ONE MONTH of "24 Karat Gold"...

[sorcerer999]

So it's been a month and two days since "24KG" was released...well, at least the vinyl version of the album. I'd consider most of you who frequently post here on the Stevie forum to be hardcore fans, so most of you have had it for that long.

We've already posted in the thread where we've ranked this new album against her other solo records as far as favorites to least favorites go, so there's no need to do anymore comparisons there...but I guess my question to all of you is, now that we've had a good month to let this album sink into our subconscious and our own personal "Stevie world", how does this album (and each song within, both collective and individual) FIT IN to your own PERSONAL "Stevie universe" in comparison to her other solo records and work with Fleetwood Mac?

Again, I'm not asking you to rank the album against her others, since we've already done that, but just curious as to how it fits into your own personal view of her career as a whole, as well as your own playlists and likes and dislikes in regards to what makes her music special to you in the first place. Am I making any sense, whatsoever?

I'll refrain from posting my own opinions until later because I'm basically interested in hearing everyone else's point of view, first and foremost.

Go!

[Jondalar]

I love the album. She is ending her career on high points. I'm thinking about her next solo album. Will she able to do another solo album? What would Foresaken Love, Maker of Birds or Night Gallery sound like with Dave as producer? Obviously he knows how to produce her but with the lack of sales I'm just hoping she is able to make another album.

[mitzo]

I think the album is remarkable and is probably her all-round best solo effort. It has a lot of moments where you have to smile for what might have been - meaning, if only her other solo work had been as consistent as this album.

Too bad. This is the album people needed to hear after The Dance comeback.

[KarmaContestant]

I love that 24 Karat Gold gave me two more songs for what I call my 'RAL collection'. That is, my playlist of songs written for, or during the time of, the Rock A Little album, like Thousand Days, Running Through The Garden, Mirror Mirror, etc..

I love that I don't hate the new songs - Hard Advice, Carousel, I Don't Care. I still feel that Carousel did not belong on this album, but it's a great track and has taken some personal meaning for me.

I love that there is only one track I don't like.

I love that the song 24 Karat Gold is so good. It fits right up into that upper echelon of what are to me, the greatest Stevie tracks.

I love that this album fills in so many gaps in the stories told through Stevie's music.

I love that Stevie loved making In Your Dreams enough to go back to the studio as soon as she could and record another album, and I hope that 24 Karat Gold was cathartic enough for her that she does it again at the soonest possible moment.

[Jondalar]

I think the album is remarkable and is probably her all-round best solo effort. It has a lot of moments where you have to smile for what might have been - meaning, if only her other solo work had been as consistent as this album.

Too bad. This is the album people needed to hear after The Dance comeback.

This what I keep thinking too - this is the album people needed to hear. :(

[markolas]

I think it's good...better than TISL, but not quite as good as IYD. There are some songs on it that I don't like and probably never will. The great songs that I'll put on playlists and rank with Stevie's best are:

The Dealer
Mabel Normand
Blue Water
24 Karat Gold
All the Beautiful Worlds
If You Were My Love

It's a very solid album (I only have the standard version), even with the couple of songs I don't much care for (Hard Advice, Carousel). Like Bella Donna, Rock a Little, and In Your Dreams, I can listen to it all the way through and not feel the urge to skip a song.

[bombaysaffires]

I think it's good...better than TISL, but not quite as good as IYD. There are some songs on it that I don't like and probably never will. The great songs that I'll put on playlists and rank with Stevie's best are:

The Dealer
Mabel Normand
Blue Water
24 Karat Gold
All the Beautiful Worlds
If You Were My Love

It's a very solid album (I only have the standard version), even with the couple of songs I don't much care for (Hard Advice, Carousel). Like Bella Donna, Rock a Little, and In Your Dreams, I can listen to it all the way through and not feel the urge to skip a song.

Not me. I can listen to BD and RAL pretty much without ever skipping anything. I skip a lot of IYD and a lot here.

I don't skip:

24karat gold
mabel normand
watch chain

I sometimes skip:
belle fleur
starshine
lady
all the beautiful worlds
the dealer
i don't care
cathouse blues (skip most of the time but not always)

I always skip:
carousel
blue water (like the demo)
hard advice
if you were my love (love the demos)
she loves him still (love the demo)
twisted (prefer the box set version)


It's clear on many of these songs why they didn't make it onto an album long before now. I enjoy getting new stuff from her, but this is far, far, from being her best album ever. This isn't the album I would give to someone who knew nothing about her or that I would want to stand as sole testament to her legacy. This is very much an insider's collection. :sorry:

[tabruns]

Nicks is truly one of the best modern rockers we have. The quality of her music with Mac from the white album through Mirage, and as a solo artist, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart, was nothing short of amazing.

Her coke addiction started to affect the quality of her music on Rock A Little, and even more so on Tango In The Night, but then she temporarily came back with The Other Side Of The Mirror.

Then klonopin muffled her muse and her work became very pedestrian - Street Angel and Behind The Mask weren't nearly the quality of her previous work, and I feared her muse had left her.

But then "Sweet Girl" on The Dance showed promise. I think it's been long enough now that few of us remember what a "wow!" moment Trouble In Shangri-La was when it came out. It was truly a return to form, and it both outsold Street Angel by a factor of three and achieved overwhelmingly positive reviews.

In Your Dreams has gotten both better and worse reviews than Trouble In Shangri-La did. Some see In Your Dreams as being the first solo album where Nicks reached some Mac-in-their-prime levels, whereas others seem to feel that the album was more MOR than ROCK. I personally think both Trouble In Shangri-La and In Your Dreams are stellar albums.

Now we have 24 Karat Gold, which I think is Nicks' third consecutive excellent album. It is also the album that most closely resembles Bella Donna, which is why some (like Jondalar) are so enamored with it. I don't disagree with that - it IS an excellent album. I also think that the Trouble In Shangri-La/In Your Dreams/24 Karat Gold era has been more consistently excellent work than the Bella Donna/The Wild Heart/Rock A Little/The Other Side Of The Mirror era.

The BEST thing about 24 Karat Gold is that it's opened up for Nicks the possibility of quickly putting out a quality album to get her vast vault of work finally released.

[SpyNote]

I find this album to be the perfect hit of nostalgia for me. It doesn't sound current, but that's the charm of it. It sounds like it's from a different era, namely Bella Donna, and that's exactly what I want as a fan today. I don't want new and experimental, which is just jarring to my ears. I want more of the sound, the warm tones and harmonies, that I've grown to love and expect. So it's nice that Stevie's found a producer who will do exactly that: replicate her classic sound.

[BLY]

I Love this album. This is a great follow up to a classic (IYD) I'm so impressed with what Stevie is doing. I'm sure her contribution to the MAC album is going to be stellar.

[sorcerer999]

Thanks to everyone for the great responses. It's been interesting, based on various posts from previous threads, as well as this one, to read that there is basically 75% praise, and about 25% indifference/dislike for this album.

I hope that more of you will respond to this thread. I enjoy all of your input.

In order to answer my own question, I guess I should first preface that Stevie Nicks has been the "be all and end all" to me in the world of Rock music since I was a wee child. Her music is everything to me. As someone who has suffered from depression, abandonment and homophobia ALL OF MY LIFE, her music (and her voice) has ALWAYS been my security blanket.

When she accepted her Billboard Music Award for songwriting back in 2001, she stated that, in her songwriting, she has always tried to "create little worlds" for all of us to come into, just for a little while. I thought that was the PERFECT statement, because THAT is what her songs have been to me, personally. When I'm sad, there's a world to go to. When I'm driven, there's another world to go to. When I'm angry, fascinated, in love, discouraged, etc, etc. You get the point. I am a music aficionado and I have a gazillion other favorite artists, but no one else does what her music does for me.

