IYD Press Reviews & Discussion

[Livia]

First one to arrive in my email, so I figured I'd start a thread for all the reviews that will no doubt be all over the internets...and also doing my part to keep the board as uncluttered as possible...

Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams
James McNair

Last Updated: Apr 27, 2011


In Your Dreams
Reprise
***

The "search for love that might work" Nicks - still charismatic at almost 63 - refers to here seems to précis something of her own life, but Fleetwood Mac's self-styled "Welsh Witch" is still adept at turning mysterious diary entries into potent songs.

Witness Everybody Loves You, replete with "Iberian noir" intro and an airy, indelible chorus co-voiced by the former Eurhythmic, Dave Stewart. Nicks, Stewart and the Alanis Morissette collaborator Glen Ballard co-produce here, while guests include Nicks's Mac bandmates Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham.

For What It's Worth - co-penned with Tom Petty's right-hand man Mike Campbell - also shines.

http://www.thenational.ae/arts-culture/music/stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams

[Christopher]

GaW!!? These last 3 reviews of late, leave me laughing and crying as they try hard to taunt me!:rolleyes:

[Fiver]

^ Haha, nice. I was just listening to Rooms on Fire.

[louielouie2000]

Witness Everybody Loves You, replete with "Iberian noir" intro and an airy, indelible chorus co-voiced by the former Eurhythmic, Dave Stewart.

Iberian noir... I LOVE everything Spanish... so perhaps that means we're in store for some sort of Spanish guitar? :D This actually makes me very curious about Everybody Loves You for once. Maybe it's not as horrid as the clip we've heard after all! :nod:

This review is getting somewhat closer to the descriptiveness I desire, but it is still more than a bit ambiguous.

[HejiraNYC]

"Iberian noir" intro

I defy anyone to tell me what the frack this means.

Thanks for posting this review, but what a piece of crap. Does this guy really write music reviews for a living?

[Jondalar]

another review that mentions For What it is Worth...

[BombaySapphire3]

Kind of weak that she is getting these really brief reviews but I guess if we can piece them all together we may be able to get a decent grasp on what the album sounds like..The three reviews thus far have all cited "For What It's Worth " as a highlight.

[Jondalar]

Iberian noir... I LOVE everything Spanish... so perhaps that means we're in store for some sort of Spanish guitar? :D This actually makes me very curious about Everybody Loves You for once. Maybe it's not as horrid as the clip we've heard after all! :nod:

This review is getting somewhat closer to the descriptiveness I desire, but it is still more than a bit nefarious.

hmmm nefarious? I'm not sure about that word. I to love Spanish guitars and such. I guess it would go Italian Summer in a way. I hope this song is fully realized.

[louielouie2000]

hmmm nefarious?

Good grief... this is what I get for double tasking. I meant ambiguous. :o

[Jondalar]

3.5 stars

Stevie Nicks built her legend on the California-Babylon chronicles she perfected in the Seventies with Fleetwood Mac, and in the Eighties on underrated solo gems like The Other Side of the Mirror. But she still has that eternal edge-of-17 tremor in her voice. The gypsy queen is in royal form on In Your Dreams — it's not just her first album in 10 years, it's her finest collection of songs since the Eighties.

In Your Dreams has the high-gloss L.A. production of her collaborators, Glen Ballard and Eurythmics' Dave Stewart. But the material is Nicks in platform-soled hyper-romantic mode, with her voice in surprisingly supple shape. "Secret Love" is an oldie she wrote in 1976 — who knew she was still keeping secrets from her Rumours days? It seems to be about one of her rock-star beaus, although she coyly maintains she can't remember which one. Yet it isn't even one of the better tracks on In Your Dreams. The over-the-top seduction ballad "Italian Summer" could be her answer to the Stones' "Wild Horses." It climaxes in a very Stevie credo: "Love was everywhere/You just had to fall."

Nicks finds storytelling inspiration everywhere, from the Twilight series ("Moonlight [A Vampire's Dream]") to Jean Rhys ("Wide Sargasso Sea"). But the real showstopper here is the Edgar Allan Poe tribute "Annabel Lee," a fan fave that's been kicking around on bootlegs since the Nineties. It's a six-minute meditation on love and death with echoes of the Fleetwood Mac classic "Dreams." Poe's key line — "The moon never beams without bringing me dreams" — might have been written in 1849, but it was clearly meant for Stevie Nicks to sing.

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/in-your-dreams-20110427

[Bandon]

Leave it to Rollingstone to write a totally positve review but not give her four stars. :shrug:

[jellyman10]

^^^ I will never, ever understand reviews of anything where they say scarcely a single negative thing and then penny-pinch on the star rating. The text of that is a 4-star review in anyone's money, and yet it's 3.5. Why?? And of course most people only glance at the star-ratings.

Up yours, RS. :mad:

[RockALittle250]

Leave it to Rollingstone to write a totally positve review but not give her four stars. :shrug:

Exactly. Britney Spears got 4 stars! Just goes to show where their values are in regards to what they perceive to be good music.

[Bandon]

^^^
Up yours, RS. :mad:

Yeah! :mad:

[Livia]

Stevie Nicks
In Your Dreams
Reprise
Rolling Stone: 3.5 stars
By Rob Sheffield
April 27, 2011

Click to listen Stevie Nicks' In Your Dreams

Stevie Nicks built her legend on the California-Babylon chronicles she perfected in the Seventies with Fleetwood Mac, and in the Eighties on underrated solo gems like The Other Side of the Mirror. But she still has that eternal edge-of-17 tremor in her voice. The gypsy queen is in royal form on In Your Dreams — it's not just her first album in 10 years, it's her finest collection of songs since the Eighties.

The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time: Stevie Nicks

In Your Dreams has the high-gloss L.A. production of her collaborators, Glen Ballard and Eurythmics' Dave Stewart. But the material is Nicks in platform-soled hyper-romantic mode, with her voice in surprisingly supple shape. "Secret Love" is an oldie she wrote in 1976 — who knew she was still keeping secrets from her Rumours days? It seems to be about one of her rock-star beaus, although she coyly maintains she can't remember which one. Yet it isn't even one of the better tracks on In Your Dreams. The over-the-top seduction ballad "Italian Summer" could be her answer to the Stones' "Wild Horses." It climaxes in a very Stevie credo: "Love was everywhere/You just had to fall."

Nicks finds storytelling inspiration everywhere, from the Twilight series ("Moonlight [A Vampire's Dream]") to Jean Rhys ("Wide Sargasso Sea"). But the real showstopper here is the Edgar Allan Poe tribute "Annabel Lee," a fan fave that's been kicking around on bootlegs since the Nineties. It's a six-minute meditation on love and death with echoes of the Fleetwood Mac classic "Dreams." Poe's key line — "The moon never beams without bringing me dreams" — might have been written in 1849, but it was clearly meant for Stevie Nicks to sing.

[Jondalar]

Leave a post.

[Gypsybecca]

This review makes me happy! Wasn't expecting it to be so positive. Maybe a few people will also check out The Other Side of the Mirror too- I love that he called it an 'underrated solo gem!"

[FM77]

^^^ I will never, ever understand reviews of anything where they say scarcely a single negative thing and then penny-pinch on the star rating. The text of that is a 4-star review in anyone's money, and yet it's 3.5. Why?? And of course most people only glance at the star-ratings.

Up yours, RS. :mad:

Yet they will give 4 stars to Yoko Ono crap you can't even LISTEN to. Very annoying...

[Jondalar]

I left them a crappy post. Someone else did too. It's BS. She earned her stars.

[Livia]

I'm surprised David Wild didn't do the RS review. :shrug:

[Bandon]

If you look at the main RS page, the IYD review is entitled, "Stevie Nicks' Stellar Comeback," which is so true. It just kills me how they can say that but give it 3.5 stars???

So what's better than stellar? :shrug:

[Jondalar]

If you look at the main RS page, the IYD review is entitled, "Stevie Nicks' Stellar Comeback," which is so true. It just kills me how they can say that but give it 3.5 stars???

So what's better than stellar? :shrug:

Oh yeah, I know,if Tina Turner would of came out with this album they would of given it 5 stars

[tabruns]

This review makes me happy! Wasn't expecting it to be so positive. Maybe a few people will also check out The Other Side of the Mirror too- I love that he called it an 'underrated solo gem!"

The hilarious thing about that part of the review is that The Other Side of the Mirror was under-rated **by Rolling Stone**. They only gave it 2 1/2 stars when it came out. LOL

The thing about Rolling Stone stars is that one person writes the review while some kind of editorial board assign the star ratings. This is why you will see a hugely positive review that reads like a 4 star - like this one - but then not see a full 4 stars assigned. By Rolling Stone standards though, 3 1/2 stars IS actually a very good rating. I agree though that this should have gotten 4 stars.

[Jondalar]

people keep screwing up on their website forgetting to leave the album any stars, dropping the customer review rating for the album, uggg

[GavinBrown]

Short, sweet, but a rave! :)

http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmusic/news/review--stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams-2011254

[mezzoforte]

Woot! My soon-to-be employers, btw. Makes me love them all the more! I love that they call it the finest album of her solo career--I completely agree!

[Jondalar]

yay! 4 stars

[StandbackStevie]

yes very awesome reviews and I do think Mama has a grammy with the new cd she deserves it she poured her heart and soul into it like she does with everything else. Polish up that Grammy for Ms. Nicks she is taken it home next year.

[GavinBrown]

Warners better have their sh*t together to get her some grammy recognition from this album!!!

[HejiraNYC]

This is the same dude who tweeted (bragging, actually) a few months ago about listening to IYD. He's definitely a fan.

[Jondalar]

This is the same dude who tweeted (bragging, actually) a few months ago about listening to IYD. He's definitely a fan.

well it is a great album

[mikebise]

"Multiple" Grammy Winner, indeed! ;)

[StandbackStevie]

"Multiple" Grammy Winner, indeed! ;)

:]:]:nod::nod::thumbsup::nod::]:nod::D

[Jondalar]

Dave just left In Your Dreams 5 stars on their website. he he

[johnb84]

Music Review
In Your Dreams (2011)
Stevie Nicks
Reviewed by Mikael Wood | Apr 27, 2011

Release Date: May 03, 2011; Lead Performance: Stevie Nicks; Genre: Pop; Production: Reprise Records

HAT TRICK Stevie Nicks's latest album is In Your Dreams

We'll never complain about hearing Stevie warble the word dreams; indeed, several times here she comes remarkably close to Fleetwood Mac's platinum-plated best. But In Your Dreams, Nicks' first studio album since 2001, is also streaked with the witchy-woman weirdness only she can bring: On ''New Orleans,'' she recalls her eternal desire to ''wear feathers and lace,'' while ''Soldier's Angel'' finds her intoning ominously about war. Crystal visions? Still intact.

Grade: A

Download these:
Plaintive ballad For What It's Worth
Strings-enriched Italian Summer

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20485152,00.html

[Jondalar]

Music Review
In Your Dreams (2011)
Stevie Nicks
Reviewed by Mikael Wood | Apr 27, 2011

Release Date: May 03, 2011; Lead Performance: Stevie Nicks; Genre: Pop; Production: Reprise Records

HAT TRICK Stevie Nicks's latest album is In Your Dreams

We'll never complain about hearing Stevie warble the word dreams; indeed, several times here she comes remarkably close to Fleetwood Mac's platinum-plated best. But In Your Dreams, Nicks' first studio album since 2001, is also streaked with the witchy-woman weirdness only she can bring: On ''New Orleans,'' she recalls her eternal desire to ''wear feathers and lace,'' while ''Soldier's Angel'' finds her intoning ominously about war. Crystal visions? Still intact.

Grade: A

Download these:
Plaintive ballad For What It's Worth
Strings-enriched Italian Summer

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20485152,00.html

Wow, Entertainment Weekly gave it an A. That's major.

[Livia]

Us Rating: ****

The gold dust woman hasn't faded one bit! At 62, iconic Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks has turned out the finest solo album of her four-decade career. It's powered by her unmistakable, ageless vocals and intricate storytelling, from the enchanting first single "Secret Love" to the understated serenade "For What It’s Worth" (which mirrors her 1975 Mac classic "Landslide"). (Reprise)

-- IAN DREW

http://www.usmagazine.com/moviestvmusic/news/review--stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams-2011254

[jkmaletic]

I'm so happy for Stevie that these reviews have been so great (so far). She is so proud of this album so I'm glad she's getting recognition for it. Im so proud to be a fan today!

Jamie

[WildHearted]

I LOVE the fact that all of these reviews have been so good. It really is an amazing album and it's nice to see it recognized. I hope good reviews keep pouring in!

[HighPassion]

Nice interview! I don't really care what star Rollingstone gives albums. They are usually very genuine articles. Like, you can tell they don't just listen to it once in the background and then write something up. I always enjoy reading what they have to say :)

Rollingstone is still the IT music magazine.

However, I'm really scared because this place is becoming spammed with opinions on the new songs and links to streaming. I wanna wait until I have the copy in my hands but it will definitely be hard:shocked:

[mikephxaz]

US.com reviewed In Your Dreams and said it is her best solo work ever:woohoo:

[tabruns]

US.com reviewed In Your Dreams and said it is her best solo work ever:woohoo:

They're right.

[jkmaletic]

"Multiple" Grammy Winner, indeed! ;)

I hope you're right, but you know how the effin Grammys have gone lately. I wouldn't be surprised if Willow Smith was nominated in the same catagory as Stevie.:rolleyes:

If that happens, I will definitely shoot my TV.


Jamie

[darklinensuit]

I hope you're right, but you know how the effin Grammys have gone lately. I wouldn't be surprised if Willow Smith was nominated in the same catagory as Stevie.:rolleyes:

If that happens, I will definitely shoot my TV.


Jamie

Or worse, they could pressure Stevie to sing WITH Willow. "I whip my shawl back and forth! I whip my shawl back and forth!" Might make me long for the gentler days of Stevie with Taylor Swift. :shocked:;)

- Jake

[wondergirl9847]

Or worse, they could pressure Stevie to sing WITH Willow. "I whip my shawl back and forth! I whip my shawl back and forth!" Might make me long for the gentler days of Stevie with Taylor Swift. :shocked:;)

- Jake

ROTFLMAO! Oh Jake. You have made my day with that post. :lol:

[Bandon]

IFC News

Stevie Nicks "In Your Dreams"
Stream Stevie Nicks' new album, including a song she wrote in the 70's that didn't make the cut on "Rumors."

Fleetwood Mac had two distinct periods of major success as a band: first in the 1960's lead by founder and guitarist Peter Green with an awesome blues sound that few seem to be aware of -- and later in the 1970's with Lindsey Buckingham replacing Green, who had spiraled into madness after taking large does of acid. Buckingham brought his girlfriend, a pretty thing with a sultry voice, with him into the band and Stevie Nicks emerged as the indisputable queen of 70's rock and roll.

The band was fantastic, but it was Nicks that catapulted them to new heights with her inimitable style and the hits she wrote, like "Dreams" and "Landslide." She's returned with a solo record for the first time in 10 years, called "In Your Dreams" with the help of Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart, co-producing. Rolling Stone has the album up and streaming here.

Nicks, now 62 years old, pursues the same magical and lovelorn themes she did when she was 22. In fact, the track "Secret Love" was written in the mid 70's about an affair she was having as her relationship with Buckingham fell apart during the recording of "Rumors."

"I have really tried to remember who it was about," Nicks told Spinner, "but at the end of 1975, the world was spinning around us so fast, and we were meeting people every other day. There were gorgeous men and gorgeous women everywhere. We were fast and beautiful and crazy."

There are a few charmers on this album such as "Annabel Lee" and closer "Cheaper than Free." "Soldier's Angel" even recalls some of that old Fleetwood Mac sound, but there are some real duds too, and Stewart's no Lindsey Buckingham with a guitar. The ZZ Top licks on "Ghosts are Gone" are particularly troubling. This record's probably not for the 20 and 30 somethings who have been breathing new life into Fleetwood Mac and old Stevie Nicks records again for the past decade, but it's nice to hear Stevie musing again all the same.

http://www.ifc.com/news/2011/04/stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams.php


I think the reviewer is right, "Ghosts are Gone" does have a ZZ Top kind of sound. I really like the song. :nod:

[KarmaContestant]

This record's probably not for the 20 and 30 somethings who have been breathing new life into Fleetwood Mac and old Stevie Nicks records again for the past decade, but it's nice to hear Stevie musing again all the same.


Pfft.

Whatever. This 30-something is quite pleased, thank you!

[Jondalar]

IFC News

Stevie Nicks "In Your Dreams"
Stream Stevie Nicks' new album, including a song she wrote in the 70's that didn't make the cut on "Rumors."

Fleetwood Mac had two distinct periods of major success as a band: first in the 1960's lead by founder and guitarist Peter Green with an awesome blues sound that few seem to be aware of -- and later in the 1970's with Lindsey Buckingham replacing Green, who had spiraled into madness after taking large does of acid. Buckingham brought his girlfriend, a pretty thing with a sultry voice, with him into the band and Stevie Nicks emerged as the indisputable queen of 70's rock and roll.

The band was fantastic, but it was Nicks that catapulted them to new heights with her inimitable style and the hits she wrote, like "Dreams" and "Landslide." She's returned with a solo record for the first time in 10 years, called "In Your Dreams" with the help of Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart, co-producing. Rolling Stone has the album up and streaming here.

Nicks, now 62 years old, pursues the same magical and lovelorn themes she did when she was 22. In fact, the track "Secret Love" was written in the mid 70's about an affair she was having as her relationship with Buckingham fell apart during the recording of "Rumors."

"I have really tried to remember who it was about," Nicks told Spinner, "but at the end of 1975, the world was spinning around us so fast, and we were meeting people every other day. There were gorgeous men and gorgeous women everywhere. We were fast and beautiful and crazy."

There are a few charmers on this album such as "Annabel Lee" and closer "Cheaper than Free." "Soldier's Angel" even recalls some of that old Fleetwood Mac sound, but there are some real duds too, and Stewart's no Lindsey Buckingham with a guitar. The ZZ Top licks on "Ghosts are Gone" are particularly troubling. This record's probably not for the 20 and 30 somethings who have been breathing new life into Fleetwood Mac and old Stevie Nicks records again for the past decade, but it's nice to hear Stevie musing again all the same.

http://www.ifc.com/news/2011/04/stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams.php


I think the reviewer is right, "Ghosts are Gone" does have a ZZ Top kind of sound. I really like the song. :nod:

I think they will like this, give thems some credit. Hell, that guy is not a real reviewer.

[tabruns]

IFC News

Stevie Nicks "In Your Dreams"
Stream Stevie Nicks' new album, including a song she wrote in the 70's that didn't make the cut on "Rumors."

Fleetwood Mac had two distinct periods of major success as a band: first in the 1960's lead by founder and guitarist Peter Green with an awesome blues sound that few seem to be aware of -- and later in the 1970's with Lindsey Buckingham replacing Green, who had spiraled into madness after taking large does of acid. Buckingham brought his girlfriend, a pretty thing with a sultry voice, with him into the band and Stevie Nicks emerged as the indisputable queen of 70's rock and roll.

The band was fantastic, but it was Nicks that catapulted them to new heights with her inimitable style and the hits she wrote, like "Dreams" and "Landslide." She's returned with a solo record for the first time in 10 years, called "In Your Dreams" with the help of Eurythmics guitarist Dave Stewart, co-producing. Rolling Stone has the album up and streaming here.

Nicks, now 62 years old, pursues the same magical and lovelorn themes she did when she was 22. In fact, the track "Secret Love" was written in the mid 70's about an affair she was having as her relationship with Buckingham fell apart during the recording of "Rumors."

"I have really tried to remember who it was about," Nicks told Spinner, "but at the end of 1975, the world was spinning around us so fast, and we were meeting people every other day. There were gorgeous men and gorgeous women everywhere. We were fast and beautiful and crazy."

There are a few charmers on this album such as "Annabel Lee" and closer "Cheaper than Free." "Soldier's Angel" even recalls some of that old Fleetwood Mac sound, but there are some real duds too, and Stewart's no Lindsey Buckingham with a guitar. The ZZ Top licks on "Ghosts are Gone" are particularly troubling. This record's probably not for the 20 and 30 somethings who have been breathing new life into Fleetwood Mac and old Stevie Nicks records again for the past decade, but it's nice to hear Stevie musing again all the same.

http://www.ifc.com/news/2011/04/stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams.php


I think the reviewer is right, "Ghosts are Gone" does have a ZZ Top kind of sound. I really like the song. :nod:

The reviewer's full of it, there aren't any duds.

[Jondalar]

The reviewer's full of it, there aren't any duds.

He's not a real reviewer.

[SortaSavageLike]

and later in the 1970's with Lindsey Buckingham replacing Green,

That's totally what happened.

[louielouie2000]

I think the reviewer is right, "Ghosts are Gone" does have a ZZ Top kind of sound. I really like the song. :nod:

Oh my God, I don't think I ever would have placed that myself, but it's sooo spot on! Must be why I *LOVE* the song! :nod: I'm a born Texan, and so I grew up with ZZ Top as like a background of my life. I don't care that some don't like the harder, guitar oriented nature of this album. I freaking love it... rocker chick Stevie is my fav Stevie. :D

[wayner]

NY Times... April 29 2011 ... Arts & Entertainment Section.. page C23

What have we here ???


a PHOTO of Ms Nicks with the captioning

*STEVIE NICKS ( Wednesday) The swirling,ethereal heart of Fleetwood Mac,Ms Nicks Oozes a timeless,intoxicating grace that few singers achieve and even fewer maintain.Her Craggy vocals (still) convey so much emotion they can catch you off guard.At 8:00PM,webster hall,125 East 11Street,East Village.... SOLD OUT !!!!

