{"id":2040,"date":"2010-07-03T09:29:19","date_gmt":"2010-07-03T08:29:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?p=2040"},"modified":"2010-07-04T09:36:58","modified_gmt":"2010-07-04T08:36:58","slug":"red-velvet-car-bio-by-david-wild","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?p=2040","title":{"rendered":"Red Velvet Car Bio by David Wild"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Red
Red Velvet Car<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

HEART –\u00a0RED VELVET CAR BIO (by David Wild) as posted on Heart\u00b4s MySpace<\/a><\/p>\n

Red Velvet Car — the most personal and powerful work yet from Ann and Nancy Wilson — takes generations of Heart fans on what truly feels like the musical ride of a lifetime. Powerfully produced by Ben Mink — who previously worked with Ann Wilson on her acclaimed 2007 solo album Hope & Glory \u2013 Red Velvet Car is an thoroughly electrifying song cycle of largely acoustic-based sound and a stunning album with a true and renewed sense of purpose.<\/p>\n

As Ann Wilson put it, \u201cHere we are at this point in the band\u2019s history and just like with any lifespan, the longer you love, the longer things look in back of you — and shorter in front of you too. That sense of perspective means that you\u2019re much less likely to want to waste any time at all. So there\u2019s a even greater sense of mortality, of the stakes involved here and an even stronger desire to make every moment on the album matter.\u201d<\/p>\n

The result on Red Velvet Car is an album of breathtaking intimacy and honesty.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not an inauthentic, fictitious or posing bone in the body of this album,\u201d says Nancy Wilson. \u201cWhether it\u2019s smart or not, there\u2019s no posing going on here whatsoever. We\u2019re telling our story. At one point, I said to Ann and Ben, ..What we\u2019re doing in the studio with this album, this is the way we the Indians used to do it. You make a fire, and then you sit around the fire and tell your stories and pass them on with a real sense of one on one human contact. We feel like we made quite a fire together.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nRed Velvet Car is like a Second Coming, because it represents a kind of homecoming to the sort of original, powerful, deeply personal works like 1976\u2019s Dreamboat Annie, 1977\u2019s Little Queen and 1978\u2019s Dog & Butterfly that helped Heart earn its good name in rock history in the first place. Indeed, Red Velvet Car seems infinitely more deeply rooted to those records than Heart\u2019s more recent platinum commercial triumphs of the Eighties and Nineties, such as 1985\u2019s Heart, 1987\u2019s Bad Animals or 1990\u2019s Brigade. In this way, Red Velvet Car completes Heart\u2019s journey back to their original musical passions that the Wilson sisters have been working towards ever since on increasingly strong efforts like 1993\u2019s Desire Walks On, 1995\u2019s The Road Home, 2003\u2019s Alive In Seattle, 2004\u2019s Jupiter\u2019s Darling, 2007\u2019s Dreamboat Annie Live, as well as their work as The Lovemongers and Hope & Glory, Ann\u2019s exquisite solo album. Red Velvet Car is the beautiful and unforgettable place Heart\u2019s road home has taken them.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe were definitely making a devil\u2019s bargain in the Eighties, and looking back I\u2019m glad we did because it did allow us to transit over a period when we could have fallen into a black hole,\u201d Ann Wilson explains. \u201cBut we wouldn\u2019t want to go back there and make any more music we don\u2019t feel totally connected to. And now with this album, we feel like we have something very solid to stand on. It\u2019s so great to work with Ben Mink because he\u2019s not only a great set of ears, but also a great soul.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mink — a producer, songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist — caught the attention of the Wilson sisters with a body of work that has included projects with everyone from k.d. lang to Rush and Barenaked Ladies. \u201cBen was hard to wrestle him down to the ground to work with us,\u201d says Ann. \u201cWhen we were trying to pull Heart up from out of the Eighties ten or fifteen years ago, he didn\u2019t quite see it yet. Later on, we did the solo album and hit it off, and now the time and place was right.\u201d<\/p>\n

