"Tell It Like It Is" by Heart

Top 10 Alert!

Song#:  0417
Date:  11/22/1980
Debut:  41
Peak:  8
Weeks:  16
Genre:  Rock



Pop Bits:  After a very successful 70s that saw four consecutive platinum albums, Heart started to see a decline in their fortunes when the 1979 LP "Bebe le Strange" only went gold and produced the sole chart single "Even It Up" (#33). Their next release, "Greatest Hits/Live," was a double LP where disc one featured their hit songs and disc two contained mostly live recordings with three new studio tracks. One of them was this first single from the album. It bolstered sales a bit for them when the single reached the Top 10, but it would be just a momentary uptick as the early 80s would be their most difficult period.

ReduxReview:  The track is probably one of my least favorite Heart tracks. Not because they do a bad job with the tune (actually, they perform it quite well), but because I'm not a fan of the song to begin with. I didn't care for the original (see below) or any other version, so even having one of my favorite groups like Heart cover the tune doesn't do much to change my opinion. Solid performance, meh song.

ReduxRating:  5/10

Trivia:  This song is a remake of Aaron Neville's 1967 #2 hit. It has been covered by many artists but has only hit the chart three times. Besides Neville's and Heart's Top 10 entries, singer Andy Williams (my former boss!) hit #72 in 1976 with the tune. The song also appears on Rolling Stone's list of the 500 greatest songs of all time.

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