24 Karat Gold: Reviews

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Whatever. Overproduced? Clearly, they've never listened to The Other Side Of The Mirror.

A classic example of a writer with very little understanding of Stevie and her history. How strange that he essentially rated it at three or four stars.

[tabruns]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

A classic example of a writer with very little understanding of Stevie and her history. How strange that he essentially rated it at three or four stars.

Well, this is why I cringe whenever one of the student reporters for our college newspaper wants to interview me. We've lost count of the number of misquotes and errors that appear regularly.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

A classic example of a writer with very little understanding of Stevie and her history. How strange that he essentially rated it at three or four stars.

She is sorta of getting screwed on this album. It's like they like album but they don't want to give her the stars for it. 3 Stars is too low for this album. That is a 60 out of 100. Some of them seem upset that she recorded certain demos over others… Some of them seem like they don't want her to have a solo career… Some are comparing Dave Stewart to Lindsey Buckingham… and some fans are mad because people like this album more than previous album and because she recorded certain demos over others. She is getting from all sides and this is a great album.

Some of the fan reviews are low because they want the demos remastered. A couple reviewers downgraded it because she sounds too much like herself???? huh! It's retarded.Yesterday she had a 9.1 f or user reviews on Metacritic. Out of the blue it suddenly dipped into the 7s and no one posted an actual review to back up their mark.

She is just getting screwed by people who have hidden agendas. Feel bad for her.

[DauphineMarie]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

She is sorta of getting screwed on this album. It's like they like album but they don't want to give her the stars for it. 3 Stars is too low for this album. That is a 60 out of 100. Some of them seem upset that she recorded certain demos over others… Some of them seem like they don't want her to have a solo career… Some are comparing Dave Stewart to Lindsey Buckingham… and some fans are mad because people like this album more than previous album and because she recorded certain demos over others. She is getting from all sides and this is a great album.

Some of the fan reviews are low because they want the demos remastered. A couple reviewers downgraded it because she sounds too much like herself???? huh! It's retarded.Yesterday she had a 9.1 f or user reviews on Metacritic. Out of the blue it suddenly dipped into the 7s and no one posted an actual review to back up their mark.

She is just getting screwed by people who have hidden agendas. Feel bad for her.

At this point in my life, I'm quite miffed at the internet culture these days. Anonymity and unlimited access breeds hatred and "hidden" agendas, like you said. I feel like the era of social media allows people to be bullies without consequences or repercussions, and nobody really cares. That being said, social media can be a great thing for promotion and such, but it does truly breed a culture of hate and criticism. I just wish there was a sense of decency and respect in some these commenters...

[jwd]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

4.5 out of 5 stars!!!!!!!!!!!!

STEVIE NICKS MINES FOR ’24 KARAT GOLD’—ALBUM REVIEW
Reprise Records (2014)
October 8, 2014 by Tim Ferrar
Typically, when an artist digs into the “vault” for previously unreleased tracks, the result is a set of “B-sides” intended for only the most devoted of fans to enjoy. (After all, there’s a reason they were vaulted.) But when Stevie Nicks does it, apparently, it’s gold. More specifically, the aptly titled 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, a brilliant late-career move that reminds us of the timeless impact the Fleetwood Mac singer has had, and continues to have, on the rock genre.

To be clear, the songs on 24 Karat Gold aren’t necessarily a set of rejects from earlier studio sessions; the “vault” is more along the lines of Stevie Nicks’ personal vault, songs from her personal files between 1969 and 1995, most written in the mid-70s during the peak of the Fleetwood Mac days, that for one reason or another never made it to record. Nicks describes the vibe in a statement on her website: “Each song is a love story…They represent my life, the secrets, the broken hearts. These songs are the memories – the 24 karat gold rings in the blue box.” In short, these are anything but B-sides: they’re great songs that have been aging like fine wine in the vault while other things were happening, waiting for their own time to be unveiled.

