The Other Side Of The Mirror is a very dark album

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by mikebise

I've always felt the darkness of TOSOTM, even under the frothiness of it's production. Even the album art is very dark; it's almost nightmarish, really. The never-ending darkness all around her except for the one harshly illuminated spot on the checkered floor where Stevie is on her hands and knees.

I do think the album art is interesting. People here have made me laugh as they mocked her contorted position on the floor and it's become an object of ridicule, which I think is perfectly on target.

Still, I've always been intrigued by the choice that went into that shot. I don't see it as dark, but I do see the floor as cold, domestic (kitchen or diner) and quite unlike Stevie. I'd expect her to be walking on plush carpeting, earth, even clouds, not kneeling on a checkered floor.

Contrasted with her dress, I almost feel like that floor is a magnet, the only thing keeping her grounded and tied to reality. It's a touchstone and anchor. It's Kansas. She's subservient and bends to it, because if she breaks contact with the floor she might just float off, to the other side, never to be retrieved.

Michele

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

I recall her saying her "jew-ler-eey" (I always hated the way she said jewelry)

I don't know why I remembered cat when, as far as I know, Stevie hasn't ever talked about having cats. So, I don't know why that was in my head. Here is her quote from 1989 and your jewelry mention.

"The original inspiration for this was when I lived in a house on Doheny and my garage caught fire because somebody else's house caught fire down the street and a cinder hit my garage. And I woke up because I heard all this noise. And I looked out my front window and there's, like, 50 firemen running up my driveway and I thought, well, 'what is this for?'

And I ran around to all the windows and finally I got to the back of the house. And I looked out and the entire garage was, like, 50 feet of burning flames. And I ran around to the bathroom about fifteen different times, saying 'what can I take? What should I take?'

So what I took was the dog, the blanket, all my writings and tapes, my jewelry. And I thought, you know, the stairs may be on fire. But she'll get down, she said. I'll get out, I'm not burning up in this house. So that's where the whole beginning and idea of this song came from, was 'what can I take and still survive the fire' or how much time can I spend to decide and not be burned up on the second story?

It's frightening, to see flames that high and know that at any point those flames could hit your house and I didn't know whether the bottom story was on fire already or not. But it was very hard for me because I thought, 'what do I take out of this room?' I did! I ran around in circles three times, four times, five times, and I said, 'I'll take the dog, cashmere blanket, all my tapes, and my writing.' Everything else can be, doesn't matter, material things, at this point, don't matter."

[mikebise]

The cover of "Rooms On Fire" is even more bizarre. It always seemed to me that Stevie wasn't going for Late Eighties Glam, but more for a surreal depiction of loss or madness. Look at that cover. It is so f-ing strange.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by mikebise

The cover of "Rooms On Fire" is even more bizarre. It always seemed to me that Stevie wasn't going for Late Eighties Glam, but more for a surreal depiction of loss or madness. Look at that cover. It is so f-ing strange.

Yes, I see what you mean about loss and madness in her eyes and in the fact that her skin is so pale.

The decolletage is unlike her too. I mean, not that she usually hides her breasts, but it's strange to me that the camera is shooting her from overhead, so you're looking right down like that.

Michele

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by michelej1

The only song to me that could even be seen as remotely cheery is Two Kinds of Love.

Michele

Oh, I have to disagree! Upon reflection, "Two Kinds of Love" is a pretty dark, tragic song, and it's another one that she seems to have purposefully distorted the meaning of in interviews. I recall in a radio interview that she said that the two kinds of love were 1) the way you love me (no explanation needed) and 2) the way you walk, i.e., that sexy way you move your hips and carry yourself. I always found that second "kind of love" to be odd. I always interpreted "the way you walk" as being the way you walk away from a destructive relationship to save the other person, i.e., if you love someone, set them free. So the two kinds of love are being together and being apart. And I think this song is, yet again, about drugs... and about her relationship with Joe Walsh- the way that, despite their intense love, they were fueling each others bad behaviors. They had to be "estranged sometimes for their very survival." Literally. The most blatant drug reference: "My third day up, well, his second nighter..."

It's a shame that the song was dripping with that schlocky production and Bruce Hornsby's deadpan vocals. And that sax solo. It's a tasty song cloaked with Cheez Whiz and Bacon Bits.

I think "Alice" is probably the most harrowing song of them all. "Like Alice through the looking glass, she used to know who she was." Ouch! That's some pretty intense honesty. I suppose all of these years we haven't given Stevie enough credit regarding her level of self-awareness. The world at large saw that she was heavy, lethargic and meandering a bit artistically. And on a personal level she knew she was surrounded by sycophants and yes-people who catered to her every indulgence, no matter how destructive. This song proves that she knew what everyone was thinking.

