The Wild Heart... what is the big deal with this CD?
 

No matter how much I try I just can't get into this record. It seems like a strong album but I just don't have the same passion for the songs that I do with other Stevie albums. I know this is a lot of people's favorite Stevie record, so I feel kind of left out. Is there some secret that I'm not in on? This album just does nothing for me. All the songs seem to be strong, but not special. Most of her other albums have a couple of horrible tracks but I prefer those to a mundane song like Gate and Garden because they have a much stronger personality. Just thought I would share some thoughts and see what other people's opinions are on this album.

Uh oh. :sorry: :xoxo:

One man's trash is another man's treasure, as they say! So, why do you love this album or in this case that song? This is the one Stevie album I never pop into my stereo, it just doesn't grab my attention.

But then again, I still am not a big fan of a lot of the songs on Tusk, namely Lindsey's! So I guess I just have odd taste.

i looove G&G too, how dare you bash it :mad: ...

title track: could there be better lyrics?
if anyone falls: fun song, fun to sing... maybe you should try singing this one in the shower...
G&G: you should love this song because we do ;)
enchanted: this song just ramps me up, total goodness
nightbird: fun to sing the harmonies, great SNL performance
stand back: the best song ever... i mean evah...
IWRTY: ok, not the best song... at least it's not as overplayed as SDMHA
nothing ever changes: "you know it doesn't!" oh but it does, it does rock!
sable on blond: diss likes it, how can anyone else not?
BATB: riveting and blissful, so much to love

i think i like it so much right now because it's not BD, which will always be my favorite. even the faves need a night off here and there...

Wild Heart..
 

Wild Heart..the song..has such powerful lyrics! I mean they are so amazing and intense. Her vocal on that song gives me chills too. I love this song with a passion.

Enchanted..not my favorite song but I do like it alot and live she seems to really enjoy the song. Fun melody and catchy lyrics.

IWRTY...nice harmonies but not really a fave.

Stand Back..need I say more?

Gate and Garden..probably my least favorite song on the album.

Nightbird..one of my top five favorite songs. If you do not hear the heartbreak in these lyrics and in her voice, well then I do not know what to say. This song offers a powerful insight into the despair Stevie was feeling at that time in her life and the sense of loss that was overwhelming her. She is begging for some comfort.."and when I call will you walk gently through my shadow"...One of her best songs ever.
Beauty and the Beast...this is not one of my most favorite songs but I love the music and the orchestra. I love the vocal. Not a fan of the whole concept of the song with Mick and all but I do think the song is pure Stevie and the music cannot be beat.

Bella Donna, Wild Heart and TISL are the best Stevie allubms in my opinion. Right now TISL is probably my favorite.

Oh and Christopher? Tusk is brilliance. You should listen to the whole album and not just the Stevie tracks. When you put it all together, and listen to it from front to back, it can just blow you away. I love almost every song on the album, particularly SnL's. I think the only song I am not crazy about is Not That Funny..although even that has some lyrics I find compelling. No matter how many times I listen to Honey Hi into Beautiful Child, I am continually amazed at the incredible harmonies on this album. Honey Hi has simply stunning harmonies. Lindsey's harmonies on BC are to die for and pretty much perfect. Everything about the album from the production, to the arranging, to the vocals, to the lyrics, to the instrumentation, to the layering is pure genius. Artistically it cannot be beat and I hope you eventually learn to appreciate the signficance of the album and learn to enjoy Lindsey's songs as well. The contrast between his and Stevie's songs is key for me.

I'm not a HUGE fan of The Wild Heart, but I remember I was so excited when it came out, so listening to it now reminds me of being 15(ish) and jamming to the cassette back in (83? 84?)!

Nightbird has always been one of my favorite songs- "cause I wear boots all summer long" really appealed to me at the time! :)

And Beauty and the Beast is absolute perfection to me.

Well I love all of Stevie's songs on Tusk and all of Christine's. I do love the title track, the ledge, and IKINW (mainly because it brings back memories of the SYW tour- that song was really fun on the last leg of the tour, so ever since I heard IKINW live I love it). I don't like Not the Funny because I find it too loud. And Save Me a Place is a tad boring to my ears. Walk a thin line is okay... I just don't buy that Lindsey is the end all be all of Fleetwood Mac because I find Stevie and Christine much more enjoyable. It bothers me whenever someone on these boards says that Lindsey is a genius and Stevie is just a twirling fairy. I think she is a genius also even if her songs aren't as "out there". :woohoo:

Her songs are definately "out there".....in a different sense than Lindsey's. Lindsey's songs have Turette's and Stevie's song are like art gallery paintings....you look at it and like it, but still you are like "What the hell does that mean?"

