Average Reviews:
(More customer reviews)Sony Legacy has finally gotten around to remastering some of the Heart back catalog with improved sound and extra tracks. Being an old school Heart fan from way back in the beginning, I'm only too happy to replace my old CDs with the new improved versions.
While "Little Queen" was a little spotty in places, and "Magazine" was really only half an album, "Dog & Butterfly" was easily the band's best long player since their debut. It's highlighted by two of their strongest singles, the title track and "Straight On". The closing track, "Mistral Wind" is probably the favorite among a lot of the group's 70s fan base. It's kind of their "Stairway To Heaven".
The main concern with any reissue is sound quality. This remaster sounds terrific, from the funky opening lick of "Hijinx", to the soft gentle acoustics of "Nada One".
Aside from the improved sound quality, Sony is advertising several more reasons to buy the reissues. There are previously unreleased bonus tracks: this disc's best bonus track is a 1978 live recording of "Heartless". It shows Heart's ability to pull off faithful live renditions of their hits. Then there's a never before released ballad called "Feels". The Wilsons and Sue Ennis later reworked this track and turned it into the forgettable "Johnny Moon" from their 1983 "Passionworks" album. As presented here, it's very similar in arrangement to "Lighter Touch" which may be one reason it was passed over for release originally. The last bonus track is a 50 second acoustic guitar piece called "A Little Bit". This aptly titled track was recorded four years after the rest of the tracks here and it's inclusion on this disc is puzzling. It would fit better as a bonus track on a reissue of the band's 1982 "Private Audition" album. Maybe Sony hasn't yet made plans to upgrade Heart's other Epic albums yet.
The other extras, as advertised on the stickers that adorn the covers of these reissues, include liner notes and a track by track overview by Nancy Wilson. First of all, it should be pointed out that the same very brief liner notes appear in all three of these reissues (the others being "Little Queen" and "bebe le strange"). And the "track by track" overview is about one line per song (example: "High Time" - in the studio this was almost a gospel revival!). Not much inside information there, Nance. In fact, only 7 of the original 8 album tracks even contain an "overview", with the comment for "Straight On" conspicuously missing.
There are some nice photos in the booklet, which isn't really a booklet at all, but one of those annoying multi-panel things that folds out and out and out. Most of the photos are very, very small.
One other thing that stands out about these discs: they are the first I've bought that have the "FBI Anti-Piracy Warning" stamped on them. This threat of punishment "under federal law" is emblazoned both on the back cover and the disc itself.
So don't buy this disc for the liner notes, but if you're a Heart fan and you want to crank up "Mistral Wind" and hear it the way it was really meant to be heard, then by all means buy this reasonably priced gem. I give it 5 stars for the original 8 songs, sounding better than I've ever heard them sound.
Click Here to see more reviews about: Dog & Butterfly
Heart, Dog and Butterfly--This text refers to an alternate Audio CD edition.
0 comments:
Post a Comment