Ann Wilson - Hope & Glory (CD)

First ever solo album full of covers and duets

By redtunictroll  Sep 11, 2007

Pros: Wilson's powerful voice; Elton; some great song selections.

Cons: Too many duets, too many covers; Wynonna.

Heart's always been a tough act to follow. When "Crazy on You" and "Magic Man" broke in 1976, more than one headliner had to find a way to top the vocal firepower of Ann Wilson as an opening act. After three decades as the sig...nature sound of Heart, Wilson faced a similar prospect in crafting her first solo album. How could she leverage her vocal gift without recording a Heart album sans Heart? Her answer was to pull together a slate of cover songs, several of which take her away from the heavy rock sounds of Heart, and to enlist guest vocalists to bring their own spin. At its best, such as a duet with Elton John on his rarely covered "Where to Now St. Peter" (originally from his 1971 album, "Tumbleweed Connection"), the two veterans sing with a strident authority that recalibrates the song from questioning and pastoral to inquisitive and angry. John's vocal engages a gritty edge that's particularly effective against Wilson's smoother toned power. Another surprisingly good fit is Lucinda Williams' "Jackson" (from 1998's "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road"). Wilson could never sound as broken as Williams, but the cathartic energy of her wail (augmented by harmony from k.d. lang) fits the blue melody and turns the mood from failed self-esteem building to sheer defiance. Wilson's take on John Lennon's "Isolation" fares similarly. It couldn't be expected to live up to the primal original, but the electric guitar, fiddle and flute arrangement provides a good backing for an emotion-laden vocal. Sister Nancy Wilson helps out on Pink Floyd's "Goodbye Blue Sky" (from 1979's "The Wall") and The Youngblood's "Darkness Darkness" (from 1969's "Elephant Mountain"). The former opens the album with processed vocals and modern production (courtesy of Ben Mink) that's quite apart from Heart. The latter, led by Mink's fiddle, has the sort of renaissance fair atmosphere Heart parlayed on their first few albums. Alison Krauss adds a high-end to Wilson's beefier low on Neil Young's "War of Man," with chorus harmonies arranged unnervingly like The Carpenters. All three songs fit into Wilson's cover song cycle of anxiety and fears about the world's current mess. The few cuts that don't excel are mostly the product of guest pairings that are sizzle rather than steak. Wynonna's mismatched with The Animals' "We Gotta Get Out of This Place," and Gretchen Wilson's "redneck girl" was already wearing thin before joining Wilson on a cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising." Wynonna fares better blending into a chorus with Nancy Wilson and Deana Carter for Dino Valenti's "Get Together." The album closes with the set's sole original, Wilson and Mink's newly penned "Little Problems, Little Lies," a harrowing first-person narrative from a dying soldier. With so little popular music actually addressing the war and the atmosphere in the U.S., it's a shame that Wilson chose to express herself almost entirely with covers. In particular, many of the well-worn hits carry too much baggage to be fully repurposed; the more obscure selections sound fresher. The choice to have guests on nine of the twelve tracks is also disappointing, as they often feel like a crutch than a magnifier. Wilson's a great vocalist and a good enough songwriter to have put out something more wholly original and solo; hopefully we'll get that with her second album. 3-1/2 stars, if allowed fractional ratings. [©2007 redtunictroll at hotmail dot com] Read more Less