Is Street Angel really that bad?
 

I've been listening to Street Angel recently and I really don't think it's as terrible as Stevie makes out. I also find it strange how she absolutely loves TOSOTM and hates Street Angel. Yes, it isn't as good as her other albums and that magic isn't there. Also, her vocals seem very quiet and drowned out in the mix which is quite strange. I do think that tracks such as Blue Denim, Love Is Like a River and Destiny are good but yes, there are a few which are boring and lack talent in the lyric department.

HOWEVER. I think Stevie trashes this album more because of how it did commercially and what state she was in at the time. I simply don't think that this album is far worse than TOSOTM, it's not as good but it certainly doesn't deserve the trashing that it's had.

I wonder why she hates it so much? There's a few good songs there.

I think the main reason she hates it is that making it was such a bad experience for her. She clashed with the producer big-time, and then tried to go back and undo what he did with the songs, and finally just decided to put it out even though she wasn't satisfied with it, because the whole thing had taken so long.

There a few songs on it that I like (I love the Enchanted version of "Street Angel" the song), but even they aren't really among her best tracks.

I have made my bestfriend listen to the album and she liked it and couldn't absolutely see why I deemed it the worst. Probably someone that isn't acquainted with Stevie's imagery can't understand.

I don't think it's such an awful album, rather the production is tasteless. The songs are just subpar, so wholly it is a disappointing album.

Had Stevie had more time I'm sure it would have been a good album, during the tour she had again great voice and stage presence.

This. I don't think she thinks the songs are bad, otherwise she wouldn't have included as many as she did on "Enchanted". She was just soured by the whole experience of making the album, and yes, perhaps the fact that it didn't sell well.

I personally don't think it's a BAD album. It's just completely different from anything she did before or after. There aren't any witchy songs. It's the closest thing she's done to a completely alt-country album, with a lot of adult contemporary smattered about. It is the "red headed step child" of her catalog.

I enjoy about 1/3 of the record. I love "Blue Denim", "Greta", "Destiny", "Street Angel" and consider "Docklands" a guilty pleasure.

I tend to think Stevie is dismissive about the album for a couple of reasons:

1) Street Angel was her first solo album to not crack to Top 20 or even 40. It was also her first album to not go Platinum. Street Angel was also her first album which failed to produce a top 40 radio single. Even Behind The Mask had a top 20 debut and a Top 40 single. You see where I'm going with this- for someone who was very used to her albums making a commercial splash, Street Angel was her first flop.

2) Stevie heavily associates the making of the album with her Klonopin use. Unlike when she came out of rehab for cocaine hopeful- she came out of rehab for Klonopin angry. Angry that she'd lost a decade. Angry at the quality and lack of product she'd been releasing. Angry that her star power had greatly diminished. You can hear the indignation in the performances from the Street Angel tour- she came out swinging for each and every show. Talk about some fiery performances! :nod:

I think the fact Stevie has completely disowned the album is a shame, though. To me it's Street Angel, NOT Trouble In Shangri La that was her much needed back to basics rock album. The album where she ditched all of the extraneous layers of production and gimmickry. The album where she didn't really take herself too seriously, and the flowery excesses were left at the door. Street Angel has some really fantastic music on it. Great rock songs like Blue Denim, Listen To The Rain, Love Is Like A River, and Kick It. Gorgeously deep and philosophical songs like the title track. Fun little tunes like Greta. Yes, Street Angel has it's clunkers. Every Stevie album does. I think what sets Street Angel's apart though is just how bad those clunkers are. Is that why it's so reviled among the fan community? I'm still not sure. I think Stevie's personal bias against this album plays a bigger part. And again, I think that's unfortunate. Because there's good stuff here! :)

Yep! And unfortunately her vocals haven't been as passionate on stage SINCE the Street Angel tour! :(

Not to mention that at the time everyone talked about her weight.

