Happy Birthday to Stevie's greatest album

[The Highwayman]

Today marks the 35th anniversary of the release of Bella Donna, my favorite Fleetwood Mac-related album. To me, it's a flawless record, and something that was obviously long in coming for Stevie since she always had a backlog of great songs while only having 3 or so songs per FM album. Had she never started a solo career to go hand in hand with her career with the band, it's entirely possible she would've left the band a lot earlier. Thank god for Bella Donna.

Stevie's songs that she was cutting for the album were all so consistently strong, she didn't even need 'Stop Draggin' My Heart Around', but for commercial purposes. But she wanted Tom Petty, whom she admired, as part of her record. She wanted that Heartbreakers sound,the same producer and engineer, and the rock feel of Bella Donna is very distinct from Fleetwood Mac's (or more properly, Lindsey Buckingham's) sound.

Every song is at very least great, a handful being utterly amazing. Never a dull moment, never a wasted breath. I think it's a (somewhat) underrated masterpiece, one of my favorite albums of the '80s, already one of my favorite decades, musically. I remember when I first heard it, I was almost 19, back in 1998 just after becoming a new Stevie/Fleetwood Mac fan. I got BD on vinyl of all things (probably had a lot to do with the big and lovely cover, and the lovely lady on it, looking right at you. This might be where my crush on Stevie started). I loved every second of it. Still do. Today it's the FM/Stevie album I listen to the most by far.

Sure, I also love The Wild Heart and dig the wild vibe of Rock a Little, and Stevie's last three studio albums have been very enjoyable, but nothing can surpass Bella Donna for me. Not even Mirage, Tusk and Rumours. Yes, I'm totally serious. It's that great in my eyes.

(Now, where's that deluxe 35th Anniversary Edition with bonus tracks? A pipe dream, apparently.)

[~*BellaDonna*~]

It will always be my favorite Stevie Nicks album.

The Highwayman, After The Glitter Fades, Bella Donna and How Still My Love are songs I can't go without.

Happy Birthday!

[bwboy]

Highwayman, regarding Stop Draggin' My Heart, I've read that Jimmy Iovine pushed for that song to be included because Stevie was really resistant to an outside songwriter, but acquiesced because she was a Petty and Heartbreakers fan. And Iovine said he pushed for it because he felt the album didn't have an obvious lead single. Jimmy and Stevie made the right choice, because if she hadn't included that song on Bella Donna, Petty would have put it on his.

Even though she wrote Leather and Lace, that top 10 song was another duet, and Edge of Seventeen peaked at #11, so Stevie must have been thrilled and relieved that Stand Back, a song she wrote and only featured her on vocals, made the top 10- leaving no doubt she could get a top 10 song solo and without Fleetwood Mac.

[Macfan4life]

I agree the album is flawless. I would swap Gold and Braid for the Highwayman but even that change would not change my devotion to this album.

Paul Fishkin of Modern Records had the biggest say with the lead single and bringing the Heartbreakers on board along with Jimmy Iovine. It was a decision to promote Stevie's solo career as a rock star and not pop princess. Stop Draggin My Heart Around was the first single and jaws dropped when they heard this raw voice and rocking sound. The single almost made it to #1.

1981 was an amazing year of music. I consider Bella Donna one of the best albums of the entire 80's decade.

[olive]

so sad she doesn't seem to care

[~*BellaDonna*~]

Originally Posted by olive

so sad she doesn't seem to care

She has never made acknowledgments when the album has reached important anniversaries. Like you said, its sad, really sad.

[SisterNightroad]

35 Years Ago: Stevie Nicks Goes Solo With ‘Bella Donna’
By Dave Swanson July 27, 2016 9:17 AM


Fleetwood Mac pretty much owned popular music during the last half of the ’70s. Album sales in the millions, sold-out tours, hit singles, you name it. The Mac were everywhere. Following the mega-success of Rumours in 1977, the band made a dynamic left turn with Tusk, an album that shook up the formula and is now seen as a masterpiece. As artful as that LP is, sales took a hit, even though the massive tour that followed sold out every place it played. Following the tour, the band needed a break from the road and from each other.

It was the perfect time for the members to explore some individual paths. Mick Fleetwood set out first with The Visitor, and Lindsey Buckingham later had a modest hit with Law and Order, but it was Stevie Nicks who hit the big time with Bella Donna when it was released in July 1981.

“The solo projects the Mac is doing seem to open it up a little more,” Nicks told an interviewer at the time. “Everybody’s less on edge. That’s the theory we’ve been working on, and it works. It makes everybody happier, and nobody’s jealous because everybody’s doing their own.”

Enter producer Jimmy Iovine who, at the time, was coming off a hit record with Tom Petty. “I said, ‘Well, wow, if he’s good enough for Tom Petty, he’s good enough for me,'” Nick said in a 1981 interview. From the start of the project in late 1980, Iovine kept Nicks and her ego in check by telling her “I know that you’re really used to being like the midnight cat queen that comes in whenever you feel like it,” Nicks recalled. “This is not how we’re gonna do this album. First of all, you only have three months, and second, I don’t want to waste my time with a cartoon.”