It would seem fate itself has a hand in determining when the right time is. It’s possible that if Nicks had had her way, most of these songs might never have seen the light of day. As it is, many fans will recognize them because they have been circulating on the Internet for some time. When Nicks discovered original bootlegs of the tracks on YouTube (“taken from my house or picked up or loaned out or whatever,” as she told Rolling Stone),she decided to release the tracks on her own terms.

In an added stroke of brilliance, Nicks opted not to use the original recorded demos of these songs, but instead decided to re-record them. Knowing she was pressed for time due to an upcoming Fleetwood Mac tour, she and producer Dave Stewart went to Nashville and recorded the tracks in three weeks, performing them live in the studio with session players. As an homage to the tracks themselves, Stewart kept the production simple, recording and producing them near to the style in which they would have been recorded back when they were written. Nicks’ unmistakable raspy voice is stellar over these tracks, her stream-of-consciousness lyricism and song structures just as fresh now as they were in the so-called heyday. The result is a high-quality, solid collection of rock songs that sound timeless rather than dated, reaffirming that Nicks is just as relevant to rock culture here in the twenty-teens as she was during the peak of Fleetwood Mac.

As to the tunes themselves, there’s a nice balance of diversity on the track list, ranging from all-out rock on “I Don’t Care” to the piano ballad “Lady” to the “Dreams”-like steady midtempo of “The Dealer.” Additional high moments include the blues-rocker “Hard Advice,” the cautionary tale of “Mabel Normand” (about a silent-film star whose cocaine addiction Nicks particularly relates to), and “Blue Water,” which tips its hat to Nashville with guest BGVs by Lady Antebellum. She even covers her own song “Carousel,” which Vanessa Carlton recorded in 2011.

And so, while other artists release their “B-side” records as “remember-whens” or time-fillers between albums, Stevie Nicks has mined her own vault for 24 Karat Gold and released an album that truly lives up to its name. As Nicks pointed out herself in a commentary on YouTube, “I don’t care if it’s a hit record—I want to make a great record.” In the process, she exceeded that goal: 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault is easily her best release in years.

4.5 / 5 stars

http://mimo.recordingconnection.com/...review/969484/

I like this guy, except his rating was a tad too low.

[Johnny Stew]

From The Irish Times


Stevie Nicks: 24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault
4 / 5 stars

Brian Boyd
Fri, Oct 10, 2014

A selection of old demos, some stretching back to the 1960s, the eighth studio album by one of the voices of Fleetwood Mac is one of the best things she has ever done. With perspective, she sings these songs with a lovelorn resignation, imbuing them with a rare sense of pathos and philosophical regret. Lady is a rueful, self-doubting ballad while Starshine is turbo-charged FM rock. Nicks’ voice is always a thing of wonder; from easy-listening Laurel Canyon-type stylings to fuzzed-out rock and electrified folk, she can handle anything.

On the standout Blue Water, she sounds as forlorn as early Gram Parsons, while I Don’t Care is blues rock perfection. Contemporary retrospection this may be, but she gets to the emotional core of almost everything here. A beguiling collection of songs.

[BlueLight]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

She is sorta of getting screwed on this album. It's like they like album but they don't want to give her the stars for it. 3 Stars is too low for this album. That is a 60 out of 100. Some of them seem upset that she recorded certain demos over others… Some of them seem like they don't want her to have a solo career… Some are comparing Dave Stewart to Lindsey Buckingham… and some fans are mad because people like this album more than previous album and because she recorded certain demos over others. She is getting from all sides and this is a great album.

Some of the fan reviews are low because they want the demos remastered. A couple reviewers downgraded it because she sounds too much like herself???? huh! It's retarded.Yesterday she had a 9.1 f or user reviews on Metacritic. Out of the blue it suddenly dipped into the 7s and no one posted an actual review to back up their mark.

She is just getting screwed by people who have hidden agendas. Feel bad for her.

I do find it interesting that despite the mixed reviews on Metacritic, this album ranks much higher than her past two albums. But in any event, many of these reviewers don't know what they're talking about - this is the best album Stevie's released since the early '80s.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by BlueLight

I do find it interesting that despite the mixed reviews on Metacritic, this album ranks much higher than her past two albums. But in any event, many of these reviewers don't know what they're talking about - this is the best album Stevie's released since the early '80s.