If Jupiter\u2019s Darling was built upon Nancy Wilson\u2019s guitar collaboration with Heart\u2019s Craig Bartock, Red Velvet Car was founded on Nancy\u2019s acoustic guitar chemistry with Ben Mink. Together, they kick up the sort of sparks that conjure up the same acoustic fire that Led Zeppelin had once upon a time. \u201cI think that\u2019s where Ben Mink and I really match each other as players,\u201d explains Nancy Wilson. \u201cBecause I\u2019ve played a very rocking acoustic guitar in a big rock band setting for so long, I don\u2019t play a shy acoustic if you know what I mean. And Ben has that same ability. There\u2019s so much expression you can get out of an acoustic guitar especially when it\u2019s well recorded. Ben and me were playing and say, \u201cWow, were we separated at birth?\u201d There\u2019s some nice electric guitar on the album too, but for instance, \u201cThere You Go\u201d is heavier because there isn\u2019t an electric track, and so you hear every grain of wood.<\/p>\n

For Ann Wilson, part of the power of a song like \u201cThere You Go\u201d — Red Velvet Car\u2019s opening track — is that \u201cnot only were we using all acoustic instruments, but the way we recorded, they weren\u2019t all recorded in isolation. So you have all kinds of strings resonating together. This wasn\u2019t some Kumbaya campfire sing-a-long. So the song had the intensity of all these instruments playing as one. It\u2019s something that Nancy has always wanted to do, and she found a real kindred spirit in Ben Mink. It\u2019s like the two of them came from the same mother or something. That definitely works in this band.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vocally too, Ben Mink has helped inspired a new sense of perspective. \u201cBen always wants me to hold back a little, which no producer has ever really asked me,\u201d says Ann Wilson. \u201cIt\u2019s not that he wants me to hold back the intensity, but instead to explore what\u2019s inside of me. Just when you think when you\u2019ve been around for so long and have nothing left to learn, it\u2019s great to meet someone like that who can get you to think about things a new way and really reach inside to find what\u2019s really you. That\u2019s pretty cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnn and I feel like we\u2019ve gone to the University of Mink,\u201d Nancy Wilson adds with a laugh.<\/p>\n

Take the journey that is Red Velvet Car, and you\u2019ll hear for yourself that Heart has graduated with flying colors. \u201cThis feels like one of those albums that only comes around every few decades. What\u2019s happening in our lives or how much heartbreak you balance into the joy — all those equations figure into what comes out artistically. So for whatever reasons, this is perhaps our most nakedly personal album we\u2019ve done, maybe ever. At our age, maybe it\u2019s smarter to cover your ass and pretend. See when you\u2019re young, you\u2019re fearless and cool; we\u2019re just not posing anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