[seekerj]

Originally Posted by mikebise

The cover of "Rooms On Fire" is even more bizarre. It always seemed to me that Stevie wasn't going for Late Eighties Glam, but more for a surreal depiction of loss or madness. Look at that cover. It is so f-ing strange.

When they were paying "Rooms" on the radio before the album came out, one DJ in Connecticut said something to the effect of "you should all see this picture on the cover of "Rooms On fire". It's like she's saying, "Hi, I'm Stevie Nicks, and these are my breasts."

[seekerj]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I don't know why I remembered cat when, as far as I know, Stevie hasn't ever talked about having cats.

I think she's mentioned cats a couple of times. She once said something like "Landslide" was like a cat that disappears and then keeps coming back, and she once had a cat that kept doing that. Something like that. I don't remember what show, but I think it was during an introduction for "Landslide".

Maybe that's what you were thinking of (?).

[KarmaContestant]

Well, it looks like tonight is going to be spent listening to this album for the first time in more than five years.

There have been some great insights in this thread.

When TOSOTM was first released, I absolutely loved it (I was 16). By the time I reached my early 20's, I found it at the bottom of my Stevie-album rankings where it has remained to this day.

Maybe tonight I'll hear some fresh perspectives, although I might have to add some colored lighting and a glass or three of wine to increase the enjoyment of this solo listening party.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Oh, I have to disagree! Upon reflection, "Two Kinds of Love" is a pretty dark, tragic song, and it's another one that she seems to have purposefully distorted the meaning of in interviews. I recall in a radio interview that she said that the two kinds of love were 1) the way you love me (no explanation needed) and 2) the way you walk, i.e., that sexy way you move your hips and carry yourself. I always found that second "kind of love" to be odd. I always interpreted "the way you walk" as being the way you walk away from a destructive relationship to save the other person, i.e., if you love someone, set them free.

I've always thought of "the way you walk" in a similar way. Not necessarily the way you walk away to save someone from a destructive relationship, but more like the way you walk away to protect and respect yourself. You know: I have a line I will not cross and I won't let you cross it either. I'm not taking this any more.

I mean, you have the one man who did not fall in Stand Back. He did not fall for her so deeply that he lost the firmness of his beliefs. I think "the way you walk" is a man who walks away when he has had enough and doesn't stay and doesn't beg and won't be a doormat -- and whom Stevie admires all the more, for the way he won't put up with it.

So, to me the meaning has always been, the way you walk and the way you love me =

"the way that you leave and the way you love me."

If you are going to do that to yourself, I'm not going to stand here and watch and enable. Tough love.

Michele

[Tango]

Wasn't it more like, "leave the cat--take the cannoli"?




I can't remember.

[equeen102289]

I loved reading your post, Mike. I agree with everything you said.

[mitzo]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I do think the album art is interesting. People here have made me laugh as they mocked her contorted position on the floor and it's become an object of ridicule, which I think is perfectly on target.

Still, I've always been intrigued by the choice that went into that shot. I don't see it as dark, but I do see the floor as cold, domestic (kitchen or diner) and quite unlike Stevie. I'd expect her to be walking on plush carpeting, earth, even clouds, not kneeling on a checkered floor.

Contrasted with her dress, I almost feel like that floor is a magnet, the only thing keeping her grounded and tied to reality. It's a touchstone and anchor. It's Kansas. She's subservient and bends to it, because if she breaks contact with the floor she might just float off, to the other side, never to be retrieved.

Michele

I always though that photo was meant to represent Stevie on the chessboard from Alice in Wonderland.

[vivfox]

To me, the meaning of "one for the way you walk," is the way you live your life. How one conducts themself. The 'walk' of life.

[GoldDustOrphan]

The photo on the Rooms on Fire single is such an odd choice, but somehow the right choice. I prefer it to the cover of the album, which had better out-takes than what was chosen. The airbrushing on her face removed her humanity, but unlike the ROM single, I don't think that was the intent.

[mikebise]

The "Rooms On Fire" cover is stark and vivid. Up close. Look at Stevie's eyes. It's like she's trying to convey through her eyes what she really feels, just like the lyrics on The Other Side Of The Mirror.

"Alice" is my favourite song on the album, and in my favourites of all of Stevie's songs. The "Rooms On Fire" cover is really the "Alice" cover for me. Lost in the Wonderland...