24 Karat Gold: Reviews

[nicole21290]

Uncut Magazine, November 2014. Thanks to FM News for the heads up and text.

http://i1312.photobucket.com/albums/t529/nicolebarker1990/7cc4f54e205cc14407aef47f15fe6010_zpsa5dc000f.jpg

Stevie Nicks
24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault

Fleetwood Mac star heads to Nashville, chasing the songs that nearly got away.
by Piers Martin

Rating: 7/10

As if Stevie Nicks hasn't done enough soul-searching during her 40 years in one of the world's biggest bands... On her eighth solo album, Nicks immerses herself in her past, gathering 16 of her long-lost songs together like errant children and dressing them in traditional costume - the billowing robes and gypsy shawl - before sending them out, fully Nicksed, into the world.

24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault finds the 66-year old getting her memories in order with the help of longtime associates Waddy Wachtel (he first played with her on 1973's Buckingham Nicks) and Dave Stewart, producer of Nicks' last solo set, 2011's In Your Dreams, and a band of hired hands in Nashville who knocked out new versions of Nicks' old songs in 15 days last May. In Your Dreams, somewhat tarnished by Dave Stewart's sweet tooth, took 14 months. Fleetwood Mac records take far longer.

The songs in question stem from demos Nicks wrote at various stages in her career between 1969 and 1995, intended for her solo or Fleetwood Mac albums. One ballad, the bonus track "Twisted", written in 1995 with Lindsey Buckingham for the film Twister, she felt deserved a wider audience. "When songs go into movies you might as well dump them out the window as you're driving by because they never get heard," she tells Uncut.

Many of these songs will be familiar to Mac devotees, having appeared online and on bootlegs or boxsets in one form or another. Indeed, Nicks' main incentive for the project was to record definitive versions of those unauthorized tracks floating around online that her assistant had drawn to her attention. Nicks hates computers and was once so worried about internet piracy that she didn't release a solo record between 2001 and 2011, so this principled stance represents some sort of progress; if you can't beat'em, join'em. "Just because I think computers are ruining the world, I can't expect everyone to be on my wavelength," she reasons. But to most, 24 Karat Gold is effectively a brand new album, albeit one that one occasion has the luxury of revelling in the twists and turns of a vintage Nicks number like "Lady", formerly a fragile piano demo from the mid-'70's called "Knocking On Doors" that's now a footstep away from "Landslide".

With these demos newly upholstered as mid-tempo soft-rock ballands by a solid Nashville outfit, it's tempting to view the collection as an alternative look at Nicks' life in music, each song offering a slightly different take on key moments in her colourful career. Nicks, too, her live-in voice stained with experience, seems to relish the chance to reacquaint herself through her lyrics with the girl she once was. The earliest cut here, a corny speakeasy pastiche called "Cathouse Blue", was written by a 22-year old Nicks in 1969 before she and Buckingham, who played on the original, moved to Los Angeles. By "The Dealer", a mustky Tusk-era tumble, she's already worldweary: "I was the mistress of my fate, I was the card shark / If I'd've looked a little ahead, I would've run away", runs the chorus.

On Bella Donna cast-offs "Belle Fleur" and "If You Were My Love", Elton John guitarist Davey Johnstone reprises his original role and plays on these new versions. Her trusted foil, Mike Campbell of the Heartbreakers, rolls up his sleeves for AOR james "Starshine" and "I Don't Care", trakcs he just about remembers writing with Nicks in the early 80's. "Mabel Normand", a moving parable based on the tragic life of the 1920s silent movie star, came to Nicks when she herself was dancing with the devil in 1985. Following the death of her godson from an accidental overdose in 2012, the song has a more profound resonance today.

As befits a compilation of songs that weren't up to scratch first time around, 24 Karat Gold contains a few tinpost tracks that even the Nashville boys couldn't fix. Most, too, spill over the five-minute mark. but as fresh testament from one of Rock's great survivors, it makes for a fascinating listen.

24 Karat Gold - Songs From The Vault will be released October 6th in the UK.

Q&A STEVIE NICKS

How did you end up recording in Nashville?
The last album I did was with Dave Stewart in my house and we let it take a year because we were having so much fun. So I called him and said, "Dave, I know we spent a year doing In Your Dreams, but how can we do a record in two months?" And he said, "Go to Nashville. Those guys are on the clock." So you go to Nashville and hire six or seven of the best players in the workd and give them your 16 demos and they give you 15 days. You do two songs a day, which is unheard of in the way that we record, usually, but they are union people so they get there at nine in the morning.

How did "Hard Advice" come about?
Hard Advice" was a lecture Tom Petty gave me on his way through PHoenix one night. I was having a littel problematic moment in my life and he gave me one of his seriously hard advice lectures. He looked at me straight in the eyes with those big clear blue eyes and said, "This pain's gone on too long. Go home, light up your incense and your candles and go to your Bosendorer and write some real songs."

This could be an alternative greatest hits.
Or a greatest hits that never came out. Somebody said at one point, "If you took the last line out of this chorus it would be so much more of a hit record," and I just flat out said in front of the record company and everybody else: "I'm not trying to make a hit record here, I"m trying to make a great record." Hit records don't even sell anymore, anyway. Records don't sell anymore.

Sleeve Notes
Recorded at:
Blackbird, Nashville; Rock A Little Studio; Weapons Of Mass Entertainment Studio; Village Recorder, LA

Produced by:
Dave Stewart, Waddy Wachtel, Stevie Nicks

Personnel:
Stevie Nicks (Vocals), Dave Stewart (Guitar), Waddy Wachtel (Guitar, bk vocals), Mike Campbell, Davey Johnstone (Guitar) Ann Marie Calhoun (Violin), Sharon Celani, Lori Nicks (bk vocals) Tom Bukovac (Guitar), Michael Rhodes (bass), Dan Dugmore (Banjo), Chad Cromwell (Drums), Benmont Tench (Keyboard), Lenny Castro (Percussion).

[sorcerer999]

Great article. A lot more new info. LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing.

"As befits a compilation of songs that weren't up to scratch first time around, 24 Karat Gold contains a few tinpost tracks that even the Nashville boys couldn't fix." :lol::eek: Too bad the person who wrote this article didn't "name drop" THOSE song titles.

It would appear that "Hard Advice" does indeed stem from the Tom Petty conversation, although, just going by the lyric snippets "You have to let him go..." it would seem it's about a different topic other than "writing her songs herself". :lol:

It's nice to read the full studio personnel who helped record the album. Also, could Rock A Little studios be, in fact, Stevie's living room? :D

[sorcerer999]

Also interesting to finally hear her reasoning for re-recording "Twisted". But "Twisted" as a ballad??? Hmmmmm.....:shrug:

[Lisa W]

Great article. A lot more new info. LOVE IT! Thanks for sharing.

It's nice to read the full studio personnel who helped record the album. Also, could Rock A Little studios be, in fact, Stevie's living room? :D

Rock A Little studios was referenced on the IYD album, so I understood that to be Stevie's home.

Interesting to see that Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench are studio players. I've been wondering who played that killer organ on Starshine, so am now thinking that could be Benmont.

[BlueDenimLamp]

Early on everyone was wondering why Christine was in Nashville looks like she was just hanging out with Stevie since she's not on the personnel list..

[Johnny Stew]

Also interesting to finally hear her reasoning for re-recording "Twisted". But "Twisted" as a ballad??? Hmmmmm.....:shrug:

That gave me pause, too -- but I'm not putting too much stock in it until I hear the actual track. After all, "The Dealer" was also referred to by some critic as a "ballad."

[Josh2003]

Interesting that Mike Campbell wrote/co-wrote Starshine and I Don't Care...or at least that's what the article implies.

Now maybe someone will remove from Stevie's wikipedia the note that Dave Stewart wrote the music to I Don't Care...

[BombaySapphire3]

Thanks for posting..it does appear that the indie press may give 24KG better reviews than IYD ..in fact this critic even takes a moment to slam IYD again.:lol:

[BombaySapphire3]

"Mabel Normand", a moving parable based on the tragic life of the 1920s silent movie star, came to Nicks when she herself was dancing with the devil in 1985. Following the death of her godson from an accidental overdose in 2012, the song has a more profound resonance today."
That this song was singled out for praise by a hard to please "Uncut" critic is an indication that it may have transformed into something great.

[DauphineMarie]

"Mabel Normand", a moving parable based on the tragic life of the 1920s silent movie star, came to Nicks when she herself was dancing with the devil in 1985. Following the death of her godson from an accidental overdose in 2012, the song has a more profound resonance today."
That this song was singled out for praise by a hard to please "Uncut" critic is an indication that it may have transformed into something great.

I always had faith in you Mabel!! Please don't disappoint me, or apparently everyone else

[Jondalar]

Yay they liked the album, the long version!

[Jondalar]

He called cathouse blues corny.

[Johnny Stew]

He called cathouse blues corny.

That was a typo. He meant to call it "horny." ;)

[StreetAngel86]

When songs go into movies you might as well dump them out the window as you're driving by because they never get heard

THIS is why I love Stevie friggin Nicks
:lol::lol::lol::lol:

she's so negative. i relate :thumbsup:


It's nice to read the full studio personnel who helped record the album. Also, could Rock A Little studios be, in fact, Stevie's living room? :D



THIS is hilarious lol

[Danielle]

When songs go into movies you might as well dump them out the window as you're driving by because they never get heard

THIS is why I love Stevie friggin Nicks
:lol::lol::lol::lol:

she's so negative. i relate :thumbsup:


I relate too. :D
And as much as I agree with the song/movie comment, I think they did a pretty good job with her songs (and Joni Mitchell's) in Practical Magic.

[sleepless child]

I'm not sure what her fascination with Twisted is all about. It also was on Enchanted because she thought no one heard it on the movie sound track. But I wonder what it will sound like as a ballad.

[tothegypsy]

Early on everyone was wondering why Christine was in Nashville looks like she was just hanging out with Stevie since she's not on the personnel list..

I don't think they listed the "guest stars." Vanessa Carlton isn't listed either, and I'm pretty sure you can hear her singing backing vocals on Carousel.

[DashingDan]

I think this UNCUT review is as good a review as an album of never-quite-made-it-for-one-reason-or-another songs as you can get. Honestly, I hope all the reviews are as good.

[michelej1]

When songs go into movies you might as well dump them out the window as you're driving by because they never get heard

THIS is why I love Stevie friggin Nicks


Bet she wouldn't say that to Goldfinger.

Michele

[Rod~A~Little]

I've never been a big fan of Twisted. Maybe I'll have a change of heart hearing it as a ballad.

Also

I wish I had ordered the vinyl of 24 Karat Gold since it drops next week. They've closed the Tower store here in Nashville, so it looks like I'll be hitting up another store!

:nod:

[sorcerer999]

I wish I had ordered the vinyl of 24 Karat Gold since it drops next week. They've closed the Tower store here in Nashville, so it looks like I'll be hitting up another store!



Off Topic (sorry) ~ Rod, I worked at that VERY Tower (off West End in Nashville) for the last 6 years of its existence. BEST...JOB...EVER!!! If it were still open, I'd still be working there...and we would've sold the "24 Karat Gold" vinyl at Midnight on Tuesday morning, like we did with ALL new releases every week. No one does that anymore. :(

[Rod~A~Little]

Off Topic (sorry) ~ Rod, I worked at that VERY Tower (off West End in Nashville) for the last 6 years of its existence. BEST...JOB...EVER!!! If it were still open, I'd still be working there...and we would've sold the "24 Karat Gold" vinyl at Midnight on Tuesday morning, like we did with ALL new releases every week. No one does that anymore. :(

I loved Tower! I was in there ALL the time! I know I must have seen you in there! Wow, that's great!

I was at Tower at midnight to get Trouble In Shangri La too!

:]

[sorcerer999]

I was at Tower at midnight to get Trouble In Shangri La too!

:]

I probably sold it to you!:lol:

[WildHearted]

Thought it sounded like Benmont's playing.

[Jondalar]

There should be more reviews than this by now. Please post.

[TribalTwinSC]

I'm a huge Stevie fan...and I have to admit this album is OK. There are some great moments like "Lady", "The Dealer", and "Mabel Normand". However, there are some stinkers, or at the very least, some that do not capture the magic of the original demos. You can hear the fact this album was recoreded in only 15 days. In my opinion, that is NOTHING to brag about. "Blue Water" does not hold a candle to the beautiful demo version and the recording for "All The Beautiful Worlds" just sounds lazy. My favorite parts were simply omitted from the end of the songs cadence. Finally, "If You Were My Love" is in the key of HORRID. What key is it in exactly why did they choose it. At this point, I am not sure Stevie streaming this album for free on Amazon.com was a good idea. Yesterday I was so excited to buy it and now, it's like a household chore I have to do. Of course I will buy it to support my girl, but STEVIE...shame on you.

[BlueLight]

Of course I will buy it to support my girl, but STEVIE...shame on you.

Very interesting to hear your views. I respectfully disagree - far from shame, I would say bravo for creating one of the finest solo albums of her career - on par with her first three albums, and better than anything she's done since the mid-1980s. :sorry:

[louielouie2000]

Very interesting to hear your views. I respectfully disagree - far from shame, I would say bravo for creating one of the finest solo albums of her career - on par with her first three albums, and better than anything she's done since the mid-1980s. :sorry:

It's interesting, because Bella Donna & Wild Heart were recorded extremely quickly, just like 24k. And those are often cited by fans as Stevie's best solo efforts. In fact, I believe Wild Heart was recorded in even less time than 24k- 12 days, right?

