The Other Side Of The Mirror is a very dark album

[mikebise]

I remember being surprised and a bit annoyed in 1989 by Stevie's comments in interviews about the meaning of The Other Side Of The Mirror, i.e., going back and forth from solo to Fleetwood Mac. I found that very superficial, and I didn't believe her for a second. Added with the reviews and fan gushings, all centering on castles and unicorns and fairy tales and stuff, I wondered if I was hearing the same album as everyone else!

I love The Other Side Of The Mirror! But from the moment I got the "Rooms On Fire" single with "Alice" on it, I found the songs full of darkness, anger and fear. And rightfully so, I thought.

"Welcome To The Room... Sara" prepped us a little with Stevie's anger at her management company, letting them know, "I will be different when I get back, and you can take all of the credit, baby!" Stevie didn't want to go to Betty Ford for her cocaine problem. She was leveraged into it, forced by those around her looking out for their own paychecks. And when she got back, "sober", was her life any better? Yeah, she was alive, but was her life any better, really?

I think those were the questions Stevie was struggling with in those first years after rehab. The coke made song-writing easier, she's freely said, even to this day. But she lost a lot of confidence in herself after Betty Ford, as well as the weight comments during the Rock A Little tour. I believe this is why she so eagerly embraced the new, Buckingham-free Fleetwood Mac in 1987, even putting her planned 4th solo release (Stevie Nicks: Greatest Hits was due for Christmas 1987) on hold while she toured with Fleetwood Mac through mid-1988. So, even as she regained her confidence as a performer, Stevie still had issues stemming from her non-reliance on cocaine, her growing dependence on tranquilizers (which we didn't know about then) and especially still her 1984 breakup with the love of her life, Joe Walsh.

I listen to The Other Side Of The Mirror, and it reminds me of Stevie's comments about "Angel" in the Tusk documentary. She had planned "Angel" to be an upbeat song to counter her "dark" songs. "And it is up," she says, but there's this dark current running through it still. And that's how I perceive The Other Side Of The Mirror.

Stevie herself has said that "Doing The Best I Can" is her most depressing song, and it is! It's not hopeful in the least! "Well, I hear she's doing fine and she's doing the best that she can..." That sounds angry and pissed off to my ears, those "whispered secrets" going on and on. There's no, "Well, I'm happy now... la dee dah!" It's more, "Well, this is it for now...", resigned to the uncertainty and sadness in her life.

"Long Way To Go" is clear enough in its anger towards Joe. Whether the songs were written pre or post cocaine, they all seem to have disappointment, sadness, longing and anger at their centers. Even the "happiest" song on the album, "Ooh My Love", still is only remembering the good times:

"Yes, it was a strain on her
Watching her castles fall down...
Oh, but there was a time
When he called her 'angel'..."

That time was over, the castle walls had crumbled and fallen. The music is very pretty, but I don't hear joy when Stevie's voice cracks at the end when she proclaims:

"Ooh eh hey, baby
No one can take you away from me!
No... No one..."

Sounds like he was already gone.

"Alice" is so dark and deceptive. Again, I think it's about Stevie's anger and depression about how others treated her. The music floats on air, as do the Girls' backing vocals, but Stevie seems pretty centered, seeing things very clearly. The hidden stilettos waiting to stab you in the back are always present.

"Call out my name
But I get no answer...
And she prays..."

"For the world that we all come from...", she would add in concert. It seemed like that world of ease was gone for Stevie. With more success came more pressures.

Even the cast off "Real Tears" illuminates some of Stevie's feelings. In a 1994 radio interview, Stevie said that "Real Tears" was about how sometimes you cry crocodile tears and you don't really mean it. But sometimes, the tears are real. And they were real tears in that song.

But "Ghosts" said it probably the clearest, as Stevie was hitting 40 as she wrote it:

"To fill the empty spaces
She's feeling,
She depends on her music
Like a husband
And she knows it's no good
To fall in love again..."

Stevie giving up on love??? The ultimate romantic accepting defeat? I think the loss of Joe Walsh from her life is the underlying theme of The Other Side Of The Mirror. And, because Stevie and Joe were not that public in their romance (Stevie never acknowledged it until 1991 ~ in England!), those hidden things she could not say openly came out in the darker tensions on the album.

Let me say, I love all of Stevie's career, peaks and valleys. I think The Other Side Of The Mirror is a lot deeper than Stevie's given credit for.