Sorry to be so longwinded...so to ANSWER MY OWN QUESTION, "24 Karat Gold" is like no other Stevie solo album. I've mentioned many times before that there IS no specific ERA here. The songs, all having been written in the past 4 decades, retain the spirit of the time period in which they were written...so many years in the future, when I hear one of them, I don't think I will say, "Oh this is TOTALLY from the 24KG era", like I do whenever I hear, say "Juliet" or "If I Were You" and think back to TOSOTM and RAL, respectively. "All The Beautiful Worlds" will always take me back to The Wild Heart, "Watch Chain" will make me think of Rumours/Tusk era, "Belle Fleur" and "IYWML" will ring with the best of Bella Donna and "24 Karat Gold" will ALWAYS take my musical "child soul" back to late 70's/early 80's classic rock. These songs already meld and flow extremely well in my personal (and very LONG) playlists. They were meant to be there.

And going back to the notion that this album doesn't have an "era" ~ BECAUSE of that, it really doesn't feel like a REAL Stevie Nicks record...and yet it doesn't feel like a compilation album, or "Lost Demo Greatest Hits" either. Much like how a lot of you have described "Night Gallery" or even "Mabel Normand" ~ to me, this album is a collection of "atmospheric moments" and "newly discovered paintings" that were MEANT to either be scattered throughout our own unique "Stevie worlds" or to be used as puzzle pieces to fit into (and make some sort of headway/progress) in the completion process of "all these beautiful worlds".

I apologize if none of this makes any sense whatsoever. It does to me...but I can imagine most of you reading this and scratching your heads and thinking, "what the hell is this guy talking about?" :lol:

[desertangel]

I have to agree with Daniel/Spynote. This feels like the vintage Stevie I fell in love with many moons ago and I love it, probably more than any recent album in a long time. IYD had some stand out songs like Annabelle Lee, which I adore, and so did TISL, like Sorcerer and a couple others, but both those albums had such modern overtones, which is great, but it's just so refreshing to have a new vintage Stevie album. I'm already singing along to many of the songs and will likely try and start recording a couple of them in the near future. I think of Jazzmen Flowers when I hear Lady. Some wonderful offerings on this album for serious NOTS Stevie-oake folks.

My hats off and thumbs up to the direction they took with the production of the whole album... it's almost like a rip in the time-space continuum. The background vocal arrangements, many of the piano and keyboard parts, lots of vintage Stevie vocal inflections and tones, it's just fabulous! I'm moving it up there with Bella Donna and Wild Heart.

[On Ice]

I've found myself randomly humming some of these tunes over the last month and I take that as a good sign of the quality of the music. This is definitely THE album a lot of us have been waiting for Stevie to make although I can agree she has been on a bit of a roll, although not as prolific as she is capable of since TISL. The best part of 24K is by far her voice. She has not displayed these tones consistently in a very long time and it's music to my ears. She's maintaining good voice in what I've heard of the tour and her performance of Lady last night shows she is overcoming some of the confidence issues that stopped her in her tracks in the 90's. I love this record and look forward to subsequent issues as she empties out that vault that holds the bulk of her best work. ;)

[Dex]

I was hoping this album would showcase Stevie's songwriting at its most mature. But the sheer clunkiness of I Don't Care and Hard Advice (much as I do enjoy that one) squelched that dream for me. I now view it as a very competent and pleasant solo album with a few skippers. Pretty much par for the course from solo-Stevie. It fits right in with everything else, for me. I don't really consider the retrospective angle of it much at all.

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean in a way that makes sense, but I feel like most of the songs on 24k simply come in, do their thing, and leave. There's no build or climax to most of these pieces, and as such I never got that lump-in-the-throat sensation that I do upon listening to a lot of her best work. (Almost) Everything is very pleasant sounding, I just wish more of it had a bit of oomph to it in that way.

[annabellee]

I love this album. This morning in Target, I took 4 of the 24KG CDs that were hidden in the back section and put them in front of the Taylor Swift CDs that were prominently displayed up front. Hopefully it will turn someone, even if its just one person, on to the new music.:thumbsup: P.S. My kids were mortified!

[PenguinHead]

I was hoping this album would showcase Stevie's songwriting at its most mature. But the sheer clunkiness of I Don't Care and Hard Advice (much as I do enjoy that one) squelched that dream for me. I now view it as a very competent and pleasant solo album with a few skippers. Pretty much par for the course from solo-Stevie. It fits right in with everything else, for me. I don't really consider the retrospective angle of it much at all.

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean in a way that makes sense, but I feel like most of the songs on 24k simply come in, do their thing, and leave. There's no build or climax to most of these pieces, and as such I never got that lump-in-the-throat sensation that I do upon listening to a lot of her best work. (Almost) Everything is very pleasant sounding, I just wish more of it had a bit of oomph to it in that way.

Hey Dex, I completely get what you are saying; it's a very intuitive assessment. It makes sense to me. Perhaps that element is lacking due to the circumstances and manner it which it was recorded: Short time frame, stock Nashville band, and not building songs from the ground up, but using existing foundations.

But I love the approach she took, and hope we get another volume or two of vault songs or new songs in near future. If this is the process that will facilitate her to produce more solo albums at a time when time can't be wasted anymore, so be it. She seems to know that father time is not on her side.

[PenguinHead]

I love this album. This morning in Target, I took 4 of the 24KG CDs that were hidden in the back section and put them in front of the Taylor Swift CDs that were prominently displayed up front. Hopefully it will turn someone, even if its just one person, on to the new music.:thumbsup: P.S. My kids were mortified!

:] Cool! That's something I would do. Taylor will not suffer for it; she's ruling the world right now.:eek:

[michelej1]

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them.

Yes, I think I get what you mean. As with Italian Summer. Although I know some knock it as a repetitive weather report, to me it's a song that ascends and then comes to a peak at the end. That's why when I've always thought that it would make for a great Broadway showstopper, because it builds in excitement and there's a definite point where you can imagine an audience deciding to give it a standing ovation.

Wide Sargasso Sea is like that too. Like the fire in the story, there's also a climax in the song.

Regarding Target, I heard a cashier tell someone that when Taylor's album came out, every third person in his line was buying at least one copy.

Michele

[bombaysaffires]

I was hoping this album would showcase Stevie's songwriting at its most mature. But the sheer clunkiness of I Don't Care and Hard Advice (much as I do enjoy that one) squelched that dream for me. I now view it as a very competent and pleasant solo album with a few skippers. Pretty much par for the course from solo-Stevie. It fits right in with everything else, for me. I don't really consider the retrospective angle of it much at all.

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean in a way that makes sense, but I feel like most of the songs on 24k simply come in, do their thing, and leave. There's no build or climax to most of these pieces, and as such I never got that lump-in-the-throat sensation that I do upon listening to a lot of her best work. (Almost) Everything is very pleasant sounding, I just wish more of it had a bit of oomph to it in that way.



So glad you posted this, Dex. I was just discussing this with someone the other day. There is no story arc in most of these songs. Stevie would hate that that sounds like something Lindsey would say in his grammar lessons, but it's true. A story should take you somewhere.. it should end, emotionally (lyrics, not just music swelling up), in a different place than where it started.

Silver Springs is the text book example of this. The singer starts out remembering all the beautiful things she had hoped for the relationship in the beginning, and then, bam, "and don't say that she's pretty…." etc… and you go whoa, this isn't gonna be a happy story after all. The arrangement supports that emotional shift by going from quieter and softer to a fuller band arrangement. But it's hurt, sad, you broke my heart with this other woman, then there's the guitar solo, and then she comes back in with angry words now.. like she had time to think about it during that guitar solo and now she's MAD. And it's like, I'm not gonna sit here and cry over you, I'm gonna get even-- "I'll follow you down til the sound of my voice will haunt you…' etc.

