Best Stevie Nicks Solo Album
 

Okay you people have lived with 24KG for awhile now. Time to assess!

Hahaha! I guess three weeks counts as living with the new album for "awhile now"?

Though I have to admit, I really can't see this new album changing in any way, shape or form for me personally in the future. My favorites have been picked. The album is stellar...but yes, there are still about 2 or 3 tracks that just "don't do it for me", whereas my ab fab fav, "The Wild Heart", still gets my vote! :nod:

Although, if we're RANKING the albums, I'd say...

1. Wild Heart
2. Rock A Little
3. Bella Donna
4. 24 Karat Gold
5. Trouble In Shangri-La
6. In Your Dreams
7. The Other Side Of The Mirror
8. Street Angel (the little album that couldn't...)

...because I think "24 Karat Gold" is the BEST album she's put out in the last 30 years! I'm proud of this record and extremely proud of her!!!

I'd rank them:

1. In Your Dreams
2. Trouble In Shangri-La
3. Bella Donna
4. 24 Karat Gold
5. The Other Side Of The Mirror
6. The Wild Heart
7. Rock A Little
8. Street Angel

Out of those, only Street Angel is truly a sub-par album, IMO. RAL does definitely show Nicks at her most coked out, but there was still great creativity on that album and her voice was great.

It would be easier for me to say what is my least favorite Stevie album, because I really do love each of them, warts and all.

I chose The Wild Heart, because it showcases a couple of things that are important. First, Stevie's ability to grow as an artist after Bella Donna. Her sound evolved, and she really moved away from the 70's rock sound that was so prevalent on her debut. It would have been easy to follow up instead with all the songs that didn't make it on Bella Donna, but instead she moved forward with a steady dance beat and one of the biggest singles of her career with Stand Back. Second, it features Stevie's vocals at what I think are her best. I love her voice in all of it's stages, but her live performances and recorded vocals for the Mirage-Wild Heart era are truly distinctive and career defining.

Right now my favorite are:
1. 24k
2. Bella
3. In Your Dreams
4. The Wild Heart ( sounds too dated anymore and doesn't flow that well)
5. Rock A Little
6. TISL
7. TOSOM
8. Street Angel

dare my...
 

1. Wild Heart
2. Trouble in Shangri-La
3. Bella Donna (listening now as it's been awhile)
4. 24 Karat Gold
5. In Your Dreams
6. The Other Side of the Mirror
7. Rock a Little
8. Street Angel, of course.

With 24 K coming into the mix, it shakes things up just a bit and it ranks high for me.

1. Bella Donna (with songs like Edge of Seventeen, Bella Donna and Leather and Lace, how could this possibly be outdone)
2. The Wild Heart: I love her voice on this album and she took it to new places and just kept it going through the whole album. She even took a poorly written song, Gate and Garden and made it special just because she sounded so amazing. To me, it doesn't feel that dated because some of these sounds are showing up in the current group of artists.
3. 24 Karot Gold: This one ranks high because of the quality of the songs and her voice, which sounds just stellar throughout most of the album. This contains some of the best moments of her solo career and proves that you really can make a beautiful song (Mabel Normand) out of a not so great demo.
4. In Your Dreams: Her most consistent album since the early 80's, I like Dave Stewart's influence and he can be thanked for giving her the motivation and confidence to record again.
5. Street Angel: I like this album and don't think it's as bad as everyone says, although my choice for worst is some people's favs so it does become about taste.
6. Trouble In Shangri-La: Not that I don't like it, it's just not a favourite. She didn't have to try quite this hard to have her "Supernatural" moment and could've had it if the material quality throughout matched the first 4 tracks, alas, it didn't.
7. The Other Side of the Mirror: After such a great start with the awesome Rooms on Fire, what happened? It just went downhill from there and made a very lack-lustre effort.
8. Rock a Little: The moment her career changed unfortunately. She lost so many casual fans (the critical mass that took her to the top) with this record and came dangerously close to self-parody, not to mention self-destruction. What could've been a great album was ruined by about a year of unnecessary tweaking and a level of craziness that we as hard-core fans have only scratched the surface of. A bad, bad album and embarrassing tour to follow. I never listen to Rock a Little at all anymore.