[SapphireSister]

I wonder what she's thinking and how she's feeling right now about blowing up in the press more than she has in a long time?

[RockAlot]

NY Times... April 29 2011 ... Arts & Entertainment Section.. page C23

What have we here ???


a PHOTO of Ms Nicks with the captioning

*STEVIE NICKS ( Wednesday) The swirling,ethereal heart of Fleetwood Mac,Ms Nicks Oozes a timeless,intoxicating grace that few singers achieve and even fewer maintain.Her Craggy vocals (still) convey so much emotion they can catch you off guard.At 8:00PM,webster hall,125 East 11Street,East Village.... SOLD OUT !!!!


This alone is a major feat for our girl!!

[GarboSpeaks!]

Could I persuade any NYC'ers to get me a copy? I can pay for item and shipping or make a trade.

[Bandon]

Craggy vocals ?? That's a new one. LMAO :lol::lol::lol:

[Christopher]

NY Times... April 29 2011 ... Arts & Entertainment Section.. page C23

What have we here ???
http://i158.photobucket.com/albums/t118/longdistancewinner/287163765.jpg


a PHOTO of Ms Nicks with the captioning

*STEVIE NICKS ( Wednesday) The swirling,ethereal heart of Fleetwood Mac,Ms Nicks Oozes a timeless,intoxicating grace that few singers achieve and even fewer maintain.Her Craggy vocals (still) convey so much emotion they can catch you off guard.At 8:00PM,webster hall,125 East 11Street,East Village.... SOLD OUT !!!!

Uploaded and added the picture (for your viewing pleasure) from the NY Times.:angel:

[Macfanforever]

NY Times... April 29 2011 ... Arts & Entertainment Section.. page C23

What have we here ???


a PHOTO of Ms Nicks with the captioning

*STEVIE NICKS ( Wednesday) The swirling,ethereal heart of Fleetwood Mac,Ms Nicks Oozes a timeless,intoxicating grace that few singers achieve and even fewer maintain.Her Craggy vocals (still) convey so much emotion they can catch you off guard.At 8:00PM,webster hall,125 East 11Street,East Village.... SOLD OUT !!!!

Wow they said it sold out. also the first time hearing the word Craggy.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Uploaded and added the picture (for your viewing pleasure) from the NY Times.:angel:

amazing shot! breathtaking.

[Musicman408]

That shot is absolutely stunning!!!

[SuiteShangriLa]

Stevie got an A in her review from Entertainment Weekly.
Higher than any other artist reviewed this issue. Higher than Gaga (B-) J-Lo (C) and the Beastie Boys (A-)
But J-Lo got a whole page review??? and Stevie got a little quarter of a column???

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c170/SuiteShangriLa/open/IMG_20110429_175522.jpg

[KenshiMaster16]

Meh, that's just to sell copies. It's the grade that counts! :thumbsup:

[Bandon]

Here's a stock photo the New York Times uses for Stevie. I thinks it is great and one of best "natural" looks. :thumbsup:

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/n/stevie_nicks/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=stevie%20nicks&st=cse

[BombaySapphire3]

The highest grade she or Fleetwood Mac ever recieved from EW for a new studio album ..nice.

[JimSATX]

Instinct magazine has a blurb about Stevie in their "Scorching Summer Entertainment Guide." In their listing of new music releases for the summer, she's first on the list, even before Lady Gaga and JLo!

Stevie Nicks, In Your Dreams

We are so spinning in our shawls on a treadmill in front of a fan for the Great Rock Witch's first album of new material since 2001(!!). Produced by Glen Ballard and Eurythmics' Dave Stewart. (May 3)

[RockAlot]

Its like the Everyready Bunny, this keeps going & going!!!
Goooooooo Stevie!!!
I'm pleased she's getting all this press.

[MarkInStl]

What an exciting time to be a Stevie fan! Not that I've ever been ashamed in my 25 years of being a fan but I am so very proud of her!! I cannot wait to hear this CD. I AM DYING!!

Mark

[Spoinny]

Here's a stock photo the New York Times uses for Stevie. I thinks it is great and one of best "natural" looks. :thumbsup:

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/n/stevie_nicks/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=stevie%20nicks&st=cse

wow that's the best i think I have ever seen her

[Macfanforever]

Here's a stock photo the New York Times uses for Stevie. I thinks it is great and one of best "natural" looks. :thumbsup:

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/people/n/stevie_nicks/index.html?scp=1-spot&sq=stevie%20nicks&st=cse

I love that smile.:D

[caterwench]

Gorgeous pic ! I wanted and could have been at Webster Hall. I just can't do it, work commitments.
So......you go girl, love you always!

[johnnystorms]

wow that's the best i think I have ever seen her

she is radiant in that pic! 62 yo. wow!

[louielouie2000]

I wonder what she's thinking and how she's feeling right now about blowing up in the press more than she has in a long time?

She seems to be going through a Betty White style renaissance right now, doesn't she? :nod: Suddenly everyone is coming out in adoration of her, and her career really seems to be getting a second wind.

[Jondalar]

Two more great reviews for IN YOUR DREAMS

“In Your Dreams” Stevie Nicks (Warner) *** ½
While we all wait (okay, maybe just some of us) for anything new from Fleetwood Mac, Stevie’s first album of solo material in ten years, co-produced by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, is going to fill the gap very nicely.
While on tour with the Mac in Australia in ’09, Nicks wrote “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)”, inspired by the “New Moon” flick, and knew it was time to start making another album. “This was one of the most extraordinary experiences I’ve had, making a record” she says of “In Your Dreams”. “It’s the first time I’ve had this sort of collaboration since making ‘Rumours’.” “Dreams” was made in her home studio and besides Stewart and Ballard, her collaborators include longtime friend and musical director Waddy Watchel, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks. I can’t compare this to any of her other solo albums because, other than a few of her hits, my main contact with her music is through Fleetwood Mac. “In Your Dreams” comes about like a great Mac album without the angst and antagonism. Songs like “Wild Sargasso Sea” are dramatic and sexy (musically not unlike “Tweeter & The Monkey Man”) and there is some truly fine ballad work too, as only Stevie can do it. She just keeps getting better, and that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.
Hot Spots: “Secret Love” (also the first single), “In Your Dreams”, “Wild Sargasso Sea”, “Ghosts Are Gone”

Full Review at RosslandRadio.com

Review: Stevie Nicks - In Your Dreams 4 out of 5 stars
On Stevie Nicks first album in a decade she puts her bluesy voice down on a large variety of tracks from rocking pop songs Secret Love, In Your Dreams, Annabel Lee to old-school For What It's Worth and You May Be The One to pure bluesy rock Wild Sargasso Sea, Soldier's Angel and Ghosts Are Gone.


The album sounds like a pleasant mixture of old and new, and most pleasantly it works. The songs have a kind of mysticism to them, Stevie singing about ghosts and vampires. The stories are beautifully told by Stevie's voice that shines especially on slower New Orleans, which is the absolute highlight of the album.

I can see why the modern sounds on tracks like Moonlight and Secret Love could be a problem for some fans of Nick's, but it didn't actually bother me at all, the CD sounds very current and at times I almost forgot that Stevie actually is 62 not 22 years old.

The record is closed with a very beautiful duet ballad Cheaper Than Free.

Trying to conclude everything In Your Dreams sounds fresh but still familiar at the same time, Stevie stills sounds wonderful and everything else also seems to be working, the track listing is a nice variety of genres... Just make sure you get this record when it's released 3rd May (!)

Full Review at Vinyl Player

[Musicman408]

Oh my God, I don't think I ever would have placed that myself, but it's sooo spot on! Must be why I *LOVE* the song! :nod: I'm a born Texan, and so I grew up with ZZ Top as like a background of my life. I don't care that some don't like the harder, guitar oriented nature of this album. I freaking love it... rocker chick Stevie is my fav Stevie. :D

Louie, I think I had mentioned this awhile back, but I totally agree with you- I was HOPING for a more intense guitar oriented Stevie album and we actually got it, especially the back half of the record!!

[ahafan02]

Short but sweet...




We'll never complain about hearing Stevie warble the word dreams; indeed, several times here she comes remarkably close to Fleetwood Mac's platinum-plated best. But In Your Dreams, Nicks' first studio album since 2001, is also streaked with the witchy-woman weirdness only she can bring: On ''New Orleans,'' she recalls her eternal desire to ''wear feathers and lace,'' while ''Soldier's Angel'' finds her intoning ominously about war. Crystal visions? Still intact. A

Download these:
Plaintive ballad For What It's Worth
Strings-enriched Italian Summer

[mikebise]

Not only does Entertainment Weekly have the exellent (but short!) review, they also feature Stevie on their monthly calendar on Page 5. They have dates for "Stuff We're Looking Forward To In May", and Stevie is on May 3rd with the Beastie Boys. ALSO, they have a montage of photos of FOUR things they are looking forward to in May, which are:

1. JLo, S. Tyler and whatshisname of the American Idol season finale, which is the #1 rated TV show.
2. DVD release of Blue Valentine, a hit Ryan Gosling movie.
3. Hottest Man ALIVE Bradley Cooper & Co-Stars of The Hangover Part II, which will no doubt be the #1 movie of the Summer.
4. Stevie Nicks!!! The photo is of her singing "Landslide" on Oprah.

So, STEVIE is considered important enough to be stacked up with these other elite EVENTS!!!

Thanks, E.W.!!!!

[Bubba Fleetwood]

She seems to be going through a Betty White style renaissance right now, doesn't she? :nod: Suddenly everyone is coming out in adoration of her, and her career really seems to be getting a second wind.

Next thing we know, Stevie will be doing a Snickers commercial.

[Sahara]

She seems to be going through a Betty White style renaissance right now, doesn't she? :nod: Suddenly everyone is coming out in adoration of her, and her career really seems to be getting a second wind.

:laugh: What a wonderful comparison! And you're absolutely right about a second wind. It's SO exciting :D :blob1:

[WildHearted]

For some reason I always think it makes Stevie look younger when her bangs are a little swept and there's a bit of a break in the middle, like in that picture.

Loving all of the press she is getting. <3

[SandyMac]

Next thing we know, Stevie will be doing a Snickers commercial.

:D:]:nod: OMG, I would LOVE that. :]:nod:

[mikebise]

Ugh! I feel like I'm on SoapCentral.com right now, where the MODs are always harping about "precious EXPENSIVE Bandwidth"!!! Thread Mash-Up IN ACTION!!!! :eek:

I guess I'm just used to people here just starting new threads and posting away, not actually ADDING to an existing thread on the SAME subject. Maybe this new MOD style will help consolidate information better! :thumbsup:

I Like It!!!!! (DJ-H Feat. Stefy, 1991)

[jannieC]

Ugh! I feel like I'm on SoapCentral.com right now, where the MODs are always harping about "precious EXPENSIVE Bandwidth"!!! Thread Mash-Up IN ACTION!!!! :eek:

I guess I'm just used to people here just starting new threads and posting away, not actually ADDING to an existing thread on the SAME subject. Maybe this new MOD style will help consolidate information better! :thumbsup:

I Like It!!!!! (DJ-H Feat. Stefy, 1991)

We're trying. I really wish everyone could be more mindful about whether or not their thread needs it's own place.

[mylittledemon]

Ugh! I feel like I'm on SoapCentral.com right now, where the MODs are always harping about "precious EXPENSIVE Bandwidth"!!! Thread Mash-Up IN ACTION!!!! :eek:


It was really more of a test for me as it was my first mod action. I thought it best that the press reviews and TV appearance all stay in the same thread. ;)

[Jondalar]

Well, I was waiting for this happen. This review is the worste she could possibly get and it's from someone who thinks her latter albums, particular TISL were wonderful. This TISL stuff is getting on my nerves. I guess if you like In Your Dreams it is a slap in the face to any TISL fan. This reviewer makes several mistakes comparing Nicks to Mac, mentioning earlier works that were panned. So for all you so called fans who are secretly hoping the album flops here it is.


Stevie Nicks
In Your Dreams
*½
BY JONATHAN KEEFE ON MAY 1, 2011
JUMP TO COMMENTS (0) OR ADD YOUR OWN

A new solo album from rock legend and beloved quasi-mystical figure Stevie Nicks should be cause for celebration. From a year's worth of tweets by producer Dave Stewart to a predictably fawning Rolling Stone profile, the lead-up to Nicks's In Your Dreams has certainly built a fever-pitched level of anticipation among the singer's die-hard fans. But In Your Dreams indulges in some of Nicks's worst tendencies as a songwriter and is slathered in chintzy, dated production values.

Lead single "Secret Love" opens the album with what turns out to be its best-written song. That Nicks originally wrote the tune during the recording of Fleetwood Mac's landmark Rumours is telling: It's a fine enough song, but it wasn't quite good enough to make the cut for that classic album. That Stewart misses an opportunity to give the song some of the grit of vintage Fleetwood Mac and instead douses it in a banal, easy-listening wash does Nicks no favors. Even the album's harder, uptempo blues cuts are spit-polished to a suffocating, antiseptic degree.

Unfortunately, the poor quality of the songwriting falls primarily on Nicks's shoulders. "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)" was inspired by her viewing of The Twilight Saga: New Moon while on tour, and it boasts exactly the same degree of depth as Stephenie Meyer's vapid, wooden prose. Even worse is "New Orleans," with a howlingly bad chorus that finds Nicks singing, "I want to dress up/I want to wear beads/I want to wear feathers and lace/I want to brush by Anne Rice," with an inexplicable reverence. That the melody lifts at the end of each line overemphasizes the final word of those lines, giving the song an obnoxious, stilted cadence. It's perhaps the worst song in Nicks's entire catalogue, reducing the culture of New Orleans to Bourbon Street and vampire lore.

"Italian Summer" misses its mark almost as badly, with hollow exclamations about how the hard rain in Italy is "so romantic" and, oddly, "soulful." And "Cheaper Than Free," a duet with Stewart, is structured like a nursery rhyme, with the two singers posing questions that they immediately answer with pat rhymes. Nicks is simply too good to be singing lines like "What's faster than a speeding car? A beating heart" or "What's more exciting than high fashion? High passion."

Stewart's production choices are just as tin-eared. Dating back to his tenure with the Eurhythmics, Stewart has proven himself to be one of pop music's most progressive, fearless producers, which would make him a perfect choice to work with an icon like Nicks on her first solo album in 10 years. But he's rarely sounded so conservative at the mixing board as he does on In Your Dreams. The reserved acoustic strumming that drives "For What It's Worth" only exacerbates the song's monotonous melody, highlighting how much range and power Nicks's voice has lost in the decade since the underappreciated Trouble in Shangri-La.

There's simply nothing about In Your Dreams that works. Nicks and Stewart have both claimed that the recording of the album was one of the most enjoyable experiences in their respective careers, and certainly stars of their stature and undeniable talent deserve to take pleasure in their work. But the end product is anything but a pleasure to listen to. Nicks's devoted followers and Team Edward might go for In Your Dreams out of loyalty, but the album is a rare misfire from Nicks.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams/2487

[WildHearted]

Well, I wholeheartedly and respectfully disagree with everything this reviewer said about the album... EXCEPT the bit about the 'oh, it's so romantic, hey, it's so soulful' in Italian Summer because I'll admit that I did cringe upon transcribing those lyrics. Oh, and of course the Cheaper Than Free stuff but meh.

But otherwise, nope...

And I didn't like TISL, aside from a few tracks. I was only like 7 when TISL came out and became a fan long after its release, of course, so I wasn't around for all of the promotion and stuff that led up to it so that might be why.

[Artemis]

It looks like she's getting a good review from AllMusic Guide. It keeps acting up, I refreshed and the review wasn't there and they haven't gave it any stars yet, but it sounds really great;

Perhaps it’s all down to Stevie Nicks being at peace with her legacy, perhaps she was coaxed back toward the ‘70s by producer David A. Stewart, perhaps it’s the presence of Lindsey Buckingham on “Soldier’s Angel,” or perhaps it’s the fact that she excavated a 1976 song called “Secret Love” for this album, but In Your Dreams is Stevie’s first solo album to embrace the sound of Fleetwood Mac at their prime. Nicks never exactly ran away from the Mac, but her ‘80s solo hits were tempered by a steely demeanor and her subsequent solo albums strove too hard to recapture the magic that In Your Dreams conjures so easily. Despite the quite deliberate connections to her past, In Your Dreams never feels labored; the hippie folk drifts into the mystic pop, punctuated by some witchy rock that may be polished a bit too sharply by Stewart, yet he manages to keep everything warm despite its cleanliness. Stewart’s real coup is focus: he keeps everything tight and purposeful, letting each element snugly fit together so In Your Dreams winds up capturing the essence of Stevie Nicks, which -- as her previous three decades of solo albums prove -- is no easy feat.

[MariaA37]

The reserved acoustic strumming that drives "For What It's Worth" only exacerbates the song's monotonous melody,

Are Jonathan Keefe and I listening to the same song because I love For What It's Worth and I don't find it monotonous.

~Maria

[Jondalar]

is Slant Magazine for real, or are they a joke magazine?

[louielouie2000]

And "Cheaper Than Free," a duet with Stewart, is structured like a nursery rhyme, with the two singers posing questions that they immediately answer with pat rhymes. Nicks is simply too good to be singing lines like "What's faster than a speeding car? A beating heart" or "What's more exciting than high fashion? High passion."

This, I agree with. Where is this review from, by the way? What publication/blog/etc? Link?

[Sahara]

Yikes. :shocked: What strikes me most about this review is how considered it sounds, however harsh. This guy doesn't sound like a Stevie-hater who would have written a scathing review no matter what the album was like.

He makes a good point about the lyrics in CtF and "hey it's so soulful", though!

[Artemis]

The reserved acoustic strumming that drives "For What It's Worth" only exacerbates the song's monotonous melody, highlighting how much range and power Nicks's voice has lost in the decade since the underappreciated Trouble in Shangri-La.

This is the part of the review that annoyed me the most. While music is subjective, and no two people will react to it the same way, I just can't understand why ANYONE can possibly think her voice is worse on this record than it is on TISL! She's hitting higher notes (especially on Moonlight) and she's utilising her lower register far more effectively. As for power; could the Stevie Nicks of 2001 hold that note in Italian Summer? I doubt it.

[Jondalar]

This, I agree with. Where is this review from, by the way? What publication/blog/etc? Link?

Slant magazine.

[Jondalar]

Yikes. :shocked: What strikes me most about this review is how considered it sounds, however harsh. This guy doesn't sound like a Stevie-hater who would have written a scathing review no matter what the album was like.

He makes a good point about the lyrics in CtF and "hey it's so soulful", though!

He's mixing in criticsm's he knows some fans will agree with his own hateful ones.

[mikebise]

It was really more of a test for me as it was my first mod action. I thought it best that the press reviews and TV appearance all stay in the same thread. ;)

Well, I like the results!!! Merge some more!!!! :thumbsup:

Seriously, congrats on the new gig and best of luck!!!

[StevieRox81]

Well, I was waiting for this happen. This review is the worste she could possibly get and it's from someone who thinks her latter albums, particular TISL were wonderful. This TISL stuff is getting on my nerves. I guess if you like In Your Dreams it is a slap in the face to any TISL fan. This reviewer makes several mistakes comparing Nicks to Mac, mentioning earlier works that were panned. So for all you so called fans who are secretly hoping the album flops here it is.


Stevie Nicks
In Your Dreams
*½
BY JONATHAN KEEFE ON MAY 1, 2011
JUMP TO COMMENTS (0) OR ADD YOUR OWN

A new solo album from rock legend and beloved quasi-mystical figure Stevie Nicks should be cause for celebration. From a year's worth of tweets by producer Dave Stewart to a predictably fawning Rolling Stone profile, the lead-up to Nicks's In Your Dreams has certainly built a fever-pitched level of anticipation among the singer's die-hard fans. But In Your Dreams indulges in some of Nicks's worst tendencies as a songwriter and is slathered in chintzy, dated production values.

Lead single "Secret Love" opens the album with what turns out to be its best-written song. That Nicks originally wrote the tune during the recording of Fleetwood Mac's landmark Rumours is telling: It's a fine enough song, but it wasn't quite good enough to make the cut for that classic album. That Stewart misses an opportunity to give the song some of the grit of vintage Fleetwood Mac and instead douses it in a banal, easy-listening wash does Nicks no favors. Even the album's harder, uptempo blues cuts are spit-polished to a suffocating, antiseptic degree.

Unfortunately, the poor quality of the songwriting falls primarily on Nicks's shoulders. "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)" was inspired by her viewing of The Twilight Saga: New Moon while on tour, and it boasts exactly the same degree of depth as Stephenie Meyer's vapid, wooden prose. Even worse is "New Orleans," with a howlingly bad chorus that finds Nicks singing, "I want to dress up/I want to wear beads/I want to wear feathers and lace/I want to brush by Anne Rice," with an inexplicable reverence. That the melody lifts at the end of each line overemphasizes the final word of those lines, giving the song an obnoxious, stilted cadence. It's perhaps the worst song in Nicks's entire catalogue, reducing the culture of New Orleans to Bourbon Street and vampire lore.

"Italian Summer" misses its mark almost as badly, with hollow exclamations about how the hard rain in Italy is "so romantic" and, oddly, "soulful." And "Cheaper Than Free," a duet with Stewart, is structured like a nursery rhyme, with the two singers posing questions that they immediately answer with pat rhymes. Nicks is simply too good to be singing lines like "What's faster than a speeding car? A beating heart" or "What's more exciting than high fashion? High passion."