I think this record quickly with minimal production is the best formula for Stevie. The magic of her music isn't lost in syrupy production, electronic/synthetic noise, and endless overdubs. Despite that, there's still an atmosphere to these songs. I'd say it's actually because of the lack of clutter that these songs have atmosphere.

I still can't rank this album compared to her others, though. I think part of it might be because this is almost more of a compilation than an album to me. :shrug:

[sorcerer999]

Very interesting to hear your views. I respectfully disagree - far from shame, I would say bravo for creating one of the finest solo albums of her career - on par with her first three albums, and better than anything she's done since the mid-1980s. :sorry:

^^^This. I think this record is the BEST STEVIE NICKS album in the past 25 plus years. And you guys know that I don't say things like that lightly. It's like the greatest hits that us "hard core fans" would want. There's just a magic to it...in her vocals, her energy, her emotion. There's just something there that I haven't heard from her in YEARS. It's like she's rediscovered the joy of making music again, but making music for HERSELF and not making music to garner another "hit record", "chart topper" or "money maker".

JMHO. :nod:

[BlueLight]

It's interesting, because Bella Donna & Wild Heart were recorded extremely quickly, just like 24k. And those are often cited by fans as Stevie's best solo efforts. In fact, I believe Wild Heart was recorded in even less time than 24k- 12 days, right?

I think this record quickly with minimal production is the best formula for Stevie. The magic of her music isn't lost in syrupy production, electronic/synthetic noise, and endless overdubs. Despite that, there's still an atmosphere to these songs. I'd say it's actually because of the lack of clutter that these songs have atmosphere.

I still can't rank this album compared to her others, though. I think part of it might be because this is almost more of a compilation than an album to me. :shrug:

Absolutely - and I hope Stevie agrees!

If I had only listened to the standard tracklisting, I may agree that this is more of a compilation album. But listening to the songs as sequenced on the Deluxe album, and as organized on vinyl, with four distinct sides, this album feels more cohesive than anything she's done in a long time. It has a clear arc, and tells a story, in my view. Really impressed that she pulled this off.

[BlueLight]

^^^This. I think this record is the BEST STEVIE NICKS album in the past 25 plus years. And you guys know that I don't say things like that lightly. It's like the greatest hits that us "hard core fans" would want. There's just a magic to it...in her vocals, her energy, her emotion. There's just something there that I haven't heard from her in YEARS. It's like she's rediscovered the joy of making music again, but making music for HERSELF and not making music to garner another "hit record", "chart topper" or "money maker".

JMHO. :nod:

Right?? Where has that voice been? When I listen to songs like 24KG and ATBW, my mind is literally blown away. So impressed with what she pulled off.

[sorcerer999]

If I had only listened to the standard tracklisting, I may agree that this is more of a compilation album. But listening to the songs as sequenced on the Deluxe album, and as organized on vinyl, with four distinct sides, this album feels more cohesive than anything she's done in a long time. It has a clear arc, and tells a story, in my view. Really impressed that she pulled this off.

I might be the only person on here who isn't impressed with the way the standard version is sequenced. I much prefer the deluxe sequencing. "Watch Chain" has really become one of my favorites. I consider it ESSENTIAL to this record...so the standard version doesn't even exist to me. :lol: Still think "Twisted" isn't as good as the soundtrack original, but I do enjoy it and appreciate its spot in between "Mabel" and "24KG".

You're right, though. Each side is its own little E.P. which has an arc. And side 4 is even beginning to grow one me. Gasp! Shock! :lol:

[TribalTwinSC]

Very interesting to hear your views. I respectfully disagree - far from shame, I would say bravo for creating one of the finest solo albums of her career - on par with her first three albums, and better than anything she's done since the mid-1980s. :sorry:

I just think she should have spent more time on it. If these songs are so important to her, why crank it out of a factory? They should be an improvement on the demo version and many of these songs are not in my opinion.

[Christopher]

I might be the only person on here who isn't impressed with the way the standard version is sequenced. I much prefer the deluxe sequencing. "Watch Chain" has really become one of my favorites. I consider it ESSENTIAL to this record...so the standard version doesn't even exist to me. :lol: Still think "Twisted" isn't as good as the soundtrack original, but I do enjoy it and appreciate its spot in between "Mabel" and "24KG".

You're right, though. Each side is its own little E.P. which has an arc. And side 4 is even beginning to grow one me. Gasp! Shock! :lol:

I listened to the albums over & over Monday. Then yesterday I listened to the Amazon "standard edition" stream in its entirety, and I must agree that there is something of an arc to the deluxe sequencing that ebbs and flows better. "Lady" ending side 2. Then "She Loves Him Still" chillingly culminating the entire record.:thumbsup:

The standard version not containing "Twisted" & "Watchchain" seemed less impactful, but still good. :shrug: Yeah, maybe it's because I know the songs that are missing. But actually, it just felt like an entirely different listening experience without the 2 bonus tracks.

I know there's some controversey about the new "Twisted", but, to me, this new version fits perfectly with this set of songs, especially the dark twangy & chugging guitar new arangement & beautiful nuanced vocal. While "Whatchain" is NOT to be missed! She sounds like her 70s groovy self on that track :shocked: I wasn't a big fan of the demo, but I LOVE this new version, it blows away the demo. In fact, I would say that all the new versions blow away all the demos & outtakes, with the only exception being ATBW -- I think that one is on par with the WH outtake, and that's good!

[KarmaContestant]

"If You Were My Love" is in the key of HORRID. What key is it in exactly why did they choose it.

:laugh: I'm not fan of it, either. I do like the instrumentation, though.

At this point, I am not sure Stevie streaming this album for free on Amazon.com was a good idea. Yesterday I was so excited to buy it and now, it's like a household chore I have to do.

So, actually, I am glad you pointed this out. Pre-release streams are the worst thing ever to happen to music. I would bet that pre-release streaming destroys more sales than piracy ever did. They only serve two purposes: to disappoint those who were going to buy the labum, but changed their mind, and to provide the album for free to those who never intended to buy it anyway.

Obviously, many of us here have listened to the stream, and we are buying the album, but in general, I think streaming entire albums before release hurts sales.

[Jondalar]

I think streaming may help. I'm sure a lot of people will like this and buy.

[MusicInferno]

Btw I really like the new version of "Blue Water". I can see why some of you say it lost its original magic, but I really think Stevie's recent voice fits the song better this way - with additional instrumentation and less "magical". We still have the demo and can enjoy it for what it is, but with this stripped down arrangement Stevie's voice would sound a bit too sharp I think - at least over 4 minutes.

[BlueLight]

I might be the only person on here who isn't impressed with the way the standard version is sequenced. I much prefer the deluxe sequencing. "Watch Chain" has really become one of my favorites. I consider it ESSENTIAL to this record...so the standard version doesn't even exist to me. :lol: Still think "Twisted" isn't as good as the soundtrack original, but I do enjoy it and appreciate its spot in between "Mabel" and "24KG".

You're right, though. Each side is its own little E.P. which has an arc. And side 4 is even beginning to grow one me. Gasp! Shock! :lol:

I likewise prefer the deluxe sequencing. For one, it has the two bonus tracks, which perfectly fill out the album. And more, Cathouse Blues (which I love), makes so much more sense on this album towards the end. A fun breath of fresh air before digging in for the finale.

I should add: this is the first Stevie solo album where there's a not a single song that I think should've been cut.

Which makes me wonder, what were songs 17 (and maybe 18?) that Stevie and Dave originally had planned to record and release?

[TribalTwinSC]

:laugh: I'm not fan of it, either. I do like the instrumentation, though.

Let me clarify. I LOVE the song ("If You We My Love"). I just hate this version. The demo of this song is one of my favorite SN songs in exsistance. The key is just OFF. Too sharp or too augmented. I can't really put my finger on it.

[TribalTwinSC]

Wild Heart was recorded in even less time than 24k- 12 days, right?

No, The Wild Heart was recorded over the course of a few months. Bella Donna was began in 1979. She worked on that in between sessions of Tusk. Recording went well into 1981.

[sorcerer999]

No, The Wild Heart was recorded over the course of a few months. Bella Donna was began in 1979. She worked on that in between sessions of Tusk. Recording went well into 1981.

According to Stevie's interview with Jim Ladd, they recorded all the songs for "Wild Heart" in 12 days...because they had to wait around for all the musician's schedules to coincide. So, like the Nashville sessions earlier this year, they recorded all the tracks for WH in under two weeks, then spent the next few months doing overdubs, much like this last album was recorded.

[BlueDenimLamp]

It's interesting, because Bella Donna & Wild Heart were recorded extremely quickly, just like 24k. And those are often cited by fans as Stevie's best solo efforts. In fact, I believe Wild Heart was recorded in even less time than 24k- 12 days, right?

Correct............
I think this record quickly with minimal production is the best formula for Stevie. The magic of her music isn't lost in syrupy production, electronic/synthetic noise, and endless overdubs. Despite that, there's still an atmosphere to these songs. I'd say it's actually because of the lack of clutter that these songs have atmosphere.
Say that a little louder so LB can hear you...If FM want any of this GREAT Stevieness on a FM record Dave and Waddy will have to be involved...


No, The Wild Heart was recorded over the course of a few months. Bella Donna was began in 1979. She worked on that in between sessions of Tusk. Recording went well into 1981.

Find the "Wild Heart" Jim Ladd interview...Stevie specifically states that the record was recorded in 12 DAYS with overdubs done later...But just like "24K" the basic "Wild Heart" tracks were done quickly...

[TribalTwinSC]

Find the "Wild Heart" Jim Ladd interview...Stevie specifically states that the record was recorded in 12 DAYS with overdubs done later...But just like "24K" the basic "Wild Heart" tracks were done quickly...

I believe you. I was going by what they have on Wikipedia. The Wild Heart is a great record. I stand corrected.

[BlueDenimLamp]

I believe you. I was going by what they have on Wikipedia. The Wild Heart is a great record. I stand corrected.

Wikipedia the fountain of questionable information...That explains everything...

[tabruns]

I just think she should have spent more time on it. If these songs are so important to her, why crank it out of a factory? They should be an improvement on the demo version and many of these songs are not in my opinion.

She didn't spend more time on it because she couldn't spend more time on it. As she's said, she had 3 months total to get the album done and ready for release, before Mac went on tour.

[michelej1]

Miami Herald by Howard Cohen, September 30, 2014

http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article2343847.html

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

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

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

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

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

Read more here: http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article2343847.html#storylink=cpy

[michelej1]

Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/all-eyes-on-prince-20141001

By Dave DiMartino | October 1, 2014

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

Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/all-eyes-on-prince-20141001#ixzz3EyIiZIeP
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

[Jondalar]

Rolling Stone
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/all-eyes-on-prince-20141001

By Dave DiMartino | October 1, 2014

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


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/all-eyes-on-prince-20141001#ixzz3EyIiZIeP
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

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

[BlueDenimLamp]

Miami Herald (http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article2343847.html) gives "24 Karat Gold" 3 stars.

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r663/Nicksiannation/ghku_zps3e2e21fb.png

[BombaySapphire3]

Miami Herald (http://www.miamiherald.com/entertainment/article2343847.html) gives "24 Karat Gold" 3 stars.

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r663/Nicksiannation/ghku_zps3e2e21fb.png

Sheesh ..only 3 stars:shrug:Thanks for posting the reviews have been slow coming in.

[Jondalar]

Sheesh ..only 3 stars:shrug:Thanks for posting the reviews have been slow coming in.

I thought the same thing. :(

[BlueDenimLamp]

http://i1361.photobucket.com/albums/r663/Nicksiannation/dgjk_zps24fabc3d.png

Noise 11 (http://www.noise11.com/news/stevie-nicks-jackson-browne-weezer-lead-weeks-new-music-releases-20141002) No review but at least she is getting mentioned.

[secondhandchain]

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

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




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

[BombaySapphire3]

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

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




I totally disagree. Lindsey brings pure magic to Stevie's songs. (minus Say You Will) These songs sound blah to me, but I have to listen a few times. Her voice sounds great though.
Ok so you are discounting Say You Will ..the last time Lindsey brought 'pure magic' to a Stevie penned song was 1982 ..over 32 years ago.I am afraid they have run their course on record ..I hope I am wrong .

[KarmaContestant]

[QUOTE=secondhandchain;1146411]
..the last time Lindsey brought 'pure magic' to a Stevie penned song was 1982 ..over 32 years ago.I am afraid they have run their course on record .

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

[BlueDenimLamp]

[QUOTE=BombaySapphire3;1146422]

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

Exactly!!!

[Jondalar]

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

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

By James Reed | GLOBE STAFF OCTOBER 06, 2014

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

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

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

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

ESSENTIAL “Blue Water”

http://www.bostonglobe.com/arts/music/2014/10/05/stevie-nicks-karat-gold-songs-from-vault/fq9oV9226XVVQfllMuzXtI/story.html

[BombaySapphire3]

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

[HoursAndHours]

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

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

[BlueLight]

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

Just posted - I think it's spot on:

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

[sorcerer999]

Just posted - I think it's spot on:

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

Damn great review!!! :]

[BombaySapphire3]

^^^ thanks for posting ! and I agree the review is spot on.It will be interesting to see what she scores on Metacritic for this album.

[Jondalar]

^^^ thanks for posting ! and I agree the review is spot on.It will be interesting to see what she scores on Metacritic for this album.

We'll you know Slant Magazine hates her so don't count on a good score there.

[BombaySapphire3]

We'll you know Slant Magazine hates her so don't count on a good score there.

