Blue Denim ----- 2 different versions?

[greatdarkwing]

I finally bought the Street Angel album ( I had held off on buying it b/c everyone said it was a disaster). So, I finally bought it for 2$ at a local gas station on cassette. Well, I started listening to Blue Denim, and it sounded way different then the one that is on 'Enchanted'. I think they had a bongo beat that is not on the enchanted version. The ending is also longer. To be honest, I liked the Street Angel version better.

Has anyone else picked up on this?

~Alex

[Bella Figura]

yes, and I agree with you the Street Angel version is better!!

[The Tower]

Yep- the Street Angel version is total rock-n-roll. Whereas, the Enchanted version ain't so hot.

I think this is what happened (based on interviews, etc. that I've absorbed):

Stevie came outta her klonopin haze after all of Street Angel had been completed and (I think) it was just released. I've read many times that she was upset with the quality of Street Angel, so I'm assuming when she went to do Enchanted she decided to use the new mix.

Too bad. "Blue Denim" was the only kick-ass song on Street Angel- with "Love is Like a River" coming in close.

[BellaDonnaGypsy]

I definitely prefer the Street Angel version... it rocks! And Blue Denim is a great song; I never used to be that fond of it but I never skip it now. The first time I noticed the difference though, I thought I was going completely insane, or that I had turned off the bass on my discman... But no.

Laura.

[Sorcerer386]

Actually, what happened was when Stevie was doing Enchanted, the record company (or someone) sent the wrong recordings of the songs. If you notice, all four Street Angel songs sound different, especially Destiny. Destiny has this keyboard "dink dink" in it that really destroys the song for me. As for Blue Denim, I like it on Street Angel better because my favorite part of the song is from "So I'm going away..." until the end because I love the higher harmonies on these parts, and then there's the "OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH!" on the second "I'm going away..." line, and they aren't too audible on Enchanted.

[Johnny Stew]

To make matters even more interesting, there's also a third version of "Blue Denim"... a radio remix available only on the promo CD-single.

Like most radio remixes, it's not a radical departure from the album version... it's simply a "brighter" mix, making some of the instrumentation a little crisper, and "radio friendly."



Johnny Stew

[Ghosty]

Actually, I really like the Enchanted versions. Maybe it's just because it was neat to hear a slightly different version. I don't know. But I like the way those songs came out on the box set.

I happen to *LOVE* the Street Angel album! I really do. I wish it had not gotten so much bad press. When Stevie talks about it, I can understand it because she is the artist, and when you create something, you have a vision in mind of what you want it to be. So perhaps she really wished she had some more time to play around and get the sounds just right. But I love it. I wish Kick It was released as a single. I happen to think *that* is a really kickin' song. One radio station around here played it a few times, and it sounded great to hear it get some air time. I think it's an awesome song. And I love Greta! My least favorite song is Street Angel. It's kind of slow and dull, and I have no idea what it's about, other than a homeless person. It sounds like a Phil Collins song...

Anyways, I wish it had done better. Seems like it wasn't promoted that much though. Another video would have been nice (I've never even seen the one for Blue Denim). The only thing I was not so crazy about during the Street Angel era was Stevie's hair. But oh well. We all experiment in that department, don't we! lol!

Oh - and I really love the demo for Destiny with that "chime" sound to the piano, or whatever it is, and all the back up singers...I think it's great.

[Sorcerer386]

Street Angel is a very sad song about a homeless person and suicide. Musically, it's my least favorite Stevie Nicks song, but I like the story behind it. Again, something different from the pop songs all about your heart, or the R&B songs all about sex, etc. That's what I like about Stevie, yeah, she talks about love and her heart and stuff, but she talks about it as a story...like she says, "little worlds." So, that makes it interesting. I love stories, and I don't just want to hear about just how much someone loves someone else. If that makes sense...

[miriamswell]

I had never heard that about "Street Angel." Can you say more?
~mim

[Sorcerer386]

So I ended it all...for the both of us
I fell down the stairs...a broken rag doll
But you never knew...you just thought I went away
With nothing more to hope for...

