ONE MONTH of "24 Karat Gold"...

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by Dex

I was hoping this album would showcase Stevie's songwriting at its most mature. But the sheer clunkiness of I Don't Care and Hard Advice (much as I do enjoy that one) squelched that dream for me. I now view it as a very competent and pleasant solo album with a few skippers. Pretty much par for the course from solo-Stevie. It fits right in with everything else, for me. I don't really consider the retrospective angle of it much at all.

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean in a way that makes sense, but I feel like most of the songs on 24k simply come in, do their thing, and leave. There's no build or climax to most of these pieces, and as such I never got that lump-in-the-throat sensation that I do upon listening to a lot of her best work. (Almost) Everything is very pleasant sounding, I just wish more of it had a bit of oomph to it in that way.

Hey Dex, I completely get what you are saying; it's a very intuitive assessment. It makes sense to me. Perhaps that element is lacking due to the circumstances and manner it which it was recorded: Short time frame, stock Nashville band, and not building songs from the ground up, but using existing foundations.

But I love the approach she took, and hope we get another volume or two of vault songs or new songs in near future. If this is the process that will facilitate her to produce more solo albums at a time when time can't be wasted anymore, so be it. She seems to know that father time is not on her side.

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by annabellee

I love this album. This morning in Target, I took 4 of the 24KG CDs that were hidden in the back section and put them in front of the Taylor Swift CDs that were prominently displayed up front. Hopefully it will turn someone, even if its just one person, on to the new music. P.S. My kids were mortified!

Cool! That's something I would do. Taylor will not suffer for it; she's ruling the world right now.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Dex

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them.

Yes, I think I get what you mean. As with Italian Summer. Although I know some knock it as a repetitive weather report, to me it's a song that ascends and then comes to a peak at the end. That's why when I've always thought that it would make for a great Broadway showstopper, because it builds in excitement and there's a definite point where you can imagine an audience deciding to give it a standing ovation.

Wide Sargasso Sea is like that too. Like the fire in the story, there's also a climax in the song.

Regarding Target, I heard a cashier tell someone that when Taylor's album came out, every third person in his line was buying at least one copy.

Michele

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by Dex

I was hoping this album would showcase Stevie's songwriting at its most mature. But the sheer clunkiness of I Don't Care and Hard Advice (much as I do enjoy that one) squelched that dream for me. I now view it as a very competent and pleasant solo album with a few skippers. Pretty much par for the course from solo-Stevie. It fits right in with everything else, for me. I don't really consider the retrospective angle of it much at all.

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean in a way that makes sense, but I feel like most of the songs on 24k simply come in, do their thing, and leave. There's no build or climax to most of these pieces, and as such I never got that lump-in-the-throat sensation that I do upon listening to a lot of her best work. (Almost) Everything is very pleasant sounding, I just wish more of it had a bit of oomph to it in that way.

So glad you posted this, Dex. I was just discussing this with someone the other day. There is no story arc in most of these songs. Stevie would hate that that sounds like something Lindsey would say in his grammar lessons, but it's true. A story should take you somewhere.. it should end, emotionally (lyrics, not just music swelling up), in a different place than where it started.

Silver Springs is the text book example of this. The singer starts out remembering all the beautiful things she had hoped for the relationship in the beginning, and then, bam, "and don't say that she's pretty…." etc… and you go whoa, this isn't gonna be a happy story after all. The arrangement supports that emotional shift by going from quieter and softer to a fuller band arrangement. But it's hurt, sad, you broke my heart with this other woman, then there's the guitar solo, and then she comes back in with angry words now.. like she had time to think about it during that guitar solo and now she's MAD. And it's like, I'm not gonna sit here and cry over you, I'm gonna get even-- "I'll follow you down til the sound of my voice will haunt you…' etc.

So by the end of the song she's taken you on a journey from shocked, devastated, to sad, to mad.

When you write a song and the words never change, just repeat and repeat and repeat, by the end you're like, yeah I know we've already been here.. twice.

Or you're just so confused because none of the lyrics really hang together that you don't know where you are. (Mabel Normand-- which I actually enjoy listening to because of the music, not really the lyrics).

Anyway, I'm glad to hear someone else say they feel the way. Sometimes it's challenging to post something a little critical when everyone else thinks it's perfection.

[Macfanforever]

Originally Posted by annabellee

I love this album. This morning in Target, I took 4 of the 24KG CDs that were hidden in the back section and put them in front of the Taylor Swift CDs that were prominently displayed up front. Hopefully it will turn someone, even if its just one person, on to the new music. P.S. My kids were mortified!

That was nice.Good move .I would do the same thing .I was at Walmart last night and noticed the front shelf was loaded up to the gills with Taylor's CD.Stevie's CD was nowhere to be found in the mess they had there.

