Ann Wilson — Hope & Glory

Another CD which I recently picked up was Ann Wilson’s first-ever solo effort ‘Hope & Glory,’ from ZoĆ«/ Rounder Records. Produced by Ben Mink, Hope & Glory features appearances from such artists as Elton John, Gretchen Wilson, Alison Krauss, Rufus Wainwright, Ann’s sister Nancy Wilson and others on unique renditions of songs made famous by Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan, John Lennon, Neil Young and more. In these two videos, Ann Wilson performs unique covers of Led Zeppelin’s “Immigrant song” (Track 5) and Pink Floyd’s “Goodbye Blue Sky” (Track 1).

Author: urbangraffito

I am a writer, editor, publisher, philosopher, and foole (not necessarily in that order). Cultural activist and self-described anarchist.

9 thoughts on “Ann Wilson — Hope & Glory”

  1. Nice cover of Immigrant Song!

    My first concert ever was Heart ’78 in Central Park, NYC. We walked in as they were playing a dead-on version of Zep’s “Rock-n-Roll”. Very memorable.
    To this day if the song, “Barracuda” comes on while I’m driving I have to brake the speed limit (this puts my mini-van in great peril).

    I am surprised this is her first solo project?!

  2. If Led Zep goes on tour without Plant they are insane.
    But if they do, Ann Wilson would kick ass!!!

  3. [quote comment=”2940″]Maybe Ann could be the new singer for Zep, as they’ve decided to do it without Plant![/quote]

    Zep without Plant is like Floyd without Waters or The Mothers minus Frank: bad idea all around. Why do these remaining musicians feel the public is willing to dish out cash to see only “bits and pieces” of a once great band? Probably because they’re right. Most people will.

    I’m with jane23…Ann Wilson would kick ass!!! What a voice!!!

  4. this is great — thanks you KUR..!! I am a huge Heart/Wilson sisters fan…and I missed this… dunno how — I was paying attention when they did their recent tour a year or so ago….

    In related realms — I will recommend Nancy Wilson’s great LIVE acoustic solo CD, fantastic — she is simply one of the most unsung GUITAR PLAYERs , yet in a popularly successful band.

    You may know that she does a ton of soundtrack work… often in her husband’s movies — Nancy is married to the great Cameron Crowe (go dig out yer copy of Frampton comes Alive — he wrote the liner notes!!)

    Also I recommend highly SIXTY SIX TO TIMBUKTU — a dbl cd greatest hits of Robert Plant (Or “Robert Planet” for you Flo&Eddie fans!)

    But this is great — CD1 is his stuff BEFORE zeppelin, and CD2 is his 80s stuff AFTER Zep. Really great, that he can have stuff that stands up well –without even dipping into the untouchable LZ material….

  5. [quote comment=”2947″][quote comment=”2940″]Maybe Ann could be the new singer for Zep, as they’ve decided to do it without Plant![/quote]

    Zep without Plant is like Floyd without Waters or The Mothers minus Frank: bad idea all around. Why do these remaining musicians feel the public is willing to dish out cash to see only “bits and pieces” of a once great band? Probably because they’re right. Most people will.

    I’m with jane23…Ann Wilson would kick ass!!! What a voice!!![/quote]

    There’s an interesting debate to be had here.

    I agree with you on some of that. But — is it OK for Waters to be out doing a lot of Floyd, including the entire “Dark Side” and promoting the show as such?

    Lots of sides to this. Should the rest of the WHO just sit around, (including the principal songwriter) because one of them fucked up and OD’d..??

    I think it’s basically a ROCK ORIENTED BIAS to feel this way. IN NO OTHER form of music do people concerns themselves with these issues. People came and went in Weather Report. Return To Forever had several lineups that could be considered ‘classic’

    Kronos Quartet — should they have stopped when Jean Jeanrenaud (sp?) split the group???

    So– I think it’s the psychological detritus of the “post-Beatles” thing where we have a BAND with these KEY MEMBERS and we get stuck on that.

    Like I said -i AGREE with you in part — and generally I cam cool with it if remaining members CHANGE THE BAND NAME.

    example — I’m a huge Queen and Thin Lizzy fan…and in both cases BIG MISTAKE to call the current touring band the same thing (yes, Queen officially is “Queen with Paul Rodgers” but no promoter sells it like that.
    And the current touring “Thin Lizzy” has…one guy Scott Gorham who had any tenure in the band….

    “The 21st Century Doors” is what Manzarek and Krieger called their tour….also cutting it close… and all promoters advertise dwas THE DOORS.

    Should the main songwriter Krieger….quit making money on his legacy, again — ‘cos someone in the band couldn’t manage their habit?? hmm.

    I’m with ya on the NAME part. They should have called it “Krieger/Manzarek – of the Doors ” or something like that.

    In all three examples — AGREE WITH YA –!! Big mistake — call it a new name and move on!! When you have a charismatic LEAD person like Plant, Mercury , Lynott, Morrison etc……very hard to re-define the group.

    Even the respectful move to remove “GRATEFUL” and just go as “THE DEAD” was a great move by those guys, not my faves but very cool that the OTHER FOUR GUYS get to go out and deservedly have a good time, play music, and yes, make a bunch of cash, and employ 100+ people.

    But the Zeppelin reunion kicked ASS. And — who better to sit in the drum chair than….essentially someone who is 50% of John Bonham’s DNA (LOL!!)

    But UG, You answered your own question…. People will pay to see music, every time, and that’s why bands go out without the exact lineup from 1973 or 1988. I think we should look to the other forms of music that don;t get hungup on this. I think because maybe jazz or classical or country or rap fans don;t necessarily grow up with the poster on their walls of THE REAL ORIGINAL GROUP, so they could care less if Professor Griff doesn’t make a Public Enemy tour or not, etc.

    Also agree that — if ZEP goes out without Plant (since he seems to not be interested)– then they should just call it SOMETHING ELSE….

    Example: In 1980 Page was rehearsing a new band with Alan White and Chris Squire — they called it XYZ (x-yes and zep), the reh. bootlegs are awesome!

    Cheers

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