Maybe they will think it is just a compilation and won't bother to review it.:lol:

[Ensorcled]

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-stevie-nicks-looks-back-on-shimmering-24-karat-gold-20141006-story.html

Review Stevie Nicks looks back on shimmering '24 Karat Gold'

LA Times

Now that young bands such as Haim and One Direction are reviving the polished pop-rock of Fleetwood Mac, it seems only right that the group’s iconic frontwoman, Stevie Nicks, would look back as well.

As its title suggests, “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault” offers new recordings of tunes Nicks wrote as long ago as 1969; the most recent is from 1995. You can tell the material is old too. In the aching “Hard Advice” she sings about listening to the radio and hanging out in a record store. (Remember those?)
But Nicks has always found fresh drama in the past -- think of “Rhiannon,” loosely inspired by an ancient Welsh legend -- and here she sounds no less energized chewing over bygone resentments in the throbbing title track and pondering bad decisions in “The Dealer,” which rides a silky groove reminiscent of the one in the Mac’s indelible “Dreams.”

For “Mabel Normand” she reaches back further, sympathizing with a real-life silent film star thought to have struggled with cocaine.

Recorded mostly in Nashville with Nicks’ longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel and Dave Stewart (who also produced Nicks' excellent “In Your Dreams” from 2011), “24 Karat Gold” makes room amid the retrospection for some new sounds. “Cathouse Blues” touches unexpectedly on ragtime, while “Blue Water,” with backing vocals by Lady Antebellum, shimmers with traces of country and soul.
.
There’s also a couple of crunching hard-rock numbers, including “I Don’t Care,” that feel powered by the same aggression Fleetwood Mac channeled on its 2013 arena tour. (Now reunited with Christine McVie, the group launched yet another road show last week and will hit the Forum in November.)

Whatever the arrangement, though, Nicks’ voice -- that signature drone that’s gotten only more appealingly imperious with age -- defines the music here. Her singing dominates as easily now as it ever did.

-------------------

Stevie Nicks

“24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault”

(Warner Bros.)

3 ½ stars out of 4

[welcomechris]

These are GREAT reviews! We're looking for a top 10 debut!

[Ensorcled]

http://www.metacritic.com/music/24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault/stevie-nicks

At 77 on Metacritic so far...her highest yet.

[welcomechris]

http://www.metacritic.com/music/24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault/stevie-nicks

At 77 on Metacritic so far...her highest yet.

At 80% now

[BombaySapphire3]

http://www.metacritic.com/music/24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault/stevie-nicks

At 77 on Metacritic so far...her highest yet.

it is up to 80 now:nod:

[BombaySapphire3]

It is really gratifying as a long time fan to see all these great reviews coming in..When Bella Donna came out it did get some good reviews but in those days there were quite a few critics that were just laying in wait to pan it no matter what it sounded like..Stevie may not be quite as famous now as she was then but she is much more respected IMHO.

[jkmaletic]

Hope these great reviews translate into a Grammy nomination or two.

[jkmaletic]

My wife was playing 24k at her desk and her coworker (who's not really a Stevie fan) said, "Is that Stevie?! - That sounds GOOD!"


:nod:

[tabruns]

I usually find the All Music Guide reviews to be very spot on, so its quite gratifying to see them rate 24 Karat Gold so high. This is great!

[michelej1]

The Los Angeles Times October 6, 2014, 2:04 PM

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-stevie-nicks-looks-back-on-shimmering-24-karat-gold-20141006-story.html

Now that young bands such as Haim and One Direction are reviving the polished pop-rock of Fleetwood Mac, it seems only right that the group’s iconic frontwoman, Stevie Nicks, would look back as well..

As its title suggests, “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault” offers new recordings of tunes Nicks wrote as long ago as 1969; the most recent is from 1995. You can tell the material is old too. In the aching “Hard Advice” she sings about listening to the radio and hanging out in a record store. (Remember those?)

But Nicks has always found fresh drama in the past -- think of “Rhiannon,” loosely inspired by an ancient Welsh legend -- and here she sounds no less energized chewing over bygone resentments in the throbbing title track and pondering bad decisions in “The Dealer,” which rides a silky groove reminiscent of the one in the Mac’s indelible “Dreams.”

For “Mabel Normand” she reaches back further, sympathizing with a real-life silent film star thought to have struggled with cocaine.

Recorded mostly in Nashville with Nicks’ longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel and Dave Stewart (who also produced Nicks' excellent “In Your Dreams” from 2011), “24 Karat Gold” makes room amid the retrospection for some new sounds. “Cathouse Blues” touches unexpectedly on ragtime, while “Blue Water,” with backing vocals by Lady Antebellum, shimmers with traces of country and soul.

There’s also a couple of crunching hard-rock numbers, including “I Don’t Care,” that feel powered by the same aggression Fleetwood Mac channeled on its 2013 arena tour. (Now reunited with Christine McVie, the group launched yet another road show last week and will hit the Forum in November.)

Whatever the arrangement, though, Nicks’ voice -- that signature drone that’s gotten only more appealingly imperious with age -- defines the music here. Her singing dominates as easily now as it ever did

[michelej1]

New York Daily News by Jim Farber

'24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault,' music review

New Stevie Nicks collection holds both riches and rejects from Fleetwood Mac star's past

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / Tuesday, October 7, 2014, 2:00 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/24-karat-gold-songs-vault-music-review-article-1.1965210

Catchy music can obscure the meaning of a song just as surely as it can enhance it.

When a melody achieves perfection, it steals attention from the lyrical core.

That dynamic forms a key part of the puzzle of pop. But it has special relevance to the latest release from Stevie Nicks.

Unlike her beautifully pruned work with Fleetwood Mac, many songs on her latest solo work fray at the seams, or wander outside the confines of an ideal melody. The album does contains a few must-have highlights, but key parts feature lyrics that wobble awkwardly on their tunes. Yet those very flaws and indulgences wind up casting a clearer light on Nicks’ character, and concerns, than ever.

There’s good reason for the music’s wavering quality: The album is a collection of castoff songs from Nicks’ 45-year career. True, Nicks recorded all the music anew over the last year, but she wrote most of the material between 1969 and 1987. A few songs date from 1994-95.

Any Nicks-oholic will immediately notice her trademark lyrical tics. Words like “silver,” “dream” and “chains” keep turning up. She’s often left “alone in a room” or found standing “out in the rain.” There’s also her tendency to split her inner voice into a conversation between what “I said” and what “she said.” Nicks’ broader themes also hold — the tug between professional achievement and personal relationships, between the desire to connect and the need for free-range love.

The most finely formed songs use those themes to raise goosebumps. In the piquant “Hard Advice,” Nicks recounts the tough words from a friend who told her to quit pining for a famous musician who has already moved on. As with many Nicks songs, speculation on the boldfaced lover’s identity is very much encouraged.

“Lady” pushes further, with its grand melody and gripping lyrics that find Nicks wondering if her loneliness will one day devour her.

The sole cover — of Vanessa Carlton’s “Carousel” — both furthers the theme and breaks up the melodic familiarity.

Otherwise, the album meanders through songs of significant energy, but with middling tunes (the Tom Petty-esque “Starshine”), or with lyrics tha turn *verbose (the mess “Mabel Normand”).

If Lindsey Buckingham had his way, this stuff would surely have been sharpened. But there’s a happy consequence to his absence. We get pure Stevie — needier than some might find comfortable, but also unexpectedly wise. It’s too much for the casual listener but catnip for the devoted.

Stevie Nicks appears with Fleetwood Mac at the Garden Tuesday.

[loverly13]

The Los Angeles Times October 6, 2014, 2:04 PM

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/posts/la-et-ms-stevie-nicks-looks-back-on-shimmering-24-karat-gold-20141006-story.html

Now that young bands such as Haim and One Direction are reviving the polished pop-rock of Fleetwood Mac...


:distress::mad::confused:

No one should ever use Fleetwood Mac and One Direction in the same sentence, let alone compare the two.

[Jondalar]

New York Daily News by Jim Farber

'24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault,' music review

New Stevie Nicks collection holds both riches and rejects from Fleetwood Mac star's past

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS / Tuesday, October 7, 2014, 2:00 AM

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertainment/music/24-karat-gold-songs-vault-music-review-article-1.1965210

Catchy music can obscure the meaning of a song just as surely as it can enhance it.

When a melody achieves perfection, it steals attention from the lyrical core.

That dynamic forms a key part of the puzzle of pop. But it has special relevance to the latest release from Stevie Nicks.

Unlike her beautifully pruned work with Fleetwood Mac, many songs on her latest solo work fray at the seams, or wander outside the confines of an ideal melody. The album does contains a few must-have highlights, but key parts feature lyrics that wobble awkwardly on their tunes. Yet those very flaws and indulgences wind up casting a clearer light on Nicks’ character, and concerns, than ever.

There’s good reason for the music’s wavering quality: The album is a collection of castoff songs from Nicks’ 45-year career. True, Nicks recorded all the music anew over the last year, but she wrote most of the material between 1969 and 1987. A few songs date from 1994-95.

Any Nicks-oholic will immediately notice her trademark lyrical tics. Words like “silver,” “dream” and “chains” keep turning up. She’s often left “alone in a room” or found standing “out in the rain.” There’s also her tendency to split her inner voice into a conversation between what “I said” and what “she said.” Nicks’ broader themes also hold — the tug between professional achievement and personal relationships, between the desire to connect and the need for free-range love.

The most finely formed songs use those themes to raise goosebumps. In the piquant “Hard Advice,” Nicks recounts the tough words from a friend who told her to quit pining for a famous musician who has already moved on. As with many Nicks songs, speculation on the boldfaced lover’s identity is very much encouraged.

“Lady” pushes further, with its grand melody and gripping lyrics that find Nicks wondering if her loneliness will one day devour her.

The sole cover — of Vanessa Carlton’s “Carousel” — both furthers the theme and breaks up the melodic familiarity.

Otherwise, the album meanders through songs of significant energy, but with middling tunes (the Tom Petty-esque “Starshine”), or with lyrics tha turn *verbose (the mess “Mabel Normand”).

If Lindsey Buckingham had his way, this stuff would surely have been sharpened. But there’s a happy consequence to his absence. We get pure Stevie — needier than some might find comfortable, but also unexpectedly wise. It’s too much for the casual listener but catnip for the devoted.

Stevie Nicks appears with Fleetwood Mac at the Garden Tuesday.

He gave 3 out of 5 stars.

[Jondalar]

Stevie Nicks, ’24 Karat Gold – Songs From the Vault’ – Album Review
by Michael Gallucci October 7, 2014 2:16 PM

In a way, Stevie Nicks‘ ’24 Karat Gold – Songs From the Vault’ is the attic-cleaning job its title advertises. But in another way, it’s Nicks’ jump at beating the bootleggers who’ve circulated demo versions of the album’s songs online for years. Either way, it’s Nicks’ most personal and engaging record in years.
It’s also her most cohesive — somewhat odd considering that the tracks span decades in the life of the singer-songwriter, dating from when she was first starting out in 1969 to songs that were written during the height of Fleetwood Mac‘s chart-busting run in the ’70s.
Recorded in Nashville with a group of session vets, ’24 Karat Gold’ features new versions of songs that Nicks had accumulated but never released during her four-decade career. No surprise that several of them recall the tunes she wrote and sang on her first two albums with Fleetwood Mac, since they date from that era. A bigger surprise is how warm and spirited Nick still sounds.
The youthful jab in her voice that gave ‘Rhiannon’ and ‘Dreams’ such a lift back in the day has been replaced by worn-in tones that come from years of not-always-so-easy living. On songs like ‘Blue Water,’ ‘Hard Advice’ and ‘She Loves Him Still,’ Nicks weathers the storms of broken relationships, emotional turmoil and life detours.
Yet on the album’s best songs — the jumpy opener ‘Starshine,’ ‘The Dealer,’ the title track and the spare piano ballad ‘Lady’ — she comes on like it’s still 1978, goosing her voice and music to places they haven’t seen for a couple decades. The backing band doesn’t try to mimic Fleetwood Mac; it doesn’t attempt to steer into typical solo Nicks territory either. By playing these songs as Nicks envisioned them, along with tossing in some of their own professional acumen, they give ’24 Karat Gold”s 14 old songs new life.
Still, Nicks could have left some of these songs in the vault. At more than an hour, the album begins to sag near the end, when a handful of cuts start to sound like the castoffs they are. When it reworks the best tracks Nicks had tucked away, ’24 Karat Gold’ comes close to the material Nicks contributed to Fleetwood Mac during their prime. And it sure sounds a lot better than those scratchy demos passed around online.