TWH is tied with TISL as my second favorite Stevie album. (Bella Donna is first).

"Nightbird" will always be one of my favorite Stevie songs. Lovely melody and the chorus is haunting. I absolutely adore "Beauty and the Beast." ( :wavey: Diss). I love the strings, and if I'm in the right mood, it can move me to tears. "Sable on Blond" is her best vocal on the album and features some of her best lyrics ever. "Enchanted" has a catchy melody and the lyrics work much better here than on "Destiny," as Hillary said. And "Stand Back" is just 80s greatness.

The rest of the album is okay to me.

I've never really cared for The Wild Heart. Lindsey's 'Tusk' material is another story. I love 'Tusk,' and I love all of Lindsey's songs on it, and I always have.

Anyway...

I only like about half the songs on The Wild Heart (namely, the ones on Enchanted...plus, Enchanted has "Garbo." Why that was left off in favor of pap like "Gate and Garden" is beyond me). I also don't like all the synthesizer/keyboards used on this album. Although, I like RAL and TOSOTM bunches, so maybe it's something else about The Wild Heart I don't like...

Nothing Ever Changes is my favorite Stevie solo song. It just ROCKS so MUCH. Sable on Blonde is up there too,top 10 for sure. The rest of the album doesnt measure up quite as much. Gate and Garden is great, and Nightbird is wonderful, but I can;t STAND If ANyone Falls and this Stand BAck doesn't compare to the LIB version or any live version for that matter. IWRTY is great. But I think im in the minority in liking Destiny far better then Enchanted.

I like it, not as much as TISL or Belladonna, but I find it passionate and nostalgic. :nod:

Romy

The Wild Heart is my favorite Stevie album. Period. All these years later, I still listen to it regularly. And now that I've reached (and passed - WAH!!!) the age Stevie was when she recorded it, I appreciate and understand it so much more.

It was the first Stevie/Mac album I synched up to -- meaning, I got BD almost 2 years late, and Mirage almost a year late (thanks Santa!). I hounded the poor guy at the record store from the moment I heard TWH was coming, and was at the door before he opened on the morning it was released. Then TWH tour several months later (after my town was hit nearly head-on by Hurricane Alicia) was my first-ever concert experience.

As far as the BD/TWH comparisons, I don't think they're really fair. BD was the culmination of years and years of songwriting -- you've got stuff written all thru the '70s, worked on by the Mac, rearranged, worked on again, etc. TWH seems to be much more a "moment in time" body of work, even though BATB was worked on by the Mac too.

Also, consider Stevie's life at the time. She'd had a huge #1 solo album that, according to her, none of the members of her band even acknowledged. And that after being on a year-plus long tour/drug binge with them for Tusk. Then, she cuts short her own wave of success to rejoin the group for Mirage. And just as that album and tour really get going, her best friend dies of Leukemia. Then she marries Robin's widower (...enough said...).

And that's just the Mac side of things. Factor in the influences of Don Henley, Jimmy Iovine, and Tom Petty & crew, against the music business which was in upheaval due to the "new" little cable channel called MTV and all the new British synth-pop bands that were making a major dent in the "'70s Rock" music format.

The way I think of TWH is the sound of a woman being pulled in a million different directions: under the influence of drugs, unfulfilling relationships (for whatever reasons), death, and last (but not least) ungodly amounts of wealth generated by her work. Few people take her seriously, critics repeatedly slam her for both her music and her changing 30-year old body (again, for many reasons), and now she has to add videos to her music and be beautiful and sexy every second of every day.

And the result? A wild, fun, somewhat uneven album where she's trying to mesh all these influences together. And still have fun and be crazy and be in love and work hard to keep everybody happy and making money, all at the same time.

And that's where I think the album cover emerged -- a woman covered in black dread and insecurity (the antithesis to BD's white innocence) being pulled apart by all these forces.

Whew. I guess all that's left to say is, "Dare my wild heart..."

And one other quick thing...