Stewart's production choices are just as tin-eared. Dating back to his tenure with the Eurhythmics, Stewart has proven himself to be one of pop music's most progressive, fearless producers, which would make him a perfect choice to work with an icon like Nicks on her first solo album in 10 years. But he's rarely sounded so conservative at the mixing board as he does on In Your Dreams. The reserved acoustic strumming that drives "For What It's Worth" only exacerbates the song's monotonous melody, highlighting how much range and power Nicks's voice has lost in the decade since the underappreciated Trouble in Shangri-La.

There's simply nothing about In Your Dreams that works. Nicks and Stewart have both claimed that the recording of the album was one of the most enjoyable experiences in their respective careers, and certainly stars of their stature and undeniable talent deserve to take pleasure in their work. But the end product is anything but a pleasure to listen to. Nicks's devoted followers and Team Edward might go for In Your Dreams out of loyalty, but the album is a rare misfire from Nicks.

http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams/2487

I feel so bad for Stevie if she comes across the review...everyone is entitled to their opinion, but this review is just uncalled for. Was he expecting Stevie to come out with an album that sounded like Lady Gaga or something? So confused and bummed out :(

[louielouie2000]

Yikes. :shocked: What strikes me most about this review is how considered it sounds, however harsh. This guy doesn't sound like a Stevie-hater who would have written a scathing review no matter what the album was like.

He makes a good point about the lyrics in CtF and "hey it's so soulful", though!

I think it's important to remember that ALL albums get a nasty review or two. Even Rumours had 1 or 2 of those before the album was released and hit it big.

The funny thing about this review is that they lambasted Rolling Stone for automatically giving Stevie a good review, as if that's what they've always done. Rolling Stone has historically been pretty unforgiving of Stevie... especially back in the '70s and early '80s. The fact they're glowing about IYD is a huge departure and quite a triumph for Stevie.

[Jondalar]

I think it's important to remember that ALL albums get a nasty review or two. Even Rumours had 1 or 2 of those before the album was released and hit it big.

The funny thing about this review is that they lambasted Rolling Stone for automatically giving Stevie a good review, as if that's what they've always done. Rolling Stone has historically been pretty unforgiving of Stevie... especially back in the '70s and early '80s. The fact they're glowing about IYD is a huge departure and quite a triumph for Stevie.

Yeah, but it's not even a real review in my opinion. It's some bitter fan who is upset that Stevie didn't go a different way

[Josh2003]

Yeah, but it's not even a real review in my opinion. It's some bitter fan who is upset that Stevie didn't go a different way

You can't just go around saying that all negative reviews aren't "real" reviews. The person gets paid to give their opinion on a CD for a magazine. It's a real review.

[bluefox4000]

Eh.....don't worry. It's not about reviews to me. It's what moves me and what I enjoy. That's all that should matter.

Mick

[louielouie2000]

You can't just go around saying that all negative reviews aren't "real" reviews. The person gets paid to give their opinion on a CD for a magazine. It's a real review.

Right? The other review which wasn't very nice was also labeled as "not a real review." :laugh:

[Tellurium]

I actually like this review in some ways. As said, it's a considered one, and it's interesting for me to read a perspective that differs so much from my own opinion on this album. But I can't help but think this reviewer had his corn flakes pissed in before he listened to the album. :rolleyes: While almost every negative thing he says about the album does make sense to a degree (they're all things that have been said by some member of this board at some point over the past weekend), it doesn't really add up to his ultimate summation that "nothing on the album works", IMO. Everyone reacts to music in a unique way, but his reaction just strikes me as particularly and almost nonsensically extreme. Like, there's some hokey lyrics in the chorus of New Orleans ergo it's the worst song in her entire catalogue? Not sure that's a leap I'd make.

Ohhh well.

ETA: I rather like the "oooh it's so romantic, heeeey it's so soulful" bit in Italian Summer. It actually made me chuckle on first listen, not cringe. It's certainly not exactly a poetic lyric, but to me it's a woman just being honest about how she was feeling at the time she wrote it, and for me it works. I get a kick out of it. Same goes for her laying plain her desire to dress up and wear beads. ;)

[Ghost_Tracker]

Oh bu-ruther.


I'm not even going to bother to read it, to be honest.

I think it's the most-brilliant thing she's ever done. :nod:


And that, of course, is sayin' something. :D

[Jondalar]

Oh bu-ruther.


I'm not even going to bother to read it, to be honest.

I think it's the most-brilliant thing she's ever done. :nod:


And that, of course, is sayin' something. :D

it's one of them, I think casual fans will like this one

[Ghosty]

that was harsh. i love cheaper than free, italian summer,moonlight, for what it's worth, secret love (i'm even used to the "eww-eee" now after hearing it a few times, i watched the oprah website video of it quite a few times).

i never care much for reviews anyways. i mean, look at us fans. stevie is our favorite, yet we all have some songs we like better than others, and some cd's we like better than others. we don't even agree on it.

[RickRobert]

She's hitting higher notes (especially on Moonlight) and she's utilising her lower register far more effectively.

I agree with the lower register part, but Moonlight isn't so high. Highest note is a G on "they meet in the middle" and the last note. She sings through the passagio really well up to that first G though, she's sounding a lot better technique-wise and her tone is a lot... "brighter". Highest notes on the album are on Wide Sargasso Sea in the ad-libbing, B flats above that G :cool: A bit strained but she hasn't sung that high for ages!

[skuncles]

The review reminds me of the music critic for the local paper. A younger guy who doesn't really like or get the older artists. This reviewer will probably give Lady Gaga's upcoming album rave reviews just because it's Gaga.

[BombaySapphire3]

So far this review is the odd one out..but it will serve to drag down her score on metacritc.com.:(

[Jondalar]

The review reminds me of the music critic for the local paper. A younger guy who doesn't really like or get the older artists. This reviewer will probably give Lady Gaga's upcoming album rave reviews just because it's Gaga.

yeah, I should not have posted this thing, but I knew their a review like this. Her record company likes the record. She basically pleased her most of her base ( which he hasn't done in a long time ). Now, she has ammo to fight for new fans.

[Tellurium]

Lady Gaga has certainly written/sung about things equally as banal as some of Stevie's worst lyrics, and no critic seems to have batted an eye. However, the Gaga has seen some huge backlash lately and I wouldn't be so sure her new album is going to be well received critically... Music press is just fickle as all hell.

[tabruns]

I would point out though that for some critics the real thrill is going against the grain on a review. It's almost like it somehow "proves" how critical they are, that they're willing to slam something that is getting glowing reviews elsewhere.

There's just no way this album is a 1 1/2 star album. The songs are too considered and well-written, the singing is too good. This reviewer is entitled to his opinion but frankly his opinion is wrong.

[Jondalar]

So far this review is the odd one out..but it will serve to drag down her score on metacritc.com.:(

I know that too. :(

[BombaySapphire3]

It looks like she's getting a good review from AllMusic Guide. It keeps acting up, I refreshed and the review wasn't there and they haven't gave it any stars yet, but it sounds really great;

Perhaps it’s all down to Stevie Nicks being at peace with her legacy, perhaps she was coaxed back toward the ‘70s by producer David A. Stewart, perhaps it’s the presence of Lindsey Buckingham on “Soldier’s Angel,” or perhaps it’s the fact that she excavated a 1976 song called “Secret Love” for this album, but In Your Dreams is Stevie’s first solo album to embrace the sound of Fleetwood Mac at their prime. Nicks never exactly ran away from the Mac, but her ‘80s solo hits were tempered by a steely demeanor and her subsequent solo albums strove too hard to recapture the magic that In Your Dreams conjures so easily. Despite the quite deliberate connections to her past, In Your Dreams never feels labored; the hippie folk drifts into the mystic pop, punctuated by some witchy rock that may be polished a bit too sharply by Stewart, yet he manages to keep everything warm despite its cleanliness. Stewart’s real coup is focus: he keeps everything tight and purposeful, letting each element snugly fit together so In Your Dreams winds up capturing the essence of Stevie Nicks, which -- as her previous three decades of solo albums prove -- is no easy feat.

Like another poster said Allmusic is pretty fair and clear eyed when it comes to Stevie's albums.I'd hazard a guess that this will be a 4 out of 5 star review.

[tabruns]

I love this line: "hippie folk drifts into the mystic pop, punctuated by some witchy rock"

[77Rumours77]

http://allmusic.com/album/in-your-dreams-r2126486

Perhaps it’s all down to Stevie Nicks being at peace with her legacy, perhaps she was coaxed back toward the ‘70s by producer David A. Stewart, perhaps it’s the presence of Lindsey Buckingham on “Soldier’s Angel,” or perhaps it’s the fact that she excavated a 1976 song called “Secret Love” for this album, but In Your Dreams is Stevie’s first solo album to embrace the sound of Fleetwood Mac at their prime. Nicks never exactly ran away from the Mac, but her ‘80s solo hits were tempered by a steely demeanor and her subsequent solo albums strove too hard to recapture the magic that In Your Dreams conjures so easily. Despite the quite deliberate connections to her past, In Your Dreams never feels labored; the hippie folk drifts into the mystic pop, punctuated by some witchy rock that may be polished a bit too sharply by Stewart, yet he manages to keep everything warm despite its cleanliness. Stewart’s real coup is focus: he keeps everything tight and purposeful, letting each element snugly fit together so In Your Dreams winds up capturing the essence of Stevie Nicks, which -- as her previous three decades of solo albums prove -- is no easy feat.

[Thrown_Down]

That's not a bad review, although it is described in very broad terms.

[Richard B]

It’s not just ‘In Your Dreams,’ Stevie Nicks is back
By: Tom Lanham 05/02/11 9:40 AM

By now, you’ve probably heard the — cough, cough — “Rumours.” And rest assured, they’re pretty accurate.

The most unexpected comeback of 2011 — indeed, in many a moon — is the sucker-punch return of ex-Fleetwood Mac faerie queen Stevie Nicks, with a rock-solid new seventh solo set, “In Your Dreams,” which hits stores tomorrow.

Recorded in her own home studio and shrewdly produced by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, the album features her longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel, plus the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and her two daughters, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.

It’s her first new material since the Grammy-nominated “Trouble In Shangri-La” a full decade ago.

And from the spooky-synth opener “Secret Love” (a track penned way back in 1976 about an unspecified celebrity beau), Nicks’ voice is as lissome and smoke-plumed as ever. She adeptly dips into country (“For What It’s Worth”), the “Twilight” phenomenon (the piano-based ballad “Moonlight (Vampire’s Dream)”), sparse-gravely blues (“Soldier’s Angel”) and, of course, her traditional gauzelike sound (the 5½ minute “Wide Sargasso Sea”). She even morphs Poe into pop, singing the verses of his forlorn “Annabel Lee.”

Nicks says the record is the first since “Rumours” where she’s felt so at home in a collaborative environment, which she attributes to Eurythmics mastermind Stewart. Naturally, tracking everything in her own house certainly helped, as well.

We happily doff our plumed fedora to this Rock and Roll Hall of Famer — welcome back!

http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/backstage-pass/2011/05/it-s-not-just-your-dreams-stevie-nicks-back

[Thrown_Down]

Recorded in her own home studio and shrewdly produced by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, the album features her longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel, plus the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell [B]and her two daughters, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.

[/URL]

She sure kept that quiet...

[jellyman10]

... and her two daughters, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.


They forgot to mention Stevie's granny, Mick, and her sister Waddy.

[Artemis]

Her two daughters, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.


This. Is. Beyond. Brilliant. :lol:

[Johnny Stew]

....her two daughters, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.

It's one thing for a 20-something like Vanessa Carlton to be mistaken for your daughter, but women your own age?? Yikes! :lol:

[SortaSavageLike]

ex-Fleetwood Mac
Fail.

her two daughters, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.
EPIC fail.

[TakenByTheSky23]

Great review, and thanks for posting! Also...here's the latest Amazon sales ranking. This is freaking fantastic!

[Richard B]

It's one thing for a 20-something like Vanessa Carlton to be mistaken for your daughter, but women your own age?? Yikes! :lol:

LOL
Sharon the Skelator is ageless. No one knows for sure.

[WildHearted]

Hahaha. I just laughed for a good few minutes over that reviewer mistaking Sharon & Lori for Stevie's daughters...

Brilliant, in a horrible failure kind of way.

Stevie and Lori look about the same age! Sharon just looks like.. Sharon.

[darklinensuit]

They forgot to mention Stevie's granny, Mick, and her sister Waddy.

Don't forget good ol' Aunt Lindsey (to be spelled Lindsay, of course). :lol:

- Jake

[jwd]

http://allmusic.com/album/in-your-dreams-r2126486

Perhaps it’s all down to Stevie Nicks being at peace with her legacy, perhaps she was coaxed back toward the ‘70s by producer David A. Stewart, perhaps it’s the presence of Lindsey Buckingham on “Soldier’s Angel,” or perhaps it’s the fact that she excavated a 1976 song called “Secret Love” for this album, but In Your Dreams is Stevie’s first solo album to embrace the sound of Fleetwood Mac at their prime. Nicks never exactly ran away from the Mac, but her ‘80s solo hits were tempered by a steely demeanor and her subsequent solo albums strove too hard to recapture the magic that In Your Dreams conjures so easily. Despite the quite deliberate connections to her past, In Your Dreams never feels labored; the hippie folk drifts into the mystic pop, punctuated by some witchy rock that may be polished a bit too sharply by Stewart, yet he manages to keep everything warm despite its cleanliness. Stewart’s real coup is focus: he keeps everything tight and purposeful, letting each element snugly fit together so In Your Dreams winds up capturing the essence of Stevie Nicks, which -- as her previous three decades of solo albums prove -- is no easy feat.

Right On! Stevie's come full circle and IYD captures it perfectly.

[SapphireSister]

It’s not just ‘In Your Dreams,’ Stevie Nicks is back
By: Tom Lanham 05/02/11 9:40 AM

By now, you’ve probably heard the — cough, cough — “Rumours.” And rest assured, they’re pretty accurate.

The most unexpected comeback of 2011 — indeed, in many a moon — is the sucker-punch return of ex-Fleetwood Mac faerie queen Stevie Nicks, with a rock-solid new seventh solo set, “In Your Dreams,” which hits stores tomorrow.

Recorded in her own home studio and shrewdly produced by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, the album features her longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel, plus the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and her two daughters, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.

It’s her first new material since the Grammy-nominated “Trouble In Shangri-La” a full decade ago.

And from the spooky-synth opener “Secret Love” (a track penned way back in 1976 about an unspecified celebrity beau), Nicks’ voice is as lissome and smoke-plumed as ever. She adeptly dips into country (“For What It’s Worth”), the “Twilight” phenomenon (the piano-based ballad “Moonlight (Vampire’s Dream)”), sparse-gravely blues (“Soldier’s Angel”) and, of course, her traditional gauzelike sound (the 5½ minute “Wide Sargasso Sea”). She even morphs Poe into pop, singing the verses of his forlorn “Annabel Lee.”

Nicks says the record is the first since “Rumours” where she’s felt so at home in a collaborative environment, which she attributes to Eurythmics mastermind Stewart. Naturally, tracking everything in her own house certainly helped, as well.

We happily doff our plumed fedora to this Rock and Roll Hall of Famer — welcome back!

http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/backstage-pass/2011/05/it-s-not-just-your-dreams-stevie-nicks-back

OMG in the midst of all this chaos it's fabulous to have a real, heart-felt belly laugh. I'm seriously DYING of laughter :laugh::laugh:.

Now, someone please tell me that the guy was joking?? Even a casual fan wouldn't assume something like that would they? I actually hope he wasn't joking because it would be that much more hilarious.

I say we all send the writer Tom nasty emails, hee hee! Poor guy. He's bound to get sh*t from his boss for this.

[SapphireSister]

Don't forget good ol' Aunt Lindsey (to be spelled Lindsay, of course). :lol:

- Jake

And husband Karen...

[WildHearted]

And husband Karen...

I think you mean her pet yorkie, Karen.

[Artemis]

I can see why he might assume Sharon is Stevie's daughter; afterall, she does have the body of a 12 year old girl. :laugh:

[SapphireSister]

I can see why he might assume Sharon is Stevie's daughter; afterall, she does have the body of a 12 year old girl. :laugh:

Yes, Stevie and Mick's long lost love child :lol:.

[WildHearted]

I was thinking they thought Lori was Stevie's daughter because of the shared last name...

Apparently they think Sharon got married.

[BombaySapphire3]

this from AZcentral

Stevie Nicks, 'In Your Dreams'

Rating: 3.5 stars




Stevie Nicks

(Reprise)

It's been 10 years since Stevie Nicks released an album, and she starts her new one with a song she wrote the same year Fleetwood Mac recorded "Rumours."But Nicks sounds surprisingly vital and engaged in the creative process here, especially on "Secret Love," a song she's had 35 years to record. Of course, it sounds exactly like the sort of thing she would have written then. Even Dave Stewart's production has a certain Lindsey Buckingham-esque sheen to it on that one. And the lyrics would have fit right in: "I am not asking forever from you/I'm just asking to be held for a while."

It's not the only highlight here.

"Italian Summer" is a lush romantic waltz with stately orchestration, recalling both the drama of Roy Orbison and the aching beauty of that Morning Benders single from last year that tried so hard to sound like they'd recorded it in 1961. And Nicks rushes the phrasing in all the right place on the chorus hook: "At the end of the Italian summer, It rains fast and it rains hard/The wind blows right through you/Tears you apart."

There are echoes of Stewart's past shading the techno-pop intro to the yearning "Everybody Loves You," whose chorus hook ends on a brilliantly Beatlesque chord change. Buckingham's harmonies on "Soldier's Angel," a dark, dramatic anti-war lament whose eerie atmosphere recalls "The Chain," are sure to conjure flashbacks to the '70s for Fleetwood Mac fans. There's also a definite Buckingham vibe to the rollicking California rockabilly of the title track, despite his lack of input on that song. And it's a shame she didn't get "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)" together in time to cash in on the "Twilight" craze.

Those "Twilight" kids would find plenty to love if they investigated Nicks' back pages.

- Ed Masley

[aleuzzi]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Music/05/02/stevie.nicks.in.your.dreams.review.roll/


It's the best RS review she's ever gotten. Period. 3.5 stars from RS is pretty damn good.

[tabruns]

this from AZcentral

Stevie Nicks, 'In Your Dreams'

Rating: 3.5 stars




Stevie Nicks

(Reprise)

It's been 10 years since Stevie Nicks released an album, and she starts her new one with a song she wrote the same year Fleetwood Mac recorded "Rumours."But Nicks sounds surprisingly vital and engaged in the creative process here, especially on "Secret Love," a song she's had 35 years to record. Of course, it sounds exactly like the sort of thing she would have written then. Even Dave Stewart's production has a certain Lindsey Buckingham-esque sheen to it on that one. And the lyrics would have fit right in: "I am not asking forever from you/I'm just asking to be held for a while."

It's not the only highlight here.

"Italian Summer" is a lush romantic waltz with stately orchestration, recalling both the drama of Roy Orbison and the aching beauty of that Morning Benders single from last year that tried so hard to sound like they'd recorded it in 1961. And Nicks rushes the phrasing in all the right place on the chorus hook: "At the end of the Italian summer, It rains fast and it rains hard/The wind blows right through you/Tears you apart."

There are echoes of Stewart's past shading the techno-pop intro to the yearning "Everybody Loves You," whose chorus hook ends on a brilliantly Beatlesque chord change. Buckingham's harmonies on "Soldier's Angel," a dark, dramatic anti-war lament whose eerie atmosphere recalls "The Chain," are sure to conjure flashbacks to the '70s for Fleetwood Mac fans. There's also a definite Buckingham vibe to the rollicking California rockabilly of the title track, despite his lack of input on that song. And it's a shame she didn't get "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)" together in time to cash in on the "Twilight" craze.

Those "Twilight" kids would find plenty to love if they investigated Nicks' back pages.

- Ed Masley

Hmm. What's with the glowing reviews but then only 3.5 stars? Unless this one is a on a scale of 4 stars.

[tabruns]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Music/05/02/stevie.nicks.in.your.dreams.review.roll/


It's the best RS review she's ever gotten. Period. 3.5 stars from RS is pretty damn good.

Agreed, but considering the text of the review it really should have been a 4 star rating. Nicks deserves it.

[fumidesigns]

It’s not just ‘In Your Dreams,’ Stevie Nicks is back
By: Tom Lanham 05/02/11 9:40 AM

By now, you’ve probably heard the — cough, cough — “Rumours.” And rest assured, they’re pretty accurate.

The most unexpected comeback of 2011 — indeed, in many a moon — is the sucker-punch return of ex-Fleetwood Mac faerie queen Stevie Nicks, with a rock-solid new seventh solo set, “In Your Dreams,” which hits stores tomorrow.

Recorded in her own home studio and shrewdly produced by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, the album features her longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel, plus the Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell and her two daughters, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.

It’s her first new material since the Grammy-nominated “Trouble In Shangri-La” a full decade ago.

And from the spooky-synth opener “Secret Love” (a track penned way back in 1976 about an unspecified celebrity beau), Nicks’ voice is as lissome and smoke-plumed as ever. She adeptly dips into country (“For What It’s Worth”), the “Twilight” phenomenon (the piano-based ballad “Moonlight (Vampire’s Dream)”), sparse-gravely blues (“Soldier’s Angel”) and, of course, her traditional gauzelike sound (the 5½ minute “Wide Sargasso Sea”). She even morphs Poe into pop, singing the verses of his forlorn “Annabel Lee.”

Nicks says the record is the first since “Rumours” where she’s felt so at home in a collaborative environment, which she attributes to Eurythmics mastermind Stewart. Naturally, tracking everything in her own house certainly helped, as well.

