Greg Prato at Songfacts recently spoke with producer /engineer Ron Nevison, who looked back on his work with The Who, Led Zeppelin, Heart, Ozzy Osbourne, KISS and Triumph. Following is an excerpt from the interview.

Q: Was it a conscious attempt to make Heart an "MTV band" with their 1985 self-titled album?

Nevison: I got a call from Don Grierson, the head of Capitol A&R. Apparently, the girls [Ann and Nancy Wilson] had called him up because I had worked with Zeppelin, which was their favorite band, and wanted to talk to me about doing a record. So, I went up there to Seattle, had dinner with them, had a good time, hung out, had a few drinks, and they took me back to the airport. The next day I found out that they wanted me to do it. 

But the deal was, when Heart came out with Dreamboat Annie, it was one of the biggest out-of-the-box rock albums of the late '70s. Maybe Boston was the only bigger album that came out. But they had a great combination of the ballads the girls wrote, and the rockers like 'Crazy On You', 'Magic Man' and 'Barracuda', that the guitar player came up with - the main guitar guy (Roger Fisher). But by the early '80s, these guys were not in the band anymore because they were the boyfriends of the girls. 

They had done an album called Passionworks, and it didn't live up to Epic's expectations. It just didn't have the grit that it needed, so, they dropped them. That's when they got a new manager, Trudy Green, they got a new producer, me, and a new A&R guy at the record company (Capitol), Don Grierson. And Don told them, 'I'll sign you if we can mutually agree on the producer, and mutually agree on the songs.' That meant that they had to be open to co-writing and outside songs. And I came up with a couple of songs, and Don came up with a song or two, Holly Knight wrote with the girls, and we upped the quality of the songwriting. That's exactly what they needed. They weren't that happy with the fact that they weren't the writers - their egos were bruised by it. But that's kind of what happens. 

I heard from Ann at some point, she had read somewhere that I 'didn't like her songs' or something. I told her that's not true. I might have said that 'I didn't think you had any singles' - that's different than not liking your songs. I was on my way to a rehearsal up in Seattle, and my manager sent me a cassette of five songs that Bernie Taupin had written - because he managed Bernie Taupin - and one of these was 'These Dreams'. I listened to it on the plane, and I felt, 'This is going to be great for Nancy.' Never dreaming it would be a #1 hit. But that's the way it worked out."

Read the complete interview here.

Heart have revealed the second song from their upcoming live album, Live In Atlantic City. The powerful live rendition of "Bébé Le Strange", with special guest Dave Navarro on guitar, shows why it is one of the most loved songs by these Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees.

Watch the video for “Bébé Le Strange” below. You can stream the song here.

Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame inductees Ann and Nancy Wilson first showed the world that women can rock when their band, Heart, stormed the charts in the ‘70s with hits like “Crazy On You”, “Magic Man”, “Barracuda”, “Straight On”, and so many more.  

A night no one would ever forget was the night Heart performed on VH1’s Decades Rock Live back in 2006. It was an evening that brought together various stars around the two brightest shining stars of Heart. This show has been living on in the memory of music fans ever since and will now finally see its release on LP/CD/DVD/Blu-ray. Live In Atlantic City pays tribute to and celebrates the band’s legacy with the help of an incredible range of artists and friends, to keep this magical night of celebrating music and friendship alive for all eternity.

And what a night it was! The guest list of performers formed a Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame for itself, including country music star Carrie Underwood, Jane’s Addiction founding member and former Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Dave Navarro, country singer-songwriter Gretchen Wilson and Canadian-American singer-songwriter and composer Rufus Wainwright. An exceptional highlight of the show furthermore entails the return of renowned grunge rockers Alice In Chains with Duff McKagan joining his friends on stage!

Each guest artist had the chance to perform up to three songs together with the band. The track list includes gems like Heart’s “Crazy On You”, performed together with Dave Navarro or Alice In Chain’s “Rooster“. A joined performance featuring all of the guest artists of “Barracuda” rounded up this monumental show, which will now finally be released on audio as well as visual formats for the world to enjoy.

 

Live In Atlantic City is going to be released as CD+Blu-ray Digipak, 2LP Gatefold+download, DVD, Blu-ray and Digital on January 25th, 2019 on earMUSIC. Pre-order here.

 

 

 

 

Tracklisting:

 

 

"Bébé Le Strange" (with Dave Navarro)
"Straight On" (with Dave Navarro)
"Crazy On You" (with Dave Navarro)
"Lost Angel"
"Even It Up" (with Gretchen Wilson)
"Rock ’N Roll" (with Gretchen Wilson)
"Dog & Butterfly" (with Rufus Wainwright)
"Would?" (with Alice In Chains & Duff McKagan) *
"Rooster" (with Alice In Chains & Duff McKagan)
"Alone" (with Carrie Underwood)
"Magic Man"
"Misty Mountain Hop" (with Dave Navarro)
"Dreamboat Annie"

"Barracuda"

 

 

* CD and LP exclusive

 

 

Note: DVD and Blu-ray also include bonus footage in the form of Heart Confidential

 

 

"Bébé Le Strange" video:

 

 

 

 

"Lost Angel" video:

 

 

 

 

Trailers: