in the 1990s. The song has a very polished feel and is quite lovely, being a ballad-like track with light instrumentation.
As organic as it comes,
"Red Velvet Car" is not as varied of an album as the descriptions would sound.
Heart deploys that acoustic changing sound in nearly every song, and it overwhelms more than it adds to the flavor of the disc. The running time also feels a bit short, with only ten songs, and it desperately could have used another fuzzy throttling rocker like
"WTF", or something a little more glamorous. However, the music actually has meaning and purpose, and is not just fluff thrown around at random. There is a cohesive feel, and these are just some talented ladies, period.
To be producing music of this high quality, this late in the game (it is the 34th anniversary of their first studio album in 2010), that alone should be commended. No matter what era of
Heart is your favorite (and we all have our preferences) this is still a disc that is worth looking into for performances alone. Ann Wilson still has the voice other female vocalists dream of, and Nancy's spunk has not dimmed in the slightest. Even acoustic and stripped bare,
Heart is a timeless group that still merits attention.
Written by
Alanna Tuesday, September 7, 2010
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