[Jondalar]

Well at Slant didn't hate it. Pretty thought it was a given.
http://www.slantmagazine.com/music/review/stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault
3 out of 5 stars

Stevie Nicks
24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault 3 out of 5
BY PAUL RICE ON OCTOBER 7, 2014
GO TO COMMENTS (0)
24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault is a glorified act of copyright protection. Stevie Nicks reportedly decided to revisit old demos when she was informed that they'd been bootlegged and uploaded to the Internet. This was no doubt a shock to the technophobic Nicks, who doesn't own a cellphone and communicates with fans via handwritten letters that are uploaded to her website by members of her team.
The material, written from 1969 through the '90s and newly recorded here, is significantly sharper than what was found on Nicks's last studio album, 2011's In Your Dreams. The new recordings mostly dispense with the awkward electronic flourishes (vocal distortion, canned synths) that have marred other recent Nicks-related recordings. "Starshine" is given an uptempo, straight-ahead rock treatment that recalls Nicks's collaborations with Tom Petty, while on "The Dealer" she almost perfectly embodies her '70s glory days with Fleetwood Mac. The latter finds Nicks looking back at a failed relationship, though it cleverly doubles as a longer-term survey of loves lost and reconciled, particularly with bandmates Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood. "If I'd known a little more, I'd have run away," she laments, but of course she didn't, and now she's on a sold-out tour with both of those men.
Old flames occupy much of the subject matter throughout the album, and even when Nicks isn't explicitly singing about herself, it's hard not to read autobiographical meanings into the songs. The silent-era comedienne Mabel Normand, who gets a tribute song here, is a character with whom Nicks clearly identifies, singing about her "quietly crying" heart underneath all her beauty and talent. And Nicks even tips her hat to friend Vanessa Carlton with a cover of the latter's "Carousel," adding little to it beyond some fairy-tale harpsichord, though there's poignancy in seeing Nicks return the favor of paving the way for Carlton's career with a song about how everything comes back again.
Unfortunately, 24 Karat is stuffed with too many stately piano-and-guitar ballads that return to the same theme of bygone romance. The one wild turn from that format is "Cathouse Blues," a slinky ode to Nicks's high-heeled strut that sounds like something you'd hear wafting from a sweaty bar on the Mississippi River. While not Nicks's first time fetishizing the South (see "New Orleans"), it's unfortunately so ill-suited to the California mystical dream-girl aesthetic that she's carefully cultivated over the years that it comes off as an unintended joke.
There's a fundamental paradox to Nicks's brand, which she once referred to in a moment of rare self-awareness as "the Stevie Nicks thing." Though she plays the perpetually tender, romantic, emotionally available, spurned woman, Nicks has always had an air of cool detachment that puts her at a remove from listeners. On songs like "The Dealer," "She Loves Him Still," and "Hard Advice," she re-spins the same old image of a Nicks who's gripped by long-ago love affairs with fellow musicians—"dreams to be sold," as she puts it on the title track—while her current life is kept somewhere out of view. The most illuminating moment is on "Lady," which reveals the deep chasm between the naïve woman who wrote it after moving to L.A. to become a rock star and the 66-year-old she is now, looking uncertainly over her empire. "What is to become of me?" she pleads with appropriate dramatic irony. Nick has always given us just enough snatches of insight to keep us wondering the very same thing.

[saradorna]

Stevie Nicks
24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault 3 out of 5
BY PAUL RICE ON OCTOBER 7, 2014
GO TO COMMENTS (0)
24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault is a glorified act of copyright protection. Stevie Nicks reportedly decided to revisit old demos when she was informed that they'd been bootlegged and uploaded to the Internet.


I don't think this is accurate.

[michelej1]

The Courier-Journal by Jeffrey Lee Puckett, October 7, 2014

http://www.courier-journal.com/story/entertainment/music/2014/10/07/stevie-nicks-review/16873059/

Stevie Nicks, '24 Carat Gold — Songs From the Vault'

Stevie Nicks has been writing songs for 45 years, so it's no surprise that her files have grown thick with worthwhile half-finished tunes. There must be an entire box of songs about Lindsey Buckingham alone, and another filled with references to silver, gold and, um, Lindsey Buckingham.

The songs on "24 Carat Gold — Songs From the Vault" are new recordings of demos made between 1969 and 1987, with a couple of tracks from the 1990s and a Vanessa Carlton cover, which hardly seems necessary. There are a lot of decent songs on "24 Carat Gold" — perfectly pleasant — but there are very few true keepers.

"Lady" is as soul-baring as Nicks gets, with just her bleeding/bleating voice and a piano; it's a powerful take on loneliness. "Blue Water," which has been floating around the Internet for years, is a beautiful example of a classic Nicks technique in the use of nature as metaphor for the intensity of Nicks' love — plus there's a gypsy (speaking of which, the title track sounds like a lesser version of "Gypsy," the 1982 Fleetwood Mac hit).

There's only one truly awful song, and it's painful. "Cathouse Blues" is the kind of generic garbage that would likely be a career peak for a third-rate weekend blues band, but here it's just embarrassing.

[DauphineMarie]

The Daily Mail ran an article about a week ago talking about all of the new albums being released this week, and 24KG was mentioned. The review said the highlight was Hard Advice (which they say is about Lindsey) lol

-----------------------------------------------------
Daily Mail - 2 October 2014

"Back on the road with Fleetwood Mac to mark the 35th anniversary of Rumours, the charismatic Nicks has been busy in her Nashville studio.
This is a new record, but most of its songs were written in the Seventies and Eighties, giving them the mesmerising feel of past hits Rhiannon and Landslide.
Opening track Starshine is a full-pelt, Mac-style rocker, but the highlight is Hard Advice, a heartfelt song of lingering love that is almost certainly about Stevie’s ex-boyfriend and bandmate Lindsey Buckingham."

[Jondalar]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4.5 / 5 stars

http://mimo.recordingconnection.com/stevie-nicks-mines-for-24-karat-gold-album-review/969484/

[PenguinHead]

I'm happy with the positive reviews, typically ranging from 3 to 4 1/2 stars.

It's funny how contradictory some of the reviews are. For example: Cat House Blue is both celebrated and despised. It shows how music is a very subjective and personal art form.

Of all the art lovers that one gets to know, they all seem to love Stevie on some level. I want to say more, but I don't have an hour, I don't have fives minutes, I got to go.

[PenguinHead]

Stevie Nicks
24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault 3 out of 5
BY PAUL RICE ON OCTOBER 7, 2014
GO TO COMMENTS (0)
24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault is a glorified act of copyright protection. Stevie Nicks reportedly decided to revisit old demos when she was informed that they'd been bootlegged and uploaded to the Internet.


I don't think this is accurate.

It's ignorant. Enough said.

[michelej1]

The Daily Reveille Posted: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:27 pm

Gerald Ducote

http://www.lsureveille.com/daily/review-karat-gold---songs-from-the-vault-by/article_ded5f2cc-4f5b-11e4-ac49-001a4bcf6878.html


Grade: 70/100

With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Stevie Nicks has long been the go-to image for the empowerment of women in music. She fronted the popular rock band Fleetwood Mac for over three quarters of its 47-year existence, reaching critical and commercial success as a lead singer. In recent years, when she isn’t reviving tours with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks passes her time releasing solo material, appearing on the hit television shows “American Horror Story” and having impromptu jam sessions with HAIM.

Now, Nicks has returned with another solo endeavor. Her eighth release, “24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault” is a collection of previously unreleased demo tracks that have been redone and compiled into an album of “vault songs.”

Despite its name “24 Karat Gold” lacks luster. The problem lies not in Nicks’ performance of the songs, but in the songs themselves. It’s easy to believe these tracks were in the vault for a reason. The songs echo entirely too much of their original time: 1970s to late 1980s. Antiquated themes and poor lyricism make for an unfortunate combination where Nicks’ voice, though still quite distinguishable, comes off as tired and ageing.

The one true positive of this album would have to be Nicks’ cover of “Carousel,” which is originally a song by Vanessa Carlton. With a voice dubbing that softens Nicks’ harsher tone, “Carousel” comes as an easier relief to the multiple rockers that fill “24 Karat Gold.”

Though Nicks has cut a wide space in the history of rock music, “24 Karat Gold” is unable to match her legacy as one of the most talented singers in the last 50 years. Hopefully she can rally her abilities into another, better album or turn her attention toward music production for other on-the-rise artists whom she admires.

The one true fault with “24 Karat Gold” is not that it sounds unlike Stevie Nicks. On the contrary, it sounds like too much of Nicks. Her performance on the album comes off as overly produced with questionable mixing. As far as instrumentation, the guitar’s presence is forceful and old-fashioned, but not in a congenial fashion that soothes the listener.

[tabruns]

The Daily Reveille Posted: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:27 pm

Gerald Ducote

http://www.lsureveille.com/daily/review-karat-gold---songs-from-the-vault-by/article_ded5f2cc-4f5b-11e4-ac49-001a4bcf6878.html


Grade: 70/100

With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Stevie Nicks has long been the go-to image for the empowerment of women in music. She fronted the popular rock band Fleetwood Mac for over three quarters of its 47-year existence, reaching critical and commercial success as a lead singer. In recent years, when she isn’t reviving tours with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks passes her time releasing solo material, appearing on the hit television shows “American Horror Story” and having impromptu jam sessions with HAIM.

Now, Nicks has returned with another solo endeavor. Her eighth release, “24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault” is a collection of previously unreleased demo tracks that have been redone and compiled into an album of “vault songs.”

Despite its name “24 Karat Gold” lacks luster. The problem lies not in Nicks’ performance of the songs, but in the songs themselves. It’s easy to believe these tracks were in the vault for a reason. The songs echo entirely too much of their original time: 1970s to late 1980s. Antiquated themes and poor lyricism make for an unfortunate combination where Nicks’ voice, though still quite distinguishable, comes off as tired and ageing.

The one true positive of this album would have to be Nicks’ cover of “Carousel,” which is originally a song by Vanessa Carlton. With a voice dubbing that softens Nicks’ harsher tone, “Carousel” comes as an easier relief to the multiple rockers that fill “24 Karat Gold.”

Though Nicks has cut a wide space in the history of rock music, “24 Karat Gold” is unable to match her legacy as one of the most talented singers in the last 50 years. Hopefully she can rally her abilities into another, better album or turn her attention toward music production for other on-the-rise artists whom she admires.

The one true fault with “24 Karat Gold” is not that it sounds unlike Stevie Nicks. On the contrary, it sounds like too much of Nicks. Her performance on the album comes off as overly produced with questionable mixing. As far as instrumentation, the guitar’s presence is forceful and old-fashioned, but not in a congenial fashion that soothes the listener.

The fact that he called this album, with clearly pared down production, "overproduced" says everything about his (in)ability to critique music.

[Ensorcled]

The Daily Reveille Posted: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:27 pm

Gerald Ducote

http://www.lsureveille.com/daily/review-karat-gold---songs-from-the-vault-by/article_ded5f2cc-4f5b-11e4-ac49-001a4bcf6878.html


Grade: 70/100

With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Stevie Nicks has long been the go-to image for the empowerment of women in music. She fronted the popular rock band Fleetwood Mac for over three quarters of its 47-year existence, reaching critical and commercial success as a lead singer. In recent years, when she isn’t reviving tours with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks passes her time releasing solo material, appearing on the hit television shows “American Horror Story” and having impromptu jam sessions with HAIM.

Now, Nicks has returned with another solo endeavor. Her eighth release, “24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault” is a collection of previously unreleased demo tracks that have been redone and compiled into an album of “vault songs.”

Despite its name “24 Karat Gold” lacks luster. The problem lies not in Nicks’ performance of the songs, but in the songs themselves. It’s easy to believe these tracks were in the vault for a reason. The songs echo entirely too much of their original time: 1970s to late 1980s. Antiquated themes and poor lyricism make for an unfortunate combination where Nicks’ voice, though still quite distinguishable, comes off as tired and ageing.

The one true positive of this album would have to be Nicks’ cover of “Carousel,” which is originally a song by Vanessa Carlton. With a voice dubbing that softens Nicks’ harsher tone, “Carousel” comes as an easier relief to the multiple rockers that fill “24 Karat Gold.”

Though Nicks has cut a wide space in the history of rock music, “24 Karat Gold” is unable to match her legacy as one of the most talented singers in the last 50 years. Hopefully she can rally her abilities into another, better album or turn her attention toward music production for other on-the-rise artists whom she admires.

The one true fault with “24 Karat Gold” is not that it sounds unlike Stevie Nicks. On the contrary, it sounds like too much of Nicks. Her performance on the album comes off as overly produced with questionable mixing. As far as instrumentation, the guitar’s presence is forceful and old-fashioned, but not in a congenial fashion that soothes the listener.
Student writers are so cute. Since when are guitars in rock music supposed to be soothing?

[Jondalar]

The Daily Reveille Posted: Wednesday, October 8, 2014 9:27 pm

Gerald Ducote

http://www.lsureveille.com/daily/review-karat-gold---songs-from-the-vault-by/article_ded5f2cc-4f5b-11e4-ac49-001a4bcf6878.html


Grade: 70/100

With a career spanning nearly 50 years, Stevie Nicks has long been the go-to image for the empowerment of women in music. She fronted the popular rock band Fleetwood Mac for over three quarters of its 47-year existence, reaching critical and commercial success as a lead singer. In recent years, when she isn’t reviving tours with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks passes her time releasing solo material, appearing on the hit television shows “American Horror Story” and having impromptu jam sessions with HAIM.

Now, Nicks has returned with another solo endeavor. Her eighth release, “24 Karat Gold – Songs From The Vault” is a collection of previously unreleased demo tracks that have been redone and compiled into an album of “vault songs.”

Despite its name “24 Karat Gold” lacks luster. The problem lies not in Nicks’ performance of the songs, but in the songs themselves. It’s easy to believe these tracks were in the vault for a reason. The songs echo entirely too much of their original time: 1970s to late 1980s. Antiquated themes and poor lyricism make for an unfortunate combination where Nicks’ voice, though still quite distinguishable, comes off as tired and ageing.

The one true positive of this album would have to be Nicks’ cover of “Carousel,” which is originally a song by Vanessa Carlton. With a voice dubbing that softens Nicks’ harsher tone, “Carousel” comes as an easier relief to the multiple rockers that fill “24 Karat Gold.”

