The Other Side of the Mirror
 

Yeah, though I'm a big Stevie Nicks fan, I don't have all of her music. While on a vacation day today, I went to our local outlets. There is a music store there, & they sell a little big of everything. They also sell used CDs. I've never bought a used CD, always been a bit afraid to, but I did today. It said that it was 100% guaranteed & it caught my eye because I didn't own it. It was Stevie's The Other Side of the Mirror. I got it for $2.99! And it's in good shape; I played it today. Didn't jump or anything. Now I have few songs off it anyway on my iPod which I downloaded from the iTunes store. I really like it. I like reading the liner notes & this one surprised me " to Waddy Wachel, always the beauty, never the beast ... (unforgettable...)." Huh?, is she trying to say that Beauty & the Beast is about him? I thought it was about Mick. :shrug: Anyway, thought I got a good deal today. Got one more "studio" album to get & that's "Street Angel".

Lee :)

I'm sure we're all jealous of the fact that there is still undiscovered material for you!!!! :nod:

I went off this album for a while but it's grown on me again. I always loved Rooms On Fire though! Fire Burning is also pretty great...

Good luck with Street Angel. It canbe hard to track down. Well, it was for me in the UK anyway.

I don't think BATB is about Waddy. But she digs the whole BATB story and I'm sure she just uses it as a nice way to say thanks, or to talk about someone, as she does in those notes.

:distress: bah, tell me about it.

Anyway, TOSTM is one of the things that first got me into stevie nicks
that and the dance DVD.

This album is a mistical magickal beautiful thing in it's own right.
Stevie is so honest and her words make me cry like a dingleberry. I love "Doing the Best That I Can" the best, followed by "Rooms on Fire" and "Ew My Love."

Unicorns*~*

You bull****ter!

Come now.

I do think Rooms on Fire is quite good.

Michele

It is .I don't think he is BSing about "Doing the Best That I Can " either.

I like "Rooms on Fire" and the "Doing the Best That I Can" demo. Not a big fan of the album itself though.

Meh.

I assume I'm of a minority opinion here, but 'The Other Side of The Mirror' I'd have to say must be one of my favorite Stevie solo cds, because it's the one I go back to the most- not to play the entire cd, but I really don't do that with any of Stevie's cds...From 'Mirror' there's several songs I never play, but these following, for what, TWENTY years now- are songs that I seem to need in my life: Long Way To Go, Ghosts, Doing The Best That I Can, Cry Wolf, Juliet-- and I know that 'Juliet' isn't even a great song, but something about it, the elated, trippy in-out harmonies of 'the sky is crying' segment-- it's just a good part of being alive. I also can enjoy 'Ooh My Love' and "I Still Miss Someone' and mostly everything on it, except for 'Alice' which I don't hate or anything. The one thud for me is 'Two Kinds of Love' which I just don't like, save for the 'estranged/enraged/engaged' passage which I think was a great passage of lyric writing (too bad about the rest of the song!)
Nothing from 'Mirror' really bugs me- From TISL, 'That Made Me Stronger' just makes me soooo see that she can have such serious taste issues and poor judgement and to totally blow my whole 'TISL' appreciation- there is 'Sorcerer'--
I can somewhat understand the lyric from where she was coming from in the early 70s LA scene, when she was a very young woman, but out of context, on TISL, it bugs me almost to the point of wanting to dismiss her entirely... -- "I'm tired, I'm thirsty", etc...who ya gonna call? SORCERER!"
This to me is clueless, unevolved spirituality-- at age 53, when she finally released it~ I lost respect for her. A lot, actually. Yes, because of the Webster definition of 'sorcerer'.
It was a case, I certainly hope, and think, of her still not knowing what she's singing. "Sorcerer- who is the master"-- SHAME ON YOU, Stevie Nicks, you dumbass! What a spiritually empty lyric to sing out to the world, when taken literally- 'Demon, who is the master'. And I don't think that's what she meant or means by it, but damn it, that's what her f*cking lyric says. Get a clue, lady, about a wrong message. (Besides, the TISL version can't hold a candle to Marilyn Martin's amazing vocal and Jimmy Iovine's epic production from the 'Streets of Fire' soundtrack... (imo, of course)
I actually think 'Street Angel' is no great embarassment, though that's how they tried to sell 'TISL'---but yeah, that 'forgotten chimpanzee' line is...unforgettable.
I'm sorry for this long rant, I try not to do it a lot any more. Maybe no-one can relate to my feelings about 'Sorcerer' being taken literally. It's just irresponsible, imo. When I saw her at Jones Beach a cpl years, third row i think, when she sang the line 'who is the master' I sang as loud as I could "JESUS CHRIST" back to her. She saw me. Heard me. (and I'm a quiet guy, if a loud typist in need of an editor). Vague confusion seemed to register.
No, not mine :)

