I thought the discussion was great and entertaining! I really hope, Jeremy, that you will do the same treatment for FM albums, too.
My thoughts about RAL: I love Talk to Me and was surprised at the general apathy towards it by the panelists. It’s one of her highest charting hits, it was nominated for a Grammy, and she sang the heck out of it! And she looked beautiful in the video, and she wore dresses that weren’t just black, for God’s sake LOL! I don’t care whether she wrote the song or not, she gave it an incredible vocal and that’s what’s important, not who wrote it.
I’ve always said that RAL seemed to be Stevie’s attempt to lighten up. Her best friend died, she got divorced, she was on drugs, and BD and TWH were fairly dark albums, all of which probably contributed to, maybe subconsciously, her attempt to make a poppier, brighter album. And if she wanted a brighter album, it made sense she would go to other songwriters- after all, this is the woman who wrote Rhiannon, Nothing Ever Changes, Gold Dust Woman, and Sisters of the Moon, all pretty dark songs. Talk to Me, If I Were You, Some Become Strangers were all very optimistic. I just think RAL was Stevie’s attempt to go for a brighter sound and maybe went in that direction too far.
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