Ann Wilson's New Thing

Ann Wilson‘s New Thing

Bruce Von Stiers

Several years back I reviewed a solo album from Ann Wilson of the rock band Heart. The album was called Hope & Glory and paired Ann with several iconic artists in duets. The album was well received.

This year finds Ann with yet another solo project. But unlike the previous album, which was mostly rock songs, this one is an EP with blues flavored music. The title of the EP is The Ann Wilson Thing! #1.

The EP has four songs and a play time of seventeen minutes. One of the entries is an original song written by Ann.

The first song is For What It's Worth. It was written by Stephen Stills and originally recorded by the band he was in, Buffalo Springfield. I had never heard a cover of the song before. Ann does a different take on the song, with a lot of strong drum, almost a battle anthem styling. There is some cool guitar in the song. Ann provides solid vocals on the song.

Then there is an aching tune that was done live. It is the Aretha Franklin love lament Aint No Way. Ann brings out angst and agony that you can almost cut with a knife.

Ann also tries out a Ray Charles song. This one is Danger Zone. While the original is sort of smooth, Ann's rendition has a bit of a sharper, more blues touch.

The one original song on the EP is Fool No More. It is a blues tune with the trademark Ann Wilson vocal sound. The song has just a sliver of angst, along with a sliver of the styling of Heart music, especially a bluesy rock guitar solo.

Any time an established artist veers away from what fans had loved them for, there is skepticism about the new material. I can say that although it is quite different from what I am used to from Ann Wilson, I enjoyed the EP. The songs not like the rock styling of Heart and they are also quite different from the material in Ann's other solo project, Hope & Glory.

The Ann Wilson Thing #1 can be purchased on amazon.com and other selected retailers.

Ann has a web site for this new project at http://www.theannwilsonthing.com/

You can check out Ann's Facebook page too at https://www.facebook.com/officialannwilson/

There is also information about the EP and gig dates for Ann on the official Heart web site at http://www.heart-music.com/

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