So by the end of the song she's taken you on a journey from shocked, devastated, to sad, to mad.

When you write a song and the words never change, just repeat and repeat and repeat, by the end you're like, yeah I know we've already been here.. twice.

Or you're just so confused because none of the lyrics really hang together that you don't know where you are. (Mabel Normand-- which I actually enjoy listening to because of the music, not really the lyrics).

Anyway, I'm glad to hear someone else say they feel the way. Sometimes it's challenging to post something a little critical when everyone else thinks it's perfection. :eek:

[Macfanforever]

I love this album. This morning in Target, I took 4 of the 24KG CDs that were hidden in the back section and put them in front of the Taylor Swift CDs that were prominently displayed up front. Hopefully it will turn someone, even if its just one person, on to the new music.:thumbsup: P.S. My kids were mortified!

That was nice.Good move .I would do the same thing .I was at Walmart last night and noticed the front shelf was loaded up to the gills with Taylor's CD.Stevie's CD was nowhere to be found in the mess they had there.

Taylor is probably pissed now.LOL.......

[Jondalar]

I was hoping this album would showcase Stevie's songwriting at its most mature. But the sheer clunkiness of I Don't Care and Hard Advice (much as I do enjoy that one) squelched that dream for me. I now view it as a very competent and pleasant solo album with a few skippers. Pretty much par for the course from solo-Stevie. It fits right in with everything else, for me. I don't really consider the retrospective angle of it much at all.

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them. I'm not sure how to describe what I mean in a way that makes sense, but I feel like most of the songs on 24k simply come in, do their thing, and leave. There's no build or climax to most of these pieces, and as such I never got that lump-in-the-throat sensation that I do upon listening to a lot of her best work. (Almost) Everything is very pleasant sounding, I just wish more of it had a bit of oomph to it in that way.

I get what you are saying but I think songs If You Were My Love, Hard Advice and theDealer build in different ways and pack much more of an emotional impact. I humm the songs from this album. They stay with me and are more memorable. The album is also much more musical and not crammed full of lyrics.

[StreetAngel86]

I have to admit, i listen to this album almost every day... a few songs here and there.
It has definitely grown on me.
However, besides Mabel Normand, there's no real song that i go to and MUST play first. Which is how I listen to all the other albums.
I still don't like I Don't Care but even Hard Advice has grown on me. and Blue Water (with the DUDE)

I sometimes skip She Loves Him Still/Twisted
I always skip I Don't Care
And very rarely ... but sometimes I skip All the Beautiful Worlds

Overall it's an album I can listen to all the time and just have playing without really concentrating.

Lady/Mabel Normand/the Dealer are still my absolute faves
but If You Were My Love has become a slight addiction

It's not my favorite album but it ties with Mirror as the album with the least amount of songs I religiously skip (both win at ONE) :thumbsup:

sorcerer999 i totally agree with you. it doesn't feel like a real Stevie record and it doesn't really have an era either but it's not a compo.
i know <almost> everyone here loves the BD/WH/RAL trilogy and that's totally the vibe that this album conjures up. but also much more 70s as well... Belle Fleur reminds me of Lana Del Rey's West Coast a LOT.
whereas my favorite trilogy is RAL/Mirror/SA (yes i know, shut up) this album fits there too. which is why i think i like it as much as i do.
there are several songs that just scream SA to me ... (the good parts) the mood, her voice, the music. so even though these songs were all written much earlier than my fave "era" they don't feel out of place to my ears :D

[Jondalar]

I have to admit, i listen to this album almost every day... a few songs here and there.
It has definitely grown on me.
However, besides Mabel Normand, there's no real song that i go to and MUST play first. Which is how I listen to all the other albums.
I still don't like I Don't Care but even Hard Advice has grown on me. and Blue Water (with the DUDE)

I sometimes skip She Loves Him Still/Twisted
I always skip I Don't Care
And very rarely ... but sometimes I skip All the Beautiful Worlds

Overall it's an album I can listen to all the time and just have playing without really concentrating.

Lady/Mabel Normand/the Dealer are still my absolute faves
but If You Were My Love has become a slight addiction

It's not my favorite album but it ties with Mirror as the album with the least amount of songs I religiously skip (both win at ONE) :thumbsup:

sorcerer999 i totally agree with you. it doesn't feel like a real Stevie record and it doesn't really have an era either but it's not a compo.
i know <almost> everyone here loves the BD/WH/RAL trilogy and that's totally the vibe that this album conjures up. but also much more 70s as well... Belle Fleur reminds me of Lana Del Rey's West Coast a LOT.
whereas my favorite trilogy is RAL/Mirror/SA (yes i know, shut up) this album fits there too. which is why i think i like it as much as i do.
there are several songs that just scream SA to me ... (the good parts) the mood, her voice, the music. so even though these songs were all written much earlier than my fave "era" they don't feel out of place to my ears :D

I hardly think everybody loves Rock A Little.

[mitzo]

Compared to IYD 24KG wins hands down, to me. Dave did not cowrite the songs so they seem more purely Stevie, and there are a good batch of slower emotive numbers on 24KG. It is the only Stevie album on which I skip nothing, except the two bonus tracks on the deluxe version. 24KG I guess is not trying too hard, like many of her other albums, which are usually marred by cowrites and tracks which are overdesigned hard to be "hits.".

[Dex]

I get what you are saying but I think songs If You Were My Love, Hard Advice and theDealer build in different ways and pack much more of an emotional impact.

Hard Advice, The Dealer, and Lady are particular exceptions to what I'm talking about, yes. It's just something I picked up on over the course of so many tracks.

Hey Dex, I completely get what you are saying; it's a very intuitive assessment. It makes sense to me. Perhaps that element is lacking due to the circumstances and manner it which it was recorded: Short time frame, stock Nashville band, and not building songs from the ground up, but using existing foundations.


I don't know, I always thought most of her studio output was taken from preexisting songs and sort of "tweaked" and reworked when the musicians and producers came in. This album never struck me as being particularly unique to her catalogue in that respect. The shortness of recording time might've been a factor, but I think it mostly has to do with how she regards her own work these days. She really talks about her demos for this record as though they were absolutely perfect to begin with and didn't need much done to them at all, which is fine, but it kind of keeps the songs at a limited level, compared to when you allow musicians and other artists to add their expertise to the mix.

I'm with you though, PenguinHead. I liked seeing Stevie so prolific and spontaneous, and would take 10 more albums like this over a long ponderous gap without any real musical payoff prior to the next album.

[michelej1]

Silver Springs is the text book example of this. The singer starts out remembering all the beautiful things she had hoped for the relationship in the beginning, and then, bam, "and don't say that she's pretty…." etc… and you go whoa, this isn't gonna be a happy story after all. The arrangement supports that emotional shift by going from quieter and softer to a fuller band arrangement. But it's hurt, sad, you broke my heart with this other woman, then there's the guitar solo, and then she comes back in with angry words now.. like she had time to think about it during that guitar solo and now she's MAD. And it's like, I'm not gonna sit here and cry over you, I'm gonna get even-- "I'll follow you down til the sound of my voice will haunt you…' etc.

So by the end of the song she's taken you on a journey from shocked, devastated, to sad, to mad.



GDW does this as well, which is what I think keeps it from getting stale during live performances. The movement in tempo, emotion and engagement. It holds up over the years while Dreams (still a stellar recording) doesn't.

Michele

[GypsySorcerer]

I've tried and tried, but I just haven't connected with this album. I like 24K Gold and All the Beautiful Worlds. There is a poignancy to Lady I appreciate, but the last minute of her basically shouting the same lyric over and over should have been cut.

