The Tower
05-29-2006, 05:14 PM
I was reading through some Trouble in Shangri-La reviews and articles and found some interesting tidbits:
Fleetwood Mac, meanwhile, will begin recording a new studio album later this year. Though keyboardist Christine McVie has decided not to take part, the other four stalwarts - Nicks, Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie - will all be there. Stevie is looking forward to the sessions. "Without Christine's synthesizers and keyboards in the mix, the group will be pushed back towards guitars," she says. "But it will be back to an English blues sound, which is exactly what I loved about the band when we joined."
Huh??? Whatever you're smoking Stevie, I'd like some of it.
The cool rock song "That Made Me Stronger," shows Nicks recalling a discussion she had with longtime pal, Tom Petty, in which he helped her realize that she is still one of the most gifted songwriters in music today.
I find it interesting that the reviewers at the time really latched on to the story of "That Made Me Stronger". It's generally considered to be the worst song on the album- if not the worst of her career- yet, almost every review contains a blurb about her Tom Petty story.
"It's Only Love," written by Sheryl Crow (who produced five of the album's tracks) is one of the CD's finest moments. The song, with delicate lyrics and arrangement, is exquisitely reminiscent of "Sara," Nicks' 1979 hit with Fleetwood Mac.
:confused: "It's Only Love" is reminiscent of "Sara"?!? Did this reviewer even listen to the song??
Nicks has spent more than 30 years in the music industry and has 19 albums to her name. She's been featured on 11 soundtracks and 41 compilations. She's been naked in Playboy and has her own "Behind the Music" special.
:laugh:
Sister-in-scratch Macy Gray wheezes along with Nicks on the Latin-spiced "Bombay Sapphires.
:laugh:
I have always thought the Rolling Stone review was probably the best description of TISL:
Nicks' best solo work in years
Stripped to the bare essentials, Stevie Nicks' music is just Nicks' articulate rasp and her 14 million romantic emotions; when it's rocking just right, there's nothing else like it, giving robust rock form to her seemingly untamable impressions. And on Trouble in Shangri-La, it's rocking as right as it has since the mid-Eighties, when producer Jimmy Iovine helped Nicks craft two consecutive solo masterstrokes of big-time guitars, tunes and rhythms. On Shangri-La, she works comfortably with everyone from Sheryl Crow to the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines. Producer John Shanks shows a perfect understanding of what makes Nicks Nicks on thrillers like "Planets of the Universe" and the sensational title track. And when, working with Rick Nowels on "I Miss You," she sings, "I have so many questions/About love and about pain/About strained relationships," Nicks delivers some of her best work since she first barked out the words "white-winged dove." -- James Hunter
McLachlan plays piano and guitar and supplies harmony vocals on Love Is, one of the most beautiful, poetic songs on this cd. The gentleness of McLachlan's piano and the addition of her harmonies enhance Stevie's voice and passion to a new level.
:nod: I've always thought "Love Is" to be extremely underrated.
And even songs that don't stand out musically like Bombay Sapphires and Sorcerer are lyrically impressive. And therefore, I easily get past the normalcy of the music because I can see the big picture so clearly.
:laugh: If "Bombay Sapphires" is considered "lyrically impressive"-
"It is green
It is aquamarine
It is colors I have never seen
I can see past you - to the white sand...
It is blue
It is not about you
It is all true
You know--who I am"
Then Madonna should be crowned Poet Laureate for her masterpiece, "Candy Perfume Girl"
"Young velvet porcelain boy
Devour me when you're with me
Blue wish window seas
Speak delicious fires"
On first spin, however, the Crow-produced tracks -- "Too Far From Texas" a country-rock tearjerker) and "That Made Me Stronger" (with its subtle trip-hop groove and harmony-laden roots-rock chorus) -- are the ones most liable to get lodged in the noggin.
Oooooooookkaaaayyyyy...... obiviously didn't listen to the album more than once.
Non-fans will mock the Hollywood-Babylon title tune "I hear there's trouble in Shangri-La/ I run through the grass/ I run over stones/ Show me the way back ... to the sea." What, no room at the Hotel California? Nicks often writes lyrics in this clipped style, and her choppy clumps of words don't always paint a coherent picture
"Bombay Sapphires" is lyrically compelling but "Trouble in Shangri-La" doesn't paint a coherent picture?!?? Music reviewers can be so out of it sometimes.
Good thing too. Because unlike other legends in her tax bracket, Nicks actually has something to say for herself after all these years. She's been thinking about the ways her identity has been sacrificed to (or subsumed by) love, about the illusions she's held & shed. She's put those ideas down in plain words & plaintive melodies, devised song structures that rely on genuine hooks & unusual interludes & concocted a crafty update of California pop, shot through with the insights & ravings of a sometimes-lonely desert mystic.