Though Nicks has cut a wide space in the history of rock music, “24 Karat Gold” is unable to match her legacy as one of the most talented singers in the last 50 years. Hopefully she can rally her abilities into another, better album or turn her attention toward music production for other on-the-rise artists whom she admires.

The one true fault with “24 Karat Gold” is not that it sounds unlike Stevie Nicks. On the contrary, it sounds like too much of Nicks. Her performance on the album comes off as overly produced with questionable mixing. As far as instrumentation, the guitar’s presence is forceful and old-fashioned, but not in a congenial fashion that soothes the listener.

He gave it a 7 out of 10 stars but doesn't like the album. The only song he really likes was written by Vanessa. Really??

[KarmaContestant]

Her performance on the album comes off as overly produced with questionable mixing.

:laugh: :lol:

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

[PenguinHead]

:laugh: :lol:

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

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

[tabruns]

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

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

[Jondalar]

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

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

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

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

[DauphineMarie]

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

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

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

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

[jwd]

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

4.5 / 5 stars

http://mimo.recordingconnection.com/stevie-nicks-mines-for-24-karat-gold-album-review/969484/

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

[Johnny Stew]

From The Irish Times (https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault-1.1957820)


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

Brian Boyd
Fri, Oct 10, 2014

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

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

[BlueLight]

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

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

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

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

[BombaySapphire3]

I do find it interesting that despite the mixed reviews on Metacritic, this album ranks much higher than her past two albums. But in any event, many of these reviewers don't know what they're talking about - this is the best album Stevie's released since the early '80s.
It is because Stevie has never been a critic's darling ..Fleetwood Mac were in their prime but Stevie solo never.So even with the mixed reviews this is probably her best reviewed solo album at the time of it's release ever.

[tabruns]

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

[BlueLight]

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

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

[BombaySapphire3]

Yes, even Bella Donna only got 3 stars from Rolling Stone on its initial release. And Wild Heart got 2 1/2.
Some sites and periodicals have actually upgraded their reviews and ratings of these albums over the years..Allmusicguide for one.The Rolling Stone review of Bella Donna was actually one of the better reviews that the album received .The only true rave I remember Bella Donna getting in 1981 was from Playboy:lol:which called it one of the two best pop albums of the year...the other album was by Rickie Lee Jones.

[michelej1]

The Toronto Sun

Article

Change text size for the storyPrint this story Report an error

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

http://www.torontosun.com/2014/10/09/stevie-nicks-songs-from-the-vault-plus-pnk-and-dallas-green-top-this-weeks-new-music

Stevie Nicks
24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault

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

RATING: 4 (out of 5)

[bombaysaffires]

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

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

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

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

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

[Jondalar]

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

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

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

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

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

[Jondalar]

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

[Ensorcled]

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

I believe they already reviewed it and gave it 4.5 out of 5

[Jondalar]

I believe they already reviewed it and gave it 4.5 out of 5

Where did u see that? Haven't seen that at all.

[James89]

It isn't on the Rolling Stone website yet on the 'reviews' section. :shrug:

[Jondalar]

It isn't on the Rolling Stone website yet on the 'reviews' section. :shrug:

I don't think they rated it yet. I wish they would give it 4.5 stars.

[Ensorcled]

Where did u see that? Haven't seen that at all.

I must be thinking of Allmusic...swore I saw it though:sorry:

[katiedid0587]

I must be thinking of Allmusic...swore I saw it though:sorry:

It is reviewed in the October 23 issue of Rolling Stone (with Obama on the cover). They give it 3.5 stars and listed Belle Fleur and The Dealer as key tracks.

[Jondalar]

It is reviewed in the October 23 issue of Rolling Stone (with Obama on the cover). They give it 3.5 stars and listed Belle Fleur and The Dealer as key tracks.

That's good I guess, but I thought they would give it at least 4. Anyway chalk up another positive review.

[PenguinHead]

From The Irish Times (https://www.irishtimes.com/culture/music/stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault-1.1957820)


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

Brian Boyd
Fri, Oct 10, 2014

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

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

Finally a review from someone who knows what he's talking about!

[BlueLight]

That's good I guess, but I thought they would give it at least 4. Anyway chalk up another positive review.

It's a solid review (don't think it's online yet). A few quotes:

"[I]t's an inspired move ... Nicks conjures the old black-lace magic and makes it feel new."

Top tracks are Mabel Normand, Belle Fleur, The Dealer, and Cathouse Blues.

It notes that she "purrs, 'I'm still a dreamer's fancy.' True, that."

[PenguinHead]

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

But at least he gives the most articulate description of the album so far, from everything else I've read. He certainly displays a depth of knowledge and sense to understand the modern day Stevie in context of her history. A few other reviewers reveal their ignorance.

His only inexplicable mistake was citing Carousel as a song where Stevie covered herself. ??? I think he got confused in thinking it was a Stevie-penned song that Vanessa covered.

[jwd]

But at least he gives the most articulate description of the album so far, from everything else I've read. He certainly displays a depth of knowledge and sense to understand the modern day Stevie in context of her history. A few other reviewers reveal their ignorance.

His only inexplicable mistake was citing Carousel as a song where Stevie covered herself. ??? I think he got confused in thinking it was a Stevie-penned song that Vanessa covered.

Ahhhh, you missed my feeble attempt at sarcasm. He rated it almost perfectly at 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'm not complaining. :) I rather like his review, especially this excerpt:


"As a homage to the tracks themselves, Stewart kept the production simple, recording and producing them near to the style in which they would have been recorded back when they were written. Nicks’ unmistakable raspy voice is stellar over these tracks, her stream-of-consciousness lyricism and song structures just as fresh now as they were in the so-called heyday. The result is a high-quality, solid collection of rock songs that sound timeless rather than dated, reaffirming that Nicks is just as relevant to rock culture here in the twenty-teens as she was during the peak of Fleetwood Mac."

[tabruns]

"As a homage to the tracks themselves, Stewart kept the production simple, recording and producing them near to the style in which they would have been recorded back when they were written.

Yes, and this is why I thought that review in the Reveille or whatever it was was SO lame, because the guy complained the record was "overproduced".

[Keith]

It is reviewed in the October 23 issue of Rolling Stone (with Obama on the cover). They give it 3.5 stars and listed Belle Fleur and The Dealer as key tracks. so RS couldn't at least give it a 4 rating.. sorry, but they gave the new U2 a 5 star rating, and I do love that new record, but it seems they just can't get past the 3's when they rate Stevie.. oh well.. in my book, she's a 10. :lol: And I just got my renewal notice.. I guess I won't..

[Jondalar]

so RS couldn't at least give it a 4 rating.. sorry, but they gave the new U2 a 5 star rating, and I do love that new record, but it seems they just can't get past the 3's when they rate Stevie.. oh well.. in my book, she's a 10. :lol: And I just got my renewal notice.. I guess I won't..

Very disappointed to. They originally gave Bella Donna just 3 stars and then many years later changed it to 5 stars.

Sheryl's Crow country record Feels Like Home got 3.5 stars and while it was a nice little album, it was nowhere as good as this. Of course, she is their darling.

P.S. The Apple giveaway of U2s new album backfired. It almost seems like every one ttys to shove that band down people's throats. Apple over did it.

[tabruns]

Hasn't Rolling Stone given all three of her Stevie Nicks' last albums 3 1/2 stars? I thought TISL and IYD also got that rating.

[michelej1]

Yorkshire Evening Post by James Nuttall

Album review: 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault by Stevie Nicks

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/what-s-on/arts-entertainment/music-and-gigs/album-review-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault-by-stevie-nicks-1-6893762

Fleetwood Mac may have just started a mammoth tour of the United States, their first with songbird Christine McVie in 17 years, but Stevie Nicks has still managed to release a new solo album, this month.


24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, is a collection of 14 songs from Nicks’ enormous back catalogue of demos that never made it onto her records- songs which were written between 1969 and 1995.

Recorded over a three-month period, Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart was once again on production duties. After producing her last album, In Your Dreams, which was something of a let-down both musically and lyrically compared to 2001’s Trouble in Shangri-La, 24 Karat Gold makes much more of a statement than both of the aforementioned releases.

This may be, in part, due to Nicks herself also producing the record, with the help of long-time collaborator Waddy Watchel, who featured heavily on her early solo albums.

The reason this record has much more of an impact than her more recent albums, is possibly because each of the 14 tracks follow the same theme. In the liner notes, Nicks states: “ Each song is a lifetime. Each song has a soul. Each song has a purpose. Each song is a love story… They represent my life behind the scenes, the secrets, the broken hearts, the broken hearted and the survivors.”

Kicking off with the Rolling Stones-esque Starshine, Nicks’ unmistakeable nasal voice remains as constant as her chiffon scarves and platform boots.

Next up is The Dealer, which was demoed for both her first solo album, Bella Donna, and her third, Rock A Little. Finally making it onto 24 Karat Gold, it is very similar to the superior first version, demoed for Bella Donna.

Other fine up-tempo tracks include I Don’t Care, the token snarling ‘rock-out’ moment, which features at least once on most of Nicks’ solo records; and Cathouse Blues, more honky tonk in flavour.

That being said, this album’s finest moments take shape in the form of its darkest tracks. The title track begins with a pounding bassline, and goes into a haunting piano rhythm and jarring guitar part from Mr Watchell, as Ms Nicks sings about the chains of love.

Mabel Normand is another highlight on the record. Originally demoed for the Rock A Little album in 1985 – a time when Nicks was paying the price for her years of cocaine abuse – it documents the life of the silent film actress it is named after, who had the same substance battle several decades before. It becomes clear that Nicks is writing about Normand and herself in the song, as she sings: “She did her work, but her heart was quietly crying. I guess she even felt guilty about even dying.”

Gorgeously simple ballads, such as If You Were My Love and Hard Advice, nicely juxtapose the rockier material on the album.

24 Karat Gold is probably the most consistently fine selection of Nicks’ self-penned material since her 1983 album, The Wild Heart. A fine selection of similar yet different songs, each holding their own within this album, which is not something that could be said for Nicks’ last solo effort.

This is a real insight into the last 45 years of the life of one of the most unique and mystical talents there has ever been. Nicks has held nothing back, this time.

[PenguinHead]

Ahhhh, you missed my feeble attempt at sarcasm. He rated it almost perfectly at 4.5 out of 5 stars. I'm not complaining. :) I rather like his review, especially this excerpt:


"As a homage to the tracks themselves, Stewart kept the production simple, recording and producing them near to the style in which they would have been recorded back when they were written. Nicks’ unmistakable raspy voice is stellar over these tracks, her stream-of-consciousness lyricism and song structures just as fresh now as they were in the so-called heyday. The result is a high-quality, solid collection of rock songs that sound timeless rather than dated, reaffirming that Nicks is just as relevant to rock culture here in the twenty-teens as she was during the peak of Fleetwood Mac."

:lol: My feeble sarcasm was misunderstood; I wanted to see five stars.

What I am surprised about and don't understand is the deriding criticism of In Your Dreams. In my mind and ears, it's a very solid album. Her lyrics are standardly on par with everything else she's written and recorded.

[jwd]

:lol: My feeble sarcasm was misunderstood; I wanted to see five stars.

Damn, you're hard to please. :)

[PenguinHead]

Damn, you're hard to please. :)

Sometimes. I prefer 25 Karats. Just one Karat more!

[jwd]

Yorkshire Evening Post by James Nuttall

Album review: 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault by Stevie Nicks

http://www.yorkshireeveningpost.co.uk/what-s-on/arts-entertainment/music-and-gigs/album-review-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault-by-stevie-nicks-1-6893762

Fleetwood Mac may have just started a mammoth tour of the United States, their first with songbird Christine McVie in 17 years, but Stevie Nicks has still managed to release a new solo album, this month.


24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, is a collection of 14 songs from Nicks’ enormous back catalogue of demos that never made it onto her records- songs which were written between 1969 and 1995.

Recorded over a three-month period, Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart was once again on production duties. After producing her last album, In Your Dreams, which was something of a let-down both musically and lyrically compared to 2001’s Trouble in Shangri-La, 24 Karat Gold makes much more of a statement than both of the aforementioned releases.

This may be, in part, due to Nicks herself also producing the record, with the help of long-time collaborator Waddy Watchel, who featured heavily on her early solo albums.

The reason this record has much more of an impact than her more recent albums, is possibly because each of the 14 tracks follow the same theme. In the liner notes, Nicks states: “ Each song is a lifetime. Each song has a soul. Each song has a purpose. Each song is a love story… They represent my life behind the scenes, the secrets, the broken hearts, the broken hearted and the survivors.”

Kicking off with the Rolling Stones-esque Starshine, Nicks’ unmistakeable nasal voice remains as constant as her chiffon scarves and platform boots.

Next up is The Dealer, which was demoed for both her first solo album, Bella Donna, and her third, Rock A Little. Finally making it onto 24 Karat Gold, it is very similar to the superior first version, demoed for Bella Donna.

Other fine up-tempo tracks include I Don’t Care, the token snarling ‘rock-out’ moment, which features at least once on most of Nicks’ solo records; and Cathouse Blues, more honky tonk in flavour.

That being said, this album’s finest moments take shape in the form of its darkest tracks. The title track begins with a pounding bassline, and goes into a haunting piano rhythm and jarring guitar part from Mr Watchell, as Ms Nicks sings about the chains of love.

Mabel Normand is another highlight on the record. Originally demoed for the Rock A Little album in 1985 – a time when Nicks was paying the price for her years of cocaine abuse – it documents the life of the silent film actress it is named after, who had the same substance battle several decades before. It becomes clear that Nicks is writing about Normand and herself in the song, as she sings: “She did her work, but her heart was quietly crying. I guess she even felt guilty about even dying.”

