[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

I think the songs and production were sub-par. If you look at the quality of her albums, IMO, they went straight downhill.
BD- a masterpiece
WH- a darned good album
RAL- uh, it's okay. Nothing to write home about.
TOSOTM- Nothing really stand out here. It feels like I'm on a sinking ship. I got on the nearest lifeboat, and didn't look back. I think alot of artists can learn from TOSOTM. You can cost yourself considerable fanbase by putting out an album that's not up to snuff.
So, at this time, I pretty much had drifted out of my FM obsession, because they weren't doing much either. The Dance started to reel me back in. But, I now realize that The Ledge has made me the FAN I used to be. SYW is okay, but, IMO, it's just not FM without Christine. It doesn't SOUND like FM without Christine.

So, if you were drifting away from FM as well around the time of TOSOTM and you didn't look back until The Dance, I'm wondering if you think Christine's BTM offerings are any good. And what about her Time offerings? I don't have BTM yet, but I'm a huge fan of "I Do" from Time. And this is just me (well, not just me...but not everyone, I guess is what I mean), but I really like some of what TOSOTM has to offer, particularly "Rooms on Fire," "Ooh My Love," "Whole Lotta Trouble," "Fire Burning" and "Juliet," but none of those would be on my all-time favorite Stevie songs list. (The "Juliet" outtake would probably make it, though). To me, none of those songs are really up to par with the songs off the first two albums or TISL. Which reminds me that you didn't address what I said about TISL. Many of the songs I love on TISL are re-recordings of older demos, so that definitely contributes to why I put it up there with her first two albums. Another question...what do you think about Rick and Billy? They don't interest you at all?

And about SYW minus Christine. I hate that myself for lots of reasons. (I don't hate the album, just the fact that Christine's not on it). I think there could have been some great three-part harmonies on that particular album with those three that would've made it stronger, and I think Christine's voice is the best it's ever been. I'd love to hear it with the others more. Good thing she at least put out a solo album. BUT, I wouldn't ever say it's not FM without Christine because there was FM before Christine even came into the picture. And I'm a fan of pre-Chris FM, too.