Like or Dislike: Beauty & the Beast
 

This is, without a doubt, one of my favorite Stevie songs. Ever. It is stunning. Her words, the music, that VOICE!!! I can't understand how so many people say "it's OK." OK? :eek: OK?!?! It's unf*ckingbelievable!

She pours her heart & soul out in this vocal performance. The music is hauntingly beautiful, my heart skips a beat when I hear it. I have literally been brought to tears many times with this song, and I honestly can't say that about any other Stevie solo tunes. I love every word, but if I had to pick favorites:

"Oh who is the beauty...who the beast
Would you die of grieving when I leave
Two children too blind to see
I would fall in your shadow...I believe"

I'm listening to the live version from LA 7-26 right now & I'm getting chills. I will never, ever forget that first night in Vegas Tues 5-10 when I realized she was doing this instead of HAEWAFY. I actually said "oh my God" out loud when she walked out in that cloak. And the singing? Sheebus. :shocked: I have to go & watch my vid from Wed 5-11 again when I get home...

I must say that this song was never one that I loved live before this tour. The album version is just so perfect, IMO, and it was never really matched (at least on the boots I have.) I never would have longed for it to be back in the setlist. But I'm so glad she decided to do it, because it blew me away. :nod: She put everything she had into it.

did you post the video here?

I love this song. I never really listened to it that much or appreciated it until she did it on tour. That's when I totally fell in love with it.

Probably my favorite song off of TWH. I love everything - the production, the strings, lyrics, Stevie's delivery. Favorite lines: "Timeless is the creature who is wise/And timeless is the prisoner in disguise" and "My love is a man who's not been tamed/Oh, my love lives in a world of false pleasure and pain."

This song is definitely one of her best, both lyrically and vocally. It sounds even better today, which is a rarity for her songs IMO.

This song is one of my favorites out of all of Stevie's songs--that is the main reason I was so thrilled she brought it back to her tour this year. Interesting though how we feel about songs...my cousin likes Stevie, but isn't totally into her or anything like me--and he thinks BATB is just plain boring.. I don't understand how ANYONE could feel that way about this masterpiece of a song, but to each his own I guess.

Everything about BATB is fantastic to me..the lyrics, her voice (then and now), the incredible music--everything

Chris

I gave it the second highest rating. I like it, but not as much as everyone else seems to. There is a master reel version that I LOVE. It's a simpler piano version and it is absolutely beautiful.

BATB is one of only 3 songs that save TWH, imho. I've always liked it, but the live performances this past year have really bumped it into my top 10... :nod:

oh how can I describe my love for this song. it is like a shakespeare play to me...so many depths and layers and it is simply perfection to my ears. I will never ever forget the Vegas performance of this song.

B&B
 

Absolutely LOVE LOVE LOVE it, most LIVE, but also love the studio version.
Don't care for the fast, kind of "Country" style demo version...It is a wonderful song to sing, and it demands such voice control and power and passion, no wonder she brought it BACK to the live shows!

Love LOVE it!~Barbara

Love it! It's one of her epic songs that grabs ahold of you and doesn't let go.


My personal favorite version is the Red Rocks '86 live/retouched version. Her voice is so raw and emotional in it. I just picture the whole venue in my head, with the fire....and the rocks with shadows......gives me chills. I love how the editing has all the crowds screams and yells....and they slowly fade when Stevie begins to sing. LOVE IT!


As for the WH version, I can barely listen to it now, without wanting to pop a live version in the cd player in it's place. This tour rebirthed the song, that was almost forgotten.....I'm glad it's back in the spotlight.

A perfect ending to a great album.

This song breaks my heart everytime I hear it, and always makes me think of a dear friend whose beauty I almost lost.

Beauty and the Beast - where do I even begin (I'll try to make this one short guys). For the longest time before I became a die-hard the only Stevie solo album I had was Timespace and I would only listen to the 3 songs I knew and loved plus BATB. I kind of forgot about it for a while until I became a hardcore fan and that's when I really fell in love with it.

If there is a song that is a masterpiece it is this and not just a Stevie song - any song. The vocals are stunning and haunting. We see so many sides of the singer in the song, as if she's actually changing as a person while singing it. It's a deeply personal song for her and can feel her pain. It's one of the few songs that can bring me to tears each and every time I hear it. The harmonies with the girls are stunning! My favorite from Lori and Sharon. When I hear them in this song I say "there are those angels" because they seriously sound like angels. The orchestra in this song is amazing and so is the whole story about how it was recorded is really touching.

