SWS vs IYD article

[McTrouble]

Originally Posted by Silver Springs

I agree with the closing sentiments. Lindsey has far outstripped Stevie with his latest offering. Now I know that's a controversial comment to make, but aside from a few songs, Stevie just leaves me cold. Her songs tend to follow the same sort of pattern and offer very little that's genuinely different. But Lindsey is consistently evolving and changing his styles and approaches. I could never get bored of Lindsey's work. And yet I listened to Stevie's In Your Dreams once on the day it came out, and I have yet to listen to it again. Probably the worst thing is I don't even want to. Whereas I'm listening to my Lindsey playlist quite happily right now and have been doing so for the past couple of hours.

Yup and yup!

[Silver Springs]

Another thing. With Lindsey, I am constantly discovering new things I like. Be it a riff I never noticed before (Under The Skin being my latest epiphany), where as with Stevie I am constantly discovering new things that bug me. And songs I used to love that just don't cut it for me any longer.

[Erin]

Originally Posted by Regina

I hardly think Stevie needs to retire from either recording OR performing. I think her IYD concert was one of the very best (if not THE best) I've seen from her, and I've seen A LOT of Stevie concerts. And, personally, I love IYD...WITH the very large exception of Cheaper Than Free. I will totally agree with the writer of the article on this. The lyrics are absolute crap and that's one song I haven't even tried to listen to past one or two hearings. Why anyone allowed this on an album is beyond me.

Having said that...

Stevie is not Lindsey. Lindsey is not Stevie. Just because they ARE connected and have been for eons doesn't mean they have to be compared and contrasted any time they make an artistic move. Plus, I gotta tell you, they are very, very, VERY different. Some of us (precious few, it would seem) love both, some love one over the other. And it's all good. But I hate the one-up-man-ship that seems to exist.

I'm enjoying all of this new stuff. And loving Stevie's album and her concerts makes me no less of a Lindsey lady, or a FM freak.

Ditto.

I like Stevie's album better as a whole. I didn't anticipate that happening, but what can you do! Plus, I got back from Italy 2 weeks ago, so I was able to make random Italian Summer quotes and associations for 10 days.

I'm on a countdown (ha!) for the Live at the Saban CD. These songs work much better live for me.

[Nico]

Originally Posted by Silver Springs

Another thing. With Lindsey, I am constantly discovering new things I like. Be it a riff I never noticed before (Under The Skin being my latest epiphany), where as with Stevie I am constantly discovering new things that bug me. And songs I used to love that just don't cut it for me any longer.

This for me. I appreciate your candor and honesty. Recently, I rediscovered the greatness of GI and I'm always going back to Lindsey stuff- even stuff I totally overlooked- and recognizing something new and amazing about it.

[Nico]

Originally Posted by sushud82

I've always been a flip-flopper between SN and LB. I disagree with most of the article and as others have said you really can't compare SN and LB solo work. Yes, yes I roll my eyes at "Cheaper Than Free" as well but its not like all of LBs lyrics are Pulitzer-worthy either (see "It Was You").

No. He's not a lyrical genius. But the thing to keep in mind is how he has evolved as a lyricist. Lindsey came from writing very basic lyrics, like on Tusk for example- albeit some containing very poignant lines- to writing some very great song lyrics, from SYW onward. Has to be recognized.

Like I said in my original post, you really can't compare them as they are different and bring different things to the table. However, they WILL be compared and that is just how it goes. In any case, I can definitely appreciate Stevie's strengths without hesitation. But this new album of hers just didn't win me over, and none of her solo album ever have really. Some of her individual songs can be quite powerful, to varying degrees, but as a whole I still feel her peak stuff was on Tusk. Flawless.

[WildHearted]

It's kind of trivial to compare the two on a surface level like that, and doesn't actually show any insight or in depth analyses of the albums, to be honest.

Lindsey is Lindsey, Stevie is Stevie, if they were gonna try to do the same thing it would be pointless. In some ways I think thy are really similar in a lot of ways at times but their artistry is for the most part at opposite ends of the visible spectrum so obviously a lot of peoPle are gonna like one and not the other. I fail to see how this fact alone is article worthy.

Also, telling someone To retire is crass, rude, and uncalled for, just because you wpersonally don't like something.

That said, I took a three hour car rise today an over the course of it listened to both SWS and IYD in their entirety, an to me there are things to love and hate about both of them. They have their flaws which I won't go into but overall they are both very good albums and I'm just glad they have put out new, solid material at this stage in their lives.

[elle]

well, since now - after bashing the comparison - everybody started comparing, i feel compelled to add some opinions:

my biases: i don't generally care much for words unless they are really really great, music is much more important to me. don't really know stevie's solo material before IYD, other than stand back, edge of 17 and talk to me, but i listened to several of SN older solo songs on youtube that people kept quoted as great and they did absolutely nothing for me.

IYD -

• as a whole i find IYD pleasant to listen to. but most songs go on and on for way too long and become boring.
• the author of the article mentioned word kitsch when referring to some of the IYD and i find italian summer really schlager-y and kitsch-y - but that may be what DS was going for, i'm sure he's very familiar with that kind of music.
• i find music on some of the songs really pedestrian (new orleans, annabel lee), i like bluesy-sounding songs on the album much better
• i do feel that article is somewhat unfair in singling out cheaper than free words as an example - i thought DS may have written those?

SWS -

• many mentioned they like new songs much better live, and i agree with that for the 6 we've heard live
• as a whole i LOVE SWS, there is no bad song on it, there is a variety of music for very different tastes, but it still all hangs together nicely
• some of the songs are pure brilliance - IOOT for example
• it's one of the rare albums (including LB's, other than 2001 GOS bootleg) on which i don't feel compelled to skip any songs (and sometimes i even listen to SAC)
• but - i hate hate hate what he did to his voice on some of the songs. and i would probably be very dissapointed after hearing the 6 songs live if i first heard the album completely cold and we didn't have previews of what he did to his voice on IOOT, SWS and TTWLG. since i did hear those before the whole album, i was prepared and just really really happy that on most other songs he has left his voice more natural.
• can't wait for live CD to have 6 new songs as live versions.

[elle]

Originally Posted by henryscutter

Amen. What a lame article

actually, that's not true. this article is an opinion piece that you may agree or disagree with, but has several insights that i haven't seen mentioned before, and that i love seeing stated so plainly.

what i love is that they singled out SYW as the start of lindsey's period of not just looking inwards into his own little world, but opening his eyes to the wider issues of the world and feeling compelled to state his opinions about them through music. at the same time his lyrics became much less literal and more artistic. since then he's had ups and downs on that trajectory, but as a whole, like Nico said he's progressed immensely in the lyrics department (even though i will always think that SHN words are a stroke of genius). plus he's first and foremost a musician, not a poet, so you can't expect from him rhodes-scholar-literature-professor type lyrics like you get from kristofferson, for example.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by elle

[*]some of the songs are pure brilliance - IOOT for example

I guess Lindsey must have agreed, since that's the one he submitted for the Grammys.

Michele

[elle]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I guess Lindsey must have agreed, since that's the one he submitted for the Grammys.

not that it would happen either way, but i was just reading nickslive's blog and find it really bizarre that they submitted SWS in pop categories, when album was doing really well on various rock charts, and not nearly as good on pop charts.