I agree. HSML and E of 17, for sure (plus the title song and SDMHA) and that’s it. I’m not even convinced by OTR.

SDMHA is far too Tom Petty and does not suit Stevie's voice. The title track could have been something but is ruined by awful instrumentation and arrangement.

And yet some of us think it's great.

"Disgruntled, party of one!":woohoo:

I still remember when Steve Simels, in his Stereo Review column, referred to this song as “the parts Tom Petty wisely left out of his great ‘Refugee.’ ”

I’ve always liked the lyric here because it seemed a lot more genuine than Stevie’s typical approach. I don’t think the song musically is awful, but it has the modern Nashville arrangement I usually steer clear of in other artists. It was the sort of modern country style that Albert Goldman put down in his review of Rumours, when he wrote that that album sounds like real mountain music from coal-mining country instead of like Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers. Bella Donna is more Glen Campbell and Kenny Rogers. Not my thing.

BD is not even as good of an album as TISL.

BD, Think About It, and The Highwayman are all snoozers. After the Glitter Fades is good, but with three such droning songs on the album, Glitter sounds like more of the same rather than the gem it was.


I like the other songs though, some of them are iconic and I appreciate the country mood.

Maybe it’s the live segues that have melded the songs in my head, but I think of OTR, Edge and HSML as continuations of each other and I find the trio, different parts of the same story, with the adlibs Stevie has thrown in over the years, exciting and sultry. When I hear them through my speakers, I visualize what they’re like on stage (or what they have been like in her zenith) and the escalating energy and I love them.

Totally agree about the three you call snoozers. Highwayman is one of her all time worst, and I am a Stevie ballad junkie.