I personally love a few songs on the album, namely Blue Denim (although I prefer the single version), and Docklands, while I don't mind some others (original mix of Street Angel and Destiny). I think Stevie constantly trash-talks the album because she was in a bad place when it was made, and didn't have much control over it (like louielouie2000 said)

The only two songs I really don't care for on Street Angel are Destiny and Unconditional Love... Destiny is far too country sounding, and the rhythm sounds weird to me? Considering the Wild Heart demo is one of my very favourite Stevie performances, I don't like it. And Unconditional Love is ruined by the chorus, in my opinion. Other than that, the rest of the album is quite good, even Jane which is beautiful and usually makes me cry but makes others cry for other reasons... ;) I just think it is definitely an important part of her life that she wanted to be told, and was just delivered in a somewhat clunky fashion.

I very much like many of the songs on SA; my main gripes lie with (a) Stevie's vocals, which in my view are among the worst in her career; and (b) the production, which for the most part is just dismal. :sorry:

Yep. She has often said how hard it was to go on that tour and see the looks on people's faces. I can't remember the exact quote but it was something like, "I'd created this image over the years and all of a sudden I was this little fat girl and I would see people's reactions and think, 'Oh I'm so sorry I'm not the Stevie that you used to love'."

Something else she used to say was, "We're all so insecure." Definitely the weight gain played a part as to why she didn't enjoy the Street Angel experience.

Yes. With some poor production choices, uninspired lyrics (I know some of you are fans of "Inspiration" and "God's Garden" but I for one am SOOO glad they didn't make the cut) and album artwork that makes any photoshop novice look like Rembrandt, it's not hard to see why diehard fans were scratching their heads over this one. There wasn't anything remotely resembling "Edge of 17", "Dreams" or even "Rooms On Fire" from just a few years prior.

I think you really hit the nail on the head with that statement. As bad as I think "Cheaper Than Free", "New Orleans", "I Will Run To You", "Wassa Mattah Baby", and "The Second Time" are (again, just my opinion), I would much rather listen to any of them over the 5 or 6 songs that I consider clunkers on "Street Angel".

Again, I don't think SA is a bad record, just simply different for Stevie and definitely different for both the "Stevie fanatic" and the "casual Stevie fan". Honestly, I didn't even know that the record had even come out when it did. I actually didn't know anything about SA until after "The Dance" came out and I decided to go back and collect my favorite Stevie/Mac albums on CD. I remember listening to it on my headphones, sitting on my dorm room floor and trying to be excited about it but just...not.

Everything about Street Angel just seems... dull. The album cover is hideous and uninspired, the lyrics are dull, the music is boring, the vocals are quite lifeless... Where are the epic moments? There are peaks and troughs on every Stevie album, but with Street Angel the "peaks" wouldn't even be an album highlight on most of her albums (OSOTM, I'm side-eyeing you here...) and the bad points are... really incredibly bad.

Blue Denim and Greta are the only songs on Street Angel that I enjoy listening to. Listen To The Rain and Kick It are okay, but still wildly bland. It's such a lost opportunity, especially as her vocals on the SA tour are amazeballs.

Album covers always add to or detract from an album experience to me. Which is sad everything is about downloads now and you really miss out on some wonderful photography or art work. But the SA album cover was so un-Stevie with all that pink, and the matte finish and nothing going on. I saw some outtakes of other shoots around that time which would have really enhanced the look and feel of it.

I loved Greta and a few others when it first came out but it wasn't until Enchanted that I really started listening to the songs from SA. Then I was really surprised to find that there were actually much better mixes on the actual album. Blue Denim had a bunch of different versions and there are a few that are way better than the one on Enchanted. And I've recently fallen in love with the TimeSpace version of Listen To The Rain, which has so much more oomph than the SA version. So if you gather up all the various bits of Street Angel there is a lot of great material there. I think it was just that end of the line way of throwing the pieces she did together to just get it out there that hurt it. I grew to love it a lot more in the following years as I put together the missing pieces.