I think Mabel Normand is ridiculous. :sorry: Lyrically, If You Were My Love is good, but its album placement baffles me. It's a tranquilizer, and it brings the album to a halt, and it's only the second song! We didn't need another version of Twisted. Blue Water, Cathouse Blues, and I Don't Care are throwaways. I can tolerate Hard Advice, but it's so silly....life-size paper doll??! :lol:

[Dex]

I really think her shouting at the end of Lady does work beautifully. I know it's not "pretty" but it just matches the lyric to tremendous effect.

Other than that I kind of agree with most of your post, GS, although I actually do connect with the album on the whole. I love Mabel Normand, but it is ridiculous at the same time. That's sort of why it works for me. But I do wish she'd lay off talking about how "important" it is. It simply isn't. Someone please tell the woman.

Hard Advice is classic overly-literal modern Stevie, and although I do enjoy the song, it frustrates me at the same time. Just because you see something at the mall one time doesn't mean you should write it into a song. ;) And the ernest delivery of the final notes "Don't buy that doll" just doesn't match the words at all. I wish she'd be open to more of an collaborative editing process with some of her songs, but I'm not holding my breath. We're going to hear more lyrics like this if/when she records again.

[GypsySorcerer]

I really think her shouting at the end of Lady does work beautifully. I know it's not "pretty" but it just matches the lyric to tremendous effect.

Other than that I kind of agree with most of your post, GS, although I actually do connect with the album on the whole. I love Mabel Normand, but it is ridiculous at the same time. That's sort of why it works for me. But I do wish she'd lay off talking about how "important" it is. It simply isn't. Someone please tell the woman.

Hard Advice is classic overly-literal modern Stevie, and although I do enjoy the song, it frustrates me at the same time. Just because you see something at the mall one time doesn't mean you should write it into a song. ;) And the ernest delivery of the final notes "Don't buy that doll" just doesn't match the words at all. I wish she'd be open to more of an collaborative editing process with some of her songs, but I'm not holding my breath. We're going to hear more lyrics like this if/when she records again.

We're mostly on the same page, Dex. Lady is the song I probably connect the most with, but it's too long. Less is more sometimes.

This extreme literalness and self-indulgence is what's plagued her music since the mid 1980s. Who can relate to seeing a cut-out of their ex in a record store?

[Dex]

This extreme literalness and self-indulgence is what's plagued her music since the mid 1980s. Who can relate to seeing a cut-out of their ex in a record store?

Exactly! And she actually talked about changing the lyric "sometimes he's my best friend" from "sometime's Tom's my best friend" to make the song a little more universal. Which is such a puzzle to me because, like... why did she stop there!? :lol: I don't know whether to be encouraged to know that she does have a little bit of an editor somewhere inside her, or discouraged by the fact that she thought the rest of the song was totally good to go.

[teedeerocks]

Not me. I can listen to BD and RAL pretty much without ever skipping anything. I skip a lot of IYD and a lot here.

I don't skip:

24karat gold
mabel normand
watch chain

I sometimes skip:
belle fleur
starshine
lady
all the beautiful worlds
the dealer
i don't care
cathouse blues (skip most of the time but not always)

I always skip:
carousel
blue water (like the demo)
hard advice
if you were my love (love the demos)
she loves him still (love the demo)
twisted (prefer the box set version)


It's clear on many of these songs why they didn't make it onto an album long before now. I enjoy getting new stuff from her, but this is far, far, from being her best album ever. This isn't the album I would give to someone who knew nothing about her or that I would want to stand as sole testament to her legacy. This is very much an insider's collection. :sorry:

agree TOTALLY on last part.I think Stevie will be dissappointed with all-around sales.Not satisfying for "moi".....

[pryderi]

I absolutely loved the slick vocalization of In Your Dreams but the raw vocals of 24 Karat Gold was a welcomed change. It brought out Stevie's classic sound.

[StreetAngel86]

I hardly think everybody loves Rock A Little.

:lol: shut up
more people like RAL than SA ... gimme that would ya? :thumbsup:

[Jondalar]

I really think her shouting at the end of Lady does work beautifully. I know it's not "pretty" but it just matches the lyric to tremendous effect.

Other than that I kind of agree with most of your post, GS, although I actually do connect with the album on the whole. I love Mabel Normand, but it is ridiculous at the same time. That's sort of why it works for me. But I do wish she'd lay off talking about how "important" it is. It simply isn't. Someone please tell the woman.

Hard Advice is classic overly-literal modern Stevie, and although I do enjoy the song, it frustrates me at the same time. Just because you see something at the mall one time doesn't mean you should write it into a song. ;) And the ernest delivery of the final notes "Don't buy that doll" just doesn't match the words at all. I wish she'd be open to more of an collaborative editing process with some of her songs, but I'm not holding my breath. We're going to hear more lyrics like this if/when she records again.

I don't like "don't buy that doll" either but it doesn't ruin the song for me. Mabel Normand is ridiculous but the music is terrific and it does feel totally unique. I wouldn't call it a song though and it is only important to her.

[Jondalar]

:lol: shut up
more people like RAL than SA ... gimme that would ya? :thumbsup:

I will give you that and I think RAL is her most fascinating album.

[KarmaContestant]

I absolutely loved the slick vocalization of In Your Dreams but the raw vocals of 24 Karat Gold was a welcomed change. It brought out Stevie's classic sound.

Definitely agree with this. To me, 24 Karat Gold is the first album that sounds like a Stevie Nicks album since The Wild Heart. I love Rock A Little, and TISL and especially In Your Dreams - but those all sound like Stevie post-cocaine, which is never really quite the Stevie Nicks whose songs I fell in love with during my childhood. 24 Karat Gold feel vintage, and I love that about it.

[StreetAngel86]

I will give you that and I think RAL is her most fascinating album.

I think there was/is a GREAT missed opportunity for RAL 2 with all the outtakes and stuff. RAL is my fave Stevie!era :D

[sorcerer999]

I think there was/is a GREAT missed opportunity for RAL 2 with all the outtakes and stuff. RAL is my fave Stevie!era :D

Agreed. Just like "Bella Donna", I think "Rock A Little" was a very prolific era for her song writing. She could do a whole album based off of the outtakes from those 2 albums alone! :nod:

[Christopher]

The one thing I do think this album lacks that IYD had in spades is songs with an emotional build to them.

I could not disagree more with this assessment. There are several songs on 24KG that feature emotional builds/climaxes.

"Hard Advice" breaks away from the melodic hook woven throughout the song (not clunky at all) till it shifts gears and slams that amazing final coda in its final minute.

"Mabel Normand" amps up the intensity when the jagged, almost "Edge"-like additional guitars kicks down the door during the foreboding finale of the song as Stevie sings the final 3 verses - "so continue on your destructive road" - ending with the climactic lyrical ode "So sad. So Beautiful."

"If You Were My Love" finally gets an emotional climax in this new & imo best version ever. And it's bone chilling! It comes when Stevie woefully sings the three final "at alls' punctuated against weeping guitar wails and dreamy drum fills. Ending with a sighful standing down. Beautiful! This song is finally awash in a dreamy, practically cinematic hue. :nod:

This new version of "Twisted", even while featuring a more nuanced and relaxed vocal approach, has an undeniable, even skillfully subtle escalation of intensity going on musically and lyrically through the end.

"Starshine" builds until the final "playing with fire is...WRONG" and keeps that energy going to finish out the song.
Same with "The Dealer" - when that final chorus kicks in, the Hammond organ swells with the build-up of the music, along with Stevie singing the finale with added conviction!

Others that build in my opinion are "Belle Fluer", "All The Beautiful Worlds", "I Don't Care" and "24 Karat Gold" - which features more & more musical layers (dueling guitars, harmonies) which conclude that song with Stevie singing the chorus at wicked pace.

"Lady" -enough said!

