I just bought Bella Donna, and...

[ontheEdgeof17]

Originally Posted by dissention

It was released on CD in 1990, along with TWH and RAL.

Yup.

All the CDs are designed the same. I still have the orginial longboxes they came in.

[catinthedark]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

There's speculation that it was about - uhmmmm -
an experience the two of them shared.
If you know what I mean, well there ya go -
if you don't - don't ask. Trust me - don't ask.
And please, let's leave it there. It's between them, imo.
Besides I'm sure it's already been discussed, add nausea.

Beautiful Child - between Stevie and Don Henley?

Uh.... no. I believe you have your "facts" wrong. There was long speculation that BC was about Stevie and Mick, and just as much speculation it was about Stevie and Lindsey. But Don? He has never figured into BC discussions I've ever heard or read.

Oh, and sweetie, I have light years on you. No need for you to 'splain me an "experience," as you term it. That would just be gross. Add nausea, as you say.

[Kelly]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

There's speculation that it was about - uhmmmm -
an experience the two of them shared.
If you know what I mean, well there ya go -
if you don't - don't ask. Trust me - don't ask.
And please, let's leave it there. It's between them, imo.
Besides I'm sure it's already been discussed, add nausea.

"What dirty tricks the mind can play
In the lonely dead of night
When you bump into the shadow
Of a faded love that wasn’t right

Way down beneath the surface
Far beyond the light of day
So many things lie buried deep
And baby, they should stay that way."

You must be kidding.

[Nicksluvver]

I really like Think about it, good song and Stevie reaching out to Christine about her and Johns divorce and Chris thinking about leaving FM mkaes it even more heartfelt for me!

[Ghost_Tracker]

Originally Posted by Nicksluvver

I really like Think about it, good song and Stevie reaching out to Christine about her and Johns divorce and Chris thinking about leaving FM mkaes it even more heartfelt for me!

Check out the look on McVie's face at the end of Tango in the Night
after Chris M. kisses him on the cheek - right before he leans forward
and lightly grabs her and says whatever it was HE said.
He didn't really look all that cool, calm, and collected there -
just - - - UNBELIEVABLE love and determination.
That's the way it seemed to me, anyway.
So with Stevie understanding how they felt,
I can kinda understand her writing "Think About It," and wanting
to help. And emphathizing.

[eclipse]

Keep listening...
You are all so young
I remember waiting for this album to come out-be released, go to the record store, stand in line, open the saran wrapped package and listen to it on my diamond- needle turn table (which I still have- by the way...)
It was so well received at the time because Stevie was always sort of in the shadows with FM and eveyone of her fans wanted to see what she would do on her own...and we were all impressed
It had a ballad, love, country- moody-lonely-determined-magical-haunting -questioning.."Stevieness" to it...

Loved it then-Love it now
But I do empathize, it must be hard to hear a TISL tune and then go back and hear a "new" Bella-Donna tune for you.

I am lucky that I have heard her progress/(regress-in some instances..) in the order and time-frame that it was actually happening and it's someone sad a haunting that she wrote on BD
that :Love is only one fine star away...and 20 years later...still searching for that star...
Again, keep listening and try to put it in prospective-you can't compare it to any other of her solo works-it was the only one-and it was very good in 1981.

Hope my rambling helps you to understand the dynamics, keep listening

[Nicksluvver]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

Check out the look on McVie's face at the end of Tango in the Night
after Chris M. kisses him on the cheek - right before he leans forward
and lightly grabs her and says whatever it was HE said.
He didn't really look all that cool, calm, and collected there -
just - - - UNBELIEVABLE love and determination.
That's the way it seemed to me, anyway.
So with Stevie understanding how they felt,
I can kinda understand her writing "Think About It," and wanting
to help. And emphathizing.

Yeah - I think he will always be in love with Chris and her with him. They had different issues that drove them apart, as opposed to S and L, so Stevie had a different view to write from about them. Also, S and L have had so many moments like C and J on that video. I wish I could hear what they are all saying to each other-LOL. The latest moment being L's Soundstage.

[SortaSavageLike]

Originally Posted by dissention

It was released on CD in 1990, along with TWH and RAL.

Are you sure? The back cover says "Most recently, Ms. Nicks has released the album The Wild Heart." No mention of RAL or TITN.

I hope to get my review of Bella Donna up on Epinions.com within the week. I'm still collating my thoughts here.

[KarmaContestant]

Bella Donna is an amazing album to me. I love every song...though I do get tired of the singles from time to time. What I find great about Bella Donna is that Stevie was able to take many of the songs that she had worked on for years and never was able to get recorded with Fleetwood Mac, and finally record them to her satisfaction...you know, like she was making up for lost time. It is my hope that Stevie will be able to do this again with another album. How Still My Love and Kind Of Woman are my faves from the album overall, though Think About It and After The Glitter Fades are a close second.

