24 Karat Gold: Reviews

[michelej1]

Miami Herald by Howard Cohen, September 30, 2014

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertain...le2343847.html

Stevie Nicks, 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault (Reprise) ☆☆☆

While Stevie Nicks twirls on the road once again with a reunited Fleetwood Mac, she keeps her solo career active by recording new studio versions of 16 (on the deluxe version) previously unreleased demos she had written between 1969 and the mid 1990s.

Not surprisingly, given the material’s vintage, ex-lover Lindsey Buckingham is the subject of many of these rumors-stirring tunes, most assuredly the tender highlight, She Loves Him Still, and the Dreams-referencing title track.

Featuring longtime associates Waddy Wachtel and Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, 24 Karat Gold (out Oct. 7) finds Nicks in huskier voice but sits on the same shelf stylistically with her 1981 Bella Donna solo debut. Fans will bask in the glow.

Download: She Loves Him Still, Hard Advice, 24 Karat Gold.

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertain...#storylink=cpy

[michelej1]

Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...rince-20141001

By Dave DiMartino | October 1, 2014

Stevie Nicks: 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault (Reprise) Peculiarly out first as a double-vinyl LP and as MP3s and then next week as a CD—you’ve got to love it—this new set by the famous Fleetwood Maccer is in fact her re-appraising and redoing older stuff, material she’d planned to unleash since those early ‘70s years of Buckingham Nicks but never did. It’s all of it quite good actually: the songs seem like genuine works of their time—heartfelt lyrics rather than effort-laden approximations of former glories—and Nicks still sings very well. The music is well-played and tastefully arranged, ironically evoking the “Americana” word among her excitable fan base, and the lyrical concerns—romance, relationships, mystical stuff, an actual “cathouse,” songs with titles like “She Loves Him Still”—are about as Nicksian as you’d ever expect, or want. Very solid stuff, and something to whet the appetites of those gearing up for the upcoming reunited Mac tour.

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...#ixzz3EyIiZIeP
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...rince-20141001

By Dave DiMartino | October 1, 2014

Stevie Nicks: 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault (Reprise) Peculiarly out first as a double-vinyl LP and as MP3s and then next week as a CD—you’ve got to love it—this new set by the famous Fleetwood Maccer is in fact her re-appraising and redoing older stuff, material she’d planned to unleash since those early ‘70s years of Buckingham Nicks but never did. It’s all of it quite good actually: the songs seem like genuine works of their time—heartfelt lyrics rather than effort-laden approximations of former glories—and Nicks still sings very well. The music is well-played and tastefully arranged, ironically evoking the “Americana” word among her excitable fan base, and the lyrical concerns—romance, relationships, mystical stuff, an actual “cathouse,” songs with titles like “She Loves Him Still”—are about as Nicksian as you’d ever expect, or want. Very solid stuff, and something to whet the appetites of those gearing up for the upcoming reunited Mac tour.


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...#ixzz3EyIiZIeP
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

Rolling Stone really likes the album. Bet they give it at least 4 stars maybe more.

[BlueDenimLamp]

Miami Herald gives "24 Karat Gold" 3 stars.

[BombaySapphire3]

Originally Posted by BlueDenimLamp

Miami Herald gives "24 Karat Gold" 3 stars.

Sheesh ..only 3 starsThanks for posting the reviews have been slow coming in.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

Sheesh ..only 3 starsThanks for posting the reviews have been slow coming in.

I thought the same thing.

[BlueDenimLamp]

Noise 11 No review but at least she is getting mentioned.

[secondhandchain]

[QUOTE=BlueDenimLamp;1145873]Correct............

Say that a little louder so LB can hear you...If FM want any of this GREAT Stevieness on a FM record Dave and Waddy will have to be involved...




I totally disagree. Lindsey brings pure magic to Stevie's songs. (minus Say You Will) These songs sound blah to me, but I have to listen a few times. Her voice sounds great though.

[BombaySapphire3]

[QUOTE=secondhandchain;1146411]

Originally Posted by BlueDenimLamp

Correct............

Say that a little louder so LB can hear you...If FM want any of this GREAT Stevieness on a FM record Dave and Waddy will have to be involved...




I totally disagree. Lindsey brings pure magic to Stevie's songs. (minus Say You Will) These songs sound blah to me, but I have to listen a few times. Her voice sounds great though.

Ok so you are discounting Say You Will ..the last time Lindsey brought 'pure magic' to a Stevie penned song was 1982 ..over 32 years ago.I am afraid they have run their course on record ..I hope I am wrong .