Stevie should read this one and apply it to the present day. Get out there and produce another solo album already.
Fleetwood Mac, meanwhile, will begin recording a new studio album later this year. Though keyboardist Christine McVie has decided not to take part, the other four stalwarts - Nicks, Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and John McVie - will all be there. Stevie is looking forward to the sessions. "Without Christine's synthesizers and keyboards in the mix, the group will be pushed back towards guitars," she says. "But it will be back to an English blues sound, which is exactly what I loved about the band when we joined."
Huh??? Whatever you're smoking Stevie, I'd like some of it.
The cool rock song "That Made Me Stronger," shows Nicks recalling a discussion she had with longtime pal, Tom Petty, in which he helped her realize that she is still one of the most gifted songwriters in music today.
I find it interesting that the reviewers at the time really latched on to the story of "That Made Me Stronger". It's generally considered to be the worst song on the album- if not the worst of her career- yet, almost every review contains a blurb about her Tom Petty story.
"It's Only Love," written by Sheryl Crow (who produced five of the album's tracks) is one of the CD's finest moments. The song, with delicate lyrics and arrangement, is exquisitely reminiscent of "Sara," Nicks' 1979 hit with Fleetwood Mac.
:confused: "It's Only Love" is reminiscent of "Sara"?!? Did this reviewer even listen to the song??
Nicks has spent more than 30 years in the music industry and has 19 albums to her name. She's been featured on 11 soundtracks and 41 compilations. She's been naked in Playboy and has her own "Behind the Music" special.
:laugh:
Sister-in-scratch Macy Gray wheezes along with Nicks on the Latin-spiced "Bombay Sapphires.
:laugh:
I have always thought the Rolling Stone review was probably the best description of TISL:
Nicks' best solo work in years
Stripped to the bare essentials, Stevie Nicks' music is just Nicks' articulate rasp and her 14 million romantic emotions; when it's rocking just right, there's nothing else like it, giving robust rock form to her seemingly untamable impressions. And on Trouble in Shangri-La, it's rocking as right as it has since the mid-Eighties, when producer Jimmy Iovine helped Nicks craft two consecutive solo masterstrokes of big-time guitars, tunes and rhythms. On Shangri-La, she works comfortably with everyone from Sheryl Crow to the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines. Producer John Shanks shows a perfect understanding of what makes Nicks Nicks on thrillers like "Planets of the Universe" and the sensational title track. And when, working with Rick Nowels on "I Miss You," she sings, "I have so many questions/About love and about pain/About strained relationships," Nicks delivers some of her best work since she first barked out the words "white-winged dove." -- James Hunter
McLachlan plays piano and guitar and supplies harmony vocals on Love Is, one of the most beautiful, poetic songs on this cd. The gentleness of McLachlan's piano and the addition of her harmonies enhance Stevie's voice and passion to a new level.
:nod: I've always thought "Love Is" to be extremely underrated.
And even songs that don't stand out musically like Bombay Sapphires and Sorcerer are lyrically impressive. And therefore, I easily get past the normalcy of the music because I can see the big picture so clearly.
:laugh: If "Bombay Sapphires" is considered "lyrically impressive"-
"It is green
It is aquamarine
It is colors I have never seen
I can see past you - to the white sand...
It is blue
It is not about you
It is all true
You know--who I am"
Then Madonna should be crowned Poet Laureate for her masterpiece, "Candy Perfume Girl"
"Young velvet porcelain boy
Devour me when you're with me
Blue wish window seas
Speak delicious fires"
On first spin, however, the Crow-produced tracks -- "Too Far From Texas" a country-rock tearjerker) and "That Made Me Stronger" (with its subtle trip-hop groove and harmony-laden roots-rock chorus) -- are the ones most liable to get lodged in the noggin.
Oooooooookkaaaayyyyy...... obiviously didn't listen to the album more than once.
Non-fans will mock the Hollywood-Babylon title tune "I hear there's trouble in Shangri-La/ I run through the grass/ I run over stones/ Show me the way back ... to the sea." What, no room at the Hotel California? Nicks often writes lyrics in this clipped style, and her choppy clumps of words don't always paint a coherent picture
"Bombay Sapphires" is lyrically compelling but "Trouble in Shangri-La" doesn't paint a coherent picture?!?? Music reviewers can be so out of it sometimes.
Good thing too. Because unlike other legends in her tax bracket, Nicks actually has something to say for herself after all these years. She's been thinking about the ways her identity has been sacrificed to (or subsumed by) love, about the illusions she's held & shed. She's put those ideas down in plain words & plaintive melodies, devised song structures that rely on genuine hooks & unusual interludes & concocted a crafty update of California pop, shot through with the insights & ravings of a sometimes-lonely desert mystic.
Stevie should read this one and apply it to the present day. Get out there and produce another solo album already.