Someone said on another board once that they didn't like Bella Donna because it sounded "too 70's". That gave me a good chuckle...

[Ghost_Tracker]

Originally Posted by eclipse

[It was so well received at the time because Stevie was always sort of in the shadows with FM and eveyone of her fans wanted to see what she would do on her own...and we were all impressed
It had a ballad, love, country- moody-lonely-determined-magical-haunting -questioning.."Stevieness" to it...

[I am lucky that I have heard her progress/(regress-in some instances..) in the order and time-frame that it was actually happening and it's someone sad a haunting that she wrote on BD
that :Love is only one fine star away...and 20 years later...still searching for that star...
[/FONT][/SIZE][/COLOR]

Amen.
Soooo, sooooo true.
All of it.

"Still the same old story . . .
What price glory?
You make it easy. . .
In the still of the night
In the still of the night...
How still my love?
In the still of the night...
How still my...
Watching out to sea
Calling out to me
You go...your way
Go on...go on
But you don't forget me
Ooo no...you don't forget me."

( "Nothing never changes!" )

Thanks for reminding us.

[David]

Originally Posted by WelshWitchPMD

I did not care for Bella Donna that much when it was released in 1981.

It didn't knock me over at first because I was so deeply steeped in the alchemic magic of the Fleetwood Mac sound. Stevie (or Jimmy) went out & hired a bunch of very nice men & women, & certainly very capable & solid professionals -- but they were the equivalent of Herbert Ross or George Roy Hill in Hollywood. They weren't artists as instrumentalists, at least not in the sense that Mick Fleetwood & Lindsey Buckingham & perhaps even Christine McVie were.

Musically, Mick & Lindsey were like Mike Leigh or Cassavetes, personal artists with unusual styles who made you listen to things differently. The guys who performed on "Bella Donna" were just there to prop up Stevie's songs & her vocals in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. They weren't there to impose their own vision or style on the thing, & that's just what they did (or didn't do) on the hundreds of other studio projects they worked on over the years. That's why instrumentally "Bella Donna" isn't all that different from "For Everyman" or "You're No Good" or "Twin Sons of Different Mothers." By 1981, "Bella Donna" was already old hat in Southern California in instrumental terms.

So I really didn't find "Bella Donna" intensely interesting sonically, & I still don't. But I really dug several of the songs -- particularly the title track, which I felt was one of the sanest, most humane things she had ever written -- & I certainly dug the general ambience of the album: the art work, the calligraphy, the mysterious photos of the cover & the Phoenix manse with Cocteauesque lighting, & all the spirituality surrounding the album. As Stevie once said, there was a lot of caring in the album -- caring for the product as something more special than mere product.

So that's my roundabout way of saying that I loved what Stevie brought to "Bella Donna," but less so with the numerous other people involved in it.

[Ghost_Tracker]

Originally Posted by David

So I really didn't find "Bella Donna" intensely interesting sonically, & I still don't. But I really dug several of the songs -- particularly the title track, which I felt was one of the sanest, most humane things she had ever written -- .

Could you please explain what you mean by "sanest" ???
I'm not being sarcastic, I literally don't understand
what you mean. To me it's always seemed kind of "mystical"
etc. I definitely agree with the "humane" part though.

[Jyqm]

Originally Posted by David

Musically, Mick & Lindsey were like Mike Leigh or Cassavetes, personal artists with unusual styles who made you listen to things differently. The guys who performed on "Bella Donna" were just there to prop up Stevie's songs & her vocals in as unobtrusive a manner as possible. They weren't there to impose their own vision or style on the thing, & that's just what they did (or didn't do) on the hundreds of other studio projects they worked on over the years.

Just say it, David: "...except Roy Bittan."

Not that he wasn't very unobtrusive on Bella Donna. But he's certainly brought plenty of his own vision and style to that other band he's associated with.

[eclipse]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

Amen.
Soooo, sooooo true.
All of it.

"Still the same old story . . .
What price glory?
You make it easy. . .
In the still of the night
In the still of the night...
How still my love?
In the still of the night...
How still my...
Watching out to sea
Calling out to me
You go...your way
Go on...go on
But you don't forget me
Ooo no...you don't forget me."

( "Nothing never changes!" )

Thanks for reminding us.

You are welcome!
and I just love to reflect...So, so glad that you "get it" Tracka

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by Ghost_Tracker

By the way Bella Donna has not just a double but a triple meaning -
it's Italian for "Beautiful Woman," but it also is an addictive drug -

I also thought it was a derogatory term along the lines of "harlot" or "tramp." This is what I've heard, I don't know if it's true or not.