Street Angel - the original version

[Oooh Missionary]

I definitely like TISL more than SA but, yeah, there is some fluff there too.

Not to derail the thread, but "That Made Me Stronger" was such a disappointment. That little opening riff was nice and then the lyrics start pouring out and it just goes to hell from there.

Anyway, at least even the worst stuff on TISL was mixed well!

[TheWILDheart]

Originally Posted by Oooh Missionary

I definitely like TISL more than SA but, yeah, there is some fluff there too.

Not to derail the thread, but "That Made Me Stronger" was such a disappointment. That little opening riff was nice and then the lyrics start pouring out and it just goes to hell from there.

Anyway, at least even the worst stuff on TISL was mixed well!

I love EVERYTHING on TISL. That album is perfection for me

[Phil]

As it stands, I would only rate four songs from the released album as being worthwhile excursions. Whilst none of them are perfect, Blue Denim; Greta; Street Angel (Abbey Road version as featured on Enchanted) and Kick It are all quite decent in my opinion and solid vocally, particularly Blue Denim and Street Angel (the latter featuring a rather alert and committed vocal from Stevie, which was definitely not typical of the album).

I agree that the vocal on If You Were My Love is rather lacklustre, but at the same time, I love the deepness of her voice and find it strangely captivating. I think the version we've heard sounds more like a working demo than a finished mix and just wonder where it could have gone with a little more work.

Christopher, I think the 1992 version of Mirror Mirror could have served as the epic title track we were all hankering after. Once again, it's not perfect, but is far superior to most of what was eventually released in my opinion.
(Concrete Blonde's Mexican Moon album was my absolute favourite album of 1993 and I always thought that Stevie could have done a killer version of the opening track, Jenny I Read.)

If I were to compile a listenable version of the album, I would choose the following:

Blue Denim (Album Version)
Greta (Master Reel Mix with the jangly guitar - I can't believe this was mixed out of the final version!)
Street Angel (Abbey Road Version)
Listen To The Rain (Timespace Version)
Unconditional Love (Abbey Road Version - I know it's far from perfect, but there's something enticing about the prettiness of the song and Stevie's wavering vocal. NB The version I'm referring to has not yet been posted in this thread - the one I'm thinking of features more prominent keyboards and what sounds like bells. I despise the more guitar-oriented acoustic mix.)
Thousand Days (Chris Lord-Alge Version with some judicious editing.)
Destiny (Abbey Road Version - I prefer the tinkling piano to the icky sax!)
Mirror Mirror (Chris Lord-Alge Version)
Maybe Love (Abbey Road Version)
Kick It (Album Version)
Plus I'd tack on the following for good measure as they were released soon afterwards:
Twisted
Fee Fallin'

I won't get started on the dreaded Jane, but I must say that the Master Reel Version that I've heard with the piano intro (circa 1992 perhaps?) showed promise. Obviously, those unmentionable lyrics would need to be edited out, but this could have been salvaged with the correct approach.

[StevieNicksfann]

Blue Denim has to be one or her most monotone deliveries of a vocal I have ever heard. I wish I could like the song but it's drivel to me. Just Like A Woman and Docklands should be thrown out.

Greta, Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind, and Listen To The Rain are the standouts to me. I would include Unconditional Love, Destiny, Mirror Mirror, and If You Were My Love, and Inspiration to the album and that's it.

[DashingDan]

Originally Posted by StevieNicksfann

Blue Denim has to be one or her most monotone deliveries of a vocal I have ever heard. I wish I could like the song but it's drivel to me. Just Like A Woman and Docklands should be thrown out.

Greta, Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind, and Listen To The Rain are the standouts to me. I would include Unconditional Love, Destiny, Mirror Mirror, and If You Were My Love, and Inspiration to the album and that's it.

I always thought I missed something regarding Blue Denim, because so many folks list this as a favorite. I never understood the appeal. When she sang it on the tonight show, way back when, I got a little embarrassed for her.

[Phil]

I like where you're going with this, though I would have to include Rose Garden - which is, for me, one of the best tracks on the album. Also, Love is Like A River, which is oddly my favorite SA track, though I much prefer the RAL demos.

I really enjoy the Rock A Little takes of Rose Garden and Love Is Like A River, but don't care for the versions recorded during the Street Angel sessions. To be honest, I also preferred the faster, more intense RAL version of Greta as well.

I always thought I missed something regarding Blue Denim, because so many folks list this as a favorite. I never understood the appeal. When she sang it on the tonight show, way back when, I got a little embarrassed for her.

Regarding Blue Denim, I actually really dig this song and think her vocal is one of the most committed deliveries of that era. Plus I really loved the live performances she did on Letterman and Leno in 1994. The Letterman version was the stronger of the two, but she acquitted herself well on both occasions. I realise she appeared to have hit rock bottom at the time, but I was actually quite moved by these performances.

[drzubritsky]

Originally Posted by DashingDan

I always thought I missed something regarding Blue Denim, because so many folks list this as a favorite. I never understood the appeal. When she sang it on the tonight show, way back when, I got a little embarrassed for her.

I can see why some don't like BD because in some aspects it is a bit pedestrian. But I do feel that it's one of her catchiest songs of the post-RAL/pre-TISL period. And she does kick the vocal up a notch in the coda, which is nice.

