Bella Donna 40th anniversary

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by David

Stevie was destined for stardom from the beginning. She has that indefinable quality that sets one apart from the pack. As John Stewart sang, Stevie is the blonde star in a Texas sky.

I think Bella Donna has some cool songs on it (I like them all, actually) and some great lead vocal work, too. (I think some of the outtake vocals are even better.) It’s a swell little package that was obviously a labor of love and care. It’s a statement of Stevie’s mystique. But I have to agree with Mitzo and Al when they criticize the lack of innovation in the arrangements. I mean, you kind of expect it because everything was tracked live by the band — and that’s why the playing sounds exactly the same from album to White Winged Dove tour. The guys were just doing exactly what they did in the studio, Nashville style. But when Bella Donna was released in 1981, Fleetwood Mac and Talking Heads (Remain in Light) and Brian Eno (My Life in the Bush of Ghosts) and Kraftwerk (Computer World) and Elvis Costello and Kate Bush (The Dreaming) and many other forward-looking composers had really pushed boundaries in the art of building tracks. Bella Donna is a bunch of session guys and notable guests doing journeyman work on the tracks, just supporting Stevie and the songs. I guess that’s a kind of success, too. After all, it’s a singer-songwriter album, not an Afrobeat album. But it has no more particular instrumental character than a Dan Fogelburg album of the time or a James Taylor album or an Andrew Gold album. Same is true of all her solo albums, really. There’s no particular thrill in listening to a track of hers with her vocal stripped out, for example. The tracks are just pie crust and Stevie fills it with cherry glaze, mmm. . . .

Thoughts? Prayers?

You’re in my thoughts and prayers, David.

Seriously, I like your observation that the backing tracks are well-executed but lack character or personality. Listen to the instrumental bed for “Outside the Rain” or “Nothing Ever Changes” and what you hear is slick, economical, and professional. But it isn't distinctive or especially creative.

Case in point: “Sable on Blonde” is largely memorable for Mick’s drumming.