We happily doff our plumed fedora to this Rock and Roll Hall of Famer — welcome back!

http://www.sfexaminer.com/blogs/backstage-pass/2011/05/it-s-not-just-your-dreams-stevie-nicks-back

i cant stop laughing! this should make her feel better! :lol:

[michelej1]

OMG in the midst of all this chaos it's fabulous to have a real, heart-felt belly laugh. I'm seriously DYING of laughter :laugh::laugh:.



I'm not even sure how this mistake would even come about. Let's say Dave was talking about HIS daughters and they mixed it up. That's fine, but even though one of Dave's daughters was associated with the video, she wouldn't be listed as an album contributor.

I understand that the guy doesn't know Sharon and Lori, didn't have pictures and was probably reading off of some press release, but I don't even know where the word "daughters" would fall in the press release in order for him to get confused.


Michele

[Fiver]

Stevie Nicks' 'In Your Dreams' is her best solo work to date

Jim Farber

NYDailyNews.com

4/5 stars

Tuesday, May 3rd 2011, 4:00 AM

Stevie Nicks lives in a world of clues and innuendos. Her songs read like gossip items with the names cut out, tantalizing bits driven by hints rather than disclosures.

That's never been more true than on her first disk in a decade, on which she made sure to title the lead single "Secret Love," in case you miss her love of the salacious.

The song alludes to an affair Nicks had in the mid-'70s with a coupled man, a guy whose identity she has told journalists she can't quite recall.

Nicks follows that with a song ("For What It's Worth") that addresses another "great romance" with somebody famous on the sly. Later, in "Wide Sargasso Sea," a mysterious "Englishman" moves in with Nicks, but hates her West Coast lifestyle and, so, takes off, while in "Ghosts Are Gone" a shadow of an old lover keeps haunting her dreams.

It's a vintage Stevie move — a guessing game disguised as poetry. But, then, what else would you expect from a woman who rose to power in a band that turned their own romantic entanglements into something both marketable and mythic? In doing so, Fleetwood Mac functioned like a musical reality show, 30 years before its time.

Luckily, her exploitation of the strategy on "In Your Dreams" isn't the only intriguing thing about it.

"In Your Dreams" is the 62-year-old's best solo work since she began recording outside the band. Two elements deserve credit for this. First: producer and (whadyaknow?) old flame Dave Stewart. Long known for shoring up hooks and honing melodies, Stewart rates as Nicks' best sonic shaper since Lindsey Buckingham.

Equally crucial is Nicks' willingness to let others write key parts of the music. Mainly that means Stewart, though the most gripping track comes from Mike Campbell, of Heartbreakers fame.

His tune in "For What It's Worth" has as much elegiac ache as Nicks' best song ever, "Landslide." Her lyrics perfect the piece, with more poetic runs than her usual, including a unresolved, Dylanesque chorus that still gets its point across piercingly.

Stewart does nearly as well for her in "Italian Summer," a grand cabaret ballad unlike anything Nicks has sung before. Its tune couldn't be bigger, allowing it to both carry its rich orchestration and to enable the star to deliver a vocal with more range than even her most arch fans could have expected.

Some of Nicks' own tunes benefit from age. The title track dates back to 1976, when her muse was at its peak. Other songs provide winking tweaks on classic Mac tracks, from "Dreams" to "The Chain." The lyrical teases and allusions that come up along the way may add fascination to all that. But it's the melodies that make those tidbits sing.

http://tinyurl.com/6bsndx9

[Jondalar]

http://www.parcbench.com/2011/05/03/stevie-nicks-‘in-your-dreams’-this-dream-album-might-just-be-her-best-ever/

Stevie Nicks’ ‘In Your Dreams’ — This Dream Album Might Just Be Her Best Ever
Written by Greg Victor in Music on 3 May 2011
Stevie Nicks – In Your Dreams
**** (out of 4 stars)
Label: Reprise Records

Here she is — the eternal chronicler of California canyon stream of consciousness sending out notes as if they were bubbles capable of bursting at any altitude, yet entirely capable of floating up to the heavens intact. I’m talking about the one and only Stevie Nicks, of course. In case you feel like treating your ears, your heart and your soul well — Stevie has released her new album, In Your Dreams. It’s one of those albums that comes along in a legend’s career — the milestone album that solidifies the reputation of a true artist forevermore. The queen of folk rock is in royal form. Long may she live and love and make songs to unpack the hidden meanings of it all.

In Your Dreams sounds like it could only have been an extraordinary experience to make. Co-producers Dave Stewart, Glenn Ballard and Stevie Nicks have created an album that attempts to do it all (that’s praise-worthy enough)… what’s more, they damn near succeed. It’s an album bursting with creativity. Yet it maintains its balance through a precise focus. These songs present Stevie as potent as ever without relying on any sort of gimmick. All that is asked of her is to be truer than ever in her delivery. Yeah, that’s all. And she is. It’s just this sort of relaxation within the parameters of tautness that brings out the best in most artists. And it must have been a fun album to make, what with Stevie Nicks writing and recording in her home studio. Writing and recording In Your Dreams must have been as close as it gets to what the experience was in the profound 1970s heyday of American rock.

[jellyman10]

^^^ It's just torture to be reading this kind of thing and knowing that she's laid up in bed, sick, instead of out there basking in it. I'm kind of close to bawling right now, actually.:distress:

Great review, though.

[Jondalar]

^^^ It's just torture to be reading this kind of thing and knowing that she's laid up in bed, sick, instead of out there basking in it. I'm kind of close to bawling right now, actually.:distress:

Great review, though.

when Bella Donna became #1, her best friend died, par for the course

[vivfox]

Tuesday's Talk Shows
Los Angeles Times
Today Dick Van Dyke; “American Idol”; Stevie Nicks performs; Kristi Yamaguchi; Isaiah Washington. (N) 7 am KNBC Good Morning America Betty White; Rob Lowe; Donny Osmond; Jesse James. (N) 7 am KABC Live With Regis and Kelly Andy Samberg; ...

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/showtracker/2011/05/t.html

[jellyman10]

when Bella Donna became #1, her best friend died, par for the course

No, she found out Robin was terminally sick the same day that BD hit no. 1. She didn't die till more than a year later. But yes, she must be having horribly familiar mixed feelings today.

[BombaySapphire3]

By Ryan ReedStevie Nicks:
In Your Dreams[Reprise]



Paste Rating 5.0 respectable . Amid the fingerpicked folk of “For What It’s Worth,” the most nostalgic, romantic track from Stevie Nicks’ seventh studio album, America’s most beloved and mysterious gypsy princess emotes, “I got to sing; I got to dance; I got to be a part of the great romance.” No mystery there. As a former vocalist and songwriter for ’70s legends Fleetwood Mac, Nicks did experience the ups and the downs, the fame and the decline, the mysticism and the harsh reality of the rock star life.
No matter what she does, Nicks will never escape the large-looming legacy of her former band, the monster collective that cranked out masterpieces like Rumours and Tusk. Not that she’s avoiding the association—she did, after all, record with the band on their 2003 comeback, Say You Will, and participate in the sporadic tours that have taken place since. But she’s never quite reached her former act’s level of acclaim or commercial success, and she’s certainly never crafted that one album that’s come to define her as a solo artist. Her first attempt, 1981’s Bella Donna, has come closest on all counts, sprouting an array of top-notch singles (like “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” and the oft-referenced “Edge of Seventeen”), but even still, most of her best moments as a soloist bear The Mac’s stylistic hallmarks.
Perhaps it should come as no shock then that the best track on In Your Dreams (her first album in a decade) sounds like a top-notch Rumours b-side. The dreamy, mystical “Annabel Lee” offers Nicks’ catchiest melody in years, her precise vocals pulsing over a sturdy, John McVie-esque bass and a Lindsey Buckingham-influenced guitar sweep. It’s when she strays from her former band’s trademark stamps that she comes across as awkward.
You have to give the woman props for her vocal legacy, and I would never want to even approach disrespecting the talents of such a legend, but Nicks’ voice is starting to sound more strained than stirring. Some of it boils down to poor arrangement decisions (lead single “Secret Love” should have been knocked down a couple keys), but part of the blame rests directly on Nicks’ shoulders, as she too often goes for that nasally witchy woman vibe that distracts from her naturally wonderful, smoky pipes. Her influence has never been more prominent than it is today (female indie-rock frontwomen like Beach House’s Victoria Legrand and Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner sound like they’ve worshipped many years at the altar of the Gold Dust Woman), but she’s never sounded less like herself.
In Your Dreams is an album about exorcising the demons of the past and moving forward toward the beauty lingering in our imaginations. Too often, the flat production and boring arrangements render Nicks’ powerful words moot. The title track is catchy and energetic, with big guitar strums crashing over a brisk country-rock churn, and “New Orleans” is a nice enough Mac-style ballad, climbing and descending through 12-string chords, fantasizing about dressing up in beads, feathers, and lace. But a more representative track is “Wide Sargasso Sea,” a corny, overcooked tale of fading beauty, tarnished lust, and backfiring arson.
“In the smoke and the fire, they never found her,” Nicks sings, surrounded by synth bleeps and blues-rock riffing. You could say the same thing of Nicks herself, who’s swallowed up in the cheesy, overdone theatrics. In fact, it sort of sounds like an epitaph for this album of wasted opportunity.
Related ContentOthers Tagged With:album review,
in your dreams,
stevie nicks

[Jondalar]

By Ryan ReedStevie Nicks:
In Your Dreams[Reprise]



Paste Rating 5.0 respectable . Amid the fingerpicked folk of “For What It’s Worth,” the most nostalgic, romantic track from Stevie Nicks’ seventh studio album, America’s most beloved and mysterious gypsy princess emotes, “I got to sing; I got to dance; I got to be a part of the great romance.” No mystery there. As a former vocalist and songwriter for ’70s legends Fleetwood Mac, Nicks did experience the ups and the downs, the fame and the decline, the mysticism and the harsh reality of the rock star life.
No matter what she does, Nicks will never escape the large-looming legacy of her former band, the monster collective that cranked out masterpieces like Rumours and Tusk. Not that she’s avoiding the association—she did, after all, record with the band on their 2003 comeback, Say You Will, and participate in the sporadic tours that have taken place since. But she’s never quite reached her former act’s level of acclaim or commercial success, and she’s certainly never crafted that one album that’s come to define her as a solo artist. Her first attempt, 1981’s Bella Donna, has come closest on all counts, sprouting an array of top-notch singles (like “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” and the oft-referenced “Edge of Seventeen”), but even still, most of her best moments as a soloist bear The Mac’s stylistic hallmarks.
Perhaps it should come as no shock then that the best track on In Your Dreams (her first album in a decade) sounds like a top-notch Rumours b-side. The dreamy, mystical “Annabel Lee” offers Nicks’ catchiest melody in years, her precise vocals pulsing over a sturdy, John McVie-esque bass and a Lindsey Buckingham-influenced guitar sweep. It’s when she strays from her former band’s trademark stamps that she comes across as awkward.
You have to give the woman props for her vocal legacy, and I would never want to even approach disrespecting the talents of such a legend, but Nicks’ voice is starting to sound more strained than stirring. Some of it boils down to poor arrangement decisions (lead single “Secret Love” should have been knocked down a couple keys), but part of the blame rests directly on Nicks’ shoulders, as she too often goes for that nasally witchy woman vibe that distracts from her naturally wonderful, smoky pipes. Her influence has never been more prominent than it is today (female indie-rock frontwomen like Beach House’s Victoria Legrand and Wye Oak’s Jenn Wasner sound like they’ve worshipped many years at the altar of the Gold Dust Woman), but she’s never sounded less like herself.
In Your Dreams is an album about exorcising the demons of the past and moving forward toward the beauty lingering in our imaginations. Too often, the flat production and boring arrangements render Nicks’ powerful words moot. The title track is catchy and energetic, with big guitar strums crashing over a brisk country-rock churn, and “New Orleans” is a nice enough Mac-style ballad, climbing and descending through 12-string chords, fantasizing about dressing up in beads, feathers, and lace. But a more representative track is “Wide Sargasso Sea,” a corny, overcooked tale of fading beauty, tarnished lust, and backfiring arson.
“In the smoke and the fire, they never found her,” Nicks sings, surrounded by synth bleeps and blues-rock riffing. You could say the same thing of Nicks herself, who’s swallowed up in the cheesy, overdone theatrics. In fact, it sort of sounds like an epitaph for this album of wasted opportunity.
Related ContentOthers Tagged With:album review,
in your dreams,
stevie nicks

Yeah I read this and he is not over Fleetwood Mac yet

[BombaySapphire3]

Stevie Nicks is, I’ve always thought, one of those ingredients that only tastes completely right in concert with other things. Those things being the rest of Fleetwood Mac in general — and, more specifically, Lindsey Buckingham.
Sure, she’s had her own hits, away from the band. And, at one point, Nicks had almost constructed a cottage industry out of duets with people who were, in fact, not Lindsey Buckingham — from Tom Petty to Kenny Loggins to Don Henley. Each of those projects has succeeded, to admittedly varying degrees, in attracting notice from the record-buying public.
But they never could mimic the recipe of finish-their-sentence symbiosis, not to mention revenge-screw sexual tension, found in her best work with Buckingham.
Same here, despite a gristly new attitude in the songwriting and the presence of the really very talented Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. In Your Dreams, the long-awaited follow-up to 2001′s Trouble in Shangri-La and first major work she’s done since Fleetwood Mac’s mid-2000s project, arrives on store shelves today. And despite the wait, it only serves to reteach this lesson.
Nicks brought along some old notes to her sessions with Stewart, and they co-wrote seven of the new disc’s 13 songs while recording at a house Nicks owns in Los Angeles. The results, to be fair, include a number of things that feel brand new, or at least like friends we haven’t seen in some time. This crunchy sexuality just bursts out of “Wide Sargasso Sea”; there’s a pissy little swirl of venom about “Ghosts Are Gone,” and a Beatle-ish orchestral sweep on “Italian Summer.” Most of it, too, finds her diving headlong into a choppy, thrillingly Dylanesque cadence, something that’s always sounded like a fight’s about to break out. Wait, a tough-talking Stevie Nicks? Utterly unexpected from a singer who for so long has crafted this faux-spook persona as a witchy woman.
Still, Nicks’ old band hangs like a cloud over the proceedings. Remember the part about the old notes? Two of the cuts on In Your Dreams, “Secret Love” and “Moonlight,” began as fragments during Fleetwood Mac’s triumphal mid-1970s period — and “Love,” the initial single, in particular, speaks to that soapy time in the group’s history, when friends became lovers who then became exes. (Mick Fleetwood, in a moment that’s almost too on the nose, appears in the video.) “Soldiers Angel” subsequently finds Nicks singing again with Lindsey, her original lover in the band.
So, while much has changed, not everything has. Nicks, it’s made clear over the course of the record, is no longer looking for something so sweeping as love ever after, just something that works. In pairing with Stewart — who provides some absorbing production touches, not to mention an oakenly barren duet vocal on “Cheaper than Free” — she’s found that. Yet, while the work with Stewart is interesting, something significantly more uncomplicated and thus more direct than the work either with Fleetwood or (in particular) Buckingham, that doesn’t make it better.

“Soldier's Angel,” where Nicks’ voice interwines once more with Buckingham’s, then is pushed along by the clarion crinkle of his guitar — like an angry, insistent banjo, if there is such a thing — well, it’s still the most remarkable thing here. For all of the years that have gone by since they first met, for all of the years that they have spent apart, for the many things they have done for and to one another, for all of things that shouldn’t still be there in their collaborations, there is simply nothing on In Your Dreams that matches the hard-eyed truths — and the very real mystery — of this song.
In my dreams? They’re at work right now on Buckingham Nicks II...Nick Deriso



this from "Something Else" website

[markolas]

The "she's better with Fleetwood Mac" people are never going to be satisfied with her solo albums. Personally, I prefer her solo projects to her work w/ the Mac. But the reviews that start off giving away the writer's bias toward FM in the first sentence aren't worth my time.

I don't pay much attention to music reviews. I've missed out on some great music in the past because I listened to music critics. No more. I'm perfectly capable of deciding what I like & what I don't on my own, without their help.

[Jondalar]

Stevie Nicks is, I’ve always thought, one of those ingredients that only tastes completely right in concert with other things. Those things being the rest of Fleetwood Mac in general — and, more specifically, Lindsey Buckingham.
Sure, she’s had her own hits, away from the band. And, at one point, Nicks had almost constructed a cottage industry out of duets with people who were, in fact, not Lindsey Buckingham — from Tom Petty to Kenny Loggins to Don Henley. Each of those projects has succeeded, to admittedly varying degrees, in attracting notice from the record-buying public.
But they never could mimic the recipe of finish-their-sentence symbiosis, not to mention revenge-screw sexual tension, found in her best work with Buckingham.
Same here, despite a gristly new attitude in the songwriting and the presence of the really very talented Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. In Your Dreams, the long-awaited follow-up to 2001′s Trouble in Shangri-La and first major work she’s done since Fleetwood Mac’s mid-2000s project, arrives on store shelves today. And despite the wait, it only serves to reteach this lesson.
Nicks brought along some old notes to her sessions with Stewart, and they co-wrote seven of the new disc’s 13 songs while recording at a house Nicks owns in Los Angeles. The results, to be fair, include a number of things that feel brand new, or at least like friends we haven’t seen in some time. This crunchy sexuality just bursts out of “Wide Sargasso Sea”; there’s a pissy little swirl of venom about “Ghosts Are Gone,” and a Beatle-ish orchestral sweep on “Italian Summer.” Most of it, too, finds her diving headlong into a choppy, thrillingly Dylanesque cadence, something that’s always sounded like a fight’s about to break out. Wait, a tough-talking Stevie Nicks? Utterly unexpected from a singer who for so long has crafted this faux-spook persona as a witchy woman.
Still, Nicks’ old band hangs like a cloud over the proceedings. Remember the part about the old notes? Two of the cuts on In Your Dreams, “Secret Love” and “Moonlight,” began as fragments during Fleetwood Mac’s triumphal mid-1970s period — and “Love,” the initial single, in particular, speaks to that soapy time in the group’s history, when friends became lovers who then became exes. (Mick Fleetwood, in a moment that’s almost too on the nose, appears in the video.) “Soldiers Angel” subsequently finds Nicks singing again with Lindsey, her original lover in the band.
So, while much has changed, not everything has. Nicks, it’s made clear over the course of the record, is no longer looking for something so sweeping as love ever after, just something that works. In pairing with Stewart — who provides some absorbing production touches, not to mention an oakenly barren duet vocal on “Cheaper than Free” — she’s found that. Yet, while the work with Stewart is interesting, something significantly more uncomplicated and thus more direct than the work either with Fleetwood or (in particular) Buckingham, that doesn’t make it better.

“Soldier's Angel,” where Nicks’ voice interwines once more with Buckingham’s, then is pushed along by the clarion crinkle of his guitar — like an angry, insistent banjo, if there is such a thing — well, it’s still the most remarkable thing here. For all of the years that have gone by since they first met, for all of the years that they have spent apart, for the many things they have done for and to one another, for all of things that shouldn’t still be there in their collaborations, there is simply nothing on In Your Dreams that matches the hard-eyed truths — and the very real mystery — of this song.
In my dreams? They’re at work right now on Buckingham Nicks II...Nick Deriso



this from "Something Else" website

this is someones personal site, how are they able to put up soldiers angel on their site

[BombaySapphire3]

this is someones personal site, how are they able to put up soldiers angel on their site

The review seemed more well written than some of the pros.He does heap praise on that song so maybe Reprise will let it stay there.:shrug:

[tabruns]

http://www.cnn.com/2011/SHOWBIZ/Music/05/02/stevie.nicks.in.your.dreams.review.roll/


It's the best RS review she's ever gotten. Period. 3.5 stars from RS is pretty damn good.

I still think she got docked half a star either for being over 30 years old or for this not being a Fleetwood Mac record. :P This really should have been a 4 star rating, considering the review text.

[kak125]

Stevie Nicks – In Your Dreams
Jesus, this is turning out to be a weird week for new records, isn’t it? Also, doesn’t it seem like there should already be a Fleetwood Mac record named In Your Dreams? Regardless, it is, in fact, a brand new solo album from the inimitable Stevie Nicks, her first in 10 years, and it’s a whole lot better than you might have assumed. She’s still doing her standard mystical romantic thing, which would be straight-up unbearable were her voice not still in fine shape.

http://www.crawdaddy.com/index.php/2011/05/02/the-week-in-records-fleet-foxes-beastie-boys-stevie-nicks-and-more/

[BombaySapphire3]

STEVIE NICKS: In Your Dreams (Warner Music) B-
The Vancouver Province - Ultra Sound


Fleetwood Mac’s beloved diva has always relied on a great producer to make her often pedestrian songs spring to life. Dave Stewart, who produced her first disc in 10 years with Glen Ballard, and wrote the music to some of its strongest tracks, might be no Lindsey Buckingham, but he’s been the midwife for what might, shockingly and unexpectedly, be Nicks’s best album. While some songs are expendable and most are simply too long, this is more consistently fun than we had any reason to expect.

I thought that this was indicative of the general low regard with which is Stevie held in critics circles in that a critic would state that it might be her best album and still only assign it a B-.

[Jondalar]

STEVIE NICKS: In Your Dreams (Warner Music) B-
The Vancouver Province - Ultra Sound


Fleetwood Mac’s beloved diva has always relied on a great producer to make her often pedestrian songs spring to life. Dave Stewart, who produced her first disc in 10 years with Glen Ballard, and wrote the music to some of its strongest tracks, might be no Lindsey Buckingham, but he’s been the midwife for what might, shockingly and unexpectedly, be Nicks’s best album. While some songs are expendable and most are simply too long, this is more consistently fun than we had any reason to expect.

