Looking to start checking out Stevie's solo work...

[goldustsongbird]

Originally Posted by SapphireSister

My recommendations from each album (non-hits):
BD: How Still My Love, Bella Donna
WH: Beauty and the Beast, Nightbird, Sable on Blond
RAL: Rock a Little, Some Become Strangers, The Nightmare
OSOTM: Cry Wolf, Alice
SA: Street Angel
TISL: Trouble in Shangri-La, Fall From Grace

If you'd like I can upload these songs for you on mediafire and you can just download them from there.

You forgot Sister Honey, but I'm glad someone else likes Alice.

[Nikolaj]

I'd say 'go to a used cd store and buy as many as they have', most should be priced at $4 or under. Then, for fun, I'd play them in this order:
1. Rock A Little- tell yourself 'I Can't Wait' and dive into Stevie at her most indulgent, but with a lot of good stuff- 'I Can't Wait', 'Imperial Hotel', 'Sister Honey', 'No Spoken Word', 'Talk To Me' and other fan favorites like 'Some Become Strangers'- her voice is way off on the title track and 'I Sing For The Things,' but otherwise, the wonderfully ragged vocals work surprisingly well on this 'very 80s' album! "If I Were You" is not to be missed, though many have forgotten about the hooky, pop confection that this song is.
2. Bella Donna- play that second, because as Louie already informed you, it's very well-produced and spacious, and is widely regarded as her best solo work. And it has 'Edge of 17'
3. The Other Side Of The Mirror- in my (minority) opinion, this is the best-written album of Stevie's entire career, thus far. It is overblown and overproduced, but as a lyricist, this is Stevie's shining hour. So many great songs on this album. High gloss production to cover some incredibly raw emotions- 'Doing The Best That I Can,' 'Long Way To Go' and 'Ghosts' should hit ya hard, in a good way
4. Wild Heart is probably Stevie in her best voice, in my opinion. The title track is incredible. Skip the next 4 tracks for later, if ya want to, and jump to Track 6 and 'Stand Back' and play the rest of the lp/cd to conclusion. (Then, go back and play the missing tracks!)
5. Trouble In Shangri La can be bought at many cd stores I've been to on the East Coast for 2.99. It's way better than that!
While it's a mature, good album, it suffers a bit from a too-sterile approach to many of her vocals and sounds Pro-Tooled to death. The best cuts were produced by John Shanks. Start with those- 'Planets of The Universe' and 'Fall From Grace'.
The Sheryl Crow-produced tracks come across too-stilted, because while the overall sound of the songs is fine, I think SC didn't want to 'tell' Stevie she could do better, vocally, or they just equalized all of the character out of Stevie's vocals in post-production- 'Candlebright' should have stunned, and almost does- but Stevie's pitch is a bit too shrill on it, and SC wouldn't tell her or 'fix' the final mix to show off Stevie to her best. It's one of her best songs and she took 30 years to release a 'formal' version of it. The mega-production, for me, works, but Stevie's vocal is not what it should have been (or may have been, even, before ProTools).
(To hear Stevie produced well by Sheryl, you'd need to check out earlier soundtracks to 'Boys On The Side' ($3 tops at used stores, with just one Stevie vocal on it, but she sounds incredible on it) and 'Practical Magic' for the fantastic 'If You Ever Did Believe' and a totally drowsy version of 'Crystal'; you may not like it at first, but as it fades, the song kicks in like a painkiller with a Cognac tracer. I love the fade. Many Stevie fans note how awesome she is on the 'fades' of her songs.
Get around to 'Street Angel', ' and The Soundstage Sessions' when you can, good stuff within, if not 'essential Stevie', both are worthwhile.
Or, if you have a few more expendable bucks, you could disregard all of the above and buy the 'Enchanted' 3 cd box set first, you'll get much of her best up until 1998 that way.

[vivfox]

Nikolaj, thank you for your post. I love reading what you have to say. If you ever write a novel, let me know. I'd enjoy reading it.

[MissLadyLoki]

Originally Posted by Nikolaj

I'd say 'go to a used cd store and buy as many as they have', most should be priced at $4 or under. Then, for fun, I'd play them in this order:
1. Rock A Little- tell yourself 'I Can't Wait' and dive into Stevie at her most indulgent, but with a lot of good stuff- 'I Can't Wait', 'Imperial Hotel', 'Sister Honey', 'No Spoken Word', 'Talk To Me' and other fan favorites like 'Some Become Strangers'- her voice is way off on the title track and 'I Sing For The Things,' but otherwise, the wonderfully ragged vocals work surprisingly well on this 'very 80s' album! "If I Were You" is not to be missed, though many have forgotten about the hooky, pop confection that this song is.
2. Bella Donna- play that second, because as Louie already informed you, it's very well-produced and spacious, and is widely regarded as her best solo work. And it has 'Edge of 17'
3. The Other Side Of The Mirror- in my (minority) opinion, this is the best-written album of Stevie's entire career, thus far. It is overblown and overproduced, but as a lyricist, this is Stevie's shining hour. So many great songs on this album. High gloss production to cover some incredibly raw emotions- 'Doing The Best That I Can,' 'Long Way To Go' and 'Ghosts' should hit ya hard, in a good way
4. Wild Heart is probably Stevie in her best voice, in my opinion. The title track is incredible. Skip the next 4 tracks for later, if ya want to, and jump to Track 6 and 'Stand Back' and play the rest of the lp/cd to conclusion. (Then, go back and play the missing tracks!)
5. Trouble In Shangri La can be bought at many cd stores I've been to on the East Coast for 2.99. It's way better than that!
While it's a mature, good album, it suffers a bit from a too-sterile approach to many of her vocals and sounds Pro-Tooled to death. The best cuts were produced by John Shanks. Start with those- 'Planets of The Universe' and 'Fall From Grace'.
The Sheryl Crow-produced tracks come across too-stilted, because while the overall sound of the songs is fine, I think SC didn't want to 'tell' Stevie she could do better, vocally, or they just equalized all of the character out of Stevie's vocals in post-production- 'Candlebright' should have stunned, and almost does- but Stevie's pitch is a bit too shrill on it, and SC wouldn't tell her or 'fix' the final mix to show off Stevie to her best. It's one of her best songs and she took 30 years to release a 'formal' version of it. The mega-production, for me, works, but Stevie's vocal is not what it should have been (or may have been, even, before ProTools).
(To hear Stevie produced well by Sheryl, you'd need to check out earlier soundtracks to 'Boys On The Side' ($3 tops at used stores, with just one Stevie vocal on it, but she sounds incredible on it) and 'Practical Magic' for the fantastic 'If You Ever Did Believe' and a totally drowsy version of 'Crystal'; you may not like it at first, but as it fades, the song kicks in like a painkiller with a Cognac tracer. I love the fade. Many Stevie fans note how awesome she is on the 'fades' of her songs.
Get around to 'Street Angel', ' and The Soundstage Sessions' when you can, good stuff within, if not 'essential Stevie', both are worthwhile.
Or, if you have a few more expendable bucks, you could disregard all of the above and buy the 'Enchanted' 3 cd box set first, you'll get much of her best up until 1998 that way.

Thanks for the order, but I still think I should go chronological. Herwhole life at the time comes out through what she writes, and I wanna hear those ups and downs.

[astro-addy]

Originally Posted by ButterCookie

TOSOTM makes me want to cut my own throat.

Lol I havent gotten to this one yet, but maybe this is why stevie isnt so big in europe. TOSOTM is her only hit album over here and if you ask someone to name a stevie song the only one they tend to be able to come up with is Rooms on Fire.