Gorgeously simple ballads, such as If You Were My Love and Hard Advice, nicely juxtapose the rockier material on the album.

24 Karat Gold is probably the most consistently fine selection of Nicks’ self-penned material since her 1983 album, The Wild Heart. A fine selection of similar yet different songs, each holding their own within this album, which is not something that could be said for Nicks’ last solo effort.

This is a real insight into the last 45 years of the life of one of the most unique and mystical talents there has ever been. Nicks has held nothing back, this time.

Don't understand why this production formula can't work on the next Mac record with Stevie's songs. Who's got too much pride?

Quite a good and complimentary review for Stevie. I don't recall her ever getting this much overall critical praise for a solo record, ever.

[Jondalar]

Album: “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault” (Warner Bros.)

Grade: A

As its title suggests, “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault” offers new recordings of tunes Fleetwood Mac frontwoman Stevie Nicks wrote as long ago as 1969; the most recent is from 1995.

Recorded mostly in Nashville with Nicks’ longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel and Dave Stewart, “24 Karat Gold” makes room amid the retrospection for some new sounds. “Cathouse Blues” touches unexpectedly on ragtime, while “Blue Water,” with backing vocals by Lady Antebellum, shimmers with traces of country and soul.

There’s also a couple of crunching hard-rock numbers, including “I Don’t Care,” that feel powered by the same aggression Fleetwood Mac channeled on its 2013 arena tour. Whatever the arrangement, though, Nicks’ voice defines the music here. Her singing dominates as easily now as it ever did.

—Mikael Wood, Los Angeles Times

- See more at: http://www.vindy.com/news/2014/oct/14/record-reviews/#sthash.IEckzfq0.dpuf

[jkmaletic]

:lol: My feeble sarcasm was misunderstood; I wanted to see five stars.

What I am surprised about and don't understand is the deriding criticism of In Your Dreams. In my mind and ears, it's a very solid album. Her lyrics are standardly on par with everything else she's written and recorded.


Right? I think although these two albums are totally different, I think they are of equal quality.

[tabruns]

Well, I think some people just couldn't get past that IYD was largely Stevie as lyricist only. Personally I think she and Dave write very well together so I had no issue with the album, and it still sounded very "Stevie" to me....which is not surprising, because when you watch the movie you do see moments of her saying to Stewart "No, do it THIS way..." :) She definitely knows what she wants.

But my guess is some people just really love Nicks as a solo writer and maybe that put them off of IYD. I can say that if she did an entire album of Nicks/Campbell songs, where she wrote no music, *I* probably wouldn't care much for it simply because I think Campbell's music completely lacks the mysticism aspect of Nicks' music.

[PenguinHead]

Well, I think some people just couldn't get past that IYD was largely Stevie as lyricist only. Personally I think she and Dave write very well together so I had no issue with the album, and it still sounded very "Stevie" to me....which is not surprising, because when you watch the movie you do see moments of her saying to Stewart "No, do it THIS way..." :) She definitely knows what she wants.

But my guess is some people just really love Nicks as a solo writer and maybe that put them off of IYD. I can say that if she did an entire album of Nicks/Campbell songs, where she wrote no music, *I* probably wouldn't care much for it simply because I think Campbell's music completely lacks the mysticism aspect of Nicks' music.

I'm trying to understand your point. Are you saying that Stevie had less influence on the music for this album, as opposed to any other album? I've always believed that her producers are a vital influence to the process of rendering her songs much like Lindsey is with her Fleetwood Mac songs. Dave certainly had a heavy hand in her recent 24 Karat Gold album, with stunning results.

I do understand what you are saying about Mike Campbell. He's been a good supporter to Stevie, but his approach is somewhat generic.

[Christopher]

Rolling Stone Magazine

24 Karat Gold – Songs From the Vault

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault-20141007

The star rerecords a batch of lost demos from four decades, using Nashville session A-team

BY Will Hermes | October 7, 2014
The title is misleading: Originally written by Nicks between 1969 and 1995, these are new recordings cut with Nashville session pros. But it's an inspired move – after all, Music City pop scientists have cribbed shamelessly from Fleetwood Mac for years. With California expat steel man Dan Dugmore as cultural bridge alongside veteran Laurel Canyon scene guitarist Waddy Wachtel, plus Nicks' longtime backing singers Sharon Celani and Lori Nicks refracting Mac harmonies, Nicks conjures the old black-lace magic and makes it feel new.

Not all the material is top-shelf, and her voice is starting to show its mileage. But Nicks uses it to her advantage. Most convincing: ''Mabel Normand,'' a tribute to a powerhouse silent film star and legendary coke fiend with whom Nicks apparently identifies (go figure). Best flashback: the triple-harmony California dreaming of ''Belle Fleur'' (''Canyon dancing/All night long''). Second-best flashback: ''The Dealer,'' a casino metaphor that – like many songs here – may or may not be about Lindsey Buckingham. Most surprising: ''Cathouse Blues,'' a Dixieland-band bordello strut in which the singer confides, ''I need some new red velvet shoes,'' then purrs, ''I’m still a dreamer's fancy.'' True, that.

From The Archives Issue 1220: October 23, 2014

[KarmaContestant]

But my guess is some people just really love Nicks as a solo writer and maybe that put them off of IYD. I can say that if she did an entire album of Nicks/Campbell songs, where she wrote no music, *I* probably wouldn't care much for it simply because I think Campbell's music completely lacks the mysticism aspect of Nicks' music.

So true, these are among the least interesting Stevie songs.

[tabruns]

I'm trying to understand your point. Are you saying that Stevie had less influence on the music for this album, as opposed to any other album? I've always believed that her producers are a vital influence to the process of rendering her songs much like Lindsey is with her Fleetwood Mac songs. Dave certainly had a heavy hand in her recent 24 Karat Gold album, with stunning results.

I do understand what you are saying about Mike Campbell. He's been a good supporter to Stevie, but his approach is somewhat generic.

Just to be clear, I'm saying nothing at all about 24KG. I was talking solely about IYD, and speculating that perhaps some people (not me!) were put off by it because on so many songs Dave Stewart actually wrote the music and not Stevie.

It's not the same as helping her arrange the music, ala what Lindsey and many of her other producers have done. Stewart wasn't just arranging he was writing. The song credits for many tracks were "Words by Nicks, Music by Stewart".

Now again, *I* am not bothered by that, and even though Stewart wrote the music, when you watch the film for IYD you see Nicks is often dictating specifically what she likes and doesn't like about which musical direction he's going in. So to *me*, Nicks actually had a hand in the sound of the music if not enough to get an actual credit for writing the music.

But, maybe some fans were put out that most of the album is with Nicks "purely as lyricist". IYD is actually the Nicks solo album where she wrote the least amount of music, from what I can tell: She has music credit on Secret Love, Soldier's Angel, Moonlight, Annabel Lee. I think that's it, and I believe that's less music that she's written for an album than her other solo albums isn't it?

[sorcerer999]

She has music credit on Secret Love, Soldier's Angel, Moonlight, Annabel Lee. I think that's it?

I don't have the liner notes in front of me, but didn't she also write the music for "New Orleans"? I seem to recall that she had written this song right after Katrina, and even sang a little bit of it to The Nola crowd on the "Unleashed" tour a year before she even decided to record with Dave. I could be wrong.

[bombaysaffires]

I don't have the liner notes in front of me, but didn't she also write the music for "New Orleans"? I seem to recall that she had written this song right after Katrina, and even sang a little bit of it to The Nola crowd on the "Unleashed" tour a year before she even decided to record with Dave. I could be wrong.

No, Neale Heywood did. Presumably, like with Mike Campbell and others, he gave her the track and she went off and put the lyrics and melody on it.

[KarmaContestant]

IYD is actually the Nicks solo album where she wrote the least amount of music, from what I can tell: She has music credit on Secret Love, Soldier's Angel, Moonlight, Annabel Lee. I think that's it, and I believe that's less music that she's written for an album than her other solo albums isn't it?

Even moreso than Rock A Little? I can't check now because I'm at work, but I think the only songs on RAL that have a 100% Stevie Nicks credit are Rock A Little, No Spoken Word, HAEWAFY and I Sing For The Things.

[tabruns]

I don't have the liner notes in front of me, but didn't she also write the music for "New Orleans"? I seem to recall that she had written this song right after Katrina, and even sang a little bit of it to The Nola crowd on the "Unleashed" tour a year before she even decided to record with Dave. I could be wrong.

Nope, the music on "New Orleans" was by someone else.

[tabruns]

Even moreso than Rock A Little? I can't check now because I'm at work, but I think the only songs on RAL that have a 100% Stevie Nicks credit are Rock A Little, No Spoken Word, HAEWAFY and I Sing For The Things.

Well here's the credits:

I Can't Wait (Nicks/Nowels/Pressly)
Rock A Little (Nicks)
Sister Honey (Nicks/Dudek)
I Sing For The Things (Nicks)
Imperial Hotel (Nicks/Campbell)
Talk To Me (Sanford)
The Nightmare (Nicks/Nicks)
If I Were You (Nicks/Nowels)
No Spoken Word (Nicks)
Some Become Strangers (Williams/Latelevision/Rafelson)
Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You (Nicks/Olsen)

But they don't break out who wrote lyrics, who wrote music. We can generally assume Nicks wrote the lyrics in the co-writes, but does that mean she didn't write any of the music? Not sure.

HAEWAFY certainly sounds musically like her, even though Keith Olsen has a credit on it. I'm pretty sure she had a hand in the music on "The Nightmare".

[PenguinHead]

I'm not sure what her fascination with Twisted is all about. It also was on Enchanted because she thought no one heard it on the movie sound track. But I wonder what it will sound like as a ballad.

Is that your thought or hers? I never heard her mention that. The demo version was a nice exclusive to the box set. I enkoy all three takes, much like all three versions of Crystal. Obviously she likes those songs enough that she feels the need to cover herself.
I see no issue with that.

[HoursAndHours]

Is that your thought or hers? I never heard her mention that. The demo version was a nice exclusive to the box set. I enkoy all three takes, much like all three versions of Crystal. Obviously she likes those songs enough that she feels the need to cover herself.
I see no issue with that.

She's said this before, I think she even mentions it in the Enchanted liner notes. My copy is currently 2500 miles away, so someone else will have to verify this. :rolleyes:

[PenguinHead]

She's said this before, I think she even mentions it in the Enchanted liner notes. My copy is currently 2500 miles away, so someone else will have to verify this. :rolleyes:

Sadly so is mine, along with 98% of my possessions, which includes all of my music collection. It hurts not to have it with me.

[HoursAndHours]

Sadly so is mine, along with 98% of my possessions, which includes all of my music collection. It hurts not to have it with me.

I am in exactly the same boat. Part of the price of grad school. At least it's in a safe place. :shrug:

[sorcerer999]

I don't have my Enchanted liner notes in front of me either, but yes she does write something to the effect of, "If you saw the movie then you missed my song...and you missed the message of it, blah blah blah", then she says something about including the demo here in the box set so people could hear it.

[deribish]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/10/stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault-re.html

Stevie Nicks: 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault Review
By Holly Gleason
October 15, 2014

RATING: 7.1

Listening to 24 Karat Gold is like being caught in a time warp. Then is now, now is then, and the listener feels confronted by Stevie Nicks’ 1981 solo debut Bella Donna’s scandalous twin: the sister sent away for telling truths no one wanted known.

But time and truth have a way of not being denied. Ditto songs that yearn to be heard. And so Nicks, one of romance and gypsy mysticism’s great ciphers, returns to these songs of love left to die, romances unrealized and adventures that haunted her long after their end.

Written from 1967 through the mid-’00s, it is the chronicle of a wild heart that knew no caution and took the battering inherent to living amongst the outlaws. Advance press confirms these songs were inspired by Fleetwood Mac partners/former paramours Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood, Don Henley and good friend Tom Petty.

In the fraught wreckage of a life fully inhabited, if perhaps faithlessly shared, Nicks puts her angst outside her skin and stitches the songs up with Waddy Wachtel’s searing guitar lines, notably on the Petty homage “Hard Advice.” In many ways, Wachtel’s twisting sting and bass player Michael Rhodes’ melodic throb give these songs shape and offer presence.

But the real star is Nicks’ voice, every bit as throaty and suggestive as in her “Rhiannon”/”Edge of 17” heyday. Earthy and resonant, it teases on the gently undulating “Cathouse Blues,” sweeps wide-open across the luminous “Starshine” and haunts the lonesome piano-grounded “Lady.”

If “I Don’t Care” is an awkward lite-metal track that topples into pensive songwriter territory and “All The Beautiful Worlds” is a pretty-enough romp through a painfully self-conscious implosion, the ambitious “Mabel Normand” considers Nicks’ own storied addiction against the prism of an obscure ‘20s comedienne of that name.

And that is the challenge of this collection.

Nicks teams again with Dave Stewart, and the excesses are indulged to a lush extreme which doesn’t always serve her songs. While “Blue Water” feels like classic-if-generic SoCal ‘70s rock, with harmonies from country’s boy-girl-boy crossover Lady Antebellum, Mark Knopfler’s co-written “She Loves Him Still” is as gorgeous as any of Nicks’ signature ballads (“Landslide,” “Beautiful Child”), proving Nicks’ magic remains.

That’s the vexation and amazement of Gold’s frozen-in-amber reality. For as much as her acolytes wish they could twirl in chiffon scarves and platforms, few remain as ageless or beyond the clock as Nicks; in that gap ripples the nostalgia that stains these songs.