Your title says "...what is the big deal with this CD?". The Wild Heart sounds HORRIBLE on CD - all the atmosphere and soul seemed stripped away. If you have access to a turntable and vinyl copy, perhaps you will enjoy it a little more by listening to it that way (and very loudly if possible).

The title song is the best example. On vinyl, the opening chords and following snare beats rumble and groan -- " *BOOM*-(rumble)- *snap.snap* "... When it was mastered to CD, it ended up coming out " *THUD*-(silence)-*tick.tick*" And Stevie's vocals on the CD almost sound like a completely different person, at least to me.

I don't know any other way to explain it, but there really is a difference, throughout the whole album. :laugh:

Love it too, though it sounds a lot more dated than Bella Donna because of the heavy use of synths (take a bow, Sandy Stewart). That's something I always have to try to overlook when listening to the album.

The problem with this CD is the sound quality. It is true that it ACTUALLY sounds better on vinyl, but hopefully Stevie gets the urge soon to remaster (and possibly remix) her earlier albums. I used to listen to it a lot, but I quit because I couldn't stand the crappy sound quality. SO, the album itself is great. The only songs i don't like are "I Will Run To You", and "Nothing Ever Changes". The title track, "If Anyone Falls" and "Stand Back" are awesome!

:xoxo: Well said my friend!!!! I totally agree. Nothing beats WH!

Don't worry, I don't love Wild Heart either, although it does contain my fave song. (one of). But I guess I like the last half fairly well, starting with Enchanted. But I like about the same amount on all Stevie's solo records, so I don't know that Wild Heart is really an exception. I think it hasn't totally had the chance to grow on me, I've only had it 8 months or so. To me, so far, the solo album I've listened to most consistently all the way through is OSOTM. :shrug: Though there are some on there I don't like, as well. Not sure what it is about Wild Heart - I think a lot of the songs are dull to me - slow and meandering. :shrug: Weird.

I love the 'Wild Heart' record...the songs are, as Stevie says, 'wild.' I don't know how else to explain it. My favourite song is 'The Wild Heart' ~ the music, the lyrics, the way Stevie sings it...the harmonies of her, Sharon and Lori ~ it's just really wild, really beautiful. :angel:

The Wild Heart is the best Stevie album without a doubt.

It's just filled with passion, joy and so much energy. It's just a rush to listen to it. It's epic and lush and I still love it. I also think it's the last album where Stevie's voice was truly breathtaking, it sort of went downhill after that (although it's improved in recent years).

Whoever said it sounds better on vinyl is right, although I think Bella Donna does too.

The Wild Heart is mundane? Aren't you in love with My Heart? :o

:nod::nod::nod:

With the exception of the awful Beauty and the Beast, I think it's my favorite Stevie album. You could tell her voice was starting to deteriorate, yet it sounded better than ever; she hit some of the highest notes of her career on The Wild Heart. Most of the songs on it are amongst my favorite songs from her. It's a very warm album and I think it's her real gem.

:laugh:

It's fabulous. So lush and so beautiful.

To me, Wild Heart really hasn't "stood the test of time", with the exception of two songs..."Sable On Blond" & "Beauty & The Beast". The rest of the album sounds either EXTREMELY dated or a redundancy to Bella Donna. "Stand Back" sounds really weak on this, whereas the live punch of the Fleetwood Mac reading of the song has kicked it up a few "Emeril notches".

I really liked it when it was released, but I rarely play it now...except to listen to the two aforementioned tunes.

I agree with trackaghost. I remember what a rush this album was because it was so vocally confident & rapturous. If you first heard that title track when it was new, you had never heard anything like that vocal from Stevie Nicks. (You already had poignant hints of it on the Fleetwood Mac tour that happened bfore "The Wild Heart.") Stevie was spreading her wings & flying on the newfound confidence of having scored with "Bella Donna" & her fans were flying along with her. They played "Stand Back" on the radio just before Stevie's appearance at the US Festival, & the Macheads all wanted to go to that US Festival to see her. There really was electricity in the air, & it carried through the summer as we all got to see her solo, playing cavernous sports arenas (for essentially the first time by herself). Jim Ladd "innerviewed" her that summer & a lot of us Macheads went down to KMET to camp out & wait for her. The whole shebang was in love with Stevie Nicks -- she said in interviews back then that "My audiences & I are all in love," & it was true!

