Heart
Red Velvet Car
Sony Legacy
August 31
By Sara Berry
It has been six years since sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson, better known to the world as the band Heart, released their last studio album. Their latest effort, Red Velvet Car, proves that these ladies can still rock. The album is a mix of the rocking guitar tunes and edgy ballads that the group is known for. It features ten songs and runs 37 minutes. The vocals are strong, backed by solid guitar playing and an assortment of other acoustic instruments.
The album opens with the catchy tune “There You Go,” which will have you singing the chorus by the end of the song. The next few songs keep the rock feel and move gradually into the slower songs.
The title track “Red Velvet Car” is a slow guitar song reflecting on an imperfect, but very real relationship, a sort of marriage of the band’s 1985 hit “What About Love” and 1990’s “All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You.” This year’s version adds some strings to the mix of guitar and light percussion, starting slow and growing into one of those power ballads that dominated the 80s.
There are several themes that run through the songs on the album, perhaps the most obvious one being that suggested by the title of the album – travel and moving on. It’s anyone’s guess what they had in mind – literal travel, moving on from one relationship to another, or simply moving from one point in life to the next. Each person can make of it what they will.
The last three songs, “Death Valley,” “Sunflower,” and “Sand” also lend Red Velvet Car something of a nature theme as the lyrics refer to the California desert, the beauty and intricacy of flowers, the sun and stars, and the passage of time like sand in an hourglass.
Despite Heart’s clear place in the music of the 80s, they have shown that they are versatile enough to move into the 21st century while maintaining their own identity.
The album’s only downfall? It was too short. I would have gladly listened to a few extra songs.