[Christopher]

Definitely agree with this. To me, 24 Karat Gold is the first album that sounds like a Stevie Nicks album since The Wild Heart. I love Rock A Little, and TISL and especially In Your Dreams - but those all sound like Stevie post-cocaine, which is never really quite the Stevie Nicks whose songs I fell in love with during my childhood. 24 Karat Gold feel vintage, and I love that about it.

I agree with this, but I'd also add "Rock A Little" to that list of albums that sound quintessentially Stevie Nicks - even while she didn't write the whole record, she owned every song with her committed vocals and unique style.
"In Your Dreams" did sound like a Stevie Nicks record in that it seemed Dave really tried to stay true to Stevie and meld all of her diverse musical sides on that record, plus Stevie wrote every lyric except the chorus to ELY, and of course, "Annabel Lee." But with IYD some of Stevies' idiosyncratic, eccentric, qualities are sanitized, however it is another amazing piece of work overall. "24 Karat Gold" just sounds like classic Stevie. Stevie threw down on this record! Her producer hat is represented strongly here.

[sorcerer999]

I could not disagree more with this assessment. There are several songs on 24KG that feature emotional builds/climaxes.

"Hard Advice" breaks away from the melodic hook woven throughout the song (not clunky at all) till it shifts gears and slams that amazing final coda in its final minute.

"Mabel Normand" amps up the intensity when the jagged, almost "Edge"-like additional guitars kicks down the door during the foreboding finale of the song as Stevie sings the final 3 verses - "so continue on your destructive road" - ending with the climactic lyrical ode "So sad. So Beautiful."

"If You Were My Love" finally gets an emotional climax in this new & imo best version ever. And it's bone chilling! It comes when Stevie woefully sings the three final "at alls' punctuated against weeping guitar wails and dreamy drum fills. Ending with a sighful standing down. Beautiful! This song is finally is awash in a dreamy, practically cinematic hue. :nod:

This new version of "Twisted", even while featuring a more nuanced and relaxed vocal approach, has an undeniable, even skillfully subtle escalation of intensity going on musically and lyrically through the end.

"Starshine" builds until the final "playing with fire is...WRONG" and keeps that energy going to finish out the song.
Same with "The Dealer" - when that final chorus kicks in, the Hammond organ swells with the build-up of the music, along with Stevie singing the finale with added conviction!

Others that build in my opinion are "Belle Fluer", "All The Beautiful Worlds", "I Don't Care" and "24 Karat Gold" - which features more & more musical layers (dueling guitars, harmonies) which conclude that song with Stevie singing the chorus at wicked pace.

"Lady" -enough said!

^^ This! Thank you!!!

[Jondalar]

I could not disagree more with this assessment. There are several songs on 24KG that feature emotional builds/climaxes.

"Hard Advice" breaks away from the melodic hook woven throughout the song (not clunky at all) till it shifts gears and slams that amazing final coda in its final minute.

"Mabel Normand" amps up the intensity when the jagged, almost "Edge"-like additional guitars kicks down the door during the foreboding finale of the song as Stevie sings the final 3 verses - "so continue on your destructive road" - ending with the climactic lyrical ode "So sad. So Beautiful."

"If You Were My Love" finally gets an emotional climax in this new & imo best version ever. And it's bone chilling! It comes when Stevie woefully sings the three final "at alls' punctuated against weeping guitar wails and dreamy drum fills. Ending with a sighful standing down. Beautiful! This song is finally is awash in a dreamy, practically cinematic hue. :nod:

This new version of "Twisted", even while featuring a more nuanced and relaxed vocal approach, has an undeniable, even skillfully subtle escalation of intensity going on musically and lyrically through the end.

"Starshine" builds until the final "playing with fire is...WRONG" and keeps that energy going to finish out the song.
Same with "The Dealer" - when that final chorus kicks in, the Hammond organ swells with the build-up of the music, along with Stevie singing the finale with added conviction!

Others that build in my opinion are "Belle Fluer", "All The Beautiful Worlds", "I Don't Care" and "24 Karat Gold" - which features more & more musical layers (dueling guitars, harmonies) which conclude that song with Stevie singing the chorus at wicked pace.

"Lady" -enough said!

If You Were My Love is hands down my favorite song off the album. It's a mesmerizing ballad and one of her best ever. Love the way she sings this song. Somehow it manages to be sweet, dark and an emotional powder keg. One day I only listened to this song on constant repeat.

[Christopher]

If You Were My Love is hands down my favorite song off the album. It's a mesmerizing ballad and one of her best ever. Love the way she songs this song. Somehow it manages to be sweet, dark and an emotional powder keg. One day I only listened to this song on constant repeat.
"If You Were My Love" is one of the many, many highlights on 24KG. There are so many! I think because it's a mood song, slower paced (and unlike the "Mirage" era failed attempt) that some haven't given it a fair chance, or closer listen. Heck, even I overlooked it the first week or so because 16 tracks is alot to digest. But when it hit me, it slayed me! It's an art piece in silvery gray hues and glowing bitterweet tones. Stevie sings it masterfully. As she does on almost all of this entire record. :angel:

[pryderi]

I recently ordered the deluxe cd and was blown away at how much of a difference song sequencing can make. It's like night and day. If You Were My Love is perfect as the second song.

[KarmaContestant]

"If You Were My Love" is one of the many, many highlights on 24KG. There are so many! I think because it's a mood song, slower paced (and unlike the "Mirage" era failed attempt) that some haven't given it a fair chance, or closer listen. Heck, even I overlooked it the first week or so because 16 tracks is alot to digest. But when it hit me, it slayed me! It's an art piece in silvery gray hues and glowing bitterweet tones. Stevie sings it masterfully. As she does on almost all of this entire record. :angel:

I love slow songs. I am melancholy's biggest fan. Sad songs make my day. If You Were My Love, for some reason, is totally maddening to me. Monotonous droning is the way I would describe it. I've *tried to like it* - I do love the guitar, and the way it changes with drama in the latter portions of the song. No other song in Stevie's entire catalog annoys me as much as If You Were My Love. Soldier's Angel comes pretty close. Ok, and Cry Wolf. :lol:

It's definitely her vocal that is the issue for me, because I'd love an instrumental version of the song.

[tabruns]

"If You Were My Love" is one of the many, many highlights on 24KG. There are so many! I think because it's a mood song, slower paced (and unlike the "Mirage" era failed attempt) that some haven't given it a fair chance, or closer listen. Heck, even I overlooked it the first week or so because 16 tracks is alot to digest. But when it hit me, it slayed me! It's an art piece in silvery gray hues and glowing bitterweet tones. Stevie sings it masterfully. As she does on almost all of this entire record. :angel:

I've relistened to it many times and tried to like it. It just seems monotonous and boring, and the Mirage outtake seems a lot better.

[Angel69]

I love this album. This morning in Target, I took 4 of the 24KG CDs that were hidden in the back section and put them in front of the Taylor Swift CDs that were prominently displayed up front. Hopefully it will turn someone, even if its just one person, on to the new music.:thumbsup: P.S. My kids were mortified!

"my kids were motified"....lol. I do this all the time when out at stores that carry cd's!

[Angel69]

Love this album :angel:

[bombaysaffires]

I've relistened to it many times and tried to like it. It just seems monotonous and boring, and the Mirage outtake seems a lot better.

have to agree. :distress:

[stevierocks87]

I recently ordered the deluxe cd and was blown away at how much of a difference song sequencing can make. It's like night and day. If You Were My Love is perfect as the second song.

Twisted and Watch Devil are maybe my two favorite songs on the album, the ones I find myself listening to the most--definitely NOT the two songs I would choose as the "bonus" tracks. As first I was underwhelmed with Twisted because it didn't have that amazing strong vocal at the end, but then I realized it doesn't really need it-we have that version already, and she actually sounds better than she has in YEARS. And Watch Devil has that AMAZING chorus, its such a rocking song. Love it!


