The Other Side of the Mirror turns 30

[David]

Originally Posted by AliceLover

..and yet it still remains as one of Stevie's favorites today.

Its funny how revered some people find it. Of course, I love it, but I can see how the public might not. It's glossy, weird, overdone but somehow still fabulous.

It's a good collection of songs but I don't like the way any of them are rendered. To my ears, the album "sounds" like shoulder pads and puffy satin sleeves. It's kind of a turnoff to me.

If I look back on Rupert Hine's discography as a producer, I guess I'm not overly thrilled. Chris de Burgh? Suzanne Vega? Rush? Thompson Twins? The Fixx? Howard Jones? I like a little pop fluff from this catalogue here and there. But overall it's a vacuous approach to music making. After almost ten years with Iovine and his sound, it was definitely time for a change. But I wouldn't have chosen this direction.

[michelej1]

This and Wild Heart are my favorites. I liked Bella Donna when it was released, but less over time. I would put Bella Donna behind OSOTM. Rooms on Fire, Fire Burning and I Still Miss Someone are my favorites.

[BlueLight]

A while back someone on the Ledge described the experience of listening to OSOTM as listening to an album in a room filled with Christmas lights at 3:00 am, after the party was over and after drinking a bottle of red wine.

Which in many ways is so spot on.

The album has grown on me. Juliet is by far my favorite track on the album - if only it had her vocals from OSOTM, but with the production from the scrapped Book of Miracles on TITN.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by michelej1

This and Wild Heart are my favorites. I liked Bella Donna when it was released, but less over time. I would put Bella Donna behind OSOTM. Rooms on Fire, Fire Burning and I Still Miss Someone are my favorites.

You have more credibility than anyone here. So with your blessing on OSOTM we are off!
The lurkers may not be afraid to post now.
However, Bella Donna behind OSOTM? You may have made a few enemies on that one
There is a support group for this and for lovers of Welcome to the room Sara

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

You have more credibility than anyone here. So with your blessing on OSOTM we are off!
The lurkers may not be afraid to post now.
However, Bella Donna behind OSOTM? You may have made a few enemies on that one
There is a support group for this and for lovers of Welcome to the room Sara

There's no fire burning, just a soul wandering the streets muttering, "Whatsamatter, baby?"

[BombaySapphire3]

I consider myself one of TOSOTM cultist .Rooms On Fire ,Long Way To Go,Oh My Love and Doing The Best That I Can are some of her very best solo songs.I think it's closest cousin production wise if In Your Dreams.

[bombaysaffires]

I feel like OSOTM promises more than it delivers. Some songs just could have been so much better--- for example Ghosts. Emotionally it's such a deep song-- her coming to terms with certain life choices--- and the lyrics on the bridge are amazing "To fill the empty spaces she's feeling/She depends on her music like a husband" etc.

But either the drugs or the laziness or something that lead to using the same lyrics for the first verse AND the choruses just diminishes it. (And yes, I WOULD say that to Bob Dylan).

Doing the Best That I Can is emotionally just as deep. "In my distress/I wanted someone to blame me/In my devastation/I wanted so to change/In my way/disaster was the only thing/that I could depend on" is some of her best ever.

But I Still Miss Someone is just filler. Juliet is blech; too many words stuffed together; Whole Lotta Trouble had so much potential but again the overly repetitive lyrics sink it down (especially live where she'd really mess it up- "would you change your mind at the very last second/would you say stop for a second/so that you could think for a second" "I think we should stop for a moment so we can think for a moment"; and then "and the angel said/you must have had a dream/ and you remembered it/ til the dream followed through/to the end of the dream/and the dream came true" -- what?? I just can't follow all the permutations of that damned dream!

Reminds me of Wassamatta Baby "and the dream says I want you/and the dream is gone/ so she stays up nights on end/well at least there is a dream left" -- what?? Is the dream gone or is it still left??

A writer (in Rolling Stone I think) once wrote in a review something like "is there a witch who can banish the word dream from her vocabulary?"

Cry Wolf is intersting; Long Way To Go is a good look at her messed up relationship with Joe; Alice is also emotionally deep but the massively overdone vocal tracks and synths turn it into white noise.

The emotions are great on the whole but the sloppy lyrics and the production on this album really dates it.., too many synths

[MikeInNV]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

You have more credibility than anyone here. So with your blessing on OSOTM we are off!
The lurkers may not be afraid to post now.
However, Bella Donna behind OSOTM? You may have made a few enemies on that one
There is a support group for this and for lovers of Welcome to the room Sara

I'm always thrilled by the diversity of opinions you can find. I knew someone had to consider I Still Miss Someone a favorite, but until today I didn't know it was Michele. And just a few weeks ago someone published a list of Fleetwood Mac's 50 best songs, and WTTRS was on it.

[michelej1]

I tend to gravitate towards country, so I was predisposed to like it. Similarly,
when TISL first came out, Too Far from Texas was my favorite, but that did not last. I took to it first, but then the more I listened the more other songs usurped it.