Interesting take on RAL, and I agree with most of it. Although, I do have a few of the songs in my Best of Stevie playlist (If I Were You, I Sing for the Things, No Spoken Word, Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You).. but I saw her on the RAL tour and she was such a "Mabel Normand" mess - I actually enjoyed the show.

Each has its own charme, but I'll try to rank them.

1. The Wild Heart - I love her voice on this album and in the end, that's the reason it makes number 1.

2. 24 Karat Gold - Right now I put in before IYD, but this may change with time. There are a lot of very strong songs on this album and it's her best vocal performance in years. Many songs will go on my personal 'all-time-favorite' Stevie collection and there's not one really bad track. Although, strange enough, it does not work that well as an album in a whole for me.

3. In Your Dreams - Well, this one is a album and not a collection of songs. A very strong effort at the stage of her career that got her a lot of recognition.

4. Bella Donna - The classic one. But there are just too many songs on it, that I don't care about or even don't like at all. Although it also contains some of the best songs of her career.

5. Trouble In Shangri-La - I liked it very much when it was released. Today I see more of its week points and the highlights have faded away a little bit.

6. Rock A Little - The album that introduced me to Stevie back in 85. (I did know nothing about her before, not even that she was a member of Fleetwood Mac. And Fleetwood Mac itself was only a name of another 70's band.) I have some nostalgic love for it, although the album is nothing but a coke-fueled mess.

7. The Other Side Of The Mirrow - Good songs, but the worst production ever. Typical Rupert Hine. I can't stand his style.

8. Street Angel - Sometimes, when I'm in the mood, I like listening to it. But this doesn't happen very often.

1. Bella Donna
2. In Your Dreams
3. Rock A Little
4. Street Angel
5. 24k Gold
6. Other Side Of The Mirror
7. Trouble In Shangri La
8. Wild Heart

I agree that Rock A Little is an absolute mess. The beginning of a career slide.

Bella Donna
In Your Dreams
Rock a Little
24 Karat Gold
Trouble in Shangri-La
The Wild Heart
The Other Side of the Mirror
Street Angel

As Keith said to me in another topic, it really is so interesting to see how fans are split right down the middle on certain albums and songs. For years I have always said both The Wild Heart and OSOTM were tied as being my favorite album, however, the album that I really have enjoyed the most from start to finish was and still is "Rock A Little." I have called it my favorite for the past few years now. Some critics have called it the commercial and creative peak, and the fact that she had reached such a bad point with her drug use at the time, the only place to go after RAL was detox. I guess it's the DJ in me that finds RAL to be the closest thing to a party album that we'll ever get from her. I find it her most energetic and electrifying album to date and the best one to jam to in the car (my favorite place to listen to music). It also has some of her most emotional vocals ever. And the cosmic eternal ending on "Has Anyone Ever Written ...." just beautiful. I love RAL.

Finally... someone else who gets it! Rock A Little is easily her most listenable solo album. There may be other albums which have some stronger individual songs on them; there are also other albums with far worse individual songs, too. But Rock A Little is just consistent- something you NEVER get from a Stevie album. It's the only Stevie album I can put on from start to finish and not hit the skip button. There aren't any bad songs on it, nor are there any dead spots.

To those who scream Rock A Little is so dated, go listen to some current pop & indie music. So many current bands from Haim to Phoenix and dozens of others channel that mid 80s sound into music these days. What's old is new again. :)

^^^ These reasons! Can't say it any better than that! Not only is it fun in the car, but whenever it's time to do an "overhaul" (spring cleaning/fall re-arranging) on my house, THIS is the album that gets me going!

I must also add that all my "non-Stevie loving" friends adore this record. It's the one album of hers that I can put on at a party that everybody grooves to! No one complains, "Ahhh, not Stevie again!" like they do when I put on other Stevie albums. This one gets people moving! :D

"Wild Heart" was "New Wave Stevie", or as close to it as she ever got, but "Rock A Little" was just pure 80's Rock N Roll Greatness!!!