Have you ever felt that a reincarnation of Led Zeppelin and the Beatles, together on stage, would be great for the blend of musical styles that would come out of this mixture? With some flavours of Fleetwood Mac and Jethro Tull added to it? And for the edgier side of the music some Deep-Purple-oriented hard rock?  And do you wish to have a better lead singer for all these great bands, maybe the best lead singer worldwide which can be imagined for a rock band?

And if you are a fan of the Seattle-based rock band Heart, led by two sisters (Ann Wilson – vocals, Nancy Wilson – guitars), did you ever feel that a “Bebe Dreamboat Dog Butterfly Queen Magazine” album would be the best album ever done?  If it would exist? And do you feel that – due to the great skills of Ann and Nancy and their band – some Blues-Rock tunes could be added – because you believe that they would do a great job on this? And some Garage-Rock / Punk-Rock flavour would be fine if the same song flows back into a nice harmony singing by the sisters? And would you like to hear some ballads as beautiful as “Dreamboat Annie” and “Dog and Butterfly” or the mandolin-based “Dream of the Archer” together with some hard rockers even harder than “Barracuda” and “Rockin Heaven Down”? And do you wish another incarnation of a classic like “Mistral Wind” where the melodies and the instruments are so beautifully complex that you have problems in writing a review down for this because you needed to type with 30 fingers to describe this song at all? And do you feel that the eight songs of “Dog and Butterfly” and other “old” albums are too few and it would have been better to get eighteen instead?

Do you feel that this can be true for a new record in the year 2004 where most of the music is generated by major companies to obey some “trends” that they want to “implant” into people’s heads? And do you feel that this can be true in the decade of casting shows and superstars that are only valid for a few weeks?

If you believe in this all, your dream can become true. You simply should buy the new Heart CD “Jupiters Darling”. On Jupiters Darling, you will get eighteen songs (at least in the European version out since June 7^th) , each of them with its own character, no single song a filler or boring. You will get a roller coaster tour between hard rock and acoustic guitar ballad and blues-rock and a mellotron-based Beatles-que ballad, and after 70 minutes of listening, you will really feel better. And that it was possible - after 32 years of listening to rock music, being a realistic, matter-of-fact, objective, very dispassionate computer scientist now – to get tears in my eyes when listening Nancy singing “I Need the Rain” (yes, I needed the rain “to hide my tears”), I did not expect before getting this CD.

Yes, this album was worth the wait (more than 10 years). Yes, this album is worth the money. Not only for one copy, but for some more copies because you should spread this news to other open-minded music lovers, too.

Going into details, here is my diary of my 70-minutes journey to Jupiter and our darlings:

Make Me: 04:00

Starting with Nancy’s acoustic guitar intro, going into a full band rock song after 50 seconds. When the chorus begins “Make Me high, make me low”, it really rocks, driven by Craig Bartocks electric but also Nancy’s acoustic guitar. That’s the “Crazy on You” of this new millennium.

Oldest Story in the World: 03:51

And that’s the “Barracuda” / “Rockin Heaven Down” of the Millenium, one of the most powerful hard rock songs I ever heard. And yes, you need the best lead vocalist ever to sing this! “Crash the television”!!!

Things: 2:43

A funny song starting and ending with studio chats I do not understand (and Motley Sue seems to feel that this is good for me). Nancy on vocals and on acoustic guitar. And what vocals these are! I never heard anybody singing “equation” with such passion (oh yes, I have a master in Mathematics!). And the beeeszzzzzzzzzz of Nancy are really overwhelming!!! You are in a really good LOL mood after this song, grinning from ear to ear! Yes, also Nancy is laughing during the song, Ann at the very end!

The Perfect Goodbye: 3:37

A perfect radio-friendly rock song, starting with two acoustic verses, then a nice chorus. A rock song with acoustic and electric guitars, then, great harmonies, a great melody. Absolutely perfect background vocals of Nancy in the first bridge at the end, Nancy itself singing the second part of the bridge lead. Nice, but short, E-guitar bridge, too. Yes, even in the morning just after waking up, you have to clap your hands to this one!

Enough: 3:23

A ballad that could be part of the Butterfly-side of “Dog and Butterfly” – or part of a Beatles album. Nice Beatles-que acoustic instruments. Yes, and a strings (!!) solo. On 2:10, e-guitars are stepping in giving the second half of the song more power. Yes, a nice ballad for the silent times of a day. Again: a great melody, great vocals by Ann (but: who did not expect this?).