[AliceLover]

I forgot how much I love "Ghosts." It really is an anthem on that record, yet so ethereal at the same time.

OSOTM cultist...I like it.

Also, just have to re-mention that when Stevie was doing press for "In Your Dreams" she said "I haven't had this great of a response (to an album) since The Other Side of the Mirror." That made me very happy.

[vivfox]

This was the only Stevie Nicks or Fleetwood Mac album that took me by surprise. I was such an obsessed fan in those days but literally had no idea Stevie had made a new album. As far as I knew FM had released Greatest Hits in 1988 and were working on Behind The Mask. I also knew they were touring in Europe in 1988.
One day in April of 1989 a friend called and raved about the new SN single she heard on the radio. I figured she must have heard an obscure track from the past and just assumed it was new. But she insisted so I decided to call a local radio station and the DJ confirmed it was a song called Rooms on Fire. I couldn't believe it! I still remember hearing it for the first time. It was at night during a partly cloudy sky with a bright moon and me staring out the window in what was the first apartment I ever had. And I loved it from the moment I heard it. Loved the video as well from the moment I saw that. To this day the song has stood the test of time. I enjoyed the album and played all the songs endlessly for many years.

[michelej1]

Yes, I loved the video as well. I thought it dreamy. I had a VCR and sometimes I would run it to catch a favorite video, but I also recall that the music channels would replay their daytime programming again at night. So, when I saw a video I liked in the daytime I would set my watch so that I could catch it again at night. I remember doing that with ROF.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

I feel like OSOTM promises more than it delivers. Some songs just could have been so much better--- for example Ghosts. Emotionally it's such a deep song-- her coming to terms with certain life choices--- and the lyrics on the bridge are amazing "To fill the empty spaces she's feeling/She depends on her music like a husband" etc.

But either the drugs or the laziness or something that lead to using the same lyrics for the first verse AND the choruses just diminishes it. (And yes, I WOULD say that to Bob Dylan).

Doing the Best That I Can is emotionally just as deep. "In my distress/I wanted someone to blame me/In my devastation/I wanted so to change/In my way/disaster was the only thing/that I could depend on" is some of her best ever.

But I Still Miss Someone is just filler. Juliet is blech; too many words stuffed together; Whole Lotta Trouble had so much potential but again the overly repetitive lyrics sink it down (especially live where she'd really mess it up- "would you change your mind at the very last second/would you say stop for a second/so that you could think for a second" "I think we should stop for a moment so we can think for a moment"; and then "and the angel said/you must have had a dream/ and you remembered it/ til the dream followed through/to the end of the dream/and the dream came true" -- what?? I just can't follow all the permutations of that damned dream!

Reminds me of Wassamatta Baby "and the dream says I want you/and the dream is gone/ so she stays up nights on end/well at least there is a dream left" -- what?? Is the dream gone or is it still left??

A writer (in Rolling Stone I think) once wrote in a review something like "is there a witch who can banish the word dream from her vocabulary?"

Cry Wolf is intersting; Long Way To Go is a good look at her messed up relationship with Joe; Alice is also emotionally deep but the massively overdone vocal tracks and synths turn it into white noise.

The emotions are great on the whole but the sloppy lyrics and the production on this album really dates it.., too many synths

Yes her lyrics can be very dreamy to the point of not understanding. Your post brought back a memory. It was the Pittsburgh Press concert review from her 1989 show. It blasted Stevie on many fronts claiming her solo career was running out of steam (even though the arena was pretty much sold out) but took aim at her lyrics
"Somewhere out in the back of your mind
Comes your real life and the life that you know
It seems like it was one of the creations
of some of those same old things
It seemed to be the only thing left out in the light"

Those lines were written followed by a big "HUH?"

I guess I am a bit too dreamy myself because I understand them perfectly LMAO
I know exactly what she is talking about. Its hard to describe but just a feeling or spiritual connection.

However this is what I appreciated about the album. It was a classic Stevie, overly dreamy, overly honest journal of her songs. Having said that, I do agree with the criticisms you point out. It was so refreshing to hear the dreamy Stevie back after RAL and so many of those songs she never wrote.

I give Rupert special appreciation for Doing The Best That I can. Those lyrics would be almost impossible to put to music and song. Very similar to Illume. Its a story told through poetry... not meant for a simple pop song.

Stevie ripped the scab off and told many truths of her life in the late 80s. However, as I originally stated, most of these songs were brand new or late 80s. A few classics like Mirror Mirror, Running/Garden, or Smile at you would have been sensational.

[michelej1]

The lyrics worked, when they worked, because they were open enough to let you fit in all of your own meanings and when she sang them, the catch in her voice synched with the catch in your heart.

[kak125]

Ahh I adore OSOTM so much. It's up there as one of my favorite Stevie albums.
I still listen to Rooms on Fire, Long Way to Go & Doing the Best That I can pretty much daily.

I really love the extended version of Rooms on Fire as well as this piano cover that some guy did and posted to youtube.