Heart - Little Queen (1977)

Before moving into the ‘hair metal’ power-ballad tedium of the late 1980s, and long before every American Idol auditionee routinely murdered Alone, Heart were a folky-rock group that produced a fine string of Zeppelin-esque albums during the 1970s and early 1980s. Little Queen, their second release in 1977, is a prime example of the band really firing on all cylinders with sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson in fine form.

The album opens with the powerful Barracuda, a single from the album and recently subject of a cover by the Black Eyed Pea’s Fergie, which features a heavy mid-tempo riff and a thunderous drum track from Michael DeRosier who, I would say with a reasonable degree of certainty, heavily modelled himself on John Bonham! As a single, Barracuda reached number 11 in the USA and provides the perfect opener for the album. Ann Wilson also gives everything on the vocals hitting both high and low range notes with precision and power.

Love Alive opens with an acoustic intro and shows a mellower side to the group with a picked melody and subtle vocals from Ann Wilson: there’s even some flute for good folk measure. After the lengthy intro verse the band go electric and we’re into Led Zep III territory with a distinct Heart flavour which works very well with ethereal vocal harmonies.

Sylvan Song is up next and is a very folk mandolin-led instrumental piece which leads into Dream Of The Archer, another folk acoustic number with Ann Wilson providing vocals on this very subtle track.

Things then shift up a gear with Kick It Out which opens with a ballsy riff that leads into a rocker with Ann Wilson really in her stride – Heart were never ‘heavy’ as such but did manage to come across as hard-edged from time to time but always with a melodic overtone.

The title track is a bluesy riff-based number with some great drumming from DeRosier and good vocal hook which is followed by a very melancholy acoustic and vocal number, Treat Me Well, in which the band drift almost into Carpenters territory but it works.

Say Hello is an upbeat, syncopated rhythm number with mandolin providing the riff which is followed by Cry To Me which is another melancholy acoustic number and was the b-side to Barracuda and is one of the standout tracks on the album. This is followed by Go On Cry which wouldn’t have sounded out of place on Dark Side Of The Moon – somewhere around the Great Gig In The Sky!

Little Queen is a very strong, well put together, album showing Heart doing what they did best; playing a melodic mixture of folk and blues rock. There’s enough variety here to provide something of interest to most listeners and whichever way a particular track leans – folk or rock – there’s a distinctive Heart sound throughout which makes for a very consistent, flowing feel to the album. Heart certainly plundered several notable rock band styles here but with enough integrity so as to make each track their own. Quite what they were doing later in their career is anyone’s guess but to hear them in their purest, and most comfortable, form I’d certainly recommend this album.

• Ann Wilson – Vocals
• Nancy Wilson – Guitar
• Roger Fisher – Guitar
• Howard Leese – Guitar
• Michael DeRosier – Drums
• Steve Fossen – Bass