01	Magic Man			Song Review by Donald A. Guarisco Critics might have tagged them as a ""female Led Zeppelin,"" but Heart had much more to offer than that short-sighted tag reveals. In fact, its early work shows a stunning gift for mixing the strong riffs and throbbing rhythms usually associated with male-led hard rock bands with elements of mysticism and romanticism that give the final product a uniquely feminine perspective. This combination arrived fully formed on the band's debut single, ""Magic Man,"" an atmospheric rocker that gave Heart its first hit. The lyrics portray a young girl caught between the protective pull of her mother and a handsome yet spooky suitor that wants to steal her away from home. The narrative takes on an almost fairy tale-like quality thanks to couplets like ""Winter nights we sang in tune/Played inside the months of moon."" The music plays up the dramatic tension of the lyrics with verse melodies built on contrasting phrases that descend and ascend with a high-powered chorus that spirals ever-upward to an emotional peak. Heart's recording of ""Magic Man"" adds an element of power to the equation with a taut arrangement built on steady drum work and sinewy guitar riffs that play up the song's sultry edge. It also works some other FM rock arrangement touches, including some swirling Moog synthesizer riffs and conga-heavy percussion near its tag. However, its most mesmerizing element is Ann Wilson's vocal, which artfully moves from a wistful whisper to operatic passion without ever hitting a false note. All these touches added up to a song that was as sexy as it was powerful, and this duality helped ""Magic Man"" become a Top Ten hit in 1976. The song remains a staple of classic rock programming.			05:28
	02	Dreamboat Annie (Fantasy Child)						01:10
	03	Crazy On You			Song Review by Donald A. Guarisco Although ""Magic Man"" was the big hit single from Dreamboat Annie, the remainder of the album had plenty of other stellar rock tunes. The most notable was ""Crazy on You,"" a driving rocker that blended power chords with the mystical touches that informed Heart's unique take on hard rock. Like ""Magic Man,"" the lyrics of ""Crazy on You"" explored the need for romantic love from a female perspective as its narrator determines that the only logical response to ""wild man's world"" is to fuel that urge for craziness into love: ""Nowhere to breathe easy, no time to be young/But I tell myself I'm doing alright/The only thing left to do is go crazy on you."" The music lives up to the intensity of the lyrics with a dramatic melody whose verses slowly build in intensity until they crescendo in an explosive, almost operatic chorus. Heart's recording of ""Crazy on You"" builds the song on a galloping backbeat and an interesting combination of snaky acoustic guitar riffs and soaring dual-electric guitar lines. The crowning touch is provided by Ann Wilson's powerful vocal, which navigates the song's complex emotional terrain with skill and is powerful enough to hold its own against the guitar-heavy sound. ""Crazy on You"" wasn't quite as successful as ""Magic Man"" but earned a respectable Top 40 charting as a single. It has gone to become one of Heart's most popular songs and a frequently played item on classic rock radio.			04:53
	04	Soul Of The Sea						06:33
	05	Dreamboat Annie			Song Review by Donald A. Guarisco ""Magic Man"" and ""Crazy on You"" may have brought Heart chart success, but the true heart of the band's debut album was its title song, ""Dreamboat Annie."" This elegant, primarily acoustic song proved the band had more to offer than hammer-headed rock fare by giving it a solid vehicle for its skill at mixing pop hooks with a folk music feel. The gently poetic lyrics present a sympathetic portrait of a girl who escapes the drudgery of everyday life through daydreaming: ""No one knows the lonely one whose head's in the clouds/Sad faces painted over with those magazine smiles/Heading out to somewhere, won't be back for a while."" The music captures the combination of melancholy and dreaminess in the lyrics through a melody that pairs verses with a warm yet slightly sad feel to a chorus that pushes this combination to ethereal heights. Heart's recording of ""Dreamboat Annie"" anchors the song with steady drum work and hypnotic acoustic guitar lines that give the song a backbone without ever overpowering the melody. It also adds an unexpected banjo line and a rich background vocal arrangement that fleshes out the melody in a dreamy fashion. Ann Wilson tops it off with a gentle vocal that avoids the flashy operatics that pervade Dreamboat Annie's hit rockers in favor of a smooth, mellow alto tone that is just what the song requires. The result was probably a little too dreamy to become a hit, but it managed to peak just outside the pop chart Top 40 as a single. More importantly, ""Dreamboat Annie"" lent an element of much-needed variety to the album's sonic style. The band members obviously liked it because they re-arranged the song two times elsewhere on the album: it provided a brief acoustic bridge between ""Magic Man"" and ""Crazy on You"" and was also reprised at the end of the album with a string arrangement to create an elegant coda.			02:02
	06	White Lightning & Wine						03:54
	07	(Love Me Like Music) I'll Be Your Song						03:21
	08	Sing Child						04:55
	09	How Deep It Goes						03:50
	10	Dreamboat Annie (Reprise)						03:50

Review by Alex Henderson In the 1980s and '90s, numerous women recorded blistering rock, but things were quite different in 1976 - when female singers tended to be pigeonholed as soft rockers and singer/songwriters and were encouraged to take after Carly Simon, Melissa Manchester, or Joni Mitchell rather than Led Zeppelin or Black Sabbath. Greatly influenced by Zep, Heart did its part to help open doors for ladies of loudness with the excellent Dreamboat Annie (reissued on a gold audiophile CD by DCC Compact Classics in 1995). Aggressive yet melodic rockers like ""Sing Child,"" ""White Lightning & Wine,"" and the rock radio staples ""Magic Man"" and ""Crazy on You"" led to the tag ""the female Led Zeppelin."" And in fact, Robert Plant did have a strong influence on Ann Wilson. But those numbers and caressing, folk-ish ballads like ""How Deep It Goes"" and the title song also make it clear that the Nancy and Ann Wilson had their own identity and vision early on.