Moonlight

[SapphireSister]

Originally Posted by mitzo

"...Can you write this for me? He says no, you write your songs yourself. That made me stronger, that made me hold on to me..."

Hmmm....

Too tired to analyze my reasoning behind it at this moment but I've been saying this from the beginning of the IYD discussions and felt the need to share... MITZO I'M WITH YOU!!

[mitzo]

Originally Posted by SapphireSister

Too tired to analyze my reasoning behind it at this moment but I've been saying this from the beginning of the IYD discussions and felt the need to share... MITZO I'M WITH YOU!!

Thanks. I feel one of my great idols in life let me down. A little. I mean, if you're an artist, write the frickin' songs yourself. Isn't that always one of Stevie's main themes, how she writes all the time etc.? Well, then, DUH??!!

[tabruns]

Well brace yourself for further disappointment cuz she's likely to continue writing with Dave. She loved how it turned out.

[Bm7th]

Originally Posted by Bandon

I can't believe it. Until yesterday, I had not heard one song from IYD playing on the radio, in stores, etc. I live in Austin, and I heard Moonlight when I was going into a large movie theater in town. When I left the movie, I also heard it again and noticed they were playing the video on a screen in the lobby.

Last time I heard any new stuff from Stevie on the radio on a consistant basis was back in 1989, Rooms On Fire. After that, Sometimes It's A Bitch once or twice and Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind a few times on a AC radio station. My radio stations were from NYC & N.J.

[Johnny Stew]

Stevie readily admits she only knows a few chords, and that she's not a master on piano or guitar. Which is why she refers to herself as a poet/lyricist and not a composer.

So I'm not quite sure how someone else writing the music should be considered a "letdown."

[TerraRhiannon]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Stevie readily admits she only knows a few chords, and that she's not a master on piano or guitar. Which is why she refers to herself as a poet/lyricist and not a composer.

So I'm not quite sure how someone else writing the music should be considered a "letdown."

I think she's a lot better on piano than she will let on or admit.

[On Ice]

I can't help but go back to the enormous amount of material in Stevie's vault that could be: mastered and released as is, re-recorded, or used as a stepping stone to new material. We saw how amazing LFTM morphed into Moonlight. It leaves me wondering if gems like Julia, China Doll or She Loves Him Still could morph as well. So much potential that she should have grabbed onto around the Tango time. Sigh... But the lady still has it in her and we could hear some amazing stuff from her well into her 70's, go Stevie.

[On Ice]

Oh, and I forgot to add that I think she and Dave crafted an amazing album (although some editing would have made it more amazing) so I look forward to what they have up their sleeves.

[SapphireSister]

Originally Posted by mitzo

Thanks. I feel one of my great idols in life let me down. A little. I mean, if you're an artist, write the frickin' songs yourself. Isn't that always one of Stevie's main themes, how she writes all the time etc.? Well, then, DUH??!!

I wouldn't go as far as to say she let me down by any means. Hell, we never knew for sure we'd ever get another solo album out of her so I am so grateful for IYD!! Do I prefer she did some more songs a la' LFTM--> Moonlight and fewer collabs with Dave? Yes but that's not to say I'm not thankful for what we do have. I mean, we have something even if it's not my ideal scenario.

[bombaysaffires]

Quick post as it's late and I'm really tired.... but I find it interesting that people are disappointed that Stevie collaborated with Dave, or with anyone.... because that's what artists do, and like it or not it's what Stevie has always done... she writes her lyrics and her melodies (exactly what she did here even working with Dave) and then gives creative control over the music to Lindsey, Jimmy Iovine, Tom Petty, etc etc etc... She's quoted over and over herself saying that she gives her songs over to her producers and other collaborators and tells them "don't mess with my words or my melodies but do whatever you want with the music/arrangement". So this process is NOT new for her..... (She just happened to do it sitting in the same room with Dave which she typically hadn't done before.. which I think gave her actually MORE input and control over the music than she's had in the past when she just handed stuff over and walked away, "call me when you're ready for me"). And artists from time immemorial have worked with new people to keep themselves and their work fresh and reinvigorated... One of the things I think Lindsey needs to do MORE is collaborate on his solo albums... his best to date (for me, ymmv) was Out of the Cradle, which he DIDN"T do alone in a bubble but collaborated with Richard Dashut on. When he doesn't collaborate, his work starts to sound a bit redundant and cloistered. Just my opinion.

[SapphireSister]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Quick post as it's late and I'm really tired.... but I find it interesting that people are disappointed that Stevie collaborated with Dave, or with anyone.... because that's what artists do, and like it or not it's what Stevie has always done... she writes her lyrics and her melodies (exactly what she did here even working with Dave) and then gives creative control over the music to Lindsey, Jimmy Iovine, Tom Petty, etc etc etc... She's quoted over and over herself saying that she gives her songs over to her producers and other collaborators and tells them "don't mess with my words or my melodies but do whatever you want with the music/arrangement". So this process is NOT new for her..... (She just happened to do it sitting in the same room with Dave which she typically hadn't done before.. which I think gave her actually MORE input and control over the music than she's had in the past when she just handed stuff over and walked away, "call me when you're ready for me"). And artists from time immemorial have worked with new people to keep themselves and their work fresh and reinvigorated... One of the things I think Lindsey needs to do MORE is collaborate on his solo albums... his best to date (for me, ymmv) was Out of the Cradle, which he DIDN"T do alone in a bubble but collaborated with Richard Dashut on. When he doesn't collaborate, his work starts to sound a bit redundant and cloistered. Just my opinion.

