Magazine (album)
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| Magazine | |||||
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| Studio album by Heart | |||||
| Released | First release: April, 1977 Second release: April 22, 1978 |
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| Recorded | 1975 and 1976 partially re-recorded and re-mixed, 1978 |
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| Genre | Hard Rock | ||||
| Length | 39:13 | ||||
| Label | Mushroom Records Capitol Records |
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| Producer | Mike Flicker | ||||
| Professional reviews | |||||
| Heart chronology | |||||
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Magazine is the second studio album by the Seattle hard rock band Heart. The album was certified platinum.
It has an unusual history in that the first release was not supported by the the group, and a second version of the album was re-recorded, re-mixed, and re-released the following year.
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[edit] Background
The album was originally intended to be the follow-up to Heart's 1976 debut album Dreamboat Annie. After the debut, Heart worked on 5 new songs that would have been part of their next album for Mushroom Records. However, the group had a falling out with Mushroom over an advertising campaign celebrating the sales of Dreamboat Annie. Recording sessions stopped after the band and their label were unsuccessful in re-negotiating their contract.
As the group had now proven themselves to be hit-makers, they expected Mushroom to raise their royalty rate. But to the surprise of the group and their producer, Mike Flicker, the label refused to pay more and decided not to release a second Heart album. Flicker ended his relationship with the label and the group followed, as they had no obligation to stay without their producer. The CBS Records (now Sony BMG) subsidiary, Portrait Records, had offered Flicker and the group a more lucrative contract. The group broke the 2-album contract with Mushroom by early 1977.
[edit] 1977 release
The change in labels resulted in a prolonged legal battle with Mushroom's manager, Shelly Siegel. Mushroom, having a 2-album contract, believed they had the legal right to a second album. Mushroom took rough mixes of the 5 studio recordings, added Here Song, a rare b-side, and filled up the rest of the album with 2 live songs recorded at a Seattle club, and released the collection as Magazine in the spring of 1977 at the same time that Portrait were compiling Little Queen.
According to Flicker, about 50,000 copies of the original Magazine album were pressed. Some of these copies were sold in stores, mostly in Los Angeles and Hollywood, Florida. The 1977 version was also briefly released in Europe through Arista Records. Though it was not released to radio, some stations, including KISW, a leading rock station in Seattle, regularly played songs from the un-authorized-and-unsupported-by-Heart release. The 1977 release album cover carried a disclaimer on the back cover which read in part, "Mushroom Records regrets that a contractual dispute has made it necessary to complete this record without the cooperation or endorsement of the group Heart, who have expressly disclaimed artistic involvement in completing this record".
[edit] Injunction, re-recording and remixing
Unhappy with the demo-like-quality sound of the 1977 release, the group took Mushroom to court with the aim of having the 1977 release of Magazine taken off the market. The Seattle court ruled that Mushroom had to recall the album, but the terms of the settlement required that Heart provide a second album for Mushroom. Heart chose to fulfill this obligation by finishing the released songs to a quality of their satisfaction. A security guard stood by in the studio to make sure that the group didn't try to erase the multitrack master tapes.
Heart chose to re-record and/or remix the songs, adding new lead vocals to most of the studio recordings. For example, the synthesizer solo on "Just The Wine" was replaced by a flute solo. Some of the songs were also edited for re-release. Another obvious difference is that on the original recording of "Heartless" Ann Wilson sings "The doc said come back again next week..." On the re-recorded version she clearly sings "doctor" instead.
[edit] 1978 release
The revised version of the album was released with a different track sequence (and no disclaimer) in April 1978.
[edit] Epilogue
In the early 1980s Mushroom Records went out of business, and Heart's two albums for the label were purchased and re-issued by Capitol Records.
[edit] Track listing - 1977 Release
- "Heartless" (Ann Wilson, Nancy Wilson) – 5:00
- "Without You" (Peter Ham, Tom Evans)– 4:44
- "Just The Wine" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 4:30
- "Magazine" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 6:55
- "Here Song" (A. Wilson) – 1:35
- "Devil Delight" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 4:58
- "Blues Medley (Mother Earth) (You Shook Me Babe)" (Live) (Peter Chapman, Lewis Simkin, Willie Dixon) – 7:11
- "I've Got The Music In Me" (Live) (Bias Boshell) – 6:01
[edit] Track listing - 1978 Release
- "Heartless" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 5:02
- "Devil Delight" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 5:00
- "Just The Wine" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 4:16
- "Without You" (Ham, Evans) – 4:42
- "Magazine" (A. Wilson, N. Wilson) – 6:22
- "Here Song" (A. Wilson) – 1:34
- "Mother Earth Blues" (Live) (Chapman, Simkin, Dixon) – 5:59
- "I've Got The Music In Me" (Live) (Boshell) – 6:18
[edit] Performers
- Ann Wilson: vocals, guitar, keyboards, violin
- Nancy Wilson: vocals, guitar, piano
- Michael DeRosier: drums
- Roger Fisher: guitar, steel guitar
- Steve Fossen: bass guitar, percussion
- Howard Leese: guitar, keyboards, synthesizer, vocals
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