In the 1980s and '90s, numerous women recorded blistering rock, but things were quite different in 1976 -- when female singers tended to be pigeonholed as soft rockers and singer/songwriters and were encouraged to take after
Carly Simon,
Melissa Manchester, or
Joni Mitchell rather than
Led Zeppelin or
Black Sabbath. Greatly influenced by
Zep,
Heart did its part to help open doors for ladies of loudness with the excellent
Dreamboat Annie. Aggressive yet melodic rockers like "Sing Child," "White Lightning & Wine," and the rock radio staples "Magic Man" and "Crazy on You" led to the tag "the female Led Zeppelin." And in fact,
Robert Plant did have a strong influence on
Ann Wilson. But those numbers and caressing, folk-ish ballads like "How Deep It Goes" and the title song also make it clear that the Nancy and
Ann Wilson had their own identity and vision early on. [
Dreamboat Annie was re-released on LP in 2016.] ~ Alex Henderson