It wasn’t until 3 years later that Heartland re-emerged, now down to a trio. Signed to a then fledgling reissue label Long Island, it looked like Heartland were on a hiding to nothing, with AOR and melodic rock now way down the pecking order of popularity with music fans.
Written by: gdmonline
ARTIST: Heartland
ALBUM: Wide Open
LABEL: Long Island Records
SERIAL: LIR 00022
YEAR: 1994
CD REISSUE: Discogs Reissue List
COUNTRY OF ORIGIN: England
LINEUP: Chris Ousey – vocals, production * Gary Sharpe – guitars, bass, keyboards, programming, production, engineering, mixing * Steve Gibson – drums, programming
TRACK LISTING: 01 Give Me A Reason * 02 Whenever You Want Me * 03 Wide Open * 04 Losing To Love * 05 Indian Ground * 06 When I’m With You * 07 A Town Called Pride * 08 Running On Empty * 09 Try Me * 10 Burning The Bridges * 11 Turning My Heart Right Over * 12 All Or Nothing * 13 Keeping The Faith Alive
Background
It was one of my favourite albums from 1991; the debut ‘Heartland’ set. Where they looked set to take giant strides, circumstances ended up tripping the British band of AORsters into next week, and they disappeared off the freeway to success.
It wasn’t until 3 years later that Heartland re-emerged, now down to a trio. Signed to a then fledgling reissue label Long Island, it looked like Heartland were on a hiding to nothing, with AOR and melodic rock now way down the pecking order of popularity with music fans.
The Songs
‘Give Me A Reason’ is a reminder of what Heartland were all about back in 1991, and it makes for a great refresher course. Second up is the Franke & The Knockouts cover of ‘Whenever You Want Me’. A different sounding rendition no less, interesting choice. The title track ‘Wide Open’ is an acoustic/electric hybrid tha provides some aural relief.
‘Losing To Love’ is an album highlight, with lovely shimmering guitar melodies filling the spaces perfectly. I passed on the dreamy ballad ‘Indian Ballad’ as it nearly put me to sleep. The following ‘When I’m With You’ was another to land in ballad territory though with better results. Heartland succeed with ‘A Town Called Pride’, a song that highlights their melodic attributes to a tee. Another highlight.
‘Running Empty’ proves that you don’t have to live in North America to play decent AOR , as Heartland demonstrates with ease. Toward the back-end of the album, the songs are certainly borne of the studio. The quality retained though the style slightly samey without there being a breakout of spontaneity or overblown energy.
In Summary
If anyone remembers buying the original CD, there seemed to be a baking paper like wrapping on the inside of the CD case. This was similar to other Long Island reissues such as Stan Meissner, Everest and a few others. As most would know, Long Island would morph into Escape Music, and Heartland would tag along for the ride. Not the worst of their back-catalog, it’s pretty good actually. Rediscover ‘Wide Open’ at your leisure.
Heartland on Video
Click to go to YTM album page.