[PenguinHead]

http://www.pastemagazine.com/articles/2014/10/stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault-re.html

Stevie Nicks: 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault Review
By Holly Gleason
October 15, 2014

RATING: 7.1

Listening to 24 Karat Gold is like being caught in a time warp. Then is now, now is then, and the listener feels confronted by Stevie Nicks’ 1981 solo debut Bella Donna’s scandalous twin: the sister sent away for telling truths no one wanted known.

But time and truth have a way of not being denied. Ditto songs that yearn to be heard. And so Nicks, one of romance and gypsy mysticism’s great ciphers, returns to these songs of love left to die, romances unrealized and adventures that haunted her long after their end.

Written from 1967 through the mid-’00s, it is the chronicle of a wild heart that knew no caution and took the battering inherent to living amongst the outlaws. Advance press confirms these songs were inspired by Fleetwood Mac partners/former paramours Lindsey Buckingham and Mick Fleetwood, Don Henley and good friend Tom Petty.

In the fraught wreckage of a life fully inhabited, if perhaps faithlessly shared, Nicks puts her angst outside her skin and stitches the songs up with Waddy Wachtel’s searing guitar lines, notably on the Petty homage “Hard Advice.” In many ways, Wachtel’s twisting sting and bass player Michael Rhodes’ melodic throb give these songs shape and offer presence.

But the real star is Nicks’ voice, every bit as throaty and suggestive as in her “Rhiannon”/”Edge of 17” heyday. Earthy and resonant, it teases on the gently undulating “Cathouse Blues,” sweeps wide-open across the luminous “Starshine” and haunts the lonesome piano-grounded “Lady.”

If “I Don’t Care” is an awkward lite-metal track that topples into pensive songwriter territory and “All The Beautiful Worlds” is a pretty-enough romp through a painfully self-conscious implosion, the ambitious “Mabel Normand” considers Nicks’ own storied addiction against the prism of an obscure ‘20s comedienne of that name.

And that is the challenge of this collection.

Nicks teams again with Dave Stewart, and the excesses are indulged to a lush extreme which doesn’t always serve her songs. While “Blue Water” feels like classic-if-generic SoCal ‘70s rock, with harmonies from country’s boy-girl-boy crossover Lady Antebellum, Mark Knopfler’s co-written “She Loves Him Still” is as gorgeous as any of Nicks’ signature ballads (“Landslide,” “Beautiful Child”), proving Nicks’ magic remains.

That’s the vexation and amazement of Gold’s frozen-in-amber reality. For as much as her acolytes wish they could twirl in chiffon scarves and platforms, few remain as ageless or beyond the clock as Nicks; in that gap ripples the nostalgia that stains these songs.

Paste is a great music magazine. I love this very articulate review, but wish the writer would have chosen a less dubious word than "stain," which can easily be misinterpreted as negative.

[michelej1]

Stevie Nicks: ’24 Karat Gold – Songs from the Vault’ Album Review

Oct 28, 2014 FDRMX

http://fdrmx.com/stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-vault-album-review/

24 Karat Gold – Songs From the Vault is Stevie Nicks’ latest album, and it is exactly what the title suggests. This album is a compilation of Nicks’ unreleased songs dating back as far as 1969, and includes a special edition book of her vintage “selfies,” that have been displayed in the Morrison Hotel Gallery in New York City. On October 7, 2014, she released her eighth solo studio album, and it’s a treasure chest of gems with the dust blown off of them.

When Nicks realized she had all of the songs it would take to make an album, but virtually no time before the start of her reunion tour with Fleetwood Mac, she turned to her long-time producer, Dave Stewart, for guidance. With a timeframe of merely eight weeks to record, mix, and master the album, Stewart suggested they record the project in Nashville, Tennessee. Nicks compared the Nashville recording process to “checking yourself into music rehab,” as Music City U.S.A. is known for their fast and efficient recording procedures.

Nicks, alongside her newly acquainted studio musicians, recorded seventeen tracks in three weeks. After a long history of recording with Fleetwood Mac, Nicks was used to many cooks in the kitchen. Suddenly, she found herself to be the only one. She noted the strangeness of having all of the musicians simply take her direction during the process of recording each song.

This album definitely encompasses the trials and tribulations of Nicks’ career. The second single that was released from the album, “Lady,” was a song she had recorded on a cassette tape, locked in a trunk that her mother had. Written in 1971, Nicks wrote the song with a purpose: to capture the fear that she and Lindsey Buckingham experienced when they first moved to L.A.

The track has a very simple melody, almost to the point of monotony. Nicks revealed in a commentary video that she wrote the song when she was first learning to play the piano that was a given to her as a gift by Fleetwood Mac’s producer at the time. The amateur playing abilities unfortunately, shine through. But how can you be mad at Stevie Nicks, whose uncanny vocals and simplistic lyrics are consistently fan favorites around the globe?

Nicks also covers a Vanessa Carlton hit from 2011, “Carousel,” with backing vocals from Vanessa herself, as well as Nicks’ niece, Jessi Nicks. Nicks has said in much commentary about the song that it was dedicated to her mother, as it became her favorite song during her final days. When going back and listening to the original version, it seems as though Vanessa covered Stevie Nicks, not the other way around. The song structure and expressive lyrics ring true to Nicks’ always-original sound, allowing the song to fit like a glove with her vocal abilities and delivery.

My personal favorite track on this album is, “She Loves Him Still.” The storyline of this song pairs beautifully with Nicks’ laid-back tone and back-to-basics motif for this album. The romance between Nicks and her Fleetwood bandmate Lindsey Buckingham has been one for the books, constantly leaving fans and the media with a never-ending stream of questions. Nicks revealed that most of the songs on this album are about Buckingham, and I think this song exemplifies that statement even further. The structure of “She Loves Him Still” seems to pull from Folk influences, and is backed by a very romantic flute orchestration, which is fitting for the subject matter. This arrangement definitely supports Nicks’ well known free spirit. The track dates back to the 1980’s, and was a demo that Nicks originally rehearsed for, Rock a Little, her third studio album.

24 Karat Gold – Songs From the Vault sold 33,000 copies within the first week of its release, and also gave Nicks her sixth Top Ten album on Billboard 200. This album is like a time capsule, housing songs that tell stories of moments in Nicks’ life that were hidden from even her closest friends and family. Each track is like a snapshot from that moment in which it was written. It takes the listener on a journey through Nicks’ life, and reveals sides of the artist that are refreshing at this point in her career. It is obvious that she has no plans on slowing down.

Music 3.5 stars

Voice 3.5

Lyrics 3.5

Originality 5

Delivery Presentation 3.5

Summary: 3.8

[twinmatrix]

After listening to the album for a while now here's my review! This is coming from a relatively new Stevie Nicks fan.

A+ Perfection
Mabel Normand - favorite song on the album, feel personally related to it.
24 Karat Gold - surprisingly, I really love the atmosphere of this song.
Lady - beautiful lyrics and melody.

Love
Starshine - fun, dancey
All the Beautiful Worlds - dark, dreamy, gorgeous lyrics
Carousel - not as good as Vanessa's version, but I love this song's message.
The Dealer - obviously a good song, haha, catchy and awesome.

Like
Twister - belongs to my childhood favorite movie, best version of the song though.
Belle Fleur - nice to sway to.
Hard Advice - pretty good, lovely melody.
Blue Water - relaxing.
Cathouse Blues - great fun and quirky addition to the album, but just an OK song.
She Loves Him Still - love Local Hero, good song.

Indifferent
If You Were My Love - the former half sounds weird to me.
I Don't Care - tiny bit annoying sometimes.
Watch Chain - don't really feel anything with this.

[Christopher]

http://touch.latimes.com/#section/-1/article/p2p-81602694/

BY MIKAEL WOOD
October 6, 2014, 3:04 p.m.
Now that young bands such as Haim and One Direction are reviving the polished pop-rock of Fleetwood Mac, it seems only right that the group’s iconic frontwoman, Stevie Nicks, would look back as well.

As its title suggests, “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault” offers new recordings of tunes Nicks wrote as long ago as 1969; the most recent is from 1995. You can tell the material is old too. In the aching “Hard Advice” she sings about listening to the radio and hanging out in a record store. (Remember those?)

But Nicks has always found fresh drama in the past -- think of “Rhiannon,” loosely inspired by an ancient Welsh legend -- and here she sounds no less energized chewing over bygone resentments in the throbbing title track and pondering bad decisions in “The Dealer,” which rides a silky groove reminiscent of the one in the Mac’s indelible “Dreams.”

For “Mabel Normand” she reaches back further, sympathizing with a real-life silent film star thought to have struggled with cocaine.

Recorded mostly in Nashville with Nicks’ longtime guitarist Waddy Wachtel and Dave Stewart (who also produced Nicks' excellent “In Your Dreams” from 2011), “24 Karat Gold” makes room amid the retrospection for some new sounds. “Cathouse Blues” touches unexpectedly on ragtime, while “Blue Water,” with backing vocals by Lady Antebellum, shimmers with traces of country and soul.

There’s also a couple of crunching hard-rock numbers, including “I Don’t Care,” that feel powered by the same aggression Fleetwood Mac channeled on its 2013 arena tour. (Now reunited with Christine McVie, the group launched yet another road show last week and will hit the Forum in November.)

Whatever the arrangement, though, Nicks’ voice -- that signature drone that’s gotten only more appealingly imperious with age -- defines the music here. Her singing dominates as easily now as it ever did.

-------------------

Stevie Nicks

“24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault”

(Warner Bros.)

3 ½ stars out of 4

[Christopher]

http://scan.lusu.co.uk/carolynne/culture/review-24-karat-gold-stevie-nicks/

24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault is the latest studio album by Stevie Nicks, containing new versions of demos that were originall recorded between 1969 and 1995.


24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault is a collection of tracks spanning decades of Nicks’ life. With the majority of the tracks written throughout the seventies and eighties, this album’s slightly eclectic sound is to be expected. Considering the time of writing of the majority of these songs, it’s unsurprising that the overall sound is reminiscent to that of Rumours, despite the fact that the backing musicians do not quite compare to the sound of Fleetwood Mac (but, let’s face it, who could live up to that?).

Like most albums, not every track would be a roaring success if released as a single. Out of the fourteen tracks, here are a few that most stood out to me:

‘Starshine’: As one of the most upbeat tracks on the album, ‘Starshine’ wouldn’t sound out of place on Rumours as Nicks’ voice sounds almost the same as it did back then. This is a great choice for the album’s opening track – it is probably the catchiest song on the album, it’s been stuck in my head for days! If you’re going to listen to just one song from Songs From The Vault then I’d definitely recommend this one.

‘Blue Water’: ‘Blue Water’ provides a real contrast to ‘Starshine’. Featuring backing vocals from American country trio, Lady Antebellum, this track has much more of a relaxed feel to it. It’s songs like these that show Nicks’ versatility as a singer through the way she manipulates her voice to create such a tender and fragile tone.

‘I Don’t Care’: For me, this is everything that a song should be – it’s one that you can’t help but tap your foot to. ‘I Don’t Care’ is certainly the album’s rockiest track – Nicks sings with an attitude, which is complimented with the best guitar riff we hear on the album. As well as this, I’d consider this to be one of the best displays of her talent as a lyricist. This is a song you’ll want to listen to over and over again.

From blues to ballads to the rocky sound that Stevie Nicks is best known for, Songs From The Vault has it all. Although some tracks are a bit hit and miss (e.g. ‘Cathouse Blues’ and ‘Belle Fleur’), others are so good that I am surprised they were not released at the time of writing. Overall, I’d say that this album is a success, and if you’re a fan of Fleetwood Mac then you won’t be disappointed.

[PenguinHead]

Considering the time of writing of the majority of these songs, it’s unsurprising that the overall sound is reminiscent to that of Rumours, despite the fact that the backing musicians do not quite compare to the sound of Fleetwood Mac (but, let’s face it, who could live up to that?).



I enjoy reading all the reviews, especially when certain songs are cited with polar-opposite opinions. Quality is in the ears of the beholder.

What really annoys me is when unnecessary comparisons are made that denigrates the work. For example the above quote "the backing musicians do not quite compare to the sound of Fleetwood Mac." Of course it's not going to sound like Fleetwood Mac! Why should it; the reason for that? It's not Fleetwood Mac! Shouldn't her album be judged by itself?

I understand there is tendency to assess new work in context of previous work. But there is a bit of unfair advantage at play when making those comparisons -- the assumption of a particular standard and expectation not being achieved. Anything outside of the comfort of the box is considered questionable.

[sorcerer999]

As its title suggests, “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault” offers new recordings of tunes Nicks wrote as long ago as 1969; the most recent is from 1995. You can tell the material is old too. In the aching “Hard Advice” she sings about listening to the radio and hanging out in a record store. (Remember those?)


Um...

...yeah?...

...because they're both still around?...

[tabruns]

Um...

...yeah?...

...because they're both still around?...

I think the writer was referring to most people don't listen to the radio anymore and record stores are pretty rare these days.

[sorcerer999]

I think the writer was referring to most people don't listen to the radio anymore and record stores are pretty rare these days.

I guess I take it for a granted living in Nashville, where there are a million music stores located on every side of town, in, out and around the city. I forget that the rest of the US (and many other parts of the world) don't have that "luxury, yeah, yeahhhh..."

I'm a dork! :nod:

[PenguinHead]

I guess I take it for a granted living in Nashville, where there are a million music stores located on every side of town, in, out and around the city. I forget that the rest of the US (and many other parts of the world) don't have that "luxury, yeah, yeahhhh..."

