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Heart

Dog and Butterfly (Remaster)

Review by Gary Hill

Another of the Heart remasters coming out; this one is a strong disc, but not nearly as consistent or potent as Little Queen is. The album includes some strong material, but also suffers a bit from some weaker stuff being on show. Still, "Mistral Wind" has always been one of my favorites from Heart. This disc is perhaps a bit more progressive rock oriented than some of their other stuff. It still holds up well, it's just not the album that Little Queen is.

This review is available in book format (hardcover and paperback) in Music Street Journal: 2005 Year Book Volume 3 at https://garyhillauthor.com/Music-Street-Journal-2005.

Track by Track Review
Cook With Fire
It might seem a bit strange to start off a studio album with a live track, but they pull it off quite well with this Zeppelinish rocker.
High Time
While essentially a straightforward rocker, this one is a bit quirky at times.
Hijinx
This one starts very bluesy and builds rather slowly.
Straight On
This classic Heart cut is a wonderful understated rocker, if a bit overplayed over the years.
Dog & Butterfly
The title track starts as a mellow ballad. It grows steadily and gradually and has some great vocal work. The arrangement is a sheer winner - creative and enchanting.
Lighter Touch
This starts as a slightly jazzy and dramatic ballad. As it carries forward the arrangement becomes more powerful and lush ever so gradually. Still it says overall fairly understated as far as volume and fury. Instead the band choose to focus on both a near prog approach and jazzy textures.
Nada One
Starting in a dramatic balladic mode, while still remaining essentially in a ballad style it covers a lot of territory. This is quite potent and rather proggy at times.
Mistral Wind
At first this is another pretty mellow and dramatic cut that again seems quite progish. Later a heavier section that still maintains a lot of prog characteristics takes it. This dramatic piece has always been one of my favorites from the band and includes stellar vocals, meaty guitars and an awesome arrangement.
Heartless (Live)
A live track, synth starts this, then a cool bouncy structure takes it. This is a smoking rock and roller. This has a very proggy keyboard laced break. This is the first of three bonus tracks on the remastered version.
Feels
This is another that is fairly mellow and very prog like in nature. It's another of the bonus tracks.
Little Bit
The final bonus song, this is just a short bouncy acoustic guitar solo.
 
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