Heart: Fanatic (Live)

As good as they ever were - back to the future!

You can trust Louder Our experienced team has worked for some of the biggest brands in music. From testing headphones to reviewing albums, our experts aim to create reviews you can trust. Find out more about how we review.

Since 2004, when they brought in guitarist Craig Bartock, sisters Anne and Nancy Wilson have rebuilt Heart in the style of their hard-rockin', occasionally folky, band of the 70s. Now, with this collection (also on DVD/Blu-ray) that renaissance is complete.

From the use of John Paul-Jones’s In The Light intro, through Mashallah! and 59 Crash (rockers from 2012’s Fanatic) to the closing thunder of the classic Barracuda, this is Heart in their Zep-sty ledpomp - occasionally boosted by a string section led by Ben Mink. Even MTV-era hits These Dreams and What About Love are superbly updated. More than a just great performance, this stands as a reaffirmation of Heart for fans who lost interest in the 80s.

Neil Jeffries

Freelance contributor to Classic Rock and several of its offshoots since 2006. In the 1980s he began a 15-year spell working for Kerrang! intially as a cub reviewer and later as Geoff Barton’s deputy and then pouring precious metal into test tubes as editor of its Special Projects division. Has spent quality time with Robert Plant, Keith Richards, Ritchie Blackmore, Rory Gallagher and Gary Moore – and also spent time in a maximum security prison alongside Love/Hate. Loves Rush, Aerosmith and beer. Will work for food.