I thought that this was indicative of the general low regard with which is Stevie held in critics circles in that a critic would state that it might be her best album and still only assign it a B-.

Which is exactly why Stevie can never win, and she will never get a grammy.

[jellyman10]

STEVIE NICKS: In Your Dreams (Warner Music) B-
The Vancouver Province - Ultra Sound

.... While some songs are expendable and most are simply too long, this is more consistently fun than we had any reason to expect.



"While some reviewers are expendable and most are simply thick, this is every bit as facile and begrudging as we have come to expect."

I suggest you shove it sideways, sir.

[BombaySapphire3]

IYD is 72 right now on metacritic.com actually 2 points higher than TISL .God bless Entertainment weekly for their 5 star review to offset that absolute pan from Slant magazine.:rolleyes:

[Jondalar]

IYD is 72 right now on metacritic.com actually 2 points higher than TISL .God bless Entertainment weekly for their 5 star review to offset that absolute pan from Slant magazine.:rolleyes:

Some of these critics are on wacko land. I mean she is mostly getting great reviews, but the one's who zing her, really zing her and it's usually because of the mac or they like her weirder stuff.

[BombaySapphire3]

Album Review: Stevie Nicks' 'In Your Dreams'By Melinda Newman - Is her first solo album in 10 years worth the wait? Tuesday, May 3, 2011 5:44 PM


Stevie Nicks
Part of Stevie Nicks’ great charm as a songwriter is that she seldom apologizes for her actions in her songs. Whether from her days in Fleetwood Mac or throughout her solo career, she’s concentrated on providing the listener with an insider’s view of her romantic entanglements —and what incredibly entanglements they’ve been— unfiltered by any judgments. It’s a rare, vulnerable trait that has only endeared her further to her millions of fans.

She’s not about to change now on “In Your Dreams,” her first solo album in 10 years out today (May 3).

In the first two songs on the album—first single “Secret Love” and “For What It’s Worth”—she’s involved with taken men. She neither gloats about her bewitching appeal nor recriminates herself for her actions. These are her stories and her feelings. Let others sort out the messiness of such complications.

There’s a lovely country-rock tinge to “For What It’s Worth,” the superior of the two tracks, which written with Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers’ Mike Campbell. “What you did was, well, you saved my life. I won’t forget it,” she sings, making the song about much more than an illicit affair.


Those country leanings continue with the title track, “In Your Dreams,” which has rollicking rock guitar riff reminiscent to “Queen of Hearts,” a great tune written by Hank DeVito and made popular by both Dave Edmunds and Juice Newton 30 years ago. Even on album closer, “Cheaper Than Free,” a graceful, swaying mid-tempo duet with Dave Stewart, it feels as if the spirit of The Byrds and other pioneers of country rock are sitting on her shoulders, smiling.

Produced by Stewart and Glen Ballard, “In Your Dreams” will delight long-time Nicks fans. Recorded in her Los Angeles home, there’s a warmth and an ease to much of the album that invites the listener in with open arms, even on the most up-tempo tracks, such as the propulsive “Ghosts Are Gone," which captures vintage Stevie at the tail end. Many of the songs, seven of which Nicks wrote with Stewart, are based on poems she’s written over the years, including “Annabel Lee,” a piece she wrote as a teenager after reading the famous Edgar Allan Poe poem. Nicks’ voice has always had a husky rasp to it that, luckily, time doesn’t diminish, although she sounds a little gruffer on a few of the tunes here she seldom sings as openly as she did during, say, the “Nightbird” stage.

There are some lovely moments here: her yearning for the Crescent City is palpable on “New Orleans” (if there was either a town that she should be from, it would be New Orleans, instead of Phoenix.), but there are some misses, like “Wide Sargasso Sea” or “Everybody Love You,” which has strong lyrical content about the living a private life publicly, but a synthesized opening out of the ‘80s seems horribly out of place.



This from "The Beat Goes On"

[jcfree]

May 16, 2011, People Magazine (Special Collector's Issue) on page 54-CRITIC'S CHOICE 3.5 stars (out of 4)

Stevie Nicks-IN YOUR DREAMS

Pop-Rock: Ten years after her last solo studio album, Stevie Nicks is ever the enchantress, bewitching with songs that travel across time ("Secret Love," written in '76 about a clandestine affair she had) and place ("New Orleans," inspired by Katrina). She also transports between fantasy - see the New Moon influenced "Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)" - and harsh reality (the war-themed "Soldier's Angel"). The latter enlists Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham, but it's Eurythmic Dave Stewart who, cowriting and coproducing, really makes a dream team with Nicks.

[Jondalar]

awesome, wondered what they thought

[Lee]

I can't really comment on it b/c I still don't have her CD. I'm still debating as to get whether to get the one with the bonus track or not.

http://srrocks.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I listen to this station everyday @ work. If you have IYD, & care to leave Steve a comment, please feel free.:lol:

Lee :)

[Jondalar]

I can't really comment on it b/c I still don't have her CD. I'm still debating as to get whether to get the one with the bonus track or not.

http://srrocks.blogspot.com/

Anyway, I listen to this station everyday @ work. If you have IYD, & care to leave Steve a comment, please feel free.:lol:

Lee :)

I don't get this blog. He wants more electric guitar. So...

[tabruns]

I don't get this blog. He wants more electric guitar. So...

So why doesn't he mention "Wide Sargasso Sea"? There's electric on that.

I think one of the things that Nicks has to contend with is that some fans seem to want one type of Stevie and ONLY that type of Stevie, everything else be damned. So you're going to get "I only want the rockers, everything else sucks" or "I only like the mystical stuff" or "The romantic stuff is the best".

She gets nailed lyrically too....some complain her lyrics are too "obtuse", others complain her lyrics are too straight-forward....

[Artemis]

Star rating is in from All Music Guide, 4 stars for IYD, same as TISL and The Wild Heart. Sounds right to me. Personally, AMG are the only reviewers I take seriously, they seem to get it spot on every time with Stevie.

[darklinensuit]

She gets nailed lyrically too....some complain her lyrics are too "obtuse", others complain her lyrics are too straight-forward....

I'm not sure I've seen her get nailed for lyrics being too straightforward so much as lyrics being too trite ("Not Make Believe" is a good example of a song that has been attacked for this reason). Unless I'm not understanding what you mean by straightforward?


- Jake

[Jondalar]

Star rating is in from All Music Guide, 4 stars for IYD, same as TISL and The Wild Heart. Sounds right to me. Personally, AMG are the only reviewers I take seriously, they seem to get it spot on every time with Stevie.

That's actually huge and it bumped her metro rating to 76. Slant Magazine almost destroyed her rating. Idiots.

[jellyman10]

Good stuff. I hope all the great reviews and chart positions are cheering her up, even it must be frustrating to not be out in the world enjoying it. Really hope she's getting better.

[greendaze5]

Stevie mentioned in '3 Dollar Bill' column/blog (May 3, 2011):

http://bugsburnett.blogspot.com/

[kak125]

Lots of videos included in this link.
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/rocks/2011/05/stevie_nicks.php?page=2

Tuesday, Stevie Nicks released her first solo album in a decade, In Your Dreams. After looking at promos for the album, Rocks Off is convinced that as often as she's denied "rumours" of witchcraft, the singer may actually be a witch. She has to be - she doesn't look like she's aged since 1989's The Other Side of the Mirror.

Nicks' new album includes a few tracks that she wrote while in Fleetwood Mac that never got released. Single "Secret Love" was written about a man with whom she was having an affair during the downfall of her relationship with the dreamy Lindsey Buckingham. The video features her goddaughter wearing some of Nicks' old stage costumes, and cameos from Mick Fleetwood and Dave Stewart of Eurythmics, who produced the album.

We think this nostalgia might be the album's only selling point to 70's-era Fleetwood Mac fans who probably won't dig the album as much as the memories the release brings back. We would never hide the fact that Rumours has the highest playcount of our iTunes albums nor that we've framed the picture of Lindsey and Stevie topless from their Buckingham Nicks album in hopes of one day recreating it.

So, instead of discussing In Your Dreams, we've decided to revisit some highlights and memorable footage from Stevie's career.

Buckingham Nicks, "Don't Let Me Down Again"
Buckingham Nicks, 1973

Unfortunately, there's no footage of the duo performing this song anywhere on the Internet. Today a popular addition to Mac enthusiasts' record collection, Buckingham Nicks was not well received upon its initial release, it was reissued in 1976 after the two joined Fleetwood Mac.

Fleetwood Mac, "Rhiannon"
Fleetwood Mac, 1975

Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood has said that Stevie's live performance of "Rhiannon" during the late '70s "was like an exorcism."

Fleetwood Mac, "Sara"
Tusk, 1979

Fleetwood Mac is often times said to be an incestuous group due to the love affairs within the band. According to Nicks, this song is about her best friend, Sara Recor, who became Mick Fleetwood's wife while Nicks and Fleetwood were still having an affair. Yeah, it takes a while to get the love affairs straight.

Fleetwood Mac, "The Chain" (Tusk Tour, 1979)
Rumours, 1977

Second-best chain song after "Chain of Fools" by Aretha. Buckingham recycled the intro of "Lola" from Buckingham Nicks for this song. The bass breakdown and the buildup of the outro is our favorite part.

Stevie Nicks, "Edge of Seventeen"
Bella Donna, 1981

Ooh, ooh, ooh. We read somewhere that this track is Nicks' "Stairway to Heaven."

Fleetwood Mac, "Gypsy"
Mirage, 1982

When it was released, the video for this song was the highest-budget music video to date. While this album wasn't as popular as Rumours, it was a good return to the band from Nicks' and Buckingham's solo projects.

Stevie Nicks, "Wild Heart"

For some reason, we like this version of "Wild Heart" more than the one from 1983's The Wild Heart. It was still in the works - you can hear Stevie explaining the structure of the song to her makeup artist. Also, watching her belt out the song, harmonizing for the artist instead of getting her makeup done, is adorable.

Stevie Nicks, "Stand Back"
The Wild Heart, 1983

If "Edge of Seventeen" is Nicks' "Stairway to Heaven", then "Stand Back" is "When The Levee Breaks." To the Led-heads: We know that this isn't the most fitting analogy.

Stevie Nicks, "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?"
Rock a Little, 1985

This was a popular encore performance for Nicks. At the end of this video, a fan comes onstage and hands her a white dove. She tries to lift it up to fly away but it refuses to leave her. That's the power of Stevie Nicks.

Fleetwood Mac, "Silver Springs" (The Dance Tour, 1997)

We were only 10 years old when we first heard this version of "Silver Springs" and fell in love with Stevie's voice - it will always remind us of our mom. Make sure to watch Lindsey and Stevie singing the last lines of the song to one another, never breaking eye contact: "I'll follow you down 'til the sound of my voice will haunt you/ You'll never get away from the sound of the woman that loved you."

So good.

[TrueFaith77]

That's actually huge and it bumped her metro rating to 76. Slant Magazine almost destroyed her rating. Idiots.

I suspect this was personal and aimed at me. I'm not paranoid but when I used to read them there were often little digs at me in their reviews. They probably know I'm a Mac fan. Sorry if that was the cause. If not, take consolation in the fact that Slant is always wrong.

[Jondalar]

I suspect this was personal and aimed at me. I'm not paranoid but when I used to read them there were often little digs at me in their reviews. They probably know I'm a Mac fan. Sorry if that was the cause. If not, take consolation in the fact that Slant is always wrong.

huh????????

[TrueFaith77]

huh????????

Just as examples: In one review of some movie they called me a "drama queen" and in another article the editor referred to me as "the worst person I've ever met."

I'm not going to spread gossip; those are just their own words about me. I'll let you decide if they are accurate.

But I also think that every word I'd ever read on that website was wrong. No wonder the editor said that about me. :lol: Anyway, until the Stevie review, I hadn't even looked at that site in yeeeaars. But I'm guessing it hasn't improved.

[Jondalar]

Just as examples: In one review of some movie they called me a "drama queen" and in another article the editor referred to me as "the worst person I've ever met."

I'm not going to spread gossip; those are just their own words about me. I'll let you decide if they are accurate.

But I also think that every word I'd ever read on that website was wrong. No wonder the editor said that about me. :lol: Anyway, until the Stevie review, I hadn't even looked at that site in yeeeaars. But I'm guessing it hasn't improved.

Well, I'm never looking at the website again. They obviously just SUCK!

[fumidesigns]

Well, I'm never looking at the website again. They obviously just SUCK!

damn right! True is amazing!

hey boo! :wavey:

[TrueFaith77]

damn right! True is amazing!

hey boo! :wavey:

Thank you for the support. I got over the insults a long time ago, but I really hope I'm wrong that they aren't taking it out on Stevie now. That would be pathetic.

[tabruns]

Thank you for the support. I got over the insults a long time ago, but I really hope I'm wrong that they aren't taking it out on Stevie now. That would be pathetic.

It would, but it might also explain that review. I was just baffled by how negative it was.

[BombaySapphire3]

From the Washington DC Blade
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

By Joey DiGuglielmo on May 5, 2011


Stevie Nicks returns this week with her first studio album in a decade, ‘In Your Dreams.’ (Courtesy of Reprise Records)
The music business circa 2011 is, as everybody knows, in the toilet. It’s a blessing and a curse for all involved — consumers, of course, have the option of buying songs one at a time, but that means album sales aren’t what they used to be so there’s little incentive for veteran artists to make records. All the money’s in touring.
Top-tier acts who still release albums every couple years are mostly doing it to satiate their muses. So it’s no wonder it took Stevie Nicks a full 10 years to get back to making a proper solo album.
“In Your Dreams,” out Tuesday, is her first studio album since 2001’s “Trouble in Shangri-La” and it’s been an excrutiatingly long wait for her bastion of rabid fans, among some of the most loyal in all of rock.
For all her ‘80s industriousness — she churned out an amazing amount of product both on her own and with Fleetwood Mac in that whirlwind decade — boy, did we pay for it in the ’00s. There were gems along the way — the 2003 Mac album “Say You Will” is an underrated tour de force for her and Lindsey Buckingham — but fans hoping she’d have a career renaissance after kicking years of drug problems were sorely disappointed. She seemed largely content to tour, do guest spots and the occasional hits package (“Crystal Visions”) or live project (“Soundstage Sessions”).
“Dreams,” a classy and melodically rich collaboration with Dave Stewart (The Eurythmics), arrives with anticipation set at fever-pitch levels. It’s been such a long wait, there’s almost no way the album could live up to expectations. But setting that aside and putting things into perspective, it’s pretty obvious from the first spin this is one of Nicks’ strongest, most consistent albums, perhaps even her best since 1985’s “Rock a Little.” It blows 1994’s dismal “Street Angel” away and while individual songs on “Trouble” are better than most of the tracks here, “Dreams” is overall a better, more cohesive album.
Several songs chug along with a mid-temp, driving beat reminiscent of “Talk to Me,” like first single “Secret Love,” the Edgar Allen Poe-inspired “Annabel Lee” and the slightly lighter, slightly slower “Everybody Loves You.” Several songs start slow but then blossom in unexpected ways — the rugged, jangly beat on “Wide Sargasso Sea” doesn’t kick in until the second verse; the strange and catchy “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)” gradually picks up steam.
Most of the album follows these light rock/A.C.-flavored vibes and tempos. The lone rocker is also one of the album’s best cuts — the lyrically brilliant “Ghosts Are Gone,” an incisive snapshot of how past loves still haunt.


“For What It’s Worth” sounds a little flat at first — it’s a potent lyrical snapshot of the possibility of romance with someone who’s already in another relationship, but its refrain is initially almost an anti-chorus as it seems to sap the song of its momentum. Nicks doubles her vocals an octave higher on the second and third choruses, a trick used on several of the “Say You Will” cuts, that adds great texture again here.
Things get rather unexpected in the final three tracks. “You May Be the One,” a bluesy, torchy number provides welcomed contrast musically while penultimate cut “Italian Summer” finds Nicks actually belting something out for a change. Her vocal strengths, especially in recent years, have lied mostly in her distinctive timbre rather than oomph. She never had the lung power of, say, Annie Lennox or Ann Wilson (Heart), but she flirts with it on “Summer.” Here’s hoping she includes that in her live show — it has the potential to be a huge show-stopping moment.
The only dud is the odd, spare “Soldier’s Angel,” a duet with Buckingham that never catches fire. It’s a shame, too — it has a lovely lyric. Much better is “Cheaper Than Free,” a duet with Stewart that closes the record on a tender, understated note.
If there’s any overarching disappointment to the whole thing, it’s simply that Nicks feels a little too relaxed, a little too vocally middle of the road at age 62. Nobody, of course, is expecting her to tear it up like the wild woman she was in her early Mac years in the ‘70s, but it would have been great if Stewart and co-producer Glen Ballard (Alanis Morissette) could have elicited a little of the vocal energy she brought to legendary cuts like “Stand Back,” “Edge of Seventeen,” “Seven Wonders” or “I Can’t Wait.” Nicks thanks her vocal coach in the liner notes. He’s probably done wonders for the longevity of her voice — few are the forces of nature like Tina Turner or gospel’s Shirley Caesar who can let it rip for decades on end — but if there’s any of that left in the Nicks pipeline, it would have given the album more energy and would have been great to get down on wax.
But that’s quibbling — overall, this is a stately, grand and highly welcomed return to recording from one of rock’s best, and in some ways underrated, singers.

[WildHearted]

But Stevie DOESN'T just double her vocals an octave higher on FWIW - it's a harmony part, it changes around but it's a fifth up for most of it...

Insignificant but it makes a difference - doubling something an octave up generally doesn't add much to a line, it can still sound really hollow and empty without the other parts of the chord filled in...

[Macfanforever]

I have to agree with the critic about the music biz going down the toilet.I wonder when people will start getting tired of rap,hip hop,dance.bubblegum music dominating the top of the charts.

[LiquidDiamonds]

Amoeba Review

She may be 62 years old, but her first studio album in over 10 years does the old Stevie Nicks one better—it turns the trick of jumping to the top of her catalogue. With plenty of production lacquer courtesy of Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, and her vintage Wiccan-warble still on point as it was in her Rumours days in the late-1970s, Nicks is in rare form on the sultry ballads (“Italian Summer”) and in romantic raconteur mode (“For What It’s Worth”). Fans of Nicks, rejoice.

http://www.amoeba.com/buy-stuff/detail/stevie-nicks/in-your-dreams-cd--30107.html

[LiquidDiamonds]

I thought this review was pretty spot on .

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/560743/Nicks--latest-not-just-a--dream-.html?nav=5076

It took Stevie Nicks 40 years to become unpredictable.

After decades of chart-topping repetition and radio-friendly solo albums, Nicks entered the new millennium seemingly spent. As recently as Fleetwood Mac's 2009 tour, the white winged dove wheezed more than wowed. But like the sorcerers and witches lacing her songs, Nicks always has another trick up her mystical sleeve.

Her latest solo album, "In Your Dreams," isn't simply a trick. It's Nicks' best music since 1983.

"In Your Dreams" is unpredictable in the only way an album from an aging rocker can be: It doesn't sound like microwaved nostalgia. Sure, Nicks still relies on the well-worn themes of California witches and love's labor lost. She's been doing that since she joined Fleetwood Mac with Lindsey Buckingham on New Year's Eve 1974. But in 2011, the era of Cullens, and Bella Swans, and shirtless werewolves, her music regains a youthful glisten.

There are moments so good on "In Your Dreams," you would swear you're listening to "Gypsy" for the very first time. Lead single "Secret Love" sounds like a Rumours-era B-side, which makes sense since it was written in the same days as "Dreams." "New Orleans," which has been circulating on her tours for years, is quite simply the best thing she's done since 1981's "Bella Donna." Nicks is still a kid singing: "I wanna sing in the streets of the French Quarter/I wanna dress up/I wanna wear beads/Wanna wear feathers and lace."

But not everything here is leather and lace. "In Your Dreams" suffers from the same ails of every Stevie Nicks album: It's a solo Stevie Nicks album. And conventional wisdom has always held: Fleetwood Mac is greater than the sum of its parts.

Each of the album's 13 songs could benefit from a John McVie bass groove. Mick Fleetwood makes a few cameos, but he's largely missed, too.

And that's without even mentioning Lindsey Buckingham.

Dave Stewart may be a great producer, as he aptly demonstrates here, but no one understands the back alleys of Nicks' songs like Lindsey Buckingham. He's spent the better part of 40 years navigating them, giving the musical grandeur that defines classics like "Rhiannon" and "Gold Dust Woman." It's impossible not to wonder what magic he could weave here. That Stewart guitar solo on "You May Be The One"? Please. Have you not heard the closing guitar on "Gypsy"!?

We get a small dose of their chemistry on "Soldier's Angel" where Buckingham contributes guitars and harmonies. Suddenly it's 1979 and "Tusk" is being re-recorded. It's a shame that he's only found on one track. The repertoire shared between the two is one of the best in rock history, bested only by Lennon and McCartney.

Playing "what if" can become a nasty business, however, and it's hard to not love "In Your Dreams" for what it is: A solid album from a woman who once defined rock and roll from platform boots. There's not a lot of breathing room here. It's all business, and though it may occasionally threaten to falter, this ship stays together.

Anyone who dared to think this Welsh witch had nothing left to prove will leave "In Your Dreams" disappointed.

Because Stevie Nicks still has the charm and chops to prove, that after 40 years, dreams unwind and love's a state of mind.

[BombaySapphire3]

I like how this reviewer classifies "New Orleans " as her best song since Bella Donna..it is a beautiful piece IMHO in which the allure only grows with repeated listens.Quite a contrast to that Slant magazine critic that called it possibly her worst song ever..but we now know that his review may well be acting out a vendetta against a member of the Ledge..warped.

