Nancy Wilson, a member of 80’s rock band Heart, has stripped down from electric guitar to acoustic for her first solo album, Live at McCabe’s Guitar Shop. This album was recorded at McCabe’s Guitar Shop in Santa Monica back in May of 1997 in front of a small audience. Nancy used an acoustic folk-rock approach to this album. The energy is quite captivating.
She plays a solid mixture of her own tunes, Heart classics, and some really amazing covers. The album gets going with Heart favorite “Even It Up” which sounds great even though the famous bass rhythm is missing. She also reworks two other Heart songs, “These Dreams” and “Angels”, and includes those here as well.
Wilson’s own songs lyrically and musically could be ranked up there with the likes of the legendary Joni Mitchell. In fact, Wilson covers one of Mitchell’s songs, “A Case of You.” She also pays tribute to Paul Simon by playing a sweet version of “Kathy’s Song” and later on the album she covers Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.” Standout solo tracks on this live record are “Half Moon” and “Sister.” Many of Wilson’s own songs are folk-rock based, but the guitar work displayed in the songs is not your typical folk-guitar style. There is a definite rock influence here.
+ larry sarzyniak
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