And yes IYWMY is a great second track, agree!

[Richard B]

I have listened to this 16-track album every day since release, sometimes twice or three times a day. I still play it as sequenced (no shuffle or custom playlist). I really enjoy it at 5AM with my coffee, surfing the web and getting my day started. I have a friend also playing along, who isn't a big Nicks fan, but has taken to the album. We're both completely obsessed with Mabel Normand. We're at the point where we text lyrics from Mabel. LOL.

Anyway, nice to have this little album with these gold nuggets. Sure, many of the songs do not go together as say a concept type album, but they work as a special collection, more like a greatest hits type album of demos.

I only have a problem with Hard Advice. I do not skip it, but it's the only track I really do not like. For the life of me, I still do not know what make the advice "hard". Don't go to music stores or buy paper dolls is some hard, serious advice? I think not. :rolleyes:

The biggest surprise for me, was Blue Water. The original demo is cool, but does get boring in a repetitious way. However, this version kills. So good and I find it a tad sexy.

[mitzo]

My order of preference for the songs on the deluxe version, from worst to best:

Watch Chain - junky song, junky production
The Dealer - mediocre song a crashing bore
Twisted - another crashing bore we already own two versions of
Carousel - let that girl keep it
Hard Advice - self absorbed lyrics set to a "who cares?" melody
I Don't Care - OK but just the obligatory derivative "Ghosts are Gone" rocker
Cathouse Blues - fun and different but one like this will be enough
Belle Fleur - great production lifts up a song more chanted than sung
Lady - lovely and raw except for the endless bellowed repetition
Starshine - toe tapping ear candy but thank god it doesn't drag on too long
She Loves Him Still - sad mournful and totally Stevie
All the Beautiful Worlds - gorgeous harmonies and production though I hate the "don't give that to her" lyric
24 Karat Gold - all the 30+ years of Stevie goodness jammed into one simple repetitive ditty!
Blue Water - always loved this and the album version is delicious - you can find a new harmony line with every listen!
Mabel Normand - addictive Stevie raging nonsense delivered with intensity against a wall of marvellous music
If You Were My Love - Beauty and the Beast and HAEWAFY and The Second Time and Love Is Stevie distilled to its essence

[Keith]

one month in..

for me.. it's really all about "If You Were My Love".. it's tenderness and yearning.. it's hurt and pain.. I think Stevie really captured the essence of what it means to be human in this song.. we all long for something.. and that longing usually is about someone.. another person. for me, it was the guy at the gym.. but now it's the bartender at the restaurant right around the corner.. ooh.. if he was my love..

too many glasses of Bordeaux, served by that bartender that I have a crush on...

"..if I were the one who watched over your sleeping... you would never have been frightened.. at all.." then that sad guitar chimes in..

I love how us Stevie fans are so different.. I know many don't like the 24karat take on this song and I respect that.. but, for me, Stevie did this song.. well, for me... I love it.. yep. I love it.. my life.. sung once again by my gypsy.

[BLY]

I think this is a masterpiece. This collection was a very smart move and is truly appreciated and recorded for her closest fans. I still can't really pick my favorites quite yet because I have been pacing the rotation of this with my other music. I don't want to over play it so the newness lasts a while. ( not typical of me with the last 30 years of her releases)

[Jondalar]

one month in..

for me.. it's really all about "If You Were My Love".. it's tenderness and yearning.. it's hurt and pain.. I think Stevie really captured the essence of what it means to be human in this song.. we all long for something.. and that longing usually is about someone.. another person. for me, it was the guy at the gym.. but now it's the bartender at the restaurant right around the corner.. ooh.. if he was my love..

too many glasses of Bordeaux, served by that bartender that I have a crush on...

"..if I were the one who watched over your sleeping... you would never have been frightened.. at all.." then that sad guitar chimes in..

I love how us Stevie fans are so different.. I know many don't like the 24karat take on this song and I respect that.. but, for me, Stevie did this song.. well, for me... I love it.. yep. I love it.. my life.. sung once again by my gypsy.


If You Were My Love is one of her best ballads ever and she has many great ballads. All the ballads on 24k are excellent. IYWML is mesmerizing!

[Hawkeye]

Just like in your dreams 3 years ago, I had to force myself to listen to anything other them this cd. It's like a drug. I finally gave it a 2 week rest but now it's right back in my car. Really next to none of my opinions have changed in the last nearly 2 months. The order and amount I like the songs is the same. I still think watchdevil is well deserved to have been designated bonus track only status. Mable Normand is in my head nearly 24 7.

I'm literally in shock every time cathouse blues starts playing. Never in a thousand years did I think this song would be coming out of my car speakers. Nor do I think it ever should have really. I listen to it and enjoy it but just feel this song never had any business being released, if that makes sense. The only that will top this is if I ever hear something about a goldfish and a ladybug coming out of my car speakers :laugh:

[MikeInNV]

Just like in your dreams 3 years ago, I had to force myself to listen to anything other them this cd. It's like a drug. I finally gave it a 2 week rest but now it's right back in my car. Really next to none of my opinions have changed in the last nearly 2 months. The order and amount I like the songs is the same. I still think watchdevil is well deserved to have been designated bonus track only status. Mable Normand is in my head nearly 24 7.

I'm literally in shock every time cathouse blues starts playing. Never in a thousand years did I think this song would be coming out of my car speakers. Nor do I think it ever should have really. I listen to it and enjoy it but just feel this song never had any business being released, if that makes sense. The only that will top this is if I ever hear something about a goldfish and a ladybug coming out of my car speakers :laugh:

But that happens every time you play "Blue Water." :nod:

[SpyNote]

I still love the album. It's a firm #3 on favorite Stevie albums list. With exception to Bella Donna and The Wild Heart, there are always songs that I can never get into. (Disclaimer: That doesn't mean I hate Stevie Nicks ;) ) On 24 Karat Gold, I've accepted that there are 6 songs that I probably won't listen to ever again. So I've burned a new CD-R and packed away the official CD. This is what now plays for me:


Starshine
The Dealer
Watch Chain
Lady
Belle Fleur
24 Karat Gold
All the Beautiful Worlds
Twisted
Blue Water
She Loves Him Still

[pryderi]

I still love the album. It's a firm #3 on favorite Stevie albums list. With exception to Bella Donna and The Wild Heart, there are always songs that I can never get into. (Disclaimer: That doesn't mean I hate Stevie Nicks ;) ) On 24 Karat Gold, I've accepted that there are 6 songs that I probably won't listen to ever again. So I've burned a new CD-R and packed away the official CD. This is what now plays for me:


Starshine
The Dealer
Watch Chain
Lady
Belle Fleur
24 Karat Gold
All the Beautiful Worlds
Twisted
Blue Water
She Loves Him Still


I like this list.

[StreetAngel86]

I love how us Stevie fans are so different.. I know many don't like the 24karat take on this song and I respect that.. but, for me, Stevie did this song.. well, for me... I love it.. yep. I love it.. my life.. sung once again by my gypsy.


i really did NOT like this song on the first few listens
the MIRAGE version is everything to me

but over the past month+ ... i am obsessed with this song
idk what it is
it's like a depressing lullaby

it does NOT in any respect to me conjure up images of a princess and a knight
if anything, i think it feels kinda stalkerish
like a woman, watching over a man she can't have, whilst he doesn't know

and if she could have this man, she would treat him the best and be faithful to him and only him

i don't relate at all to this song on a personal level
but it just consumes me

[jcalzaretta]

I absolutely love this CD. I don't care for I Don't Care and Carousel. Other than that, I find it near perfect. I love it.