[fumidesigns]

That Stewart guitar solo on "You May Be The One"? Please. Have you not heard the closing guitar on "Gypsy"!?

now THAT is funny!!!!!! :laugh:

[LiquidDiamonds]

I like how this reviewer classifys "New Orleans " as her best song since Bella Donna..it is a beautiful piece IMHO in which the allure only grows with repeated listens.Quite a contrast to that Slant magazine critic that called it possibly her worst song ever..but we now know that his review may well be acting out a vendetta against a member of the Ledge..warped.

That seems a bit extreme...what vendetta?

[BombaySapphire3]

That seems a bit extreme...what vendetta?
Go read back a couple of pages on the reviews thread the info is there

[tabruns]

I thought this review was pretty spot on .

http://www.journal-news.net/page/content.detail/id/560743/Nicks--latest-not-just-a--dream-.html?nav=5076

It took Stevie Nicks 40 years to become unpredictable.

After decades of chart-topping repetition and radio-friendly solo albums, Nicks entered the new millennium seemingly spent. As recently as Fleetwood Mac's 2009 tour, the white winged dove wheezed more than wowed. But like the sorcerers and witches lacing her songs, Nicks always has another trick up her mystical sleeve.

Her latest solo album, "In Your Dreams," isn't simply a trick. It's Nicks' best music since 1983.

"In Your Dreams" is unpredictable in the only way an album from an aging rocker can be: It doesn't sound like microwaved nostalgia. Sure, Nicks still relies on the well-worn themes of California witches and love's labor lost. She's been doing that since she joined Fleetwood Mac with Lindsey Buckingham on New Year's Eve 1974. But in 2011, the era of Cullens, and Bella Swans, and shirtless werewolves, her music regains a youthful glisten.

There are moments so good on "In Your Dreams," you would swear you're listening to "Gypsy" for the very first time. Lead single "Secret Love" sounds like a Rumours-era B-side, which makes sense since it was written in the same days as "Dreams." "New Orleans," which has been circulating on her tours for years, is quite simply the best thing she's done since 1981's "Bella Donna." Nicks is still a kid singing: "I wanna sing in the streets of the French Quarter/I wanna dress up/I wanna wear beads/Wanna wear feathers and lace."

But not everything here is leather and lace. "In Your Dreams" suffers from the same ails of every Stevie Nicks album: It's a solo Stevie Nicks album. And conventional wisdom has always held: Fleetwood Mac is greater than the sum of its parts.

Each of the album's 13 songs could benefit from a John McVie bass groove. Mick Fleetwood makes a few cameos, but he's largely missed, too.

And that's without even mentioning Lindsey Buckingham.

Dave Stewart may be a great producer, as he aptly demonstrates here, but no one understands the back alleys of Nicks' songs like Lindsey Buckingham. He's spent the better part of 40 years navigating them, giving the musical grandeur that defines classics like "Rhiannon" and "Gold Dust Woman." It's impossible not to wonder what magic he could weave here. That Stewart guitar solo on "You May Be The One"? Please. Have you not heard the closing guitar on "Gypsy"!?

We get a small dose of their chemistry on "Soldier's Angel" where Buckingham contributes guitars and harmonies. Suddenly it's 1979 and "Tusk" is being re-recorded. It's a shame that he's only found on one track. The repertoire shared between the two is one of the best in rock history, bested only by Lennon and McCartney.

Playing "what if" can become a nasty business, however, and it's hard to not love "In Your Dreams" for what it is: A solid album from a woman who once defined rock and roll from platform boots. There's not a lot of breathing room here. It's all business, and though it may occasionally threaten to falter, this ship stays together.

Anyone who dared to think this Welsh witch had nothing left to prove will leave "In Your Dreams" disappointed.

Because Stevie Nicks still has the charm and chops to prove, that after 40 years, dreams unwind and love's a state of mind.

Although this reviewer is clearly thoughtful, I have to disagree with the take of judging a Nicks solo album critically because it's not a Mac album. I mean, I think that's patently unfair to knock the album down a little simply because "Mac is better than the sum of its parts" etc. Why can't the album be judged for what it actually is?

[BombaySapphire3]

Reprise; 2011]
Rating: 7/10
By Amanda Norris, Staff Writer
May 5, 2011


Key Tracks: “Annabelle Lee," "You May Be The One," "New Orleans"
Stevie Nicks is not only the reigning queen of rock ‘n’ roll; she is the queen of dreamscapes. And yes, for anyone even vaguely familiar with her Fleetwood Mac days, that was as much a comment on her latest effort as it was a shameless and easy allusion to her past.
In Your Dreams is Nicks’ first solo album in nearly a decade and it is worth the wait. With collaboration with David A. Stewart of Eurythmics stardom, the romantic and intriguing effort is everything we could hope for from two legends.
Nicks’ voice, though noticeably changed, has aged remarkably well and still manages to maintain a youthful edge--at least when she wants it to, as on the fast-paced and naively poppy title track. Yet, it also has a wizened quality that shines when appropriate as on the narrative ballad “Wide Segasso Sea” and the folk-twinged “For What It’s Worth.”
While most are not generally inclined to take anything admittedly influenced by the “Twilight” saga seriously, “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)” is admittedly a listenable and lyrically intriguing track. But as far as literary allusions go, the strongest on this album is definitely “Annabelle Lee”--Edgar Allen Poe’s masterpiece getting in touch with its ‘80s side.
The best parts of the album, however, are the parts where Nicks is influenced by her own past.
The somewhat soulful “You May Be The One” is nostalgic in all the right ways, working in bluesy guitar licks and biting lyrics like “You may be the one but you’ll never be the one.” It is a tale of heartbreak, knowledge and ultimately of experience that centers around the phrase “used to”--the most human of phrases. The song reminds us that Nicks is an artist who has actually done some living, not just played the part--adding a layer of believable truth to her lyricism.
This is echoed on “Italian Summer,” a tune equal parts enchantment and disenchantment. “Oh it’s so romantic / Oh it is all so soulful” sings Nicks with more than a hint of sarcasm in her tone, clearly commenting on youthful romanticism from the lens of--not a jaded--but a realistic adult perspective.
In Your Dreams is poppy in places and soulful in others. Storytelling ballads blend into mythic sagas with nods to gothic poetry for good measure. The cover art is over the top. The vampire reference is a bit much. But, in general, fans of Stevie Nicks will not be disappointed by this latest release. In fact, they might even be pleasantly surprised by its depth--which in the end is all we can really ask of an Check out ACRN online radio, streaming 24/7!

[Jondalar]

Reprise; 2011]
Rating: 7/10
By Amanda Norris, Staff Writer
May 5, 2011


Key Tracks: “Annabelle Lee," "You May Be The One," "New Orleans"
Stevie Nicks is not only the reigning queen of rock ‘n’ roll; she is the queen of dreamscapes. And yes, for anyone even vaguely familiar with her Fleetwood Mac days, that was as much a comment on her latest effort as it was a shameless and easy allusion to her past.
In Your Dreams is Nicks’ first solo album in nearly a decade and it is worth the wait. With collaboration with David A. Stewart of Eurythmics stardom, the romantic and intriguing effort is everything we could hope for from two legends.
Nicks’ voice, though noticeably changed, has aged remarkably well and still manages to maintain a youthful edge--at least when she wants it to, as on the fast-paced and naively poppy title track. Yet, it also has a wizened quality that shines when appropriate as on the narrative ballad “Wide Segasso Sea” and the folk-twinged “For What It’s Worth.”
While most are not generally inclined to take anything admittedly influenced by the “Twilight” saga seriously, “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)” is admittedly a listenable and lyrically intriguing track. But as far as literary allusions go, the strongest on this album is definitely “Annabelle Lee”--Edgar Allen Poe’s masterpiece getting in touch with its ‘80s side.
The best parts of the album, however, are the parts where Nicks is influenced by her own past.
The somewhat soulful “You May Be The One” is nostalgic in all the right ways, working in bluesy guitar licks and biting lyrics like “You may be the one but you’ll never be the one.” It is a tale of heartbreak, knowledge and ultimately of experience that centers around the phrase “used to”--the most human of phrases. The song reminds us that Nicks is an artist who has actually done some living, not just played the part--adding a layer of believable truth to her lyricism.
This is echoed on “Italian Summer,” a tune equal parts enchantment and disenchantment. “Oh it’s so romantic / Oh it is all so soulful” sings Nicks with more than a hint of sarcasm in her tone, clearly commenting on youthful romanticism from the lens of--not a jaded--but a realistic adult perspective.
In Your Dreams is poppy in places and soulful in others. Storytelling ballads blend into mythic sagas with nods to gothic poetry for good measure. The cover art is over the top. The vampire reference is a bit much. But, in general, fans of Stevie Nicks will not be disappointed by this latest release. In fact, they might even be pleasantly surprised by its depth--which in the end is all we can really ask of an Check out ACRN online radio, streaming 24/7!

who is this from?

[BombaySapphire3]

who is this from?

ACRN online radio

[Jondalar]

ACRN online radio

I'm kind of pissed off. 97% of her reviews have been positive and yet, the metacritic only has 5 reviews on their website giving her a score of just 76. Two of the reviews are bad ones: Paste Magazine and that stupid one from Slant magazine. They didn't even put up US magazines 4 star review. Billboard magazine also just gave her a stunning review. Someone updated her Wikapedia and they referenced the metacritic site score and its not right, yet.

I have left scathing reviews on Slant Magazine and Paste of their reviewers biased. So have other people. I can't believe their stupid reviews knocked her down and they have not put the other reviews up. US magazines 4 star review was up before Slant Magazines. Not right.

[BombaySapphire3]

metacritic doesn't put US weekly or People magazine type reviews on their site..it might put the Billboard review on there hopefully.76 is six points better than TISL has but I agree that score does not represent the bulk of reviews for IYD ..the Slant magazine critic seems to have an axe to grind.His review is so over the top bad it does seem biased.

[LiquidDiamonds]

I'm kind of pissed off. 97% of her reviews have been positive and yet, the metacritic only has 5 reviews on their website giving her a score of just 76. Two of the reviews are bad ones: Paste Magazine and that stupid one from Slant magazine. They didn't even put up US magazines 4 star review. Billboard magazine also just gave her a stunning review. Someone updated her Wikapedia and they referenced the metacritic site score and its not right, yet.

I have left scathing reviews on Slant Magazine and Paste of their reviewers biased. So have other people. I can't believe their stupid reviews knocked her down and they have not put the other reviews up. US magazines 4 star review was up before Slant Magazines. Not right.

You can ask to have the score corrected by selecting help and then select ask a question. I just did...

[tabruns]

I'm kind of pissed off. 97% of her reviews have been positive and yet, the metacritic only has 5 reviews on their website giving her a score of just 76. Two of the reviews are bad ones: Paste Magazine and that stupid one from Slant magazine. They didn't even put up US magazines 4 star review. Billboard magazine also just gave her a stunning review. Someone updated her Wikapedia and they referenced the metacritic site score and its not right, yet.

I have left scathing reviews on Slant Magazine and Paste of their reviewers biased. So have other people. I can't believe their stupid reviews knocked her down and they have not put the other reviews up. US magazines 4 star review was up before Slant Magazines. Not right.

I wrote Metacritic about including the US magazine review. This was before the Billboard review was up.

[tabruns]

metacritic doesn't put US weekly or People magazine type reviews on their site..it might put the Billboard review on there hopefully.76 is six points better than TISL has but I agree that score does not represent the bulk of reviews for IYD ..the Slant magazine critic seems to have an axe to grind.His review is so over the top bad it does seem biased.

Agreed. It was basically an almost non-sensical review.

[michelej1]

Boston.com, May 9, 2011

http://www.boston.com/ae/music/cd_reviews/articles/2011/05/09/dreamy_tunes_from_chanteuse_nicks/
Dreamy tunes from chanteuse Nicks

When Stevie Nicks toured with Rod Stewart recently, she favored her biggest solo and Fleetwood Mac hits, playing only one tune from this, her first new album in a decade. She could easily have played a couple more, as “In Your Dreams’’ is a solid effort, chock-full of the things that Nicks’s fans have come to enjoy about their twirling, dusky-voiced, mystically inclined chanteuse.

With help from producers Dave Stewart of Eurythmics — who co-wrote seven songs as well — and Glen Ballard, Nicks sings of big loves and losses and sprinkles them with her enchanted glitter of optimism, melancholy, ecstasy, and regret.

“Wide Sargasso Sea’’ is as expansive as the novel from which it takes its inspiration, as Nicks mixes up warm acoustic strumming, twinkling keys, and a great shock of electric guitar rock riffery from longtime musical companion Waddy Wachtel.

Old flame and Mac bandmate Lindsey Buckingham drops by to add harmonies and guitar to the emotional ballad “Soldier’s Angel.’’ She longs for Bourbon Street on “New Orleans,’’ a haunted track that is simultaneously solemn and celebratory. And she remembers with a palpable bittersweetness a love that wasn’t meant to be on the tender “For What It’s Worth.’’

As usual, she also rocks a little, picking up the pace and intensity on the title track and the spectral musings of “Ghosts Are Gone.’’

If she occasionally veers into territory too gauzy or fantastical for some — as on the “New Moon’’-inspired “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)’’ or the long-ago-far-away fairy tale of the maiden “Annabel Lee’’ — her inimitable, throaty purr keeps things grounded. SARAH RODMAN


ESSENTIAL “For What It’s Worth’’

[BombaySapphire3]

Yet another review that singles out "For What It's Worth "as the essential track on the album.I'm just not quite getting the mindset or taste of anyone who professes to be a Stevie Nicks fan and cannot see the beauty and poignancy of this song.

[Jondalar]

Yet another review that singles out "For What It's Worth "as the essential track on the album.I'm just not quite getting the mindset or taste of anyone who professes to be a Stevie Nicks fan and cannot see the beauty and poignancy of this song.

I haven't seen any reviews where people really hated the song, just some reviews where people said it was out of place.

[BombaySapphire3]

I haven't seen any reviews where people really hated the song, just some reviews where people said it was out of place.

Well one that said incredibly that the song "adds nothing to the album" but they are primarily a Lindsey fan I believe .....so.

[jeffd8382]

Yet another review that singles out "For What It's Worth "as the essential track on the album.I'm just not quite getting the mindset or taste of anyone who professes to be a Stevie Nicks fan and cannot see the beauty and poignancy of this song.

It's funny.. I was just writing about "For What It's Worth" in another thread on here. I am pleased to report that I now really like this song. It took me awhile though... it really baffled me why I didn't take to the song since I really liked the production on it (and the guitar riff). It was the chorus that just didn't captivate me (the one note melody of the first line of the verses kinda bugged me a bit)... but the chorus felt like a bridge of the song that just didn't go anywhere initially. But I'm probably in the minority of Stevie fans who don't care much about the meaning of songs (universally.. not just hers lol). Music to me is all about what the music itself conveys emotionally (there are maybe a few rare exceptions for me as far as lyrics go)... this is why I equally enjoy instrumental music and music in foreign languages that I don't understand. Strangely enough, though, I had to force myself to read the lyrics while listening to this song... then it finally clicked. I think my mind also decided finally that the chorus WAS the chorus of the song... and it is catchy when you're used to it (or when I became used to it).

I do agree, however, I would have liked to see this song a little later in the album and am not too fond of the flow following "Secret Love". I do really like the sound of "Wide Sargasso Sea" following "Secret Love" (especially if there was almost zero silence between the sudden end of SL and the first note of WSS)... sorta reminiscent of "TISL" into "Candlebright". Oh well... still love the overall flow of the album.

[Jondalar]

Well one that said incredibly that the song "adds nothing to the album" but they are primarily a Lindsey fan I believe .....so.

For What It's Worth doesn't have the same change up as the other songs. Most of the other songs change direction or have different layers and are musically deep. FWIW is pretty and poignant, and It's emotionally deep. It has a different feel. t's just very straightforward; no change up. I look at Landslide as describing her whole life at the time and I look at FWIW as describing an incident in her life. And the song does feel like a very power incident, but not grand like Landslide.

[Livia]

NICKS OF TIME: A bad case of the flu kept Stevie Nicks from the Borgata last weekend. Still, nothing should keep fans from "In Your Dreams" (Reprise, A-), Nicks' first new album in a decade, and well worth the wait. With the likes of Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard offering writing/production assistance, and L.A.'s most seasoned sidemen sitting in, the set fine-tunes Nicks' time-honored "I'm a difficult loner who'll screw with your head" narratives. She also pays poignant homage (with ex-spouse and Fleetwood Mac mate Lindsey Buckingham) to fallen war heroes on "Soldier's Angel" and to favorite getaways ("New Orleans" and "Italian Summer"). And Nicks draws another line to old-world folk with her rockin' cover of "Annabel Lee."

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/121537554.html#ixzz1LyPGPENQ

[tabruns]

NICKS OF TIME: A bad case of the flu kept Stevie Nicks from the Borgata last weekend. Still, nothing should keep fans from "In Your Dreams" (Reprise, A-), Nicks' first new album in a decade, and well worth the wait. With the likes of Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard offering writing/production assistance, and L.A.'s most seasoned sidemen sitting in, the set fine-tunes Nicks' time-honored "I'm a difficult loner who'll screw with your head" narratives. She also pays poignant homage (with ex-spouse and Fleetwood Mac mate Lindsey Buckingham) to fallen war heroes on "Soldier's Angel" and to favorite getaways ("New Orleans" and "Italian Summer"). And Nicks draws another line to old-world folk with her rockin' cover of "Annabel Lee."

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/121537554.html#ixzz1LyPGPENQ

"cover"? "Annabel Lee" isn't a cover song! LOL

[fumidesigns]

"cover"? "Annabel Lee" isn't a cover song! LOL

i was just saying that! wtf?! lol!

[michelej1]

"cover"? "Annabel Lee" isn't a cover song! LOL

Why my grandmother used to listen to Edgar Alan Poe warble that tune on her Victrola.

Poe would fill himself up with opium and liquor, grab a mic and have at it. Michele

[BombaySapphire3]

"cover"? "Annabel Lee" isn't a cover song! LOL

Isn't exactly "Old World " either .Poe was American born.

[BombaySapphire3]

uh oh here's another one.........In .Your Dreams D+
by Steven Hyden May 10, 2011
Stevie Nicks


this from the A.V. club

On the cover of In Your Dreams, Stevie Nicks presents herself as many fans likely envision her in their fantasies: dressed in a witchy black dress, standing next to a dreamy white steed, and bathed in a sunny glow from deep inside a magical-looking forest. But contrary to her mystical image and the title of one of her most famous songs, Nicks at her best traffics in hard-won wisdom and scrappy resilience, not dreams. That makes the moony childishness of In Your Dreams even more unbecoming for a 62-year-old survivor who’s presumably done a lot more living and learning since 2001’s Trouble In Shangri-La than this silly album suggests.
Nicks once wrote unflinchingly about the pains and pleasures of romantic relationships; on Dreams, she offers the plainly awful “Cheaper Than Free,” a lumbering country-tinged love song containing unintentional laughers like “more exciting than high fashion / high passion” and “What’s deeper than a deep well? / The love into which I fell.” On “New Orleans,” Nicks sounds as clueless about the outside world as she does about matters of the heart, becoming increasingly unmoored from a real-world depiction of the city as she sings about the merits of Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, beads, feathers and lace, and brushing up against author Anne Rice. Tellingly, Nicks is more engaged in the pretend-time fantasylands of “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)”—inspired, yes, by the Stephenie Meyer books—and “Wide Sargasso Sea,” which is more of a book report on the Jean Rhys novel than a cogent musical interpretation.
For all the juvenilia of the songwriting, the production on In Your Dreams is an oldster’s abomination, lacquering dated MOR bombast over intermittently inspired melodies that wilt on impact. “Secret Love,” a leftover from the Rumours days, might have shined brighter in more naturalistic environs; as it is, like the rest of Dreams, it’s a disappointment coming from a woman who seemed
a lot more grown up back in her late twenties.

[Amlyn]

NICKS OF TIME: A bad case of the flu kept Stevie Nicks from the Borgata last weekend. Still, nothing should keep fans from "In Your Dreams" (Reprise, A-), Nicks' first new album in a decade, and well worth the wait. With the likes of Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard offering writing/production assistance, and L.A.'s most seasoned sidemen sitting in, the set fine-tunes Nicks' time-honored "I'm a difficult loner who'll screw with your head" narratives. She also pays poignant homage (with ex-spouse and Fleetwood Mac mate Lindsey Buckingham) to fallen war heroes on "Soldier's Angel" and to favorite getaways ("New Orleans" and "Italian Summer"). And Nicks draws another line to old-world folk with her rockin' cover of "Annabel Lee."

Read more: http://www.philly.com/philly/entertainment/music/121537554.html#ixzz1LyPGPENQ

Well, it was like they were married...so they say.

