"Well, I wonder what Greta would say..." A Street Angel Appreciation Thread

[drzubritsky]

Street Angel is Stevie's most underrated album IMO and undeserving of the terrible reputation it has garnered via ruthless criticism by both Stevie and fans. It's not perfect by any means, but it has quite a few strong songs, good vocals and nice, organic-sounding production that has aged much better than many of her other albums.

I think the album's critical and commercial failure is mainly due to a handful of factors that worked against it in 1994:
- Its back-to-basics L.A.-sounding production was out of step with the music trends of 1994
- Stevie herself was perceived as passe at that time
- Lack of a killer single to stir radio interest. Actually, TOSOTM didn't have a truly killer single, either, but there was still enough career momentum for "Rooms on Fire' to chart well.
- A few weak moments seem to overshadow all the strengths of the album for many fans (I'm referring to the "chimpanzee" line in "Jane", the ill-advised cover of "Just Like A Woman", and the rather lame "Unconditional Love")
- "Docklands", while an interesting and unusual cover choice, was viewed as too "non-Stevie"

It's a shame that so many people seem fixated on the album's flaws because its strongest moments are right up there with Stevie's best.