Private Audition

Private Audition is the sixth album on which Heart, while firmly keeping the powerful rock it does well, digs more deeply into each song’s delicate shading. Also a work made in the early 1980s, a somewhat commercially difficult period for the band. The Wilson sisters’ powerful voice and guitar surely leave a strong presence not only in flashy climaxes but in quiet, restrained-tension passages. From the powerful drive of the opener “City’s Burning” and the drama of “This Man Is Mine” to a cut like “Perfect Stranger,” hard rock numbers and a delicate acoustic sense line up side by side, and the album has rich expression that by no means stays within a single mold, while cuts like “Angels” and “Bright Light Girl” convey the work’s appeal. A record that carefully draws, with sure playing, the vague unease the band held behind flamboyant success and the resolve to still move forward. Though not necessarily a great commercial success, the Wilson sisters’ sure expression has not dimmed in the least. An engaging record with an introspective, distinctive texture particular to a transitional period — conveying the band’s earnest stance.