[TrueFaith77]

uh oh here's another one.........In .Your Dreams D+
by Steven Hyden May 10, 2011
Stevie Nicks


this from the A.V. club

On the cover of In Your Dreams, Stevie Nicks presents herself as many fans likely envision her in their fantasies: dressed in a witchy black dress, standing next to a dreamy white steed, and bathed in a sunny glow from deep inside a magical-looking forest. But contrary to her mystical image and the title of one of her most famous songs, Nicks at her best traffics in hard-won wisdom and scrappy resilience, not dreams. That makes the moony childishness of In Your Dreams even more unbecoming for a 62-year-old survivor who’s presumably done a lot more living and learning since 2001’s Trouble In Shangri-La than this silly album suggests.
Nicks once wrote unflinchingly about the pains and pleasures of romantic relationships; on Dreams, she offers the plainly awful “Cheaper Than Free,” a lumbering country-tinged love song containing unintentional laughers like “more exciting than high fashion / high passion” and “What’s deeper than a deep well? / The love into which I fell.” On “New Orleans,” Nicks sounds as clueless about the outside world as she does about matters of the heart, becoming increasingly unmoored from a real-world depiction of the city as she sings about the merits of Bourbon Street, the French Quarter, beads, feathers and lace, and brushing up against author Anne Rice. Tellingly, Nicks is more engaged in the pretend-time fantasylands of “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)”—inspired, yes, by the Stephenie Meyer books—and “Wide Sargasso Sea,” which is more of a book report on the Jean Rhys novel than a cogent musical interpretation.
For all the juvenilia of the songwriting, the production on In Your Dreams is an oldster’s abomination, lacquering dated MOR bombast over intermittently inspired melodies that wilt on impact. “Secret Love,” a leftover from the Rumours days, might have shined brighter in more naturalistic environs; as it is, like the rest of Dreams, it’s a disappointment coming from a woman who seemed
a lot more grown up back in her late twenties.

These people absolutely refuse to engage the album. Today, ruminating on the movement from New Orleans to Moonlight to Annabel Lee to Soldier's Angel, I was just floored at how sophisticated is Stevie's approach to Romance, culture, and patriotism on this album: indeed, finding the dreamlike thread that unites us all.

I'm not suggesting this one was aimed at me, but it's true that a number of the Onion arts critics hated me in college. :lol: Example: in a video contest, two of their critics rated my work a "0" on a scale of 1 to 10. It was below the alotted scale!!!!!! :lol: And one of their girlfriends fired me from the college paper.

[tabruns]

Exactly what "hard life" does the AV critic think Nicks should have been communicating on In Your Dreams? Frankly, I think In Your Dreams is a much *truer* chronicle of where she is in life....she spent the last year having a grand old time recording this album. She's wealthy, she's famous, she's in good health and she's now a good decade or more past her addictions. On In Your Dreams she talks about past relationships, her experience at Walter Reed, and her affection for New Orleans and Italy. She's being really true to herself.

It's like the writer made up some kind of "life of hard knocks" that Nicks supposedly lived the last 10 years but then failed to make a record about it. :shrug:

[Tango]

I'm not suggesting this one was aimed at me, but it's true that a number of the Onion arts critics hated me in college. :lol: Example: in a video contest, two of their critics rated my work a "0" on a scale of 1 to 10. It was below the alotted scale!!!!!! :lol: And one of their girlfriends fired me from the college paper.

What exactly did you do in college to have people hating YOU and sniping at Nicks? :eek:

[TrueFaith77]

What exactly did you do in college to have people hating YOU and sniping at Nicks? :eek:

I don't really remember my college years. One of them gave a really bad presentation in French film class on Godard's Week End and I called him out on it. That's all I can think of. They're just not good people. As such, I'm not surprised they don't respond to Stevie. They obvs wanted Stevie to do an anti-Bush album--the critical paradigm of the simple-minded.

[BombaySapphire3]

It seems like the mainstream or more establishesd press are all giving this album wonderful reviews it's the hipster/indie types that seem to be panning it.Like they expect her to sound like Arcade Fire or something:shrug:I'll bet even the members of Arcade Fire probably like Stevie or at least Tusk.

[Jondalar]

It seems like the mainstream or more establishesd press are all giving this album wonderful reviews it's the hipster/indie types that seem to be panning it.Like they expect her to sound like Arcade Fire or something:shrug:I'll bet even the members of Arcade Fire probably like Stevie or at least Tusk.

yeah, and I think in the long haul, eventhough she has gotten 97# positive reviews, her metascore will drop, only because it prefers those lousy critics over the regular

[PenguinHead]

yeah, and I think in the long haul, eventhough she has gotten 97# positive reviews, her metascore will drop, only because it prefers those lousy critics over the regular

Please tell me, what is a metascore?

[Jondalar]

Please tell me, what is a metascore?

the number used to give an album a grade

type in metacritic and go to there website

[tabruns]

I think you're right Jondalar. I emailed Metacritic and asked why they didn't include Stevie's score from US magazine and got a terse "We don't count US magazine for music reviews" response back (yet they do count A.V.). I sent them back a terse response of mine own asking where was the glowing Billboard rating then?

[Tango]

I don't really remember my college years. One of them gave a really bad presentation in French film class on Godard's Week End and I called him out on it. That's all I can think of. They're not just not good people. As such, I'm not surprised they don't respond to Stevie. They obvs wanted Stevie to do an anti-Bush album--the critical paradigm of the simple-minded.

Good for you, then!

Just curious, since this thread is about reviews and discussions--did anyone here watch the 1993 movie Wide Sargasso Sea? If so, how well do you think Stevie's song picks up on the feelings of the film?

[Jondalar]

I think you're right Jondalar. I emailed Metacritic and asked why they didn't include Stevie's score from US magazine and got a terse "We don't count US magazine for music reviews" response back (yet they do count A.V.). I sent them back a terse response of mine own asking where was the glowing Billboard rating then?

You can bet they will put every negative review in there from every grundgie magazine though.

[kak125]

http://www.assignmentx.com/2011/cd-review-stevie-nicks-in-your-dreams/

CD Review: Stevie Nicks – IN YOUR DREAMS
The Fleetwood Mac singer produces a solid album of mystical pop in conjunction with former EURYTHMICS frontman Dave Stewart
Grade: B+

One of the most fascinating aspects about singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks is how she not has masterfully managed to be both a co-frontperson for the band Fleetwood Mac and also have an equally successful solo career, with each sounding unique unto themselves.

Her work with Mac and former lover/partner/bandmate Lindsey Buckingham was seeped in emotional angst, music that was a pop/rock hybrid elevated by Buckingam’s skills as a guitarist and sometimes producer for the band. Her solo stuff leaned more in the rock arena. It was always Nicks at its heart, but she always seem to write a certain way with Mac (“Dreams,” “Rhiannon,” “Gypsy,” etc.) than when she was going solo with tracks like “Edge of Seventeen,” “Talk To Me” and “Stand Back.”

It’s been ten years since her last solo effort TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA and eight since the last Mac release SAY YOU WILL and the time in between has definitely given her space to fashion a bold, and vibrant new album IN YOUR DREAMS.

Paired up with former Eurythmics guru Dave Stewart as producer and occasional co-songwriter, Nicks has found a way of making a forward-thinking album while still sounding eternally Nicks.

If SHANGRI-LA embraced more of her rock side, IN YOUR DREAMS is more pop. And while the pairing with Stewart may make you think the new release is drenched in ‘80s-styled synths, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Stewart, like her pairings with Buckingham and even members of Tom Petty’s The Heartbreakers (who were all over her first two solo albums, and help out here), brings a completely new texture to her sounds.

With “Secret Love,” Nicks delivers a timeless angst-riddled song about forbidden love. It’s a great kick-off to the disc and segues into another forbidden love song, the acoustically-driven “For What It’s Worth” co-written with Heartbreaker Mike Campbell.

While Nicks has managed to keep her Mac past separate, IN YOUR DREAMS finds both Lindsey Buckingham and drummer Mick Fleetwood guesting on many tracks and bringing, no surprise, a Mac vibe. “Wild Sargasso Sea” definitely benefits from Buckingham’s guitar flourishes, but it’s “Soldier’s Angel” that feels as if it’s directly ripped from a ‘70s era Mac album. Buckingham’s sparse guitar and harmony vocals and Nicks lyrics bring to mind RUMOURS-era “The Chain.” It’s a great song and one of the disc’s best.

Nicks gets back to her usual spiritual self with the tracks “New Orleans” and “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream” both name-checking vampires in popular culture. “New Orleans” brings up Anne Rice and vampires, while “Moonlight” is written in response to TWILIGHT. Two songs in this vein is a bit overkill, but only Nicks can make it work as well as she does.

Nicks pulls out her bluesy card with late-album cuts “Ghosts Are Gone” and “You May Be The One.” This is a side that we’ve never really seen Nicks expose of herself and it’s a reminder that her raspy pop vocals are perfect for this barroom swagger. “You May Be The One” is the stronger song as she talks about more heartbreak.

The album closes with “Cheaper Than Free” written with Stewart who also duets and harmonizes with her on it. It’s another experiment for Nicks, having a feel of the strong, stripped down ballads Eurythmics favored during the end of their pop run.

While in the past, Nicks may have seemed like she was trying too hard both vocally and musically, here she seems positively relaxed. Her vocals are in great shape, her rasp never getting the best of her and her focus absolutely pitch-perfect.

Still, IN YOUR DREAMS is not a perfect album. Omit two songs, and it may have come close, but that’s not the point. The point here is that Nicks has found a way to be both current and herself. The disc isn’t overproduced like some of her prior solo efforts (the dreadful THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR) and she clearly is striving for new musical territory to stretch as an artist and add an even richer palette to her already superb catalog of songs

[BombaySapphire3]

.

"While Nicks has managed to keep her Mac past separate, IN YOUR DREAMS finds both Lindsey Buckingham and drummer Mick Fleetwood guesting on many tracks and bringing, no surprise, a Mac vibe. “Wild Sargasso Sea” definitely benefits from Buckingham’s guitar flourishes"

Right...Waddy does do a pretty damned good impression of Joe Walsh on WSS though.

[WildHearted]

.

"While Nicks has managed to keep her Mac past separate, IN YOUR DREAMS finds both Lindsey Buckingham and drummer Mick Fleetwood guesting on many tracks and bringing, no surprise, a Mac vibe. “Wild Sargasso Sea” definitely benefits from Buckingham’s guitar flourishes"

Right...Waddy does do a pretty damed good impression of Joe Walsh on WSS though.

I was gonna say, I thought Lindsey's sole contribution was Soldier's Angel.

[michelej1]

Metro Weekly
http://www.metroweekly.com/arts_entertainment/music.php?ak=6229

Stand Back

Even if they're not right out of your dreams, there's much to like about the new albums from Stevie Nicks and J.Lo

by Doug Rule, Published on May 12, 2011

Stevie Nicks is back with her first album in 10 years – 30 years after her solo debut. She almost sounds like she never left. She certainly looks as if she never left, dressed in her trademarked dramatic costuming and floor-length gowns all throughout the liner notes to In Your Dreams.

Even if it's not right out of your dreams, there's much to like about In Your Dreams. Nicks hired Dave Stewart, best known for his work with Annie Lennox in the Eurythmics in the '80s, to lead produce the whole affair. The result is a solid set that any longtime fan will enjoy, especially if they give it time and can accept the toll that time and a hard life takes on a voice.

Nicks, who turns 63 in a couple weeks, owns one of the most recognizable voices in all of pop music: a gritty, growly alto that takes no prisoners, as stark and searing as her image.

But it's not nearly as glorious of a weapon as it once was, first as a member of Fleetwood Mac in the '70s and especially as the hard-edged '80s-era solo star whose unalloyed ferocity gave us indelible hits, from ''Edge of Seventeen'' to ''Stand Back.'' In Your Dreams doesn't even have a song as punchy as 2001's ''Planets of the Universe.''

Instead, most songs are on the softer side – often drawing from country as much as soft-rock. This tender approach results in songs that are perfectly fine, if a little bland and unremarkable. It was clearly a calculated move, because the approach is also less taxing on Nicks's voice, which has suffered not just the ravages of age but also her past addictions to both stimulants and downers.

''For What It's Worth'' is a powerful ballad – more so with each listen – about someone who rescued Nicks from the abyss. In many ways it gains more power by the sheer fact that Nicks is obviously straining her voice hitting the song's many gravelly notes. And that fact is a wee bit depressing: the realization that she's lost firepower on both ends of her vocal register.

There's really only one song out of 13 that could not have been recorded and released in the '80s. And once you get to it, you'll wish for more songs like ''Everybody Loves You.'' Light touches of electronic-pop usher in the song, which stays light, though bittersweet. ''Everybody loves you, but you're so alone,'' Nicks sings, while Stewart offers intriguing harmony. It's not exactly clear why, but Nicks's voice sounds as strong here as anywhere else. It's clearer, more pristine.

As refreshing as it is, even ''Everybody Loves You'' can't leave the past behind. The bridge features an electric guitar solo. It's somewhat restrained, and doesn't come out of the blue, but it is blaring – and blinding – all the same.

Was the '80s a good decade for Nicks – and Stewart – or what?

[Livia]

Still the gays’ favorite Goth queen, Stevie makes ‘Dreams’ come true
RICH LOPEZ | Staff Writer

BACK IN BLACK | Nicks’ first studio CD of new songs in a decade was worth the wait.We haven’t heard from Stevie Nicks for too long. Excepting her Crystal Visions “best of” album in 2007 and a couple of live-performance releases, she hasn’t dropped a full-length solo disc since 2001’s Trouble in Shangri-La. Then again, what does she have left to prove?

But on In Your Dreams, her seventh release, she proves one thing: That she can still impress us. (Having Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart on her side doesn’t hurt none.)

The first single, the opening track “Secret Love,” sets the pace nicely. Without feeling the need to burst out of the gate, Nicks is patient with “Love,” demonstrating she hasn’t wavered in her songwriting skills. While we may not hear her on Top 40 radio anymore, “Secret” has a strong contemporary feel that’s easy to listen to without compromising Nicks’ style.

Stewart and co-producer Glen Ballard (No Doubt, Michael Jackson) have painted over Dreams with a glossy sheen that enhances Nicks’ move into today’s market rather than take away from her familiar, gritty personality. The slickest of tracks is probably “For What it’s Worth.” As the guitar plays, the strings are a little too crisp, but the construct is beautifully executed and Nicks gets into that low register that’s hard not to love.

What’s not gone is her Victorian Goth ethos. All through the album, we see her in various dramatic outfits and hats; at times, a horse or an owl accompany her. So when she sings “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream), it’s never as weird as maybe it should be. The piano builds into a power ballad as she sings about the doomed connection between a female vampire and a man: If he leaves her / he’ll be losing the chance / to stay alive. The same quality comes through on her reworking of Poe’s poem, “Annabel Lee.” What could have easily been goofy tracks are fascinating narratives. Nicks isn’t just a songwriter, she’s a storyteller — a skill forcefully on display here.

Interestingly enough, where Nicks and Stewart collaborate on songwriting is where more of her rocker chick comes out, though matured. The title track and the subsequent “Wide Sargasso Sea” have a stronger pulse, mixed well but letting her jam out just a hair.

They co-wrote the final chapter of the album with a trio of songs. “You May Be the One” goes for a bluesy flair without pretension. Nicks never sounds like she’s trying here, and Stewart plays the guitar with enough restraint to not be Eric Clapton (although nowadays he could pass for his twin). “Italian Summer” is a heavy-handed bump in the collection.

They rebound superbly on the closer, a duet (Stewart sings!). “Cheaper than Free” is without doubt the CD’s sweetest song, one that everyone should give to their significant other. Everyone. You’ll get major points. A bit dreamy, but still with a rock undertone, the song is never in the same league as Nicks’ previous blockbuster duets (“Leather and Lace” and “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” with Don Henley and Tom Petty respectively), but the good thing is, Nicks doesn’t have to compete with herself.

What Nicks does here with In Your Dreams isn’t any type of comeback or “don’t forget me” album. Instead, she lets us know that she still has songs inside of her waiting to get out. And they’re some damn fine ones.

This article appeared in the Dallas Voice print edition May 13, 2011.

http://www.dallasvoice.com/nicks-time-1076093.html

[Amlyn]

In Your Dreams: A Triumphant Return for the Queen of Rock & Roll

Stevie Nicks's New CD, Her First in 10 Years, Shows Nicks in Fine Voice and Storytelling Form
Mike Sarzo, Yahoo! Contributor Network

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8020927/in_your_dreams_a_triumphant_return_pg2.html?cat=33

Stevie Nicks is back.

Anyone who has followed her ever since her commercially successful 2001 album Trouble in Shangri-la knows that Nicks has seldom been far from the road. After spending the bulk of 2002 in the studio with Fleetwood Mac to
record their last CD Say You Will, she and the Mac toured in 2003 and 2004 to support that album. One year later, she and Don Henley toured, then she continued the tour on her own. She toured solo again in 2007 and 2008, then toured with Fleetwood Mac in 2009. She even threw in a few shows in an August respite from recording.

Now, Nicks is back with In Your Dreams, her first studio album since Trouble in Shangri-la. That previous record saw Nicks debut at No. 5, which was the highest chart position for a Stevie Nicks solo disc since 1983's The Wild Heart, which featured one of her best-known songs, "Stand Back."

The new CD features Nicks's voice in top shape. She uses that instrument to great effect with some of the most passionate singing she's had in a very long time. She sings "Secret Love", the first single, and a song that just missed the cut on Rumour in a comfortable alto that keeps Nicks from scraping into male range.

The title track features inspired vocals and lyrics, including the confidently sung chorus: "I'm just at the other end of your night/I'm always in and out of your life/Right down the middle of all your dreams/In your dreams" brings back to mind of of Nicks's best lyrics. The bridge features some of her most optimistic lyrics in years: "Are all those tears necessary/For all that pain that you carry/You just send those tears away/Come in out of the darkness/It's a beautiful day." Instead of having the subject of the vocal advice simply dry or wipe the tears away, figuratively treating the symptoms of a malady, she's telling him or her to banish the pain at its source.

She collaborated with Dave Stewart, who was best known as the other half of The Eurythmics. He co-produced the CD with veteran producer Glen Ballard. Nicks described the year she and Stewart worked together, co-writing
and having Stewart take several poems and turn them into songs, as the best year of her life, and it shows in the new material.

A previous description of In Your Dreams, even without hearing a majority of the songs was that disc may be "[Trouble in Shangri-la on steroids]." Like Trouble in Shangri-la, the CD sees Lindsey Buckingham make an appearance. Instead of adding additional guitar the way he did on the song "I Miss You", Buckingham plays guitar and sings harmonies with Nicks on "Soldier's Angel", which was inspired by her trips to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit wounded American soldiers from the U.S. wars in the Middle East. The song even features Nicks taking a stab at political commentary, describing the divide between left and right as "a war of words between worlds ... about what is wrong, 'bout what is righteous."

She also writes a hopeful tribute to New Orleans during which she describes Hurricane Katrina as "a perfect storm" in "The City of Dreams."

One thing Nicks is well known among her fans for is self referential lyrics, tying in lyrics from earlier songs to her newest songs. "Come in out of the the darkness" from "In Your Dreams" recalls the first title track she wrote, "Bella Donna." She also refers to the more obscure "Battle Of The Dragon" in "Soldier's Angel" by repeating the line "no one walks away from this battle." In the second hard rocker on the CD, "Ghosts Are Gone", Nicks refers to "a ghost through a fog", which appears in "Angel" off Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double album Tusk and in "Sweet Girl" off their 1997 comeback CD The Dance. It's a device that can be tiresome in some of her weaker material, but in her strongest songs, it ties themes together nicely.

Even if the CD doesn't bring Nicks back to the top of the charts or any Grammy nominations, the CD is already a success in one regard: It is a strong collection of songs that showcase Nicks at her best, and it shows that even though she's on the edge of 63, she still has the qualities that shot her to superstardom in the 1970s.

[Jondalar]

In Your Dreams: A Triumphant Return for the Queen of Rock & Roll

Stevie Nicks's New CD, Her First in 10 Years, Shows Nicks in Fine Voice and Storytelling Form
Mike Sarzo, Yahoo! Contributor Network

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8020927/in_your_dreams_a_triumphant_return_pg2.html?cat=33

Stevie Nicks is back.

Anyone who has followed her ever since her commercially successful 2001 album Trouble in Shangri-la knows that Nicks has seldom been far from the road. After spending the bulk of 2002 in the studio with Fleetwood Mac to
record their last CD Say You Will, she and the Mac toured in 2003 and 2004 to support that album. One year later, she and Don Henley toured, then she continued the tour on her own. She toured solo again in 2007 and 2008, then toured with Fleetwood Mac in 2009. She even threw in a few shows in an August respite from recording.

Now, Nicks is back with In Your Dreams, her first studio album since Trouble in Shangri-la. That previous record saw Nicks debut at No. 5, which was the highest chart position for a Stevie Nicks solo disc since 1983's The Wild Heart, which featured one of her best-known songs, "Stand Back."

The new CD features Nicks's voice in top shape. She uses that instrument to great effect with some of the most passionate singing she's had in a very long time. She sings "Secret Love", the first single, and a song that just missed the cut on Rumour in a comfortable alto that keeps Nicks from scraping into male range.

The title track features inspired vocals and lyrics, including the confidently sung chorus: "I'm just at the other end of your night/I'm always in and out of your life/Right down the middle of all your dreams/In your dreams" brings back to mind of of Nicks's best lyrics. The bridge features some of her most optimistic lyrics in years: "Are all those tears necessary/For all that pain that you carry/You just send those tears away/Come in out of the darkness/It's a beautiful day." Instead of having the subject of the vocal advice simply dry or wipe the tears away, figuratively treating the symptoms of a malady, she's telling him or her to banish the pain at its source.

She collaborated with Dave Stewart, who was best known as the other half of The Eurythmics. He co-produced the CD with veteran producer Glen Ballard. Nicks described the year she and Stewart worked together, co-writing
and having Stewart take several poems and turn them into songs, as the best year of her life, and it shows in the new material.