In more specific terms, the album has a lot of the flaws that her solo albums all have: in terms of instrumentation, arrangement & production, it's mainstream & mundane. I can't think of a single work by the L.A. studio session scene that has left any important mark musically as an aesthetic milestone. Rock & roll is a band scene, not a hire-guys-for-their-chops scene.

The real beauty of "The Wild Heart" is Stevie's singing. Her songwriting is pretty wild, too, & appealing because if you're still 33 years old & you look like a million bucks in your chiffon & custom plats, your incoherent, weird, feverish fantasies & schoolgirl ideas of mysticism actually hit home pretty powerfully.

BAM

:D :D :D

I love this entire album but I still wouldn't say its her best or my favorite. Gate and Garden is one of my favorite tracks on it primarily for its ending vocals, both Stevie's and the back up singers'. There's something so very sexy about her cooing "do I love you? uh huh..." and repeating that until she's belting it out.

Bless you for this - ITA - I was not in Calif. I was about 15 years old and living in Lafayette, Louisiana. People there were camped outside of Raccoon Records, there were really no HMV's then :lazugh: - the night before to get this record. That is how popular she was then. When I got it, I reveled in the high notes she pierced unflinchinly as well as the groovy artwork and romantic undertones. I remember going to NYC with my parents soon thereafter and people were humming Stand Back in the hotel as it was playing over the speakers. I remember her coming in concert and I could not go and me and a few of my friends being HEARTBROKEN after failing to convince out teacher to let us take the test at another time instead of the day after the concert.

I think WH was the end of an era for her and I loved having been able to have lived through that and witnessed it.

Thus, I love the record and take it for what it is. BD is, however, my favorite.

"Gate & Garden" is the BD revisit...well, actually, I think it's the "missing link" between Bella Donna & Rock A Little...it sounds like it could've been on either album. But, then Rock A Little had "Some Become Strangers" which sounds like "Gate & Garden PART TWO" already. :shrug:

Actually, I should've mentioned G&G, too...so, I basically listen to Wild Heart for THREE songs, not just the two I mentioned previously.

Cute. I also love this song (Sable on Blonde) and this album. I guess you sort of have to be a romantic type to like it. Maybe not but that's my gut reaction on this one. And I once had the experience of being so in love with someone that I could not be with and it was "don't blame it on me, blame it on my wild heart". I think I really got it then.

Diss, I also used to hate BATB but I can appreciate it now. I would love to see the Jean Cocteau film that she was inspired by. I love her little demo where she tells the story of seeing this film and then sings the song.

Heeee, I'm not romantic. :P

The Cocteau film is great, I just can't stand the song. I hate when she starts bleating "Where is my beast?" and "Oooh, La Bete," drives me batty. I don't care for it at all and am so glad she doesn't do it live anymore. :laugh:

Everything you just said is so wrong for so many reasons. Bleating Stevie is best! almost as good as screaming Stevie. I consider that song a strange, wonderful, vocal masterpiece. *blllllppbbbbbbtttt*

The big deal about The Wild Heart is that it was Stevie's follow up to Bella Donna, which established her, instantly, as a huge solo act.
Back in 1983 FM radio wasnt the corporate thing it is now, and I remember hearing "Enchanted", "I Will Run To You", "Nightbird", "If Anyone Falls", "Stand Back" and "Nothing Ever Changes" on the radio all the time.
In alot of ways it was more exciting because we heard so much of the album on the radio. And she was on the road for her first extended solo tour. I saw one of the first Wild Heart shows out in the desert with 100,000 other people at the US Festival outside Los Angeles. That was a show I'll never forget.
SO there was certainly alot of exposure with both the tour and the album.

Joseph

I could not have said it any better and am soooooo jealous that you saw the US Festival :cool:

Yes! The rock station in Houston (RIP 97-Rock!) played those, with NEC, SB, and "Enchanted" in heavy rotation. PLUS they sometimes played "Violet and Blue" and "Blue Lamp", and a few times played "Sleeping Angel" on their weekly dedication show. (awwwwww ... :xoxo: )

This was also the station that played the radio show versions of the Bella Donna and Mirage concerts when they originally aired, and then again the weekend before TWH concert as a promo for the show.

Hey, babe, I still have my tee-shirt from that night. It doesn't fit me and is ragged as hell....

The Wild Heart was the zenith of Stevie's voice (HELLO!!! "Enchanted" !!!!!). She never reclaimed its power after that. I directly attribute it to the cigarette smoking.... Idiot!!!