I'm a dork! :nod:

I'm fortunate to live in the very weird and peculiar city of Portland. We still have some very cool record stores - Everyday Music, Jackpot Records, Music Millennium, just to name a few. Vinyl has made a huge comeback here. The myth that no one is still buying physical music (and everyone has gone digital/ iTune loony) is not true. Sure, the market has shrunk, but pure music aficionados still appreciate the full intimate experience beyond the music -- the accompanying artwork, images, liner notes and being able to hold it in your hands.

[sorcerer999]

I'm fortunate to live in the weird city of Portland. We still have some very cool record stores - Everyday Music, Jackpot Records, Music Millennium, just to name a few. Vinyl has made a huge comeback here. The myth that no one is still buying physical music (and everyone has gone digital/ iTune loony) is not true. Sure, the market has shrunk, but pure music aficionados still appreciate the full intimate experience of the artwork, liner notes and being to hold it in your hands.

Soooo true! And vinyl is now the NORM here in Nashville. You're really hard pressed to go into someone's home and NOT discover a turntable and a nice library of vinyl records.

CDs are really the relics these days. Funny how that flip flopped!

[KarmaContestant]

Soooo true! And vinyl is now the NORM here in Nashville. You're really hard pressed to go into someone's home and NOT discover a turntable and a nice library of vinyl records.


Denver also.

[michelej1]

Um...

...yeah?...

...because they're both still around?...

Well, I agree with you about the radio. As for a record store, I know they're around, but I'd have to do an internet search to find nearby ones, because I can't think of any offhand. Of course, that's not counting Target and Best Buy.

When I moved to California, in the Valley Tower had a large record store on one side of the street and an annex on the other.

Michele

[michelej1]

I guess I take it for a granted living in Nashville, where there are a million music stores located on every side of town, in, out and around the city.

You've really made me want to visit there now.

Michele

[BlueLight]

Soooo true! And vinyl is now the NORM here in Nashville. You're really hard pressed to go into someone's home and NOT discover a turntable and a nice library of vinyl records.

CDs are really the relics these days. Funny how that flip flopped!

Brooklyn, too! :thumbsup:

[tabruns]

Brooklyn, too! :thumbsup:

Well if record stores are starting to proliferate again I wonder if eventually people might buy music again.

[michelej1]

Pop Matters, 11/25/14 by Andrew Doscas

http://www.popmatters.com/review/186892-stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault/

Vault, that is exactly what Stevie Nicks fans gets, an album composed of reworked, and in some cases, completely reimagined demos, some dating as far back as the late ‘60s. And despite this collection being composed of songs recorded at different periods in time, it’s still a surprisingly cohesive and unified album that is as much a part of Stevie Nicks’ canon as are beloved albums like Bella Donna and The Wild Heart.


Although it is a distinctly Stevie Nicks experience, certain songs on 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault do borrow from other bands, and/or popular musical styles from the time they were originally recorded. With its glam infused blues sound, lead track “Starshine” is reminiscent of early ‘70s Rolling Stones, and its eerily easy to envision Mick Jagger singing along with Stevie. “Mabel Normand” has that patented Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers pop-rock sound to it that adds an intriguing dimension to Nicks’ hauntingly vivid lyrics. Adding to the diverse nature of the album is “Twisted”, a song that sounds better suited for the adult contemporary charts of 1995.


Not only is it a refreshingly eclectic sounding album, it’s still one that is wholly and uniquely Stevie Nicks. Amongst the decade spanning diverse sounds, reminiscent of other bands, Nicks even finds time to include other artists on this album. Lady Antebellum provides backing vocals on “Blue Water”, as well as a superb cover of Vanessa Carlton’s “Carousel”, which deals with the uncontrollable passing of time, something that Nicks’ lyrics have dealt with for over 40 years now.


One of the album highlights, “She Still Loves Him”, features one of the most poignant and underrated collaborations of her career with music and a melody written by Dire Straits member Mark Knopfler. “She Still Loves Him” answers the question of “What Stevie Nicks album would be complete without a love song to Lindsey Buckingham?” It’s the direct sequel to one of the most beloved B-sides of all time in “Silver Springs”, another songs written by Nicks for Buckingham. Nicks is the titular “She” as Buckingham is “Him”, the misunderstood object of her affection, and it’s a proclamation, better yet, an exaltation of her love for him despite the passing of time and the impossibility of ever being with him again. The entirety of her relationship with Buckingham can be summed up in one of the last lines of the album: “Oh no, they would not like it much anyway, but she still loves him.” It’s strikingly powerful, yet somberly intimate which makes it a Stevie Nicks classic after the first listen.


Despite the fact that the songs on the album were recorded at different points, and despite the fact that they are influenced by the times in which they were recorded, what saves the collection from falling off the rails, which it very easily could have, is Stevie Nicks’ ever present aura. All of her songs, even when with Fleetwood Mac, possess an intangibility to them. There’s a certain enchantment to all the songs on the album that blends in nicely with the rest of her catalog. Even an outlandish track like “Cathouse Blues” with its snazzy 1940s sound is still imbued with Nicks’ gypsy charm.

Just as much as she borrows from other musicians and sounds, she also borrows from herself on 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault. “Dealer” sounds like an updated version of “Gypsy” even though it was written and recorded around the time of Tusk. Nonetheless, it’s still interesting to listen to these tracks knowing their chronology and literally listening to how her own personal sound and style has changed over the years. If you know Stevie Nicks, it’s pretty easy to ascertain when each song on this album was originally recorded.


One thing that has most definitely changed over the years is Nicks’ voice. At her best, she sounds exactly how you’d think 29 year old Stevie Nicks would sound at age 66. At her worst, on “If You Were My Love”, she sounds like Bob Dylan with a stuffy nose. Despite some pitfalls and missteps, the raspy, scratchy vocals of Stevie Nicks are still preserved and come through rather nicely when all is said and done.


Bear in mind that being 16 tracks deep, this is a long album clocking in at 70 minutes. Understandably, pacing problems ensue. While it’s thoughtful of Nicks to dig deep into her unreleased catalog, the middle third of the album drags on a little too much as the middle five songs can, and should have, all been cut down by a minute each. The pacing of the album isn’t as flawed as Exile on Main Street, nor does drag its feet through its most boring section, but halfway through 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault listeners will get antsy waiting for the pace to quicken again. Thankfully with “Watch Chain”, one of the standout tunes, the album recovers and conservatively sprints to the finish line with tracks that range from the passable (“Hard Advice”), to the mesmerizing (“She Still Loves Him” and “Carousel”).


It’s great to see an artist dig so far back and deliver an album of unreleased, and unused material, especially when their fanbase has been begging for one. 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault owes its inception to the rampant number of bootlegged copies circulating YouTube. Clearly there was a demand for an album like this, and Stevie Nicks certainly delivered. Albums like these are intended solely for the real fans, as casual listeners would like two or three songs, but they wouldn’t fully appreciate it as much as others would. With such a mix of songs spanning almost 40 years, Stevie Nicks proves that if you open the vault, you might as well empty it out.


6 out of 10

[Jondalar]

Pop Matters, 11/25/14 by Andrew Doscas

http://www.popmatters.com/review/186892-stevie-nicks-24-karat-gold-songs-from-the-vault/

Vault, that is exactly what Stevie Nicks fans gets, an album composed of reworked, and in some cases, completely reimagined demos, some dating as far back as the late ‘60s. And despite this collection being composed of songs recorded at different periods in time, it’s still a surprisingly cohesive and unified album that is as much a part of Stevie Nicks’ canon as are beloved albums like Bella Donna and The Wild Heart.


Although it is a distinctly Stevie Nicks experience, certain songs on 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault do borrow from other bands, and/or popular musical styles from the time they were originally recorded. With its glam infused blues sound, lead track “Starshine” is reminiscent of early ‘70s Rolling Stones, and its eerily easy to envision Mick Jagger singing along with Stevie. “Mabel Normand” has that patented Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers pop-rock sound to it that adds an intriguing dimension to Nicks’ hauntingly vivid lyrics. Adding to the diverse nature of the album is “Twisted”, a song that sounds better suited for the adult contemporary charts of 1995.


Not only is it a refreshingly eclectic sounding album, it’s still one that is wholly and uniquely Stevie Nicks. Amongst the decade spanning diverse sounds, reminiscent of other bands, Nicks even finds time to include other artists on this album. Lady Antebellum provides backing vocals on “Blue Water”, as well as a superb cover of Vanessa Carlton’s “Carousel”, which deals with the uncontrollable passing of time, something that Nicks’ lyrics have dealt with for over 40 years now.


One of the album highlights, “She Still Loves Him”, features one of the most poignant and underrated collaborations of her career with music and a melody written by Dire Straits member Mark Knopfler. “She Still Loves Him” answers the question of “What Stevie Nicks album would be complete without a love song to Lindsey Buckingham?” It’s the direct sequel to one of the most beloved B-sides of all time in “Silver Springs”, another songs written by Nicks for Buckingham. Nicks is the titular “She” as Buckingham is “Him”, the misunderstood object of her affection, and it’s a proclamation, better yet, an exaltation of her love for him despite the passing of time and the impossibility of ever being with him again. The entirety of her relationship with Buckingham can be summed up in one of the last lines of the album: “Oh no, they would not like it much anyway, but she still loves him.” It’s strikingly powerful, yet somberly intimate which makes it a Stevie Nicks classic after the first listen.


Despite the fact that the songs on the album were recorded at different points, and despite the fact that they are influenced by the times in which they were recorded, what saves the collection from falling off the rails, which it very easily could have, is Stevie Nicks’ ever present aura. All of her songs, even when with Fleetwood Mac, possess an intangibility to them. There’s a certain enchantment to all the songs on the album that blends in nicely with the rest of her catalog. Even an outlandish track like “Cathouse Blues” with its snazzy 1940s sound is still imbued with Nicks’ gypsy charm.

Just as much as she borrows from other musicians and sounds, she also borrows from herself on 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault. “Dealer” sounds like an updated version of “Gypsy” even though it was written and recorded around the time of Tusk. Nonetheless, it’s still interesting to listen to these tracks knowing their chronology and literally listening to how her own personal sound and style has changed over the years. If you know Stevie Nicks, it’s pretty easy to ascertain when each song on this album was originally recorded.


One thing that has most definitely changed over the years is Nicks’ voice. At her best, she sounds exactly how you’d think 29 year old Stevie Nicks would sound at age 66. At her worst, on “If You Were My Love”, she sounds like Bob Dylan with a stuffy nose. Despite some pitfalls and missteps, the raspy, scratchy vocals of Stevie Nicks are still preserved and come through rather nicely when all is said and done.


Bear in mind that being 16 tracks deep, this is a long album clocking in at 70 minutes. Understandably, pacing problems ensue. While it’s thoughtful of Nicks to dig deep into her unreleased catalog, the middle third of the album drags on a little too much as the middle five songs can, and should have, all been cut down by a minute each. The pacing of the album isn’t as flawed as Exile on Main Street, nor does drag its feet through its most boring section, but halfway through 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault listeners will get antsy waiting for the pace to quicken again. Thankfully with “Watch Chain”, one of the standout tunes, the album recovers and conservatively sprints to the finish line with tracks that range from the passable (“Hard Advice”), to the mesmerizing (“She Still Loves Him” and “Carousel”).


It’s great to see an artist dig so far back and deliver an album of unreleased, and unused material, especially when their fanbase has been begging for one. 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault owes its inception to the rampant number of bootlegged copies circulating YouTube. Clearly there was a demand for an album like this, and Stevie Nicks certainly delivered. Albums like these are intended solely for the real fans, as casual listeners would like two or three songs, but they wouldn’t fully appreciate it as much as others would. With such a mix of songs spanning almost 40 years, Stevie Nicks proves that if you open the vault, you might as well empty it out.


6 out of 10

A glowing review and then 6 out of 10. Huh?

[BlueLight]

A glowing review and then 6 out of 10. Huh?

Right? It makes absolutely no sense.

[michelej1]

Pocono Record By Peter Chianca, Wicked Local Posted Dec. 12, 2014

http://www.poconorecord.com/article/20141212/NEWS/141219779/101130/LOCALENT

Rating old-timers' albums from 2014

“24 Karat Gold,” Stevie Nicks: The songs may be old — most were written during her Fleetwood Mac ’70s heydey, if not before — but Nicks’ vocals sound anything but. She’s still got that irresistible quaver, and some tracks, like the lilting “She Loves Him Still,” are “Landslide”-level pretty. Rating: A-.

[michelej1]

Wicked Local Duxbury By Peter Chianca Posted Dec. 21, 2014

http://duxbury.wickedlocal.com/article/20141221/NEWS/141229949

Turns out 2014 was a banner year for old-timers, with the 50-plus set releasing a veritable slew of original albums. But volume is one thing – how did the new stuff hold up in the quality department?

“24 Karat Gold,” Stevie Nicks: The songs may be old – most were written during her Fleetwood Mac ’70s heydey, if not before – but Nicks’ vocals sound anything but. She’s still got that irresistible quaver, and some tracks, like the lilting “She Loves Him Still,” are “Landslide”-level pretty. Rating: A-.

http://duxbury.wickedlocal.com/article/20141221/NEWS/141229949#sthash.bddXCA7t.dpuf

[PenguinHead]

A glowing review and then 6 out of 10. Huh?

This is my favorite review. It's spot on; fair and objective. But it is strikingly peculiar that the rating doesn't coincide with it. Perhaps that 6 was an upside-down 9?