Move On: 5:00

A slow rock song, but what a rocker, a quite complex, deep one! Move On has a very interesting bass line, good to have Mike Inez in the band! A great guitar solo near the end, edgy lead and rhythm guitars throughout the whole song. And Ann seems to “perform”, to be “acting” to this song.

I Need The Rain: 4:20

A mandolin ballad, sung by Nancy. It is the “Dream of theArcher” of the new millennium. No, it is much more than this. This song touches extremely. Nancy’s vocals singing “I Need the Rain to Hide my Tears”. Yes, Nancy was right. In this moment, I needed the rain, too.

I Give Up: 3:50

This song starts with an edgy electric guitar and Ann’s voice only. After 30 seconds, Ben Smith joins, the full band is taking over after 50 seconds. Nancy singing great harmony vocals to this. Yes, this song is radio-friendly but harder than “Perfect Goodbye”. “I Give Up” is even quite edgy in the verses, while harmonic and melodic during the chorus. Very interesting bridge near the end with two “duelling” e-guitars.

Vainglorious: 3:57

Surprise, surprise! The  “Oldest Story” is not the only rocker harder than “Barracuda”. Vainglorious is also a great hard rock tune. Interesting bass line. And what a power : Ann and Nancy singing  “Vainglorious”. What a guitar solo: short, but not a typical, stereotyped one. Never heard before!

No Other Love: 4:00

A violin, cello, and mandolin based ballad, and what a string section!! This song could be part of “The Road Home”.

Led To One: 2:57

A song with Nancy on lead vocals. Only acoustic guitar, strings and some percussion for the first minute. Nice ballad again.

Down The Nile: 4:49

Completely different from what you expect from Heart: A Blues Rocker, very groooovy! Nancy on blues harp. The song is ending with a long, ecstatic, wild instrumental outro.

I’m Fine: 2:59

A drum intro leads into a garage / punk rock style verse, but the song comes very fast to a quite harmonic (Heart-ish) part of the verse. Interesting interplay between these garage-style and Heart-style parts of the verse. Nancy is singing.

Fallen Ones: 3:41

Led Zeppelin is back again! But also this song is going into a harmonic part of the verse quite fast. Again this interesting interplay between edgy and harmonic parts of the verse. Two e-guitar solos!

Lost Angel: 6:54

Yes, we have the “Mistral Wind” of the new Millenium, too. The song starts with Nancy’s acoustic guitar, lead vocals sung by Ann. Nice instruments. The full band is joining after 2:30. What a song! Then a Beatles-que instrumental bridge, followed by an e-guitar solo .. and – ohhh, it’s a long song, it’s not the end – followed by an acoustic guitar bridge by Nancy again, then back to hard rock again, suddenly only Ann’s voice and some strings, the acoustic guitar starting again, the drums … what a composition, this would have not been possible in the 80s. No Mutt-Lange-song, this is a typical connie song.  You cannot describe the changing instruments and melodies and paces .. it changes every five seconds at the end. You cannot describe it (I cannot type such fast, I need 30 fingers for this), you have to hear it – or, to keep it short, the new “Mistral Wind” is born.

Hello Moonglow: 1:54

Okay, after Lost Angel you need a song to cool down. This is a Nancy ballad, quite Beatles-que again, only voices and an acoustic guitar and a mellotron (?)  adding after one minute.

Bonus – How Deep It Goes : 3:07

Nice, completely unplugged and acoustic version of this Heart classic. And it really rocks in the middle part. Great (new !) background vocals by Nancy !

Bonus – Fallen Ones Unplugged : 3 :47

The unplugged version with only two acoustic guitars and the one and only Ann on vocals.

The end of the roller coaster journey to Jupiter and our darlings is reached. Yes, what can I say: what an interesting trip. Never boring! No filler! You are quite excited when a new song begins: what’s the style, what are the instruments, who is singing, which kinds of changes in the melody during the song will be there?

It’s a rock – ballad – hard rock – acoustic rock – blues – whatever album by one of the greatest bands ever. It is my “Bebe Dreamboat Dog Butterfly Queen Magazine”. But, and that’s unbelievable, it was not published in the 70s, it came out on June, 7^th in 2004!!!