A previous description of In Your Dreams, even without hearing a majority of the songs was that disc may be "[Trouble in Shangri-la on steroids]." Like Trouble in Shangri-la, the CD sees Lindsey Buckingham make an appearance. Instead of adding additional guitar the way he did on the song "I Miss You", Buckingham plays guitar and sings harmonies with Nicks on "Soldier's Angel", which was inspired by her trips to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit wounded American soldiers from the U.S. wars in the Middle East. The song even features Nicks taking a stab at political commentary, describing the divide between left and right as "a war of words between worlds ... about what is wrong, 'bout what is righteous."

She also writes a hopeful tribute to New Orleans during which she describes Hurricane Katrina as "a perfect storm" in "The City of Dreams."

One thing Nicks is well known among her fans for is self referential lyrics, tying in lyrics from earlier songs to her newest songs. "Come in out of the the darkness" from "In Your Dreams" recalls the first title track she wrote, "Bella Donna." She also refers to the more obscure "Battle Of The Dragon" in "Soldier's Angel" by repeating the line "no one walks away from this battle." In the second hard rocker on the CD, "Ghosts Are Gone", Nicks refers to "a ghost through a fog", which appears in "Angel" off Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double album Tusk and in "Sweet Girl" off their 1997 comeback CD The Dance. It's a device that can be tiresome in some of her weaker material, but in her strongest songs, it ties themes together nicely.

Even if the CD doesn't bring Nicks back to the top of the charts or any Grammy nominations, the CD is already a success in one regard: It is a strong collection of songs that showcase Nicks at her best, and it shows that even though she's on the edge of 63, she still has the qualities that shot her to superstardom in the 1970s.

Way to put that in people's heads.

[PenguinHead]

I am absolutely loving reading these positive reviews. I can't ever remember a time in her entire career where she's gotten so much respect and appreciation. It's truly amazing!

[michelej1]

Global Times, May 12, 2011
http://life.globaltimes.cn/entertainment/2011-05/654599.html

Return of the Mac: Stevie Nicks' new album follows 10-year hiatus By Michael Gold

That Stevie Nicks is one of the greatest singer-songwriters of the era belies the fact that her style, both musically and otherwise, has not evolved one iota since the 1970s heyday of her smashingly successful Fleetwood Mac.

And why should it? Very few artists wear the amber in which they've encased themselves quite so comfortably, or sell it to quite such legendary effect – which is why it's so reassuring that on In Your Dreams, Nicks' seventh solo studio album and her first in 10 years, the original witchy woman doesn't stray from the formula, delivering a reliably solid package of the same Midwestern-American aging ex-hippie white-girl fantasies she's been rolling out for nigh-on 40 years now.

For all her still-smooth skin, however, those fantasies hardly bear the same deliciously vindictive spirit of Nicks' younger days – where "Rhiannon," from the Mac's seminal 1975 self-titled release, cast spells and enchanted lovers, Dreams sets sail for a romantic "Italian Summer" and the "kingdom by the sea" of cool orchestral rocker "Annabel Lee."

Nicks hardly need apologize for mellowing in her old age, though if the cringe-inducing lyrics of "Cheaper than Free" ("What's more exciting than high fashion/High passion") are what we get from this new, nicer Stevie, I'll take the wailing banshee of "Gold Dust Woman" any day

Thankfully, "Cheaper than Free" represents the low point of an album full of the verbal spun silk that has become Nicks' trademark and that acolytes like Taylor Swift – roundly upstaged by Nicks at the 2010 Grammys – can only dream of.

Nicks' gift for commingling the magical with the mundane comes out full-force on plaintive thought-poem "New Orleans" (though one wonders if her paean to the hurricane-ravaged city isn't about five years overdue), where she riffs on brushing by Anne Rice amid a zoo of ghosts and vampires.

Reliably refined, Nicks still manages to rock out while making nearly every other diva of any era look positive gauche by comparison, especially on the Eagles-esque "Wide Sargasso Sea" and Mac-classic-styled "Ghosts Are Gone."

Exquisite enunciation, hooks as smooth as a Swiss watch, emotional expression as meticulous and well-controlled as a hydroelectric dam: On the surface, it all feels very much slick and corporate, or at least the work of an artist who knows her way around a focus group.

And yet, as her true fans will attest to, Nicks has never been anything but completely genuine, a near-perfect product of the exact same humdrum, whitewashed, vanilla-with-just-a-touch-of-spice middle American dream she's been pushing for decades.

[TrueFaith77]

^^^^I am a member of rateyourmusic.com (I recommend everyone join). On a scale of 1/2-to-5 stars, 4 stars is what I've always rated Stevie solo studio albums. Now, with IYD, she has her first 4-1/2 star album (which translates as: "Great"). I'm starting to think that if only, as this critic suggests, had she NOT included "Cheaper than Free" (why did she do that when it's already on Dave's ablum????), the album would be worthy of the full 5--the first and only Mac solo album so honored in my catalogue.

[BombaySapphire3]

kind of odd that the critic in that last review kept referring to Stevie and her music as "Midwestern" when for decades most in the press have referred to both as the epitome of California or more specifically Los Angeles ..my favorite quote which I think was from Pitchfork magazine when they were listing song about L.A. and chose "Gold Dust Woman" was "Stevie Nicks is to Los Angeles as Cleopatra was to Egypt"

[jwd]

In Your Dreams: A Triumphant Return for the Queen of Rock & Roll

Stevie Nicks's New CD, Her First in 10 Years, Shows Nicks in Fine Voice and Storytelling Form
Mike Sarzo, Yahoo! Contributor Network

http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/8020927/in_your_dreams_a_triumphant_return_pg2.html?cat=33

Stevie Nicks is back.

Anyone who has followed her ever since her commercially successful 2001 album Trouble in Shangri-la knows that Nicks has seldom been far from the road. After spending the bulk of 2002 in the studio with Fleetwood Mac to
record their last CD Say You Will, she and the Mac toured in 2003 and 2004 to support that album. One year later, she and Don Henley toured, then she continued the tour on her own. She toured solo again in 2007 and 2008, then toured with Fleetwood Mac in 2009. She even threw in a few shows in an August respite from recording.

Now, Nicks is back with In Your Dreams, her first studio album since Trouble in Shangri-la. That previous record saw Nicks debut at No. 5, which was the highest chart position for a Stevie Nicks solo disc since 1983's The Wild Heart, which featured one of her best-known songs, "Stand Back."

The new CD features Nicks's voice in top shape. She uses that instrument to great effect with some of the most passionate singing she's had in a very long time.She sings "Secret Love", the first single, and a song that just missed the cut on Rumour in a comfortable alto that keeps Nicks from scraping into male range.

The title track features inspired vocals and lyrics, including the confidently sung chorus: "I'm just at the other end of your night/I'm always in and out of your life/Right down the middle of all your dreams/In your dreams" brings back to mind of of Nicks's best lyrics. The bridge features some of her most optimistic lyrics in years: "Are all those tears necessary/For all that pain that you carry/You just send those tears away/Come in out of the darkness/It's a beautiful day." Instead of having the subject of the vocal advice simply dry or wipe the tears away, figuratively treating the symptoms of a malady, she's telling him or her to banish the pain at its source.

She collaborated with Dave Stewart, who was best known as the other half of The Eurythmics. He co-produced the CD with veteran producer Glen Ballard. Nicks described the year she and Stewart worked together, co-writing
and having Stewart take several poems and turn them into songs, as the best year of her life, and it shows in the new material.

A previous description of In Your Dreams, even without hearing a majority of the songs was that disc may be "[Trouble in Shangri-la on steroids]." Like Trouble in Shangri-la, the CD sees Lindsey Buckingham make an appearance. Instead of adding additional guitar the way he did on the song "I Miss You", Buckingham plays guitar and sings harmonies with Nicks on "Soldier's Angel", which was inspired by her trips to Walter Reed Army Medical Center to visit wounded American soldiers from the U.S. wars in the Middle East. The song even features Nicks taking a stab at political commentary, describing the divide between left and right as "a war of words between worlds ... about what is wrong, 'bout what is righteous."

She also writes a hopeful tribute to New Orleans during which she describes Hurricane Katrina as "a perfect storm" in "The City of Dreams."

One thing Nicks is well known among her fans for is self referential lyrics, tying in lyrics from earlier songs to her newest songs. "Come in out of the the darkness" from "In Your Dreams" recalls the first title track she wrote, "Bella Donna." She also refers to the more obscure "Battle Of The Dragon" in "Soldier's Angel" by repeating the line "no one walks away from this battle." In the second hard rocker on the CD, "Ghosts Are Gone", Nicks refers to "a ghost through a fog", which appears in "Angel" off Fleetwood Mac's 1979 double album Tusk and in "Sweet Girl" off their 1997 comeback CD The Dance. It's a device that can be tiresome in some of her weaker material, but in her strongest songs, it ties themes together nicely.

Even if the CD doesn't bring Nicks back to the top of the charts or any Grammy nominations, the CD is already a success in one regard: It is a strong collection of songs that showcase Nicks at her best, and it shows that even though she's on the edge of 63, she still has the qualities that shot her to superstardom in the 1970s.

This guy's obviously a fan of hers. He knows too much about the same lines in her different songs not to be. :D Great review and I'll just have to say that I agree with it!!

[BombaySapphire3]

This guy's obviously a fan of hers. He knows too much about the same lines in her different songs not to be. :D Great review and I'll just have to say that I agree with it!!

I think it someone from this very board.:nod:

[jwd]

I think it someone from this very board.:nod:

David? :angel:

[TrueFaith77]

This guy's obviously a fan of hers. He knows too much about the same lines in her different songs not to be. :D Great review and I'll just have to say that I agree with it!!

Is there a thread with all the lyric recycling on IYD being catalogued and discussed?

Not Make Believe:
Isn't just that we cause each other such pain
Everywhere we go now, at home or at play
It hurts my self esteem, it hurts my everything
I am reeling... oh, it hurts my feelings
Sometimes it was heavenly (Sometimes it was heavenly)
Sometimes it was too heavy (Sometimes it was too heavy)
Sometimes it's just too much for me (Sometimes it's just too much for me)
Well I want to run away (Oh, well I want to run away)

Everybody Loves You (most underrated track on the new disc!):
She was so enchanted by his voice
She was so shaken by his words
His plan for her was just not possible
She had no words
Boy it isn't just that we cause each other such pain at home or on the stage
Sometimes it was heavenly... sometimes was too heavy
I looked the other way

[jwd]

Is there a thread with all the lyric recycling on IYD being catalogued and discussed?

Not Make Believe:
Isn't just that we cause each other such pain
Everywhere we go now, at home or at play
It hurts my self esteem, it hurts my everything
I am reeling... oh, it hurts my feelings
Sometimes it was heavenly (Sometimes it was heavenly)
Sometimes it was too heavy (Sometimes it was too heavy)
Sometimes it's just too much for me (Sometimes it's just too much for me)
Well I want to run away (Oh, well I want to run away)

Everybody Loves You (most underrated track on the new disc!):
She was so enchanted by his voice
She was so shaken by his words
His plan for her was just not possible
She had no words
Boy it isn't just that we cause each other such pain at home or on the stage
Sometimes it was heavenly... sometimes was too heavy
I looked the other way

I don't think so. But I think you've just started one here. :laugh: Damn, you guys are so good and just goes to show that you're really paying attention to what Stevie's sayin'. By the way "Everybody Loves You" was my biggest surprise on how it actually turned out, compared to the snippet we heard. GREAT SONG!!

[SapphireSister]

Is there a thread with all the lyric recycling on IYD being catalogued and discussed?

Not Make Believe:
Isn't just that we cause each other such pain
Everywhere we go now, at home or at play
It hurts my self esteem, it hurts my everything
I am reeling... oh, it hurts my feelings
Sometimes it was heavenly (Sometimes it was heavenly)
Sometimes it was too heavy (Sometimes it was too heavy)
Sometimes it's just too much for me (Sometimes it's just too much for me)
Well I want to run away (Oh, well I want to run away)

Everybody Loves You (most underrated track on the new disc!):
She was so enchanted by his voice
She was so shaken by his words
His plan for her was just not possible
She had no words
Boy it isn't just that we cause each other such pain at home or on the stage
Sometimes it was heavenly... sometimes was too heavy
I looked the other way

Oh I totally got that one being that NMB is a favorite...

[michelej1]

No Ripcord, May 16, 2011 by Gary McGinley
http://www.noripcord.com/reviews/music/stevie-nicks/your-dreams

In the many years which have passed since Stevie Nicks left Fleetwood Mac, she has failed to match the commercial success or ubiquity of her former band’s music. Maybe it’s wise, then, that her first studio album in over a decade, In Your Dreams, doesn’t veer too far from the trademark FM radio rock which made Fleetwood Mac a household name and opens with a Rumours out-take, Secret Love, which has been dusted off and pulled into the 21stcentury.

In Your Dreams is helmed by production stalwarts Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics) and Glen Ballard who is probably best known for his work on Alanis Morisette’s world-slaying Jagged Little Pill. None of the material here is as angsty as Alanis or as ear catching as the Eurythmics, but that’s not to say that it’s all bad.

New Orleans is a touching ode to the birthplace of jazz which shows that her bohemian lyrics are still as affecting as ever, and she channels the current vampire craze adequately on the predictably titled MoonLight (A Vampire’s Dream). One of the more robust tracks, Annabel Lee, is based on a 19thcentury poem by Edgar Allan Poe; the storytelling lyrics about a love that lasts beyond the grave and an arrangement which slips into classical mode during the middle of the song are a perfect match for her gypsy chanteuse image. While In Your Dreams has some highs there are also several undoubted lows which include the rollicking country rock of the title track - more dated than it is catchy - and Wide Sargosso Sea which meanders in search of a direction - a fate which befalls many of these songs.

The rustic beauty and sweeping string arrangement of Italian Summer gives the album its strongest track. It’s a shame that it appears 12 songs into the track listing, by which time many listeners may have already lost interest. Over the course of this slightly bloated track listing there is too much focus on the soft rock element of her sound and this which works to the detriment of her fascinating lyrics and bewitching theatrics. This album may have been more engaging if she had pushed beyond the limits imposed by her brand to explore new territory instead trying to faithfully retread past glories. Fleetwood Mac plan to reform in 2012 and, judging by many of these tracks, that’s probably for the best. Stevie Nicks is yet to deliver a solo album to match her legendary status.

[michelej1]

Here, Canada East.com
http://herenb.canadaeast.com/music/article/1407672

Stevie Nicks' voice on In Your Dreams is husky, approaching a rasp, and her songs are tinged with deep sadness. She easily moves between country, blues and pop, and confidently mixes them together. Mick Fleetwood contributes drums and Lindsay Buckingham vocals. The recording's standout song for me is New Orleans. It's grand and a bit faded-sounding; a captivating piece of song writing.

-Charles Mandel

[SapphireSister]

I so love reading these, thanks for posting Michele!

[markolas]

Thank heaven there's nothing on IYD that sounds like Alanis Morrissette. I always thought her music was awful. I think the reason I can't stand most music critics is that they don't seem to be able to talk about the music without comparing it to something else ("produced by Dave Stewart, but doesn't sound like Eurythmics," "reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac's radio rock," "solo work not as good as Fleetwood Mac"). The constant name-dropping of other artists is really tiresome.

[SapphireSister]

Thank heaven there's nothing on IYD that sounds like Alanis Morrissette. I always thought her music was awful. I think the reason I can't stand most music critics is that they don't seem to be able to talk about the music without comparing it to something else ("produced by Dave Stewart, but doesn't sound like Eurythmics," "reminiscent of Fleetwood Mac's radio rock," "solo work not as good as Fleetwood Mac"). The constant name-dropping of other artists is really tiresome.

Really? I understand why they do it though and it's more for the casual fan. For example, a casual fan may read that it was produced by Dave Stewart and think the albums sounds like "Here Comes the Rain Again" so I think it's also to distinguish the sound.

[markolas]

:shrug: Whatever floats your boat, I guess. I'll continue to listen to whatever catches my fancy and pay marginal-to-no attention to music critics.

[michelej1]

By Tom Malder, May 26, 2011, Village Soup
http://waldo.villagesoup.com/blog/blogpost/still-magical-stevie-nicks-the-cars/402940

Owls Head — Stevie Nicks: In Your Dreams (Reprise CD, 64:47). I think a 10-year wait between albums is a bit long, especially when you have material as strong as Nicks presents here. In fact, the first single and opening track, “Secret Love,” was written in 1976, when Fleetwood Mac was opening for Peter Frampton at the time. It is about a forbidden relationship, but not one with Frampton, Nicks said.

Nicks’ last album of new material was the Grammy-nominated “Trouble in Shangi-La” 10 years ago. It was written and recorded at her Los Angeles home and is co-produced by Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, Nicks and Stewart (ex-Eurythmics with Annie Lennox) co-wrote seven of the 13 songs. Former bandmate Lindsey Buckingham sings and plays guitar on “Soldier’s Angel,” a highlight track that easily could have fit on Fleetwood Mac’s smash “Rumours” album. Mick Fleetwood himself contributes drums to the album. However, the core group that made the album was Nicks, Stewart, her longtime friend and musical director Waddy Wachtel and her girls, Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks.

Among the strong album’s many highlights are the travelogue “New Orleans”; “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream),” inspired by the “Twilight” series; the orchestrated seduction of “Italian Dreams”; the rocker “Ghosts Are Gone”; and “Annabel Lee,” a 6-plus-minute delight inspired by the 1849 Edgar Allan Poe piece and a meditation on love and death. In one song, she sings, “I’m just a dreamer; I’m just a storyteller,” while in another the 63-year-old singer (her birthday was Thursday) admits her desire to “wear feathers and lace.” Grade: A

[Jondalar]

My brother saw Dancing with the Stars and he thought Stevie sounded awful and he didn't like what she sang. He said the first single sounded awful. However, he listened to the album because I been driving him to the hospital and he likes most of the songs. He especially likes Italian Summer and Moonlight and Wide Sargasso Sea.

[michelej1]

Philadelphia Inquirer


Stevie Nicks
In Your Dreams
(Reprise **1/2)

After a decade away from the recording studio, onetime Fleetwood Mac nightingale Stevie Nicks returns, untouched by time. At 62, her distinctive adenoidal voice is still oddly bewitching. It papers over some of the CD's more wifty tracks, as does the crisp production of Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard. (Waddy Wachtel and Mike Campbell made significant contributions to the music.) Nicks takes songwriting inspiration from Edgar Allan Poe ("Annabel Lee") to Stephenie Meyer ("Moonlight: A Vampire's Dream"). Perhaps tellingly, the track with the most pop appeal, "Secret Love," was written by Nicks in 1976. If nothing else, In Your Dreams proves that there's life in the old girl yet.

- David Hiltbrand

[jellyman10]

^^^ Wtf is 'wifty'?

[-Lillith-]

Even my father is crazy about in your dreams! :thumbsup:

[PenguinHead]

LOL
Sharon the Skelator is ageless. No one knows for sure.

A hundred years from now, Sharon will look just like she looks now!

[Livia]

http://www.voanews.com/english/news/arts-and-entertainment/music/pop-rock/Stevie-Nicks-Earning-Praise-for-New-Solo-Album-In-Your-Dreams-122864234.html

Many critics and fans are calling Stevie Nicks’ new album the best of her solo career.

The title track of Stevie Nicks’ new album, In Your Dreams, is one of seven songs she wrote with the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart, who also co-produced the collection. The pair spent the past year recording the album at Stevie’s California home. Other collaborators include Mike Campbell of Tom Petty’s band The Heartbreakers, Stevie’s former bandmate Lindsey Buckingham, and Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood. Stevie refers to the making of “In Your Dreams” as the highlight of her entire career.

“I can honestly tell you, the very best year of my life," Stevie says. "It shuts down anything else that has ever happened to me. It was so much fun and so grand and so soul-fulfilling that when it was over and we started taking the studio down in December and all the people that had lived in the house that year started taking their stuff, it was horrifying. I almost just sat on the stairs and cried because I was so sad that it was over.”

The song “Annabel Lee”, found on Stevie's new album, is an adaptation of an 1849 poem written by Edgar Allan Poe. Other songs on In Your Dreams were inspired by personal events in Stevie’s life. Two date back to poems the singer wrote in the mid-1970s.

In 2004, Stevie began visiting wounded military personnel at Washington, D.C.’s Walter Reed Army Medical Center and the Bethesda Naval Hospital. She helps lift their spirits by giving each soldier a portable media player filled with her favorite music. Included on her new album is a song called “Soldier’s Angel,” which holds special meaning to her and those she has met in the hospitals.

“It was a poem that was written in 2005 and since I have given this poem out to many many families, many many soldiers. And, I always told them, ‘This will be a song one day.’ So, I think this is my most revered song of all time,” she explains.

Stevie recently wrapped up a co-headlining tour with rock legend Rod Stewart. She hints that her future plans include the possibility of a new Fleetwood Mac album and tour that could happen as early as 2012.

[michelej1]

Christian Science Monitor, June 13, 2011
http://www.csmonitor.com/The-Culture/Arts/2011/0613/Top-Picks-Stevie-Nicks-True-Grit-on-DVD-Britain-s-brightest-and-more

Give Stevie Nicks her due: She's not buying into any musical fads. Before you even hear her new music, a glance at her CD In Your Dreams demonstrates the veteran pop-rocker's unabated love of ethereal stagecraft. From the cover shot of Nicks posing with a horse to a CD booklet with photos of her decked out in frills and laces– Rhiannon reigns. And she's delivered a solid solo set, helped by former Eurythmic Dave Stewart, who produced the album, as well as Fleetwood Mac bandmates Mick Fleetwood and Lindsey Buckingham. Sure, Nicks's lyrics often lapse into angels, ghosts, and vampires, but she retains one of rock's most intriguing and unique voices. The album may not be a total landslide, but this is grown-up pop done well.