‘Live On Air’ with Heart is a real wet dream for any fan of the bands early material. This is a recording with the band from very early days when the original line-up was still intact and the band were first breaking out, before they were a household name. This was recorded live at the KWSU-TV (A public TV station out of Washington State University) in Feb-March 1976 and the show was called Second Coming, right before the release of the debut album ‘Dreamboat Annie’. This is a terrific show, taped in front of a small audience. The set featured 9 songs at an approx 55-minute show and I’m doubtful anyone left disappointed even though probably none realized they were witnessing the beginning of a superstar career. The Second Ending was a show that was broadcast somewhat irregularly in the Pacific Northwest beginning in early 1976 and ran for at least 2 years. If you go through the Archives Department at WSU you will find that this show was aired on Saturday the 9th of April 1976 at 10:30 pm with a re-run on Sunday they 10th of April at 6:30. Many newsletter clips from student magazines at the time refer to the group as ‘Hart’ and that they are from Canada. This really proves how unknown they were at the time. The director of ‘The Second Ending’ series Michael J. Costones would actively seek out local artists to showcase on the series. The studio is very small and held between 50-75 people, mostly WSU students. On this date for the Heart performance, it is clear the majority of the crowd had never heard of the band and are visibly blown out by this unknown band from the Pacific Northwest. This show is a real treat to hear. The sound quality is better than most Live On Air series albums I've bought before. Very listenable considering the performance, which is excellent. It even has Roger pulling out the bow and doing a Dazed And Confused type thing on his Les Paul. The tracks are all from Dreamboat Annie except for ‘Heartless’ and ‘Devil delight’ that were written around the same time and would appear on the album ‘Magazine’ that was delayed and released first in 1978. The productions and rarity of the show makes it a must have for any old time Heart fans. British label Plastic Head has during the last ten years released a lot of re-issue under their side labels Back on Black and Rock Classic records. Now they have found a ‘copyright gap’ when it comes to American live radio broadcasts. Radio broadcasts that are under the public domain in the States are legally public domain even in the UK. They started a new side label called Southworld to release this kind of material. I have seen people saying these are bootlegs because the bands which music they release have nothing to do with them. However the gap in the copyright law seems to make these legal. The might look cheap on the cover and lacks any fancy booklets as the label can’t use the bands’ real logo and they can only use photos for which they can get the copyright too. Even though the discs looks ‘cheap’, the music in many cases is splendid and features unique live material from an era in the band’s history which might not have been released on any other official live albums. From: https://tpl.se/music/heart-live-on-air-1976/
