Stevie's most criminal songs

[fumidesigns]

Originally Posted by markolas

I'm gonna go through all the albums (FM & solo) and just list the songs I can't stand:

- Nothing Ever Changes
- I Will Run to You
- When I See You Again
- Two Kinds of Love
- Desert Angel
- Sometimes it's a Bitch
- Love's a Hard Game to Play
- Unconditional Love
- Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind
- Jane
- One More Big Time Rock & Roll Star
- That Made Me Stronger
- Too Far from Texas (good song, hideous vocal)
- Not Make Believe

I could take or leave most of her SYW songs, but there aren't any I'd classify as "criminal," except for Not Make Believe. But the ones on this list, she simply never should've recorded (IMO), with the possible exception of Too Far from Texas - she should've at least tried for a better vocal.

i hate this song so much that i can't even remember how it goes..........

[porkpie]

Originally Posted by fumidesigns

damn sure are! i can't staaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand Sweet Girl! that always gets skipped! and my God when Silver Girl comes on, i just stare at my ipod and say "y haven't i taken this off here yet!?"

Thank you! Someone else who agrees - these two songs almost sound like a pastiche of Stevie. If you were asked to write in the style of Stevie (at that time) you'd just have to write about a female protagonist and write one sentence contradicted by the next one, things like, "she knew everything, yet she knew nothing, it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, everyone was there, but she was alone,etc." Awful cliched lyrics. Very happy she's back on track.

[WildHearted]

Originally Posted by markolas

I'm gonna go through all the albums (FM & solo) and just list the songs I can't stand:

- Nothing Ever Changes
- I Will Run to You
- When I See You Again
- Two Kinds of Love
- Desert Angel
- Sometimes it's a Bitch
- Love's a Hard Game to Play
- Unconditional Love
- Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind
- Jane
- One More Big Time Rock & Roll Star
- That Made Me Stronger
- Too Far from Texas (good song, hideous vocal)
- Not Make Believe

I could take or leave most of her SYW songs, but there aren't any I'd classify as "criminal," except for Not Make Believe. But the ones on this list, she simply never should've recorded (IMO), with the possible exception of Too Far from Texas - she should've at least tried for a better vocal.

I love Nothing Ever Changes (the chorus is sexy, tbh, and I love the beati w) and When I See You Again (although I love the latter in a somewhat ironic way...).

And I don't think I Will Run To You should really count since she didn't write it. However, it really shouldn't have made the album...

But generally I agree.

ETA: Sweet Girl is one of my favorites. I'm not sure why. I think it's for the 'I chose to dance across the stages of the world' line, and that alone.

[mitzo]

Stevie's work to me ranks "marvellous," "who cares?" or "dreadful." the dreadfuls are all from her solo work, and include the Petty-inspired arrangement stuff like Blue Lamp, Violet and Blue, I Need to Know, OMBTRARS...

Dumb songs she shouldn't have done:

BD: I detest most of the production on this album, and have neither faves (maybe EO17, Still of the Night?) nor hate-ables (Highwayman, title track?)

WH: I Will Run to You, Enchanted.

RAL: Sister Honey, Imperial Hotel

TOSOTM: 2 Kinds of Love, Rooms on Fire, Ghosts

TS: SIAB, LAHGTP. Desert Angel is god-awful but something about the arrangements and vocals touches, it's the lyrics (and overall theme) that hurt. Badly.

SA: Everything except MLWCYM, Kick It, and Jane. yes, Jane.

TISL: Bad production courtesy of Sheryl Crow abounds here. She shouldn't have done Everyday, TFFT. Bombay Sapphires is a nifty song ruined by some "WTF?" lyrics.

IYD: It is Dave Stewart's album. She shouldn't have done FWIW, AL, and IS really badly needed at least another verse or something.

Stevie is a balladeer, to me. The slow haunted stuff is where she shines and where her voice still hits the stars.

[chele_belle]

For me it's Jane - chimpanze should never be a lyric in a song!

[GypsySorcerer]

Her worst, IMO:

-When I See You Again
-Welcome to the Room...Sara
-The Nightmare (Bleccchh!!)
-Imperial Hotel
-Desert Angel
-That Made Me Stronger (the chorus is ridiculous, and the opening chords are just fug)
-Jane
-One More Big Time Rock and Roll Star
-Not Make Believe

And the most craptastic of them all: Listen to the Rain

[chiffon head]

Ummm, The Nightmare...but since it was just a demo I can't really judge & for some reason, I can always find a spot in my life for every Stevie song...stinker or not~just say'in

[ontheEdgeof17]

Originally Posted by fumidesigns

i hate this song so much that i can't even remember how it goes..........