Taylor is probably pissed now.LOL.......

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by Dex

I was hoping this album would showcase Stevie's songwriting at its most mature. But the sheer clunkiness of I Don't Care and Hard Advice (much as I do enjoy that one) squelched that dream for me. I now view it as a very competent and pleasant solo album with a few skippers. Pretty much par for the course from solo-Stevie. It fits right in with everything else, for me. I don't really consider the retrospective angle of it much at all.

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean in a way that makes sense, but I feel like most of the songs on 24k simply come in, do their thing, and leave. There's no build or climax to most of these pieces, and as such I never got that lump-in-the-throat sensation that I do upon listening to a lot of her best work. (Almost) Everything is very pleasant sounding, I just wish more of it had a bit of oomph to it in that way.

I get what you are saying but I think songs If You Were My Love, Hard Advice and theDealer build in different ways and pack much more of an emotional impact. I humm the songs from this album. They stay with me and are more memorable. The album is also much more musical and not crammed full of lyrics.

[StreetAngel86]

I have to admit, i listen to this album almost every day... a few songs here and there.
It has definitely grown on me.
However, besides Mabel Normand, there's no real song that i go to and MUST play first. Which is how I listen to all the other albums.
I still don't like I Don't Care but even Hard Advice has grown on me. and Blue Water (with the DUDE)

I sometimes skip She Loves Him Still/Twisted
I always skip I Don't Care
And very rarely ... but sometimes I skip All the Beautiful Worlds

Overall it's an album I can listen to all the time and just have playing without really concentrating.

Lady/Mabel Normand/the Dealer are still my absolute faves
but If You Were My Love has become a slight addiction

It's not my favorite album but it ties with Mirror as the album with the least amount of songs I religiously skip (both win at ONE)

sorcerer999 i totally agree with you. it doesn't feel like a real Stevie record and it doesn't really have an era either but it's not a compo.
i know everyone here loves the BD/WH/RAL trilogy and that's totally the vibe that this album conjures up. but also much more 70s as well... Belle Fleur reminds me of Lana Del Rey's West Coast a LOT.
whereas my favorite trilogy is RAL/Mirror/SA (yes i know, shut up) this album fits there too. which is why i think i like it as much as i do.
there are several songs that just scream SA to me ... (the good parts) the mood, her voice, the music. so even though these songs were all written much earlier than my fave "era" they don't feel out of place to my ears

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by StreetAngel86

I have to admit, i listen to this album almost every day... a few songs here and there.
It has definitely grown on me.
However, besides Mabel Normand, there's no real song that i go to and MUST play first. Which is how I listen to all the other albums.
I still don't like I Don't Care but even Hard Advice has grown on me. and Blue Water (with the DUDE)

I sometimes skip She Loves Him Still/Twisted
I always skip I Don't Care
And very rarely ... but sometimes I skip All the Beautiful Worlds

Overall it's an album I can listen to all the time and just have playing without really concentrating.

Lady/Mabel Normand/the Dealer are still my absolute faves
but If You Were My Love has become a slight addiction

It's not my favorite album but it ties with Mirror as the album with the least amount of songs I religiously skip (both win at ONE)

sorcerer999 i totally agree with you. it doesn't feel like a real Stevie record and it doesn't really have an era either but it's not a compo.
i know everyone here loves the BD/WH/RAL trilogy and that's totally the vibe that this album conjures up. but also much more 70s as well... Belle Fleur reminds me of Lana Del Rey's West Coast a LOT.
whereas my favorite trilogy is RAL/Mirror/SA (yes i know, shut up) this album fits there too. which is why i think i like it as much as i do.
there are several songs that just scream SA to me ... (the good parts) the mood, her voice, the music. so even though these songs were all written much earlier than my fave "era" they don't feel out of place to my ears

I hardly think everybody loves Rock A Little.

[mitzo]

Compared to IYD 24KG wins hands down, to me. Dave did not cowrite the songs so they seem more purely Stevie, and there are a good batch of slower emotive numbers on 24KG. It is the only Stevie album on which I skip nothing, except the two bonus tracks on the deluxe version. 24KG I guess is not trying too hard, like many of her other albums, which are usually marred by cowrites and tracks which are overdesigned hard to be "hits.".

[Dex]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

I get what you are saying but I think songs If You Were My Love, Hard Advice and theDealer build in different ways and pack much more of an emotional impact.

Hard Advice, The Dealer, and Lady are particular exceptions to what I'm talking about, yes. It's just something I picked up on over the course of so many tracks.

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

Hey Dex, I completely get what you are saying; it's a very intuitive assessment. It makes sense to me. Perhaps that element is lacking due to the circumstances and manner it which it was recorded: Short time frame, stock Nashville band, and not building songs from the ground up, but using existing foundations.

