Quote:
Originally Posted by Macfan4life
Completely disagree. You can love someone unconditionally but are honest and objective enough to know when they have not done their best. There is no purity test of who is a bigger or "real" fan.
I LOVE OSOTM and Street Angel which are probably the most unpopular of the bunch. However, I hate RAL and think its one of the worst albums of the entire 80's. It has nothing to do with being "dated." Its when Stevie sacrificed her craft for a non-stop party atmosphere in the studio. Her voice was raw, the songs were not hers, and slick record company execs pushed for a more pop sound with very few real musical instruments. I always got a deep personal connection to Stevie's songs. I did not want to break dance to Sister Honey 
That honesty makes me more of a fan than some who embrace Stevie when she is not Stevie or very un-Stevie.
To answer the OP's question: I too have been following along since 1981. I loved WH but less than Bella Donna. I pretended to like RAL because I was such an obsessed fan since it was the cult thing to do. OSOTM was such a bounce back IMHO. From the moment I heard Rooms on Fire, I was blown away. OMG a real Stevie song again with real musical instruments! Her voice was not fried and there are much better songs on OSOTM than RAL let alone the music. I even loved Sometimes Its A Bitch. Street Angel is a favorite. I am not thrilled about In Your Dreams and 24K Gold though. |
The problem is, for me, not with disliking one of Stevie's albums. It's the arrogance some have that their opinion is the only opinion that matters and those who act like their opinion is fact. For me RAL is brilliant, it is, to me one of her best (along with the first two). I listened to RAL alot more then her first two albums and it still is played regularly. I did not like half of In Your Dreams and most of 24K Gold.