[KarmaContestant]

[QUOTE=BombaySapphire3;1146422]

Originally Posted by secondhandchain

..the last time Lindsey brought 'pure magic' to a Stevie penned song was 1982 ..over 32 years ago.I am afraid they have run their course on record .

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I think the days of Lindsey making Stevie's demos into songs like Gypsy, Sara, and Sisters of the Moon are long gone, dead, over, and will never be resurrected.

[BlueDenimLamp]

[QUOTE=KarmaContestant;1146480]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I agree with this wholeheartedly. I think the days of Lindsey making Stevie's demos into songs like Gypsy, Sara, and Sisters of the Moon are long gone, dead, over, and will never be resurrected.

Exactly!!!

[Jondalar]

Another really good review for 24 Karat Gold from the Boston Globe!

Stevie Nicks, ‘24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault’

By James Reed | GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 06, 2014

The first question you’re likely to have about Stevie Nicks’s new album is, when was this recorded? It’s almost impossible to tell, because Nicks sounds so classic, as if surveying each decade of her long career on her own and with Fleetwood Mac. “24 Karat Gold” is Stevie at her Nicks-iest: a gold dust woman, caught mid-twirl.

Nicks notes in the press materials that most of these songs were written between 1969 and ’87, with a pair from the early ’90s, but the album was recorded this year in Nashville and Los Angeles.

To her credit, she and fellow producers Dave Stewart and Waddy Wachtel have a light touch here, letting Nicks’s silvery voice lead with grace and grit. So many of these songs evoke yesteryear Nicks, from the serpentine, “Rhiannon”-like groove of “Mabel Normand” to the starry prettiness of “If You Were My Love.” “Blue Water” has a dusky country vibe; it could have been a Fleetwood hit, right down to its line “And I wait for the sound of my gypsy.”

There are also new shades of her — all the color of midnight blue, of course — including a jazzy little number called “Cathouse Blues.” “I just care that you love me,” she growls on the heavy rocker “I Don’t Care.” And a piano ballad, “Lady,” is big and bare, a chance to savor Nicks in full splendor. (Out Tuesday)

ESSENTIAL “Blue Water”

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/musi...XtI/story.html

[BombaySapphire3]

apparently the Allmusic guide has assigned 24KG a 4.5 star rating out of 5 on par with their rating of Bella Donna..only there is no review text up yet.

[HoursAndHours]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

apparently the Allmusic guide has assigned 24KG a 4.5 star rating out of 5 on par with their rating of Bella Donna..only there is no review text up yet.

Allmusic is ruthless too, that's a good sign.

[BlueLight]

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

apparently the Allmusic guide has assigned 24KG a 4.5 star rating out of 5 on par with their rating of Bella Donna..only there is no review text up yet.

Just posted - I think it's spot on:

With the subtitle "Songs from the Vault," you'd be forgiven if you thought 24 Karat Gold was an archival collection of unreleased material and, in a way, you'd be right. 24 Karat Gold does indeed unearth songsNicks wrote during her heyday -- the earliest dates from 1969, the latest from 1995, with most coming from her late-'70s/early-'80s peak; the ringer is a cover of Vanessa Carlton's 2011 tune "Carousel," which could easily be mistaken for Stevie -- but these aren't the original demos, they're new versions recorded with producer Dave Stewart. Running away from his ornate track record -- his production forStevie's 2011 record In Your Dreams was typically florid -- Stewart pays respect to Nicks' original songs and period style by keeping things relatively simple while drafting in sympathetic supporting players including guitarists Waddy Wachtel and Davey Johnstone and Heartbreakers Benmont Tench and Mike Campbell. It's certainly not an exacting re-creation of Sound City but Stewart adheres to the slick, hazy feel of supremely well-appointed professional studios, so 24 Karat Gold has a tactile allure. Sonically, it's bewitching -- the best-sounding record she's made since 1983's The Wild Heart but, substance-wise, it's her best since that album, too. If there aren't many remnants of the flinty, sexy rocker of "Stand Back" (the opening "Starshine" is an exception to the rule), there's enough seductive, shimmering soft rock and the emphasis on Laurel Canyon hippie folk-rock feels right and natural. Retrospectively, it's a surprise that Nicks sat on these songs for years, but that only indicates just how purple a patch she had during Fleetwood Mac's glory days. It's a good thing she dug through her back pages and finished these songs, as she's wound up with one of her strongest albums.