One of the problems with BD is the song title itself, which sounded stale in 1994 and may have subconsciously conjured up images of the mid-70s, jeans-wearin' Fleetwood Mac, which was most certainly an unhip image in 1994. Not really fair to judge a song by its title, but I don't think releasing a song called "Blue Denim" was going to do much for Stevie's chart success at that time.

[Phil]

I agree regarding the title and wonder if it was her attempt (ironically) at courting the public in response to the hit "Black Velvet"? Now that was a truly atrocious song... and to think Stevie ended up covering it four years after "Blue Denim".

[SpyNote]

I remember "pedestrian" coming up a lot when Street Angel was critiqued. I think "Blue Denim" has a good hook. It reminded me a lot of REM's "Losing My Religion" musically when I first heard it.

[AnthonyMI]

Originally Posted by Phil

I agree regarding the title and wonder if it was her attempt (ironically) at courting the public in response to the hit "Black Velvet"? Now that was a truly atrocious song... and to think Stevie ended up covering it four years after "Blue Denim".

I do not recall Stevie ever overing Black Velvet in 1998-ish. UNLESS it was recorded for TISL and never released. I DO recall that in the days of Napster that things were often mislabeled as being sung by another artist and showing up in searches. I STILL have old files floating in my MP3 collection that are mislabeled this way. I can totally see some person titling a Black Velvet as "Stevie Nicks - Black Velvet" out of ignorance, or some haughty little Ledgie back in the day as a "april fools" joke on the Ledge. Within minutes that file would have been proliferated across the globe.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by Phil

If I were to compile a listenable version of the album, I would choose the following:

Blue Denim (Album Version)
Greta (Master Reel Mix with the jangly guitar - I can't believe this was mixed out of the final version!)
Street Angel (Abbey Road Version)
Listen To The Rain (Timespace Version)
Unconditional Love (Abbey Road Version - I know it's far from perfect, but there's something enticing about the prettiness of the song and Stevie's wavering vocal. NB The version I'm referring to has not yet been posted in this thread - the one I'm thinking of features more prominent keyboards and what sounds like bells. I despise the more guitar-oriented acoustic mix.)
Thousand Days (Chris Lord-Alge Version with some judicious editing.)
Destiny (Abbey Road Version - I prefer the tinkling piano to the icky sax!)
Mirror Mirror (Chris Lord-Alge Version)
Maybe Love (Abbey Road Version)
Kick It (Album Version)
Plus I'd tack on the following for good measure as they were released soon afterwards:
Twisted
Fee Fallin'

I like where you're going with this, though I would have to include Rose Garden - which is, for me, one of the best tracks on the album. Also, Love is Like A River, which is oddly my favorite SA track, though I much prefer the RAL demos.

[seekerj]

Originally Posted by Phil

As it stands, I would only rate four songs from the released album as being worthwhile excursions. Whilst none of them are perfect, Blue Denim; Greta; Street Angel (Abbey Road version as featured on Enchanted) and Kick It are all quite decent in my opinion and solid vocally, particularly Blue Denim and Street Angel (the latter featuring a rather alert and committed vocal from Stevie, which was definitely not typical of the album).

I won't get started on the dreaded Jane, but I must say that the Master Reel Version that I've heard with the piano intro (circa 1992 perhaps?) showed promise. Obviously, those unmentionable lyrics would need to be edited out, but this could have been salvaged with the correct approach.

Please mention them. Is it just the word "chimpanzee" that ruins the whole song for you, or are there other parts of the lyrics that you think are "unmentionable"? I think the lyrics are thought-provoking. I love them. I only care about lyrics (because I'm going to like any music, so it's the lyrics that make a song a good song for me), and I'm an animal rights activist, so I LOVE this song. But then again, I like all the songs that get trashed on this board, and I hate all the "lightweight" lyric stuff, like "Unconditional Crap" or "Maybe Love Will Make You Barf", or whatever it is called.

[mitzo]

Originally Posted by seekerj

Please mention them. Is it just the word "chimpanzee" that ruins the whole song for you, or are there other parts of the lyrics that you think are "unmentionable"? I think the lyrics are thought-provoking. I love them. I only care about lyrics (because I'm going to like any music, so it's the lyrics that make a song a good song for me), and I'm an animal rights activist, so I LOVE this song. But then again, I like all the songs that get trashed on this board, and I hate all the "lightweight" lyric stuff, like "Unconditional Crap" or "Maybe Love Will Make You Barf", or whatever it is called.

I am not sure why the line "the forgotten chimpanzee" is so horrendous used in song which is a tribute to Jane Goodall, the advocate for the jungle chimpanzees. I never had any problem with that at all.

I do have problems with:

understanding me understanding you is not an easy thing to do
love is like a river
I fell down the stairs a broken rag doll
It's got roses dangling down to the ground
...phantom of the opera...
just lay back and watch the rain
I'm waited for in Egypt

[StreetAngel86]

Originally Posted by mitzo

I do have problems with:

I fell down the stairs a broken rag doll

I'm waited for in Egypt

WHY ... Street Angel ends with her throwing herself down the stairs and killing herself. it's a tragic line and my favorite ... because it's so vivid and awful mashed up in a song about rainbows and angels

the 'waiting for in egypt' line

wasn't that discussed here years ago as being from a poem or something ... i forget. but i liked where she probably originally pulled it from. as all good poets do, they borrow from each other

[KarmaContestant]

Hopefully someday an expanded Street Angel will include the tracks we know about but haven't heard.