The photography for the tour book by David LaChappelle was stunning!

In her own words from 1:50 - 5:40. Also interesting is a little snippet at the end regarding a conversation she had with Don Was, and a little pep talk he gave her about her reticence to record another album after "Street Angel" (kind of like the Tom Petty conversation she would have a year later) where she says, "I'm real excited for what's to come, because I'm SO NOT excited about what JUST went by."

Best words to describe it. Blah, lethargic and uninspired.
The album cover matched the music inside.

I LOVE Street Angel and it ranks towards the top of my favorite Stevie solo albums. As others have pointed out Stevie hates the album and thank you to sorcerer who posted the off the record interview that documents the dislike of this album from Stevie. I believe there is a promo in that clip before a commercial that says something like "its almost Christmas but Stevie does not want you to buy and put her latest copy of Street Angel in your stocking." Others have already mentioned the many reasons.....album started with Klonopin then the painful rehab, her weight, and the poor record sales. But most important was her fight with the producer. The release of the album was delayed because of the rehab. When Stevie got out she was able to put the finishing touches on the album. But the producer threw down the law and they butted heads big time. I cant recall if this stuff is on that off the record segment. In a nutshell Stevie claims the producer kept her from changing vocals and other stuff on the record.
Now why do I love this record. I just love how diverse we all are. I can only laugh at some (in a good way) when I read someone hates Street Angel but loves Rock A Little. That stuff blows my mind but its a good thing we all have different tastes, likes and dislikes. Stevie says she is most disappointed with her vocals on this album and I think her vocals are strong and good.

The album starts off with Blue Denim which is a solid song. I like the extended intro version better but its a great song. Loved to hear songs still about Lindsey after all those years. Greta is a fantastic song with amazing lyrics. The drum beat is very catchy and she has a great vocal range in the song. Street Angel is ok. Bringing David Crosby in to sing back up on the song was very very cool! Docklands is a good song, not sure why everyone freaks out over the word laundromat. Listen to the Rain is one of the highlights for me and a real rocker. Stevie is on fire. Destiny is great and adds diversity to the album. Unconditional Love is the low point in this album. Not sure why it was picked to start the second side. Thousand Days or Mirror Mirror (which were b sides for the singles) SHOULD have taken its place. Love is like a River is another rocker and highlight. Rose Garden is a gem and it was one of the highlights of the Enchanted tour. Maybe love will change your mind is so catchy and I LOVE this song. I usually hate the songs that Stevie sings that she did not write. But this song is from the heart and Stevie translates this from the heart feeling very well. It almost sounds like she wrote it. It would be a tough song to sing but she nails it. I don't think she did a great job on Dylan's Just like a woman. Its a b side IMHO. But brining in Dylan to play harmonica... so freakin cool! Kick it is a dud IMHO. Jane is ok. When I first heart the song I thought it was about Jane Petty from Edge of 17 LOL.

Long story short........if you could add Thousand Days and Mirror Mirror that both almost made the album and dropped Unconditional Love and Kick it ... it would be stellar. But even still its my 4th most favorite Stevie solo album. Her writing is excellent. Her voice is strong and could hit ranges for the last time. Trouble came out 7 years later and her voice got flat. And the album rocks. Its part rock, part country and part pop. I love it. It sounds like Stevie is supposed to sound.... part rock, country, pop.

As someone pointed out....her performances on the Street Angel tour were amazing. She hit high notes and really performed well. I just wish people would give this album a second chance.


The lyrics really show what Stevie is going through during this period if you read between the lines (pardon the pun)

You're a frontliner (former management company) You put it all on the line
You've been everywhere and you live in dark shadows (that's the Stevie life)
Your consistent...hey that's good (IMHO that sounds like a sarcastic quip from a record person)
There's no Beauty and the Beast here (IMHO that is another quip from a record person... could mean there is no type song here)

If you listen and dig a little deep I think you can appreciate this album a little more.