There's a plane...
It's headed to London
24 hours more and he'll be on it
And I can't show my love
and I can't stop it....
Ohh, I can't stop it




ALL from memory. ...I could probably type out the whole song.

[ontheEdgeof17]

Lock these three up and throw away the key. They have committed crimes to my ears!

-I Still Miss Someone
-Real Tears
-The Nightmare.



....the only 3 songs I could do without in her catalog.

[CADreaming]

Originally Posted by fumidesigns

i hate this song so much that i can't even remember how it goes..........

Lawd. I.totally.agree. barf.

[bombaysaffires]

I have the same problem with Two Kinds of Love that many have with FWIW.... wtf incomplete lyrics....

two kinds of love (ok so far)
one for the way you walk,
one for the way you love me??

wtf??

Ghosts....a total mess. I like what I *think* was the inspiration... the concept of the ghost of Christmas past, present and future, except here it's Stevie looking over her life and we've got the ghost of what you really want, the ghost of the past you live in, and the ghost of the future that you're so frightened of. The best part for me is the bridge, where she sings -

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
One day they were lovers,
one day they were friends,
and there was nothing left to say...

I think it's a very touching insight into where she was at at that stage in her life, and accepting that maybe for real the notions she had of finding lasting long-term love and having kids was passing her by.

Same with Welcome to the Room, Sara.. it is a very interesting insight into the whole rehab and intervention thing.. as much as she wants to insist she went to rehab totally of her own volition... (Frontline baby...)

some of the crap on SA, however............especially the stuff she didn't write.....blech.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by porkpie

OK - let em start by saying I don't want to slag Stevie but considering how awesome IYD is it got me thinking about what she was thinking at times when the quality control slipped (in my opinion) and wondered if others feel the same.

For me, the worst songs are Silver Girl and Sweet Girl. I think lyrically and musically they're both dull and I hate it when she writes a barely disguised version of herself in the third person as a character. At the time of the Dance, I foundnit really hard to believe that was the strongest song she could have come up with considering that Lyndsey and Christine's songs were all pretty strong. The ther nght I rewatched Destiny Rules and Mick was talking aobut what a strong set of songs Stevie brought to the project, but again I'm surprised Silver Girl made the cut.

What are everyone else's thoughts on these songs?

I disagree that these are Stevie's worst songs. I actually like both- they aren't earth shattering by any means, but they're solid enough works. I think Sweet Girl is a poignant little career retrospective. Silver Girl is a nice homage to a friend (Sheryl Crow). I can think of FAR worse lyrics Stevie has written:

Something in my heart died last night
Just one more chip off an already broken heart
I think the heart broke long ago

Blech... what repetitive cliche'd dreck.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Something in my heart died last night
Just one more chip off an already broken heart
I think the heart broke long ago

Blech... what repetitive cliche'd dreck.

Cross my heart, the repetition of heart doesn't matter when all I have to do is read those words and I suddenly start singing, with all of my heart and at the top of my lungs: That's when I needed you, when I needed you MOSSSST. That's when I needed you . . .

The music sounds so good with the words. It lifts her voice which is itself a spirit in flight. Which is more than I can ever say for Silver Girl or Sweet Girl. The weak music makes those songs even worse. If I were Sheryl and Stevie had written Silver Girl for me, I'd stop being her friend.

Michele

[WildHearted]

To be honest, the music can really make or break a Stevie song. A lot of times her lyrics are made 100% more poignant because of the way she sings them, or the way they flow melodically/rhythmically.. so if that's off, then the lyrics -however nice they are - can fall flat. At the same time, it works in the opposite sense - what could be seen as maybe a pretty generic lyric or strange word choice or whatever can turn into something awesome because of how it's sung.

Example: I absolutely love the line, "I used to love you so much" in YMBTO because of the way it's sung. There's nothing deeply poetic about the lyric itself, but the way it sounds in your ears changes that.

[tabruns]

Well if I had to cite individual songs:

Welcome To The Room, Sara.....it's meandering and lacks a melody or hook
All four tracks on Behind The Mask.....pedestrian, boring music, completely lacking the Nicks magic
Street Angel album - Ditto

I like "Paper Doll". The lyrics are fun "you like a man with a future, you like a woman with a past" and the music is concise and inventive. "Sweet Girl" has an Allman Brothers band feel to it, and I love that lilting guitar line. Both of these songs are well made. On the other hand, "No Questions Asked" (which I like by the way) just kind of meanders on.