Timespace appreciation thread
 

Timespace:
What do you like, what are you not crazy about. Me first.
My first indication Timespace was coming was hearing Stevie Nicks was coming to my home town in the summer. It was announced late spring. I could not believe it. What? No new record that I ever heard. Then I heard the tour commercial on the radio call it the "Whole lotta trouble tour." Say what? Once I got my tickets to the concert, information started to trickle out about the upcoming "sorta greatest hits album."
I loved the Timespace tour. So many firsts for Stevie in concert. First time have 2 guitarists on stage. Different Stand Back ending. Putting If Anyone Falls back in the set after it being shelved for 2 prior tours. First time doing Landslide solo.
Her band was kick ass. Rewind time to the summer of 1991. The gulf war just ended and American Flags were everywhere. Stevie should have done Desert Angel live. That would have been so cool. The only disappointment about the concert was no new material. It was a missed opportunity for Stevie but so odd to tour prior to the album release. Touring is how you promote an album and get radio play. Klonopin was full force and her decisions and her inner circle decisions not so good.

Now to the album:
I love that Stevie tried her best to not make it a "Greatest Hits" album by adding rare classics like Beauty and the Beast and Whole Lotta Trouble. Those are not the 2 songs I would have added but at least she put the songs she was most proud of on the album. Klonopin was full force so the song writing was not very good thus 2 new songs brought for her to sing. I know Stevie's inner circle thought it was a good idea to bring in hard rockers Jon Bon Jovi and Brett Michaels from Poison. I think this would have really worked (better) if this was 1989. In 1991 even those artists were a bit stale. However, both new songs Sometimes Its a Bitch and Love is a Hard Game to Play are both excellent IMHO. I used to run the track at my college listening to this in my Walkman (look it up millennials).
The remixes:
Chris Lord-alge is amazing and mixes and remixes many artists. For the most part he did a good job. The echo line in Edge of 17 was dropped and I liked the new sound. However I never liked the remix of Stand Back. He turned down one synthesizer and turned up another. He also tuned out the cool percussion part in the middle.
Timespace was actually a bigger success than TOSOTM. I am not sure it deserved that but its a great album. I love Desert Angel especially the yell DESERT SHILED! DESERT STORM! I love the military drum beat throughout the song although it was a bit arrogant to compare being born in Arizona to troops in the hot desert Saudia Arabia and Kuwait. But still love the song. I see many times people don't like the song. I think its a great song. Stevie usually does not write about world events so to hear her sing about history was a moment and pretty cool. I also thought Jon Bon Jovi wrote a good song for Stevie that pretty much summed up her life.

I really enjoyed what would become the "TIMESPACE TOUR". Much like yourself, I wondered why Stevie was hitting the road with no new material. The tour ended before the record was released. Although it's an unpopular opinion, I LOVED the song "Sometimes It's A Bitch". I picked up the cassette single weeks before the record was released. For me, the song was about survival and had an uplifting feel.

I DO believe that Modern/Atlantic forced her to release songs by Bon Jovi and Brett Michaels. In fact, I heard Stevie say in an interview years later that Atlantic Records told her that if she didn't record a Bon Jovi/Bret Michaels song, that her CAREER WAS OVER. Thus, it is true that the TIMESPACE ERA marked the beginning of a steep career decline for Stevie. Her music and image was becoming passe and uncool at this point. Her career would not begin to recover until 6 years later with "THE DANCE". As for "Desert Angel", it's simply one of the worst songs she's ever recorded. As for the tracklisting for a "BEST OF", I would have put "After The Glitter Fades" and "Nightbird" on the album since they were both singles.

Based on what criteria? TOSOTM made the Top 10, generated a Top 20 single, and earned her a Grammy nomination for "Whole Lotta Trouble." She also played to bigger crowds on the TOSOTM tour. Sales-wise they are pretty close, each selling just over a million.

I believe Timespace was certified platinum before TOSOTM. I was only talking sale numbers. The tours cannot compare. Timespace is probably Stevie's lowest grossing tour. I would bet even worse than Street Angel. I saw her TOSOTM tour at the Pittsburgh Civic arena. Not sold out but close. Not visible empty seats. Definitely around 12,000 at least. Timespace had around 6,000 in the same city. I remember the newspaper commented how Stevie's live shows had so many less fans at the show. To be fair, there was not great promotion and no new album to play and promote.

I saw the FM Farewell tour in 1990 and Stevie was zonked out like she was in 1989 when I saw her. The show I saw during Timespace gave me hope. She seemed to be having fun and actually smiling.


Desert Angel was never supposed to be a single. It was a moment in history and made sense to put it on the album. Stevie had a great relationship with the soldiers and it was important for the world to hear her song. I am glad it made it on Timespace.

Honestly, I'm not too crazy about Timespace.

I never liked the new tracks. Nothing but boring dridge to my ears.

I like song selection. Fairly diverse. I especially like that she chose to include Beauty and the Beast. But I don't like the fact they are remixed. I hate the way Stand Back sounds.

All in all, I can take it or leave it.

It's sad when you have to skip over songs on a greatest hits but the new tracks sucked, especially Desert Angel. She put it in their for herself, not for the listener.

I think she put Desert Angel on the album for the troops to hear.

A greatest hits shouldn't have filler.