I couldn't agree with you more esp. about the LP outtake photos. There are so many better one's that could've been chosen. I so LOVE the TS version of Listen to the Rain. The lyrics just everything was much better with that version. She changed the lyrics up on the SA version ugh. I'd heard that other version so much that when the official SA version came out I so didn't like it because it wasn't the version I'd loved so much. Stevie rocked the tour though. It was my first solo concert of hers and she was awesome really. So I may not have loved the LP but I loved the tour that's for sure!! Some of the outtake songs are much better than the version we did get. I loved hearing outtakes etc. from all her solo lp's. Sometimes I like those better than the official released versions.:D

I think Stevie dismissed the album after the critics and public did.

Stevie did some radio interview right when the album came out, and she was very upbeat and positive about it, and even singing along with the tracks. Her enthusiasm seemed very genuine.

She later commented how she had to promote an album she didn't like in the first place and put on a brave face, but I get that idea that that was simply said in retrospect. Had 'SA' been better received, she would never had said such a thing.

it is AWESOME.
end of story.

of course, there is some Suck on it ...
but all of her albums have some :D

Agreed! The single remixes of both "Blue Demin" and "Maybe Love" are so much better than the album version. Heavier drums on both and the guitar doesn't get lost in the mix.

The stuff on SA that I love, I really love. But the stuff that's bad is awful. I made myself an edited playlist that I thoroughly enjoy listening to:

1. Blue Denim (single remix)
2. Greta
3. Street Angel (album version - love that roaring guitar)
4. Listen To The Rain
5. Destiny
6. Love Is Like A River
7. Rose Garden
8. Inspiration
9. Maybe Love (single remix)
10. Kick It
11. God's Garden

No matter if the album was well received, her genuine distaste for it would remain the same.
Between the negative experience of working with a producer she didn't get along with, her disappointment of the production, and her subsequent efforts to fix it, she really just wanted to put it all behind her.

It was just a bad time for her to make an album. Dealing with drug addiction and working with a producer who was not a good fit for her, she just didn't have the right state of mind to create something inspired; the album didn't have a "crystal vision." So there are lot of good songs mixed with average to poor ones. Trouble in Shangri-La has a similar problem, but it benefits by having the strongest songs upfront in the album. I think that Street Angel could have made a bigger impact by having a different track order. Some of the best songs were left off the album, so I would have started by pulling those back in. Of course, my version changes the album name. I would have called it Destiny. :woohoo:

1. Blue Denim
2. Thousand Days
3. Mirror Mirror
4. Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind
5. Greta
6. Listen to the Rain
7. Unconditional Love (original version)
8. Destiny
9. Rose Garden
10. Love Is Like a River
11. Kick It
12. Jane (original version)

In my opinion, the best song from Street Angel never made it on a Street Angel and that was the atmospheric gem, Inspiration. Why she knocked it off the album in favor of that bland crap is beyond me.

:eek::shocked::confused::distress:

I can honestly say I have never, EVER, listened to Inspiration until just 30 seconds ago, and it was so cringeworthy I had to stop it the second it made it to the chorus... Worse than Unconditional Love by a LONG shot... :distress: Sorry though, to each their own. Many people dislike God's Garden, which personally never fails to make me cry tears of joy and sorrow, and is the most gorgeous song ever... Even though she didn't write it, to me it just screams Robin.

It's not all bad. It's just monotonous and uninspired. The tracks Kick It, Blue Denim, Rose Garden and Love Is Like a River are the jewels in amongst the many beige turds. I detest Jane, Unconditional Love, Destiny and Docklands with a passion. They offend me. God's Garden and Mirror, Mirror should have been included. I can’t believe the latter was overlooked. Stevie's vocals are on fire. The album artwork is as dull as 90% of the album. The only song I would love to hear live is Kick It.