Musically, lyrically, and performance wise it is a perfect 10. It is probably my favorite ballad of all time. I love ALL of the live versions and practically died as I stood in front of her and she did this song (and it was a complete surprise!). I think it is her best song live. It's as if she is in another world when she sings it. So incredibly moving to hear it live as if she's pouring out her soul to us, especially back in the day when she was obviously in a lot of pain. I am so glad she brought it back and that people have fallen in love with it that may not have loved it before. I was in love with it way before she did it on this tour. I could go on and on about how much this song moves me and how much it means to me but you get the picture.

So much for short.

~~~~~
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~

:lol: :lol: :xoxo:

it only gets 3 ~~~ from me. It was my least favorite song at my show in Cleveland and Im so sick about hearing how great this song is this tour, and how its her best perfromance in ages, and thank god its back in the spotlight. Im so sick of BATB.

Yeah, back in May. A couple of Ledgies put it up on their websites for me.



:D

Meh. Not a favorite. Her live performances of it are stellar, but I'm not a fan of the song in general. Too melodramatic, and that says a lot for Miss Nicks. One of only two songs I dislike on The Wild Heart. It's one of those songs that you play for non-Stevie fans and then get laughed at. Especially when she starts croaking about "le bete" at the end.

i found some others you posted in may on the ledge...but not batb...thats ok...i will live...i guess :shrug:

I think I still have it at home. I'll attempt to look for it. It was a great recording. :)

Dissy was that you who gave me beloved BATB one ~? How coud anyone possibly give this masterpiece a one? Identify yourself! I'm going to have to punch you now! :lol: (kidding of course).

I admit that I never used to be a fan of this song. I didn't dislike it but I didn't really like it either. That all changed in Vegas on May 10th. I was totally stunned by her perfomance of BATB and now I love the song, epsecially the live versions from this tour. Nothing will top the May 10th performance though. I was just so surprised and awed by it.

it got 5 ~'s for me
my second favorite stevie song of all time

Great song.....great live....awesome this tour

That is soooo true. It was the penultimate. (I just found out that word means something kind of different than I thought it did. This is how I hear most people use it, though. )
As for the song. It took me awhile, when I got Timespace, to even listen to it, because I didn't like the beginning notes.
But, when I finally did, I was astounded at the vocal. It's a bizarre tour de force.
I like it quite a bit. I don't listen to it that much, though. It takes patience, and a certain mood.
It's fun to sing.
It's slow yet wonderful and excessively dramatic and intense.
I love the waveryness of her voice on the long notes (not to mention the harmony) and I love her croaky pain vocalization at the end. I gave it four. :)

I gave it ~~~~~ but I prefer a live version I downloaded from 8.10.89. I can't listen to this song when I'm in a good mood because it depresses me.

5 ~'s. Absolute perfection, a stunning delivery, near the end I usually find myself in tears. And Paul Buckmaster's string arrangment is to die for. He also did an outstanding job on some of those '70s Elton John solo albums.

Out of curiousity - what's your favorite?

Paula did I write enough for this one? ;)

4~~

Before my last show I would have given it less; but I really felt it on that last show. Her delivery was flawless, and she put all her emotion into it.

Yup. :nod: And as usual, I agreed with everything you posted.

I put 5 stars for this one. I grew up with the Rock a Little video and this song never bored me. I have always liked the vocals. And to finally get to see the song live this year was great. I love it.

Hi, this is my first post - i alway skipped b&b until I heard the vegas version this year - she does the song so much more justice now, i am starting to appreciate the original version more - but live it is incredible
:wavey:

Hi and welcome Forgotten Chimp! :wavey: I agree about the live version of BATB we heard this year. I already liked a lot the song but the way she sung it in Vegas made it the catalyzer of new and much deeper emotions for me.

Romy

What can I say :shrug: Perfection!

Welcome to the board :wavey: I believe you were being summons to post in the chit chat board by the other forgottenchimp.

And that would be me! :laugh: Yeah, see, I really thought the other forgotten_chimp was a troll like myself but it looks like he or she is a real person. Can't say the same for myself. Well, I mean, I'm a real person typing but...never mind. I'm confusing myself with this. :shocked:

EDIT: And about "Beauty and the Beast." I was really touched by it initially but I think I've just gotten tired of it. I think it's probably my least favorite song on WH, but that's not really an insult because WH is such a great album.

gorgeous song :nod: ~

Awww look at the dog in your avatar! (The Yorkie, not Stevie ;)) I have one just like it but cuter. I wonder if that's Salamuth or Sara Bella Donna.

Does anyone else think BATB is the most beautiful ballad of all time or is that taking it a bit far? (and I'm obvsiously slightly biased since it's a Stevie song)