Street Angel - the original version

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Oh Lord, how can anyone think that god-awful SA vocal on If You Were My Love is worthy of inclusion on an album is beyond me. It's terrible, truly. She sounds half awake and distracted by a pizza.

I personally love Street Angel (the song) but otherwise agree with your assessment, by and large. That part of the 90's was an odd time for music, with Salt & Pepa and Tori Amos and Ace of Bass toppng charts, I don't know that *anything* Stevie could have done would have sounded current.

Yes, it was a sleepy vocal, but for me it somehow worked with that slinky, jazzy arrangement & IMO it is 100 x's more enjoyable than "Just Like A Woman." Ultimately, IYWMY (SA Version) is a guilty pleasure. But it's still not as snoozy as the dreadful vocal on "Playing In God'd Garden!"

Like I said, ultimately "Street Angel" suffered from not having a couple of killer songs."Greta" , "Blue Denim", & "Kick It" were nice, but there were no epic songs, no killer Stevie moments, just glimpses of what could've been. Stevie seemed to be suffering from writers block and any clear direction. I feel like she combed through her vaults - armed with a few older early 80's demo's, WH & RAL demos, and one OSOTM demo (Docklands) for good measure, and prayed that Sandy Stewart would deliver a hit song. "Unconditional Love" is the worst song she EVER gave to Stevie. The WORST!

I don't entirely buy that Stevie couldn't have had a modest hit at this stage in her career. If she had her sh*t together & worked with the right people it could have happened. I look to Melissa Etheridge's "Come To My Window", as a good example from that time period of what could have been. Concrete Blonde had released the gorgeous "Mexican Moon", and 4-non Blondes were riding high with "What's Up". There was a lot of good female acoustic/rock going on at this time.