[jwd]

I honestly think it's one of the best albums she's ever done. I'd really love to see her on tour promoting this record. Damn, if it wasn't for that other band she's in, hogging all of her time! Anyone else think that Christine should have just stayed in her English castle a little while longer?!

AND I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH MABEL NORMAND!

HOLLA!!!!!!!!

[MikeInNV]

I honestly think it's one of the best albums she's ever done. I'd really love to see her on tour promoting this record. Damn, if it wasn't for that other band she's in, hogging all of her time! Anyone else think that Christine should have just stayed in her English castle a little while longer?!

AND I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH MABEL NORMAND!

HOLLA!!!!!!!!

You can put me in the camp of people who are happy that Christine is back but think the timing couldn't have been worse. On With the Show should have been the 2013 tour, then this year could have been about a 24KG tour and a new FM album.

[jwd]

You can put me in the camp of people who are happy that Christine is back but think the timing couldn't have been worse. On With the Show should have been the 2013 tour, then this year could have been about a 24KG tour and a new FM album.

Yep, that's how it should've gone down. Timing is everything.

[gssmith]

Over all her best album! Some songs are better then others. If you Were My Love caught me off guard as the second song but it is now one of my favorites! It does work well as second song after all, maybe it just took getting used to? But the lyrics and vocals are just so soothing. It just took longer to really listen to this song.
Blue Water is fantastic too.
Mabel Normand is the one I listen to the most followed by Belle Fluer and 24 karat gold

[Justlikethesea]

I honestly think it's one of the best albums she's ever done. I'd really love to see her on tour promoting this record. Damn, if it wasn't for that other band she's in, hogging all of her time! Anyone else think that Christine should have just stayed in her English castle a little while longer?!

AND I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH MABEL NORMAND!

HOLLA!!!!!!!!

I’m with you with all you’ve said. :nod:

Anyway, I loved the album from the very first moment and I still do. It played in my car nonstop for 3 or 4 weeks and accompanied me to work every day. Then I gave it a break and listened to many of the On With The Tour Show recordings.

The songs, I loved most from the very beginning, are still my favorites (Mabel Normand, Hard Advice, Twisted).
Blue Water, that I really disliked, has grown on me in a certain way. I still prefer the demo, but I now can listen to the song and appreciate it for what it is. I can part if from the demo so to say, I hope you understand what I try to explain.

There is one song, I totally changed my opinion about, and that is IYWML. In the beginning I found it too long, a little bit boring and going nowhere. Then, one evening after a long hard day, I drove home from work. It was late, dark and a little bit misty. I turned on my cd player (random mode) and IYWML started. And suddenly the song caught me. Stevies sad and vulnerable singing touched me very deeply. The magic of this song, which was hidden from me, was finally revealed. Since that day I really love it.

[gssmith]

There is one song, I totally changed my opinion about, and that is IYWML. In the beginning I found it too long, a little bit boring and going nowhere. Then, one evening after a long hard day, I drove home from work. It was late, dark and a little bit misty. I turned on my cd player (random mode) and IYWML started. And suddenly the song caught me. Stevies sad and vulnerable singing touched me very deeply. The magic of this song, which was hidden from me, was finally revealed. Since that day I really love it.

It would be perfect at the end of a long hard misty day. It grew on me too. My favorite now. Very vulnerable.

[MoonSister75]

There is one song, I totally changed my opinion about, and that is IYWML. In the beginning I found it too long, a little bit boring and going nowhere. Then, one evening after a long hard day, I drove home from work. It was late, dark and a little bit misty. I turned on my cd player (random mode) and IYWML started. And suddenly the song caught me. Stevies sad and vulnerable singing touched me very deeply. The magic of this song, which was hidden from me, was finally revealed. Since that day I really love it.

It would be perfect at the end of a long hard misty day. It grew on me too. My favorite now. Very vulnerable.


I agree with the comments about IYWML. I wasn't struck by it at first. I love the mirage demo and the 24KG version seemed bland in comparison. Then I was listening to it in the car one day, and it must have suited my mood, and it sounded just perfect. I now love it as much as the demo - great to have 2 very different versions. I love it when a song doesn't click as first, and then later, as you say, the magic of it is revealed.

Its in my top 4 from 24KG along with Mabel Normand, 24 Karat Gold and Twisted

"with our crosses to bear and our dreams that still live on...." I love that line in particular, and had it stuck in my head for days on end :)

[KarmaContestant]

Just today, 24 Karat Gold went back in the car stereo. I can't get enough of Mabel Normand, Twisted, 24 Karat Gold, Belle Fleur, Watch Chain, Hard Advice, Blue Water - all of it.

Those first four I listed might be the single best foursome of Stevie songs to ever be sequenced together.

It's not the only thing I'm listening to repeatedly right now, but it definitely has longevity, and the songs are in my head all the time.

[Frankenstein]

I still love the album just as much, probably more, as when I first got it. The songs I thought were just ok (Belle Fleur, Blue Water, Carousel to name a few) have really grown on me. Hard Advice and I Don't Care are the weakest links for me. I do listen to the former a lot despite its cheesy self indulgence, but I tend to skip I Don't Care. It's not BAD, it's just... I don't know. She Loves Him Still and Cathouse Blues are also super corny but still enjoyable. Anyway, it's still in my top 3 for sure. The thing that's interesting about this record is that these are songs that many of us have listened to for years- yet hearing them newly recorded with older Stevie somehow makes them brand new to me. It's a great fusion of the past and present... if that makes sense.

[vivfox]

The thing that's interesting about this record is that these are songs that many of us have listened to for years- yet hearing them newly recorded with older Stevie somehow makes them brand new to me. It's a great fusion of the past and present... if that makes sense.

It makes perfect sense to me. I love this record!

[PenguinHead]

I now love it as much as the demo - great to have 2 very different versions. I love it when a song doesn't click as first, and then later, as you say, the magic of it is revealed.


That is exactly why I value and appreciate the format of an album. It allows the possibility for songs to grow on you. Snap judgments based purely on instant gratification denies you of the opportunity to discover things in which you ultimately find value.

If you shop for music on sites like iTunes, where you can sample songs from an album, and buy only the songs that immediately resonate with you, you're are really missing the point of the product, and the integrity of the work as a whole. It's like ripping select pages out of a book or scenes out of a movie because of your own personal preferences in that moment.

Tusk is a great example. It was a challenging album because it was so jarringly different from the brand of music established from the two prior albums. It was disappointing to many fans. I didn't reject the album, but I was intrigued by it. It took many years before I started to understand it, and appreciate the artistic statement Lindsey set out to achieve. Then eventually, amazingly, over time the typical unfavorable analysis of the album turned upside down into a positive. Tusk is just like The Beatles' White Album - misunderstood in its time, but now lauded, in context, for its bold creativity and diversity.

[secret love]

12 weeks out from its initial release, give or take a few:

How are we all liking (or not) 24 Karat Gold LP?

Myself, the faves have gots to be:
- Mabel Normand (sorry -- I am a bit ashamed at my selfishness because I used to think that it was total fluff and a bit naff).

- Another thing, called, what's it?

- Belle Fleur

grew on me

Also:
-The Dealer
-Starshine
- 24 Karat Gold
- Lady
- She Loves Him Still
- Hard Advice
-All the Beautiful Worlds
- Did I mention, I Don't Care?

By the way, it became clear to me quite some time ago that there was and is a Leaker on the Ledge.

Not sure who.

But, it wasn't and still isn't me.
The multi-tracks from the 2013-year Tour were and still are LEAKING out of the band and back into the free market economies (neoliberal supply/demand kind of theory of marketing)

You leak a steady supply and people start to jump on the HOOK/BRIDGE of the songs.

Just so you all know, I have no band-affiliation other than fan-loyalty.