Well so you never listened to it.

Blue Denim isn't even a song. It's a guitar lick with a chorus.

Oh and Greta seems like a ripoff of Betty Davis Eyes.

No matter what she or critics think of the album, it contains one of her single best songs--the opener, Blue Denim. When I first heard it, I was genuinely excited and even shocked that she not only had the old fire in her belly but that she had somehow known what to do with it in ways she had not before. The song is one of her best.

The rest of the album is merely unexceptional, which is still better than the worst albums by many recording artists.

No, it's not that bad.

Honestly, while I don't care for Listen to the Rain, Unconditional Love, or Maybe Love, they're not awful songs. The rest of the album I quite like, with my favorites being Street Angel, Docklands, Greta, Rose Garden and Destiny.

Those Johns' penned b-sides are another story. Inspiration is -ok- but that God's Garden is awful, IMO.

I like your suggested version of Street Angel album. But no title track? As a radical move, I'd make Street Angel the opening introduction. It would be a startling , unexpected start, and a dramatic segue to Blue Denim. It's somewhat of a signature nod to her first two albums, which opened with their title tracks.

Just Like A Woman and Docklands can be b-sides/bonus tracks.

With a professional graphic designer/art director, the album's image/quality would been elevated. Unfortunately, in act of benevolent nepotism, Stevie handed that responsibility to her brother, who made it perfectly clear, based on the end result, he had no discernible skills in that realm.

I'm listening to this album off of YouTube right now.
Alternate cuts or unfinished masters I suppose, as it's
a lot different. Maybe better than what was officially
released. But still...

I don't think it's any worse than any of her other albums.

Mixes from "Enchanted"
 

I think the stripped down remixes from the "Enchanted" box set are the best versions of the key tracks from "Street Angel"....the title track is hauntingly beautiful in it's spare, simple form.

You rascal.

This album has grown on me a lot since I became a diehard fan 15 years ago. I personally love it. It is very straightforward and not as "mystical/magical" as her other albums. My favorites are "Greta", "Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind" (good choice for a single), and "Kick It". Stevie went back to basics with a rootsy sound since it was the '90's after all. Despite her personal struggles with addiction, Glyn Johns, her weight, her waning popularity and the poor record sales, I think it's pretty strong. I really don't see much that is "bad" about it. Like everyone else has pointed out, there are some not-so-great tracks, but that's sort of expected with any album. I also agree that the album art and the cover could have been better, and edgier considering some of the photo outtakes that were taken between 1992-1994. Especially the ones from the photo shoot with David LaChapelle... Those were great! Stevie standing on a hooka pipe while holding an umbrella! Awesome!

Holding an umbrella and floating upward.

Michele

I got to know Rose Garden from Enchanted. I went through a short anti-Stevie phase in the 90's when I was trying to be all punk, goth and alternative and snubbing my nose at anything played on mainstream radio. So Street Angle had a short shelf life in my world. But when Enchanted came out I made a great mix tape from it and when she did Rose Garden at her show in Pittsburgh (which was after my punk/goth/alt phase) I literally started to cry because it seemed like such a beautifully sad song. I honestly didn't realize I had totally different mixes on my Street Angel CD until just a few years ago when everyone here was talking about it. Anyway, when I finally did hear the Street Angel version I was disappointed. There is something so raw and emotional about that song and the single organ chord that rises up just as she sings "...all these things but a small gold band... on my finger... on my left hand" just drives the point home about how she gave it all up in search of something better that was never going to come. And all the flowery guitar work in the SA version distracts from it.

Laurie Anderson has a song from her Strange Angels album called the dream before that's just her singing to a very simple keyboard melody and I heard her say in an interview that she had recorded layers and layers of music and sound for that song but her producer stripped everything away and just left her voice and the keyboard. And it worked so well. Sometimes in music less is more. And I do really like Rose Garden in it's stripped down form much better.