As they head back on the road with their Red Velvet Car, including dates of this summer\u2019s Lilith Fair, the sisters Wilson are excited.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoy it\u2019s wonderful and it\u2019s frightening in a way too,\u201d says Ann Wilson. \u201cWe\u2019re going to come at them with these new ideas as well as the old favorites. It\u2019s scary but we\u2019re going to do it because we really mean this.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve been doing to two to five new songs lately, and already they\u2019ve been translating to audiences who have no idea what they\u2019re about to hear,\u201d Nancy adds. \u201cThey\u2019re about to walk out and buy a Coke, and the songs have stopped them in their tracks and made them listen, so these new songs are already living well in our show. That\u2019s the hardest test with new songs, but somehow these songs sound familiar to the people who love our music. These are songs built to stand the test of the time, and we can\u2019t wait to share them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Red Velvet Car may take you on a dark ride at times, but it\u2019s one that you will never forget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HEART –\u00a0RED VELVET CAR BIO (by David Wild) as posted on Heart\u00b4s MySpace Red Velvet Car — the most personal and powerful work yet from<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[43],"class_list":["post-2040","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-heartlinker","tag-red-velvet-car"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1479,"url":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?p=1479","url_meta":{"origin":2040,"position":0},"title":"RED VELVET CAR is new album title!","author":"TDHS","date":"March 4, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00a0 Heart management has confirmed it to be the title! Meanwhile, Heart just completed work on an upcoming album. Red Velvet Car was recorded in Los Angeles and produced by Vancouver's Ben Mink. Wilson says most of the disc's 10 tunes are \"really hard rock or uptempo.\" More from this\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HEARTLINKER"","block_context":{"text":"HEARTLINKER","link":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"RED VELVET","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heartlinker.eu\/images\/weblog\/redrocks4.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1886,"url":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?p=1886","url_meta":{"origin":2040,"position":1},"title":"UK RELEASE OF RED VELVET CAR ON EAGLE RECORDS!","author":"TDHS","date":"May 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Eagle Records are delighted to announce the release of \u201cRed Velvet Car\u201d, the first new studio album in six years from the groundbreaking Seattle-based band Heart.\u00a0 The record is released on 30 August 2010 [Cat. No. EAGCD424]. For this album, the first ladies of arena rock added an acoustic slant\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HEARTLINKER"","block_context":{"text":"HEARTLINKER","link":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"Eagle Records","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heartlinker.nl\/images\/weblog\/eagle.gif?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1876,"url":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?p=1876","url_meta":{"origin":2040,"position":2},"title":"PRESS RELEASE! YAY!","author":"TDHS","date":"May 19, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Legacy Recordings Announces the Release of Heart's Red Velvet Car, the First New Studio Album in Six Years From Ann & Nancy Wilson, Available Everywhere Tuesday, August 31 Legacy Recasting Classic Heart Catalog For New Physical & Digital Editions NEW YORK,\u00a0May 19 \/PRNewswire\/ -- Legacy Recordings proudly announces the release\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HEARTLINKER"","block_context":{"text":"HEARTLINKER","link":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"Legacy Recordings","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heartlinker.eu\/images\/weblog\/legacy.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2584,"url":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?p=2584","url_meta":{"origin":2040,"position":3},"title":"“We are thrilled and a little in disbelief”","author":"TDHS","date":"September 10, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Press Release: Heart's Red Velvet Car, the First New Studio Album in Six Years From Ann & Nancy Wilson, Drives Straight Into the Top 10 of the Billboard 20 NEW YORK, Sept. 10 \/PRNewswire\/ -- Red Velvet Car, the first new studio album in six years from the groundbreaking Seattle-based\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HEARTLINKER"","block_context":{"text":"HEARTLINKER","link":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"Red Velvet Car","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heartlinker.nl\/images\/weblog\/rvccoverjune17.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2622,"url":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?p=2622","url_meta":{"origin":2040,"position":4},"title":"Heart Enjoying Return To The Top Ten","author":"TDHS","date":"September 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Bear: Proving that age has nothing to do with topping the charts these days, Heart -- featuring sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson -- are back with their first Top Ten album in 20 years. Their new studio set, Red Velvet Car, debuted at Number Ten on the Billboard Top\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "HEARTLINKER"","block_context":{"text":"HEARTLINKER","link":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?cat=2"},"img":{"alt_text":"Ann Wilson ","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.heartlinker.eu\/images\/weblog\/annwilson100.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2565,"url":"https:\/\/www.heartlinker.nl\/?p=2565","url_meta":{"origin":2040,"position":5},"title":"OFFICIAL: Red Velvet Car debuts in top 10!","author":"TDHS","date":"September 8, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Confirmed by billboard.com: Heart's album\u00a0Red Velvet Car has debuted in the American Billboard 200 (albumsales) at\u00a0number 10 with 27.300 copies sold. Returning in the top 10 after 20 years since 1990's Brigade album, this is truly a fantastic and deserved result. 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