Julia NEEDS to be released

tbaker3 · #1 03-31-2011, 01:48 AM

I am BEYOND thrilled over the new album, but I was hoping and praying that "Julia" would make it on the album. It's totally a classic that never got it's chance.

Maybe on the '12/13' Mac album...

louielouie2000 · #2 03-31-2011, 01:55 AM

Welcome to the Ledge!

I've often wondered what the story is behind Julia... why it never made an album, or wasn't released as a B-side. To me, you can just hear the way Stevie sings it that she loves the song. I've heard countless versions of it, and I definitely believe it to be a fully fleshed out work. I can't say I see Julia being released at this point... but stranger things have indeed happened. I never thought we'd see Stevie record Sorcerer, or The Tower (Goodbye Baby), or even Secret Love. But we've gotten all those this past decade. So who knows... keep your fingers crossed!

markolas · #3 03-31-2011, 02:04 AM

Somebody on here said that Julia was so close to being on Bella Donna that album art had been done showing it on the track list. Apparently, Jimmy Iovine hated the song and insisted that it be pulled. It was recorded again for The Wild Heart and again he vetoed it.

I like it a lot - I think my preferred version is the one labeled "slower outtake" that I think is from The Wild Heart. Unfortunately, I think Julia's time has come and gone. If they ever do a remastered/expanded edition of Bella Donna, maybe they'll include it.

markolas · #4 03-31-2011, 02:07 AM

Also, over on the Nicks Fix, there's a Q&A w/ Lori Nicks and somebody asked her what her favorite unreleased demo/outtake was. After a brief rant about how she & Stevie hate the fact that these things are out there (whatevs), she says that Julia is her favorite unreleased track, and basically just expresses her love for it.

tbaker3 · #5 03-31-2011, 02:15 AM

It absolutely should have been on Bella Donna. It would have fit in with the overall feeling perfectly. Probably as the first song on side 2, Move Edge to either the closing of either side, and drop (well, I wouldn't know what to drop, everything feels classic to me on that album) but drop SOMETHING.

I love everything about what Jimmy did with Stevie's career, but not releasing that song to me, is what FM not releasing Silver Springs is to Stevie. Pure crime.

APerfectLie · #6 03-31-2011, 06:35 AM

Good to see a new face around here! Welcome to the ledge

I wouldn't be surprised if somewhere along the road they release a special edition of Bella Donna with it and some other demos on there. And with Lori saying it is her favorite, maybe she will convince Stevie that she needs to do something with it!

realsavagelike · #7 03-31-2011, 07:38 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

To me, you can just hear the way Stevie sings it that she loves the song.

I'm at work right now so I can't check, but if I remember correctly one of the pictures in the Enchanted booklet is of Stevie holding up a page of lyrics and if you look at it closely it's the lyrics to Julia. I've always wondered if she did that on purpose or not.

HejiraNYC · #8 03-31-2011, 08:16 AM

"Julia" is one of those great epic rockers in the vein of "Bella Donna" and "Wild Heart," but I do understand why Jimmy pushed to have it nixed from the album(s). It's just one of those songs that don't really stand well on its own. It's not a song that you would hear on the radio. The subject matter is very specific (about Stevie, of course) and it does not have universal themes. In a nutshell, it's a big sloppy love letter written by Stevie to Stevie. I suppose if albums back in the day were as long as they are today, "Julia" would have made the cut. But as it is, I think Bella Donna in its current form is perfection. Adding "Julia" would have definitely altered the mood they were trying to create with the sequencing.

mikebise · #9 03-31-2011, 08:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by realsavagelike

I'm at work right now so I can't check, but if I remember correctly one of the pictures in the Enchanted booklet is of Stevie holding up a page of lyrics and if you look at it closely it's the lyrics to Julia. I've always wondered if she did that on purpose or not.

Yes, it's there! So wild that Stevie was referencing and showing all thse unreleased songs in Enchanted ~ "Julia", "She Still Loves Him", "Watch Chain", "Mirror, Mirror" (very different lyrics on that sheet!).

Iovine hated "Julia" and took it off of Bella Donna. Stevie re-recorded it for The Wild Heart here in Dallas with producer Gordon Perry, who told me that Iovine, as the main producer, cut "Julia" yet again, in his distaste for the song. "Julia" is Gordon's favourite Stevie song, BTW, along with "All The Beautiful Worlds", which he also produced here in Dallas in 1982 for The Wild Heart, and Jimmy vetoed it as well.

NO to Fleetwood Mac doing "Julia"!!! Just put it on a remastered Bella Donna and The Wild Heart! I cringe just thinking of LB's voice on it, NO piano... >shudder<

realsavagelike · #10 03-31-2011, 09:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikebise

along with "All The Beautiful Worlds", which he also produced here in Dallas in 1982 for The Wild Heart, and Jimmy vetoed it as well.

Tragic! ATBW is one of my favorite unreleased Stevie songs of all. I like the forcefulness of it coupled with the fragility of her voice on some lines, like "Ooh you say you're leaving baby, and you don't want to tell me why..." I've always thought it was a tragedy that that song never went anywhere!

HejiraNYC · #11 03-31-2011, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikebise

"Julia" is Gordon's favourite Stevie song, BTW, along with "All The Beautiful Worlds", which he also produced here in Dallas in 1982 for The Wild Heart, and Jimmy vetoed it as well.

So "All the Beautiful Worlds" was recorded for The Wild Heart AND Rock a Little? I have a pristine HQ version of ATBW that sounds like it was recorded during RAL, but I could be mistaken since I don't know the provenance of the recording. Is the Wild Heart version circulating as well, or are these one and the same?

markolas · #12 03-31-2011, 09:10 AM

Interesting. I've only ever heard one version of ATBW, and it's definitely from The Wild Heart.

greendaze5 · #13 03-31-2011, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I've often wondered what the story is behind Julia...

I think ‘Julia’ was influenced by the movie starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076245/

In some old interview, Stevie (though not in reference to the song itself, but to the film) said that she was very much like the Lillian Hellman character, and her late friend Robin Anderson was like Julia.

So in some obscure way, it’s probably about Stevie’s friendship with Robin.

Or maybe it's a tribute to Julia Child.

P.S. Seeing Stevie tomorrow!!!!! (Montreal show, April 1)

APerfectLie · #14 03-31-2011, 10:11 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by greendaze5

I think ‘Julia’ was influenced by the movie starring Jane Fonda and Vanessa Redgrave:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0076245/

In some old interview, Stevie (though not in reference to the song itself, but to the film) said that she was very much like the Lillian Hellman character, and her late friend Robin Anderson was like Julia.

So in some obscure way, it’s probably about Stevie’s friendship with Robin.

Or maybe it's a tribute to Julia Child.

I am pretty sure Vanessa Redgrave played Julia in that movie too right? Strangely, years later Vanessa played in Nip/Tuck with her daughter Joely Richardson, and Joely's character was named... JULIA! What a strange world.

seanthompson · #15 03-31-2011, 10:14 AM

What is the best, clearest version of Julia?