Although Stevie can be quite metaphorical, she can also be quite direct, and I always figured this part was about the Street Angel committing suicide. The Street Angel is the homeless girl. Then, I found on sararhiannon's site the "Words of a poet" section and Stevie says pretty much the same thing. This is what she says about Street Angel:

"Street Angel was written in a hotel in LA, the Peninsula Hotel. I had to leave my house that I lived in because it was attacked by bees. It was a five story house, kinda like a New York house that went straight up, and I lived there, Liza lived there, and four or five other people lived there and we had to go 'cause the bees were so intense that they had to be moved, not killed, but moved. And I went to the hotel and there were two movies on TV about homelessness and a lot about it on CNN and I was really very, very, very touched at how sad the situation was, and I didn't have any solutions. This is not a political song. I was kinda looking out at Hollywood, all the sparkling lights, and people walking down the streets, and how wild it would be if I was out there and I didn't have a place to go, or sleep. This would be the most frightening thing for me, I mean... just as long as if you had enough money to pay your rent, you can almost accept anything, but as soon as someone threats to take your home away, that would scare me. So I just wrote a song about a girl who was brought up on the streets and this very much kinda street gypsy... she didn't have much, just her friends and family, she was a Street Angel. There then was this guy, this really, really rich guy fell in love with her, and tried to convince her to go with him and not be poor anymore, to marry him and leave her world, and in the end she really couldn't do that, she really couldn't change and be a rich man's lady, and so she in order to make him let her go and go on with his life, she let it be known to him that she killed herself; she committed suicide. She fell down the steps... he didn't hear her voice anymore. She went away, she couldnt live that kinda life."

Hope this helps Miriamswell

[miriamswell]

It does help, thank you so much. I've always loved this song and now it is even more poingnant -- it is so amazing the way Stevie can create these incredible imaginary worlds and then totally inhabit them. I think this is one the saddest songs she has ever written. Usually there is that tiny morsel of hope, but not really in this song. I've always liked the "Street Angel" album because it some ways it feels like the most personal of all of Stevie's albums, if that make sense? Anyway thanks so much for the story.
~mim

[Ghosty]

Too sad for me at the moment. Thanks for sharing that info though, because it explains a lot. I had always wondered if it was a made up story, or if maybe Stevie had an encounter with a certain homeless person in her past. So that is nice to know what it is all about. Between the saddness of the song, and the music which I really am not crazy about, it just is not a favorite song of mine.

I have my own version of how I wish Street Angel would have been. I would have liked to have that song Belle Fleur on it, in place of Street Angel. And Sanctuary would have been great on there too, for sure! And maybe even She Still Loves Him. And she could have called it "Maybe Love" (since the song Street Angel would not have been on it). I don't know what else I would have booted off to make room for Tied Up and Belle Fluer. Maybe Love Is Like A River? And Jane (even though I really like that song. But just thinking of a theme, and the sounds...)

Here's what I would have loved:



*Maybe Love* (the title of the album)

songs included:

Blue Denim
Greta
Sanctuary
Tied Up In Promises
Listen To The Rain
Belle Fleur
Destiny
Unconditional Love
Rose Garden
Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind
Just Like A Woman
Kick It
She Still Loves Him

I think I just might have to make myself a tape like that. My very own Stevie album! lol! And I would have kept the pictures and artwork just as is. All that pretty soft pink background for an album called Maybe Love. I don't mean to dwell on all the songs about love and relationships. I just happen to really love these songs, for their melodies and sound too. Okay - and for singles, what do you all think could have been released here - I still think Kick It, and Maybe Love, and hmmm...what else... She Still Loves him as the ballad single? I do really love Docklands, but it wasn't fitting in, and had to go to make room... I really love the song Mirror Mirror and wish that would have been on an album (or atleast the box set!!!), but...

(this is fun!)

[Travisevian]

Originally Posted by Sorcerer386

So I ended it all...for the both of us
I fell down the stairs...a broken rag doll
But you never knew...you just thought I went away
With nothing more to hope for...

