I think the reason she has stopped recording is rather simple, actually. As everyone knows, she could just walk into the studio, drop off a disc full of demos, walk away, come back in a couple of months, lay down the vocals, and have a new album. Of course we all know that Stevie would never do that because she is too much of a perfectionist, and she is very involved with the production aspects of her recordings. That being said, I think Stevie no longer feels that the months and months of spending time in the studio, spending money on studio time and equipment and the stress and politics is something that she wants to deal with at this time in her life.
With TISL, Stevie really managed to pull off the unthinkable- to completely undo the Klonopin mess she created with OSOTM and Street Angel.. No, she did not sell millions of copies, but she earned the critical accolades that had eluded her throughout her career. She now finally had the jewel in her crown, and she really did not have anything left to prove. SYW was more of an afterthought... probably something she did in the spirit of being a "team player." Alas, the recording of it was very unpleasant and ultimately she probably ended up touring for 18 months to help recoup the costs of recording that album.
In the end, it has become a combination of closure and finances. With rampant illegal downloading of music, falling sales of CDs and the further marginalization of her peers in the music business, she probably feels that, given the financial, emotional and political costs of recording, it's probably not worth it. My feeling is that she will only consider recording again if Crystal Visions becomes a monster hit and she starts feeling "wanted" again.
|