It is because Stevie has never been a critic's darling ..Fleetwood Mac were in their prime but Stevie solo never.So even with the mixed reviews this is probably her best reviewed solo album at the time of it's release ever.

[tabruns]

Yes, even Bella Donna only got 3 stars from Rolling Stone on its initial release. And Wild Heart got 2 1/2.

[BlueLight]

Originally Posted by tabruns

Yes, even Bella Donna only got 3 stars from Rolling Stone on its initial release. And Wild Heart got 2 1/2.

I did not know that - fascinating. Also, misogyny.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by tabruns

Yes, even Bella Donna only got 3 stars from Rolling Stone on its initial release. And Wild Heart got 2 1/2.

Some sites and periodicals have actually upgraded their reviews and ratings of these albums over the years..Allmusicguide for one.The Rolling Stone review of Bella Donna was actually one of the better reviews that the album received .The only true rave I remember Bella Donna getting in 1981 was from Playboywhich called it one of the two best pop albums of the year...the other album was by Rickie Lee Jones.

[michelej1]

The Toronto Sun

Article

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ALBUMS OF THE WEEK By Darryl Sterdan, QMI Agency
First posted: Saturday, October 11, 2014 08:00 AM EDT

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/10/09...eeks-new-music

Stevie Nicks
24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault

Who wants Stevie’s leftovers? No? Your loss. Fleetwood Mac’s gypsy queen empties her freezer, enlisting an all-star band to record songs she penned between the ’60s and mid-’90s. But surprisingly, they’re far from half-baked ideas and failed experiments. In fact, at least half a dozen of these songs — including California rockers Starshine and Watch Chain, the cautionary tale Mabel Normand, the Tom Petty-inspired roots ballad Hard Advice and the bluesy I Don’t Care — are so good they’ll make you wonder what she was thinking by not recording them sooner. Ah well, better late than never, right? Rock on, gold dust woman.

RATING: 4 (out of 5)

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by BlueLight

I did not know that - fascinating. Also, misogyny.

Rolling Stone HATED her…..well, certain factions anyway.

Kurt Loder reviewed Bella Donna, (I think it was RS… he def reviewed it for someone) and just crapped all over it. I wish I could remember more specifics but I do remember him saying The Highwayman was about rock stars f***ing.

And I remember them referring to her Tusk material as her usual collection of "moon calf" babblings. (A moon calf, I found when I looked it up at the time, is a mentally handicapped person as we say now in politically correct times. We didn't then).

Men particularly just haaaated on her. Yet Loder just loooooved Madonna, who has no musical skills whatsoever and is a total studio creation of her producers musically. She's a performance artist and puts on great shows and acts like a b***ch, so he loved her. Stevie wrote her own sh^t, actually sings, and puts on a great show, but he hated her. They all did, for some reason. I guess they were't afraid of her.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Rolling Stone HATED her…..well, certain factions anyway.

Kurt Loder reviewed Bella Donna, (I think it was RS… he def reviewed it for someone) and just crapped all over it. I wish I could remember more specifics but I do remember him saying The Highwayman was about rock stars f***ing.

And I remember them referring to her Tusk material as her usual collection of "moon calf" babblings. (A moon calf, I found when I looked it up at the time, is a mentally handicapped person as we say now in politically correct times. We didn't then).

Men particularly just haaaated on her. Yet Loder just loooooved Madonna, who has no musical skills whatsoever and is a total studio creation of her producers musically. She's a performance artist and puts on great shows and acts like a b***ch, so he loved her. Stevie wrote her own sh^t, actually sings, and puts on a great show, but he hated her. They all did, for some reason. I guess they were't afraid of her.

The guys like women who write and think like guys. I think that is why Sheryl Crow was so loved.

[Jondalar]

Anyone want to guess what Rolling Stone will give the album?