I can handle this album except for "I Still Miss Someone" - yuck. And I mean yuck.

I do like the majority of the songs.

Still though, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart are tied as far as my favorites go. I just can't seem to get into the later ones.. not sure why. :shrug:

Don't think in such linear terms; Stevie doesn't! She just used that phrase as reference term to describe Waddy. It means no implication about who inspired the song itself.

I don't think he's kidding about any of it, except for the spelling errors.

I know for a fact he collects unicorns.

Michele

Wish I could say the same thing about IAF.

Michele

I would say my favorites are Rooms on Fire, Fire Burning, and I Still Miss Someone. I do like that last one.

Michele

Wow! I appreciate the intensity of your thoughts. But if I was sitting next to you at that concert you screamed out "Jesus Christ" during the song I would have been incrediblely pissed off. Regardless of your issues and beliefs, that's just being publically obnoxious. If that bothered you so much, why not forgo a show in which the singer obviously doesn't get the "message?" Stevie, I believe, is a very spiritual but primarily secular person. Her loose interpretation of the word "Sorcerer" is probably much different than yours and the dictionary's (likely a harmless "mystical vibe." as she might describe it). Give her some slack, and understand that her spirituality clearly isn't your spirituality.

I'm really curious, if one line bothers you so much, how do you get past Stevie's personal life? (Line pun intended.)

"I'm really curious, if one line bothers you so much, how do you get past Stevie's personal life? (Line pun intended.)"- wrote Willow

I don't judge her personal life. From what I know of it, I admire her. She got through a lot.
I couldn't hold up to anyone judging me and my life, either, especially when I was in my 20s.
Liking her for a lifetime happened almost accidentally- as a teen whose 'under my (their) thumb' parents happened- once- to fall asleep early, I was able to channel surf past midnight and came upon Fleetwood Mac on a late nite rock show- In Concert or Midnight Special- and yes, it was 'Rhiannon' and I had the lp and loved it, and to see it live, I couldn't have been more transfixed- amazing band and this singer who was totally amazing, free, full of life, good fire, and a voice and performance level that made me realize life wasn't going to have to be dreary and oppressive. Very exciting stuff for an introverted Connecticut via Prague kid.
Then, as a college freshman, getting a last minute ticket to Fleetwood Mac at the LA Forum for the '82 Mirage concert- was life-changing for me. One of the few really perfect nights of my entire life :) The following year, making it out to the middle of that desert to the US Festival and actually being close to the stage, and she gave a wondrous performance that night- I guess that's what cemented the past 26 years of seeing every tour.
I hate being judgemental and don't like it when I am, and I really do like what the guy in this thread wrote in his reply to me about not taking 'it' literally, in 'Sorcerer'.