I hear you but what makes this one different than the others with Jimmy, Tom, etc. is that Stevie herself has really promoted IYD as a total collaboration and has chosen to give Dave tons of credit and talk non-stop about him. He has been and will continue to be the focus of the conversation whenever she talks about IYD, not to mention the videos, pictures, and live show appearances. She credits him with so much! It was even marketed heavily to us that way in my opinion. I do not believe she has focused any other producer/collaborator (with the exception of Lindsey) with the fervor she has with Dave. He's is all over IYD! Have you guys seen Jimmy Iovine, Rick Nowels, or Rupert Hine the same way we've seen Dave? I think not. I guess that's more so my problem than the actual technicalities of the song-writing process (who wrote melodies, lyrics, etc.). or who's in control. To me too much of the focus/credit has been taken off of Stevie and given to Dave. I just want Stevie to get all the attention!! Does this make sense to anyone?

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by SapphireSister

I hear you but what makes this one different than the others with Jimmy, Tom, etc. is that Stevie herself has really promoted IYD as a total collaboration and has chosen to give Dave tons of credit and talk non-stop about him. He has been and will continue to be the focus of the conversation whenever she talks about IYD, not to mention the videos, pictures, and live show appearances. She credits him with so much! It was even marketed heavily to us that way in my opinion. I do not believe she has focused any other producer/collaborator (with the exception of Lindsey) with the fervor she has with Dave. He's is all over IYD! Have you guys seen Jimmy Iovine, Rick Nowels, or Rupert Hine the same way we've seen Dave? I think not. I guess that's more so my problem than the actual technicalities of the song-writing process (who wrote melodies, lyrics, etc.). or who's in control. To me too much of the focus/credit has been taken off of Stevie and given to Dave. I just want Stevie to get all the attention!! Does this make sense to anyone?

it does make sense Maybe it has something to do with Dave's personality vs the others? Jimmy, Rupert, and some others preferred to be known behind the scenes and let the artist do all the public work.... maybe he's a force in all that.... it IS interesting that Glen Ballard produced just as much on this record but isn't all over the media.... maybe Stevie thinks he has a credibility in this new era that she doesn't??

[MacMan]

Originally Posted by SapphireSister

I hear you but what makes this one different than the others with Jimmy, Tom, etc. is that Stevie herself has really promoted IYD as a total collaboration and has chosen to give Dave tons of credit and talk non-stop about him. He has been and will continue to be the focus of the conversation whenever she talks about IYD, not to mention the videos, pictures, and live show appearances. She credits him with so much! It was even marketed heavily to us that way in my opinion. I do not believe she has focused any other producer/collaborator (with the exception of Lindsey) with the fervor she has with Dave. He's is all over IYD! Have you guys seen Jimmy Iovine, Rick Nowels, or Rupert Hine the same way we've seen Dave? I think not. I guess that's more so my problem than the actual technicalities of the song-writing process (who wrote melodies, lyrics, etc.). or who's in control. To me too much of the focus/credit has been taken off of Stevie and given to Dave. I just want Stevie to get all the attention!! Does this make sense to anyone?

Stevie gives Dave a lot of credit because he pointed her in a whole new direction with a whole new outlook on how to create.. right from song writing & recording to producing the music videos, documentary filming etc. and I'm sure marketing it & herself. In the past yes producers were involved which we didn't hear a lot about on a technical level, and I think her Management would have had more say in the direction things went with the music and marketing where as this time I think Dave may have had a lot of influence in the direction... So she's grateful to him for giving himself over to her to help her do things in a different way - ways she probably would never have done on her own... It excites her for the future... She didn't want the recording to end... She'll likely produce more music in the future this way because of this experience - and for that - I'd thank Dave too! I think Stevie deservedly gets ALL the attention...at the end of the day it is her album and she does have final say on everything. If she didn't mention Dave every chance she could he'd be like the past producers and basically not talked about at...

I think people are over reacting! Songwriters have been collaborating with other songwriters since the beginning of time... That process in itself can be inspiring.

[UndoingTheLaces]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

his best to date (for me, ymmv) was Out of the Cradle, which he DIDN"T do alone in a bubble but collaborated with Richard Dashut on.

You said "bubble but". Tee hee

[UndoingTheLaces]

I used to be in a band and my favorite thing to do was to sit in the room with the other guys jamming and a little tape recorder and just write. Then I was take the tape and edit different parts of a jam together, or just take a section that worked really well, and record me singing my lyrics over it. Then I would bring it back and say "here's two new songs" and they would say "those weren't songs, we were just goofing around" but then they'd be amazed that I had constructed two practically complete songs out of hours of jamming.

So I can see totally how Stevie can work with other people. I mean, her piano rendition of Moonlight was beautiful to listen to but if that was on the album like that it would be a little monotonous to the average listener. I was amazed that Stevie's piano melody could actually play all the way through the chorus because Dave had constructed such a lush landscape behind her vocals that you'd never know it had the same repeating chord progression all the way through. I remember when I tried to teach myself to play Gypsy on the piano. I have this little Best of Fleetwood Mac sheet music book, and I sat there learning the chords and realized, wow for such a beautifully intense song it's got like two parts. Seriously, listen to the opening chords of Gypsy before she starts to sing. You can repeat that over and over and over and it never changes until you get to the bridge and after the bridge it goes back to that, even during the vocal ad lib at the end. Even Stevie has said she knows very little about writing music. What did she say that Waddy said "it's like she just keeps writing one really long song". Dave was doing what he does best, construct incredible musical landscapes underneath strong female vocalists. He did it for Annie and now for Stevie. I hope they work together again.