From Bella Donna‘s opening title track, it’s clear Nicks has something to prove on her own, outside Fleetwood Mac’s shadow. Nicks called in some friends: The Eagles‘ Don Henley and Don Felder lend a hand; so does Petty and most of the Heartbreakers, who contributed to the album’s first single, “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” The Top 3 hit was co-written by Petty and guitarist Mike Campbell, and is the only song on the record Nicks didn’t have a hand in writing.

The album’s other collaborations were just as striking, particularly “Think About It,” co-written with the E. Street Band‘s Roy Bittan, and “Leather and Lace,” a duet with Henley that reached the Top 10. And then there’s “Edge of Seventeen,” which became one of Nicks’ signature songs, and “After The Glitter Fades,” “How Still My Love” and “Outside the Rain,” which all apply new twists to Nicks’ trademark vibe and vision.

Nicks assembled a band, which included many of the musicians who played on the album, for a tour. Bittan, Waddy Wachtel, Russ Kunkel and Benmont Tench joined her for a relatively short, 10-date run. By the end of the year, she was back in the studio with Fleetwood Mac working on their next LP, Mirage.

Bella Donna was an important step for Nicks, one that proved she stand outside the confines of her superstar band. “I wanted my whole life … to do this album,” she noted. “I wanted to do a few of my songs that I loved for all the people in the world that I loved.”


Read More: 35 Years Ago: Stevie Nicks Goes Solo With 'Bella Donna' | http://ultimateclassicrock.com/stevi...ckback=tsmclip

[olive]

Originally Posted by ~*BellaDonna*~

She has never made acknowledgments when the album has reached important anniversaries. Like you said, its sad, really sad.

it could also be she never got to enjoy it robin died , the band never acknowledged it ,or the success she was having it just might not be something she gives a thought about too hard for her

http://www.inherownwords.com/robin.htm

When Bella Donna came out, Fleetwood Mac was at the top of their game. It was the most incredible time. But then my best friend, Robin, was diagnosed with leukemia and that overshadowed everything. I really didn't get to enjoy Bella Donna. I found out that Robin was dying on the same day it went No. 1. I never really thought about it until now, but that's what happened. That should've been a time when I was the most happy and felt the most self-confident and successful. But actually, I really felt the most helpless, because all the money in the world couldn't save this woman's life. It was a very sad, yet balancing, thing for me.







I was on the road when Robin died. I didn't even have the time, or the luxury, to sit around and be sad about her death. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. How unfortunate it was that it all had to happen at the same time. People ask, 'Wasn't it incredible when Belladonna was No. 1 and sold 3 million albums?' Yeah, it was totally wonderful except that I was watching one thing go up while I was watching another thing go down. It was really, really hard.
~Stevie Nicks, BAM August 22, 1997

[Macfan4life]

No padding, no filler, no skip over songs. Each song has its own mood that completes the album. The writing is out of this world but kudos to the musicians because the album would still be amazing without any singing........the music is that good

The song Bella Donna always helps me capture my inner strength.

[olive]

as an Anniversary gift she could just make a decent video of this for us

[~*BellaDonna*~]

Originally Posted by olive

as an Anniversary gift she could just make a decent video of this for us

Agreed. I think the video for Edge Of Seventeen was decant. However, I think she should make an actual video for Stop Dragging' My Heart Around.

[~*BellaDonna*~]

Originally Posted by olive

it could also be she never got to enjoy it robin died , the band never acknowledged it ,or the success she was having it just might not be something she gives a thought about too hard for her

http://www.inherownwords.com/robin.htm

When Bella Donna came out, Fleetwood Mac was at the top of their game. It was the most incredible time. But then my best friend, Robin, was diagnosed with leukemia and that overshadowed everything. I really didn't get to enjoy Bella Donna. I found out that Robin was dying on the same day it went No. 1. I never really thought about it until now, but that's what happened. That should've been a time when I was the most happy and felt the most self-confident and successful. But actually, I really felt the most helpless, because all the money in the world couldn't save this woman's life. It was a very sad, yet balancing, thing for me.







I was on the road when Robin died. I didn't even have the time, or the luxury, to sit around and be sad about her death. I've been thinking about this a lot lately. How unfortunate it was that it all had to happen at the same time. People ask, 'Wasn't it incredible when Belladonna was No. 1 and sold 3 million albums?' Yeah, it was totally wonderful except that I was watching one thing go up while I was watching another thing go down. It was really, really hard.
~Stevie Nicks, BAM August 22, 1997

Never thought of it that way. I actually forgot that Robin was diagnosed during the making of Bella Donna and died the day it reached #1 on the charts. I can see why she wouldn't want to celebrate any of the albums milestones. I'm sure that this is a somber time for her.

[mitzo]

The album and its production especially never worked for me at all. Turned me away from Stevie and FM for a number of years. But yeah, happy birthday.

[annabellee]

The only way to judge these songs are against each other, not against other music of the time. They are stellar examples of musical art. My standouts are Outside the Rain, Edge of 17, Think About It, Stop Dragging My Heart Around (my 1st exposure to Stevie at the age of 11) and Bella Donna. Such awesome songs that sneak their way onto most of my playlists.

[BLY]

Kind of Woman has been and a stand out for me.