"Wow! I appreciate the intensity of your thoughts. But if I was sitting next to you at that concert you screamed out "Jesus Christ" during the song I would have been incrediblely pissed off. Regardless of your issues and beliefs, that's just being publically obnoxious. If that bothered you so much, why not forgo a show in which the singer obviously doesn't get the "message?" Stevie, I believe, is a very spiritual but primarily secular person. Her loose interpretation of the word "Sorcerer" is probably much different than yours and the dictionary's (likely a harmless "mystical vibe." as she might describe it). Give her some slack, and understand that her spirituality clearly isn't your spirituality." wrote PenguinHead

Thanks for that good reply, I agree with you and like the "mystical vibe" take, a lot. I won't and usually don't- shout out at concerts, either. This was the flood show at Jones Beach and there were a fair amount of seats people hadn't taken yet which is why I was able to climb over about 4 rows and have the 'Sorcerer' interaction- as I wrote, I do think Stevie saw and heard me, but noone in the audience noticed me, I think we were all too busy wringing out our socks and trying to get comfortable on the tops of those chairs to notice each other- fairly early on, the floods drained, though the rain and wind continued- the YouTube clips are gorgeous, but boy, it wasn't fun, at the time, being at that show!
Yes, I will give her some slack, I have to! And want to. Thank you for what you wrote. I was expecting a lot of hate over the 'Sorcerer' comments because I realize I can easily be seen as being very contradictory, at the very least.

Hugs and light!
{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{{}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}}

5 points to anyone who remembers who signed her posts that way on the old (like 1993 or so) AOL Ffeetwood Mac/Stevie board.

DEFINITELY one of my favorite albums from Stevie.....still love, love, LOVE "Whole Lotta Trouble!!!"

Well since the song is about the drug scene..... maybe Sorcerer who is master is maybe possibly referring to cocaine??? Cocaine being the demon and master drug??? :shrug:

Oh no! I really like Other Side Of The Mirror but really, really wish she'd left that last track off.

I think the OSOTM was the third stevie album i bought, At first i didn't really get it,
But in comparison to Street Angel its pretty good. I love the whole dream-state it creates, it says alot about the way Stevie was back then.... pretty much toatlly zonked, Sometimes it makes me sleepy (the album).
But Whole Lotta Trouble always wakes me up, It never really sounded like it belonged on this album to me, if only the whole album had been more in this style...
Defintely Love this album, for its magic...

I dig this record. The production hasn't aged all that well and it has the beginnings of the monotone, morose, and a little bit snorty vocal style that Stevie has been singing with ever since. BUT I think Stevie and the girls achieved a sort of pinnacle on TOSOTM as far as vocal/harmony production. It's glossy, rich, unique and beautifully mixed - especially on Ooh My Love, Juliet, Long Way To Go. Love Escape From Berlin!

I like the album, but just don't like what they did to Stevie's voice.

__________________________________________________

David......you like unicorns?

I love unicorns.

Everybody has such different preferences for the sound of one album over another. I sometimes wonder whether our respective sound systems influence what we're hearing. We never take that into consideration, but we should -- even when we're grading live tapes.

Yes, you'll get one thing from a car stereo, something else from the home system and something else using headphones. Many times, someone here will write about some aspect of the song and, if I can identify it or they give a minute/second count, I'll go get my headphones and listen to capture just what they are saying.

I don't listen to the radio much anymore, but when I did, I would always hate how the song would end just when the good part was coming. A lot of times, you get such intensity in the last 30 seconds or so.

It's funny, but until I got online, I never realized that Mirage sounded really bad, until I read posts about people comparing it to the other albums. But that could have been because I listened to Mirage on vinyl for so long and wasn't introduced to it by CD.

Michele

Tell me about it. I used to actually be a Fleetwood Mac fan before I joined The Ledge!

Weren't we all?

My point was that we talk about a lot of things on here and complain about things I didn't as a casual fan. ;)

I wasn't putting you down. But what you say is true really, as a casual fan and then a die-hard fan of any group/singer.

LOL. Well, I don't mean sounded bad, as in being a bad album. I mean people do say it's a bad album too. Heck, Lindsey would say it, but I don't pay attention to that.

I was referring to people saying that Mirage really needs to be remastered. They say you can't really hear it. I didn't notice that before, but listening to the CD I do see the truth in the criticism, as compared to the sound quality of the other cds.

Michele