I don't know, I always thought most of her studio output was taken from preexisting songs and sort of "tweaked" and reworked when the musicians and producers came in. This album never struck me as being particularly unique to her catalogue in that respect. The shortness of recording time might've been a factor, but I think it mostly has to do with how she regards her own work these days. She really talks about her demos for this record as though they were absolutely perfect to begin with and didn't need much done to them at all, which is fine, but it kind of keeps the songs at a limited level, compared to when you allow musicians and other artists to add their expertise to the mix.

I'm with you though, PenguinHead. I liked seeing Stevie so prolific and spontaneous, and would take 10 more albums like this over a long ponderous gap without any real musical payoff prior to the next album.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Silver Springs is the text book example of this. The singer starts out remembering all the beautiful things she had hoped for the relationship in the beginning, and then, bam, "and don't say that she's pretty…." etc… and you go whoa, this isn't gonna be a happy story after all. The arrangement supports that emotional shift by going from quieter and softer to a fuller band arrangement. But it's hurt, sad, you broke my heart with this other woman, then there's the guitar solo, and then she comes back in with angry words now.. like she had time to think about it during that guitar solo and now she's MAD. And it's like, I'm not gonna sit here and cry over you, I'm gonna get even-- "I'll follow you down til the sound of my voice will haunt you…' etc.

So by the end of the song she's taken you on a journey from shocked, devastated, to sad, to mad.

GDW does this as well, which is what I think keeps it from getting stale during live performances. The movement in tempo, emotion and engagement. It holds up over the years while Dreams (still a stellar recording) doesn't.

Michele

[GypsySorcerer]

I've tried and tried, but I just haven't connected with this album. I like 24K Gold and All the Beautiful Worlds. There is a poignancy to Lady I appreciate, but the last minute of her basically shouting the same lyric over and over should have been cut.

I think Mabel Normand is ridiculous. Lyrically, If You Were My Love is good, but its album placement baffles me. It's a tranquilizer, and it brings the album to a halt, and it's only the second song! We didn't need another version of Twisted. Blue Water, Cathouse Blues, and I Don't Care are throwaways. I can tolerate Hard Advice, but it's so silly....life-size paper doll??!

[Dex]

I really think her shouting at the end of Lady does work beautifully. I know it's not "pretty" but it just matches the lyric to tremendous effect.

Other than that I kind of agree with most of your post, GS, although I actually do connect with the album on the whole. I love Mabel Normand, but it is ridiculous at the same time. That's sort of why it works for me. But I do wish she'd lay off talking about how "important" it is. It simply isn't. Someone please tell the woman.

Hard Advice is classic overly-literal modern Stevie, and although I do enjoy the song, it frustrates me at the same time. Just because you see something at the mall one time doesn't mean you should write it into a song. And the ernest delivery of the final notes "Don't buy that doll" just doesn't match the words at all. I wish she'd be open to more of an collaborative editing process with some of her songs, but I'm not holding my breath. We're going to hear more lyrics like this if/when she records again.

[GypsySorcerer]

Originally Posted by Dex

I really think her shouting at the end of Lady does work beautifully. I know it's not "pretty" but it just matches the lyric to tremendous effect.

Other than that I kind of agree with most of your post, GS, although I actually do connect with the album on the whole. I love Mabel Normand, but it is ridiculous at the same time. That's sort of why it works for me. But I do wish she'd lay off talking about how "important" it is. It simply isn't. Someone please tell the woman.

Hard Advice is classic overly-literal modern Stevie, and although I do enjoy the song, it frustrates me at the same time. Just because you see something at the mall one time doesn't mean you should write it into a song. And the ernest delivery of the final notes "Don't buy that doll" just doesn't match the words at all. I wish she'd be open to more of an collaborative editing process with some of her songs, but I'm not holding my breath. We're going to hear more lyrics like this if/when she records again.

We're mostly on the same page, Dex. Lady is the song I probably connect the most with, but it's too long. Less is more sometimes.

This extreme literalness and self-indulgence is what's plagued her music since the mid 1980s. Who can relate to seeing a cut-out of their ex in a record store?

[Dex]

Originally Posted by GypsySorcerer

This extreme literalness and self-indulgence is what's plagued her music since the mid 1980s. Who can relate to seeing a cut-out of their ex in a record store?

Exactly! And she actually talked about changing the lyric "sometimes he's my best friend" from "sometime's Tom's my best friend" to make the song a little more universal. Which is such a puzzle to me because, like... why did she stop there!? I don't know whether to be encouraged to know that she does have a little bit of an editor somewhere inside her, or discouraged by the fact that she thought the rest of the song was totally good to go.