Although Stevie can be quite metaphorical, she can also be quite direct, and I always figured this part was about the Street Angel committing suicide. The Street Angel is the homeless girl. Then, I found on sararhiannon's site the "Words of a poet" section and Stevie says pretty much the same thing. This is what she says about Street Angel:

"Street Angel was written in a hotel in LA, the Peninsula Hotel. I had to leave my house that I lived in because it was attacked by bees. It was a five story house, kinda like a New York house that went straight up, and I lived there, Liza lived there, and four or five other people lived there and we had to go 'cause the bees were so intense that they had to be moved, not killed, but moved. And I went to the hotel and there were two movies on TV about homelessness and a lot about it on CNN and I was really very, very, very touched at how sad the situation was, and I didn't have any solutions. This is not a political song. I was kinda looking out at Hollywood, all the sparkling lights, and people walking down the streets, and how wild it would be if I was out there and I didn't have a place to go, or sleep. This would be the most frightening thing for me, I mean... just as long as if you had enough money to pay your rent, you can almost accept anything, but as soon as someone threats to take your home away, that would scare me. So I just wrote a song about a girl who was brought up on the streets and this very much kinda street gypsy... she didn't have much, just her friends and family, she was a Street Angel. There then was this guy, this really, really rich guy fell in love with her, and tried to convince her to go with him and not be poor anymore, to marry him and leave her world, and in the end she really couldn't do that, she really couldn't change and be a rich man's lady, and so she in order to make him let her go and go on with his life, she let it be known to him that she killed herself; she committed suicide. She fell down the steps... he didn't hear her voice anymore. She went away, she couldnt live that kinda life."

What a sad story.

[starshine]

Originally Posted by Sorcerer386

So I ended it all...for the both of us
I fell down the stairs...a broken rag doll
But you never knew...you just thought I went away
With nothing more to hope for...

Although Stevie can be quite metaphorical, she can also be quite direct, and I always figured this part was about the Street Angel committing suicide. The Street Angel is the homeless girl. Then, I found on sararhiannon's site the "Words of a poet" section and Stevie says pretty much the same thing. This is what she says about Street Angel:

"Street Angel was written in a hotel in LA, the Peninsula Hotel. I had to leave my house that I lived in because it was attacked by bees. It was a five story house, kinda like a New York house that went straight up, and I lived there, Liza lived there, and four or five other people lived there and we had to go 'cause the bees were so intense that they had to be moved, not killed, but moved. And I went to the hotel and there were two movies on TV about homelessness and a lot about it on CNN and I was really very, very, very touched at how sad the situation was, and I didn't have any solutions. This is not a political song. I was kinda looking out at Hollywood, all the sparkling lights, and people walking down the streets, and how wild it would be if I was out there and I didn't have a place to go, or sleep. This would be the most frightening thing for me, I mean... just as long as if you had enough money to pay your rent, you can almost accept anything, but as soon as someone threats to take your home away, that would scare me. So I just wrote a song about a girl who was brought up on the streets and this very much kinda street gypsy... she didn't have much, just her friends and family, she was a Street Angel. There then was this guy, this really, really rich guy fell in love with her, and tried to convince her to go with him and not be poor anymore, to marry him and leave her world, and in the end she really couldn't do that, she really couldn't change and be a rich man's lady, and so she in order to make him let her go and go on with his life, she let it be known to him that she killed herself; she committed suicide. She fell down the steps... he didn't hear her voice anymore. She went away, she couldnt live that kinda life."

Hope this helps Miriamswell

I loved that sararhiannon site too it had a wealth of Stevie /Mac info. I never got to print off the Street Angel section on her web site bummer. I did get alot of them but not that one. Same with all the song lyrics too (outtakes etc) It was one of the best sites. Better than Stevies own web site too. I was sad when it was gone!! Thanks for the info!!

[Thrown_Down]

I really like the song 'Street Angel'. I like the sparseness of the music and production, it has a haunting quality.