But, I have my suspects square:
FM77
Elle
Michele
NOT Penguin so much
louielouie2000

Basically, anyway who has an "Admin" or "Supporting Ledgie" tag pays money for the privilege and as such, can and will influence the shape of the fanbases's discussion.

These top of the tree payers have a monopoly on the supply of band information and most probably, as is obvious,
work for http://www.fleetwoodmacnews.com (CNN -- I think? Not sure...maybe it is privately owned and operated but just slightly off-left/democratic)

:cool:

I am an Angel Face.
Don't judge: but, here goes nothing on an ALBUM LEAK from public record information:

-My Mothers' Rings
- Carousel (gone over to 24K)
- Angels' Song/Reprise of Touched by an Angel with the Fleetwood Mac band name
- Too Far Gone
- Red Sun
- Carnival Begin
- Lay Down for Free (-> over to solo Liddy Buck, 5 years old)
- Say You Can -->is the Liddy Buck equivalent Down on Rodeo overdubbed/renamed Lay Down For Free. From memory. Memory is a bit old but)
:thumbsup:
- We are in a position now to throw out the crumbs of the tracklisting, mates/Ledgies:


1. Down on Rodeo
2.
3. Lay Down for Free (slated for solo release ---pending approvals)
4. Deep Dense /Funny Kind of Love
5. Too Far Gone
6. How I Feel
7. My Mothers' Rings
8. Without You (GONE OUT ON EXTENDED PLAY)
9. Angels (Touched by an Angel -- reprised?)
10. Space Needle
11. Julia
12. What had Rock and Roll Ever done for You?
13. Christine track (already leaked from her last solo release In The Meantime -- check YouTube)
14. Lindsey track (Hunger)
15. Watch Chain GONE SOLO
16. Joan of Arc
17. Sleep/Ballad song from Christine McVie
Bonus Tracks
18. Blank
19. Blank
20. Carnival Begin

So
By the way, there are due to be 4 Extended Plays
Split into TWO albums ....anyway...it is a bullish speculation for now

Come back and see what the band are doing in SIX MONTHS then, ONE YEAR

[PenguinHead]

12 weeks out from its initial release, give or take a few:

-My Mothers' Rings
- Carousel (gone over to 24K)
- Angels' Song/Reprise of Touched by an Angel with the Fleetwood Mac band name
- Too Far Gone
- Red Sun
- Carnival Begin
- Lay Down for Free (-> over to solo Liddy Buck, 5 years old)
- Say You Can -->is the Liddy Buck equivalent Down on Rodeo overdubbed/renamed Lay Down For Free. From memory. Memory is a bit old but)
:thumbsup:
- We are in a position now to throw out the crumbs of the tracklisting, mates/Ledgies:


1. Down on Rodeo
2.
3. Lay Down for Free (slated for solo release ---pending approvals)
4. Deep Dense /Funny Kind of Love
5. Too Far Gone
6. How I Feel
7. My Mothers' Rings
8. Without You (GONE OUT ON EXTENDED PLAY)
9. Angels (Touched by an Angel -- reprised?)
10. Space Needle
11. Julia
12. What had Rock and Roll Ever done for You?
13. Christine track (already leaked from her last solo release In The Meantime -- check YouTube)
14. Lindsey track (Hunger)
15. Watch Chain GONE SOLO
16. Joan of Arc
17. Sleep/Ballad song from Christine McVie
Bonus Tracks
18. Blank
19. Blank
20. Carnival Begin

So
By the way, there are due to be 4 Extended Plays
Split into TWO albums ....anyway...it is a bullish speculation for now

Come back and see what the band are doing in SIX MONTHS then, ONE YEAR

Secret Love, your meandering, perplexing post is difficult to digest, but presents some intriguing information. Dare I ask if there are credentials to confirm this info? Who are the "We" in "[I] We are in a position now to throw out the crumbs of the tracklisting, mates/Ledgies: "?

[markolas]

Remember, kids...meth kills.

[Macfanforever]

After a good happy note from my doctors visit I went across the street to the Westfield Mall and do some Christmas shopping.

OK .Those of you that re still looking for Stevie's 24K vinyl.

Go check out your FYE store.If you have one in your area.They have it for $10.00 more then WB music was selling it before.

I picked one up today from there.The store is will stock with her 24K CD too.Also they have a good collection of her other CDs there along with FM CD's and DVDs.

Thats good the vinyl is still out there that who still needs it.

Also got a copy of Through-Looking-Glass DVD there too.

http://www.amazon.com/Stevie-Nicks-Through-Looking-Glass/dp/B00B81NPPM

Some of the Ledgie comments here.

http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=51832

[blonde]

As much as I love stevie and I loved the demos I truely have to admit I have listened to the album over and over just like her last solo with secret love and I have to be honest when I say I have not been so in love with anything since trouble in shangarla. I feel for me that was one of her best solo projects in yrs it was awesome and since then I have not been impressed and it saddens me to say this because I obviously am a fan but i wish on this last solo album she would of Maybe choosen some classic demos like mistaken love or Ohh baby it was just like I tried and could not connect with her last two solo albums since Tisa. I know this is not what people want to hear but I think it's good to be honest as well about our favorites of stevie, so please don't kill me:shrug:

[wheart]

I honestly think it's one of the best albums she's ever done. I'd really love to see her on tour promoting this record. Damn, if it wasn't for that other band she's in, hogging all of her time! Anyone else think that Christine should have just stayed in her English castle a little while longer?!

AND I'M STILL IN LOVE WITH MABEL NORMAND!

HOLLA!!!!!!!!

Mabel Normand is currently my favorite track from 24 K! I don't ever hearing the demo but at this point it doesn't matter. This song is amazing. The only problem I have is that her voice seems to be mixed differently throughout the song. In the beginning her voice is very up front but towards the end it sounds, at least to me, a lot further back and she's slightly drowned out by the guitars. This was most likely done intentionally but I find it annoying. Anyone else notice this?

[editme2]

After two months, I still listen to 24 Karat Gold every day. I love it and think it's one of her best solo efforts. She sounds incredible on each and every song. The production is perfect. To me, there's not a dud in the bunch. Yes, I occasionally skip over "If You Were My Love" and "Hard Advice," but those songs are by no means bad. I absolutely love the title track and "Mabel Normand," "Blue Water," "Belle Fleur," "The Dealer," and "She Loves Him Still." All in all, it's a fantastic effort from Stevie. She should be extremely proud.

Happy Holidays!

[pryderi]

Totally agree. it still blares in my car. no other cd in the car. the songs are a breath of fresh air. interesting I have two people hooked on all the beautiful worlds. my brother loves track 3 to 8.

[The Juggler]

Top 3:

1. If You Were My Love
2. All The Beautiful Worlds
3. Starshine

Bottom 3:

3. Blue Water
2. Twisted
1. I Don't Care (about 3 minutes too long)

[PenguinHead]

After two months, I still listen to 24 Karat Gold every day. I love it and think it's one of her best solo efforts. She sounds incredible on each and every song. The production is perfect. To me, there's not a dud in the bunch. Yes, I occasionally skip over "If You Were My Love" and "Hard Advice," but those songs are by no means bad. I absolutely love the title track and "Mabel Normand," "Blue Water," "Belle Fleur," "The Dealer," and "She Loves Him Still." All in all, it's a fantastic effort from Stevie. She should be extremely proud.

Happy Holidays!

I support your statements. The other night I put the CD in my computer and listened to the whole album on my headphones. What a ride! It just reinforced my love for the album and Stevie It's an amazing body of work, distinctive because of the different way it was recorded.

I believe that so many self-professed Stevie fans see this work a disappointment, and dismiss it whole hardheartedly because they have a narrow ideal of her. This album holds no value to them because of its unexpected approach. Fickle fans they are; their loss, our gain!