How long did it take for you to like The Wild Heart?

SortaSavageLike · #1 01-09-2007, 05:18 PM

I bought a copy of this album on Saturday, I've listened to it three times, and I'm kind of having hard time getting used to it. There are times on this album where Stevie's voice sounds better than before, and at times it's so unpleasantly rough I want to press the Skip button. The synthesizers on the three songs she wrote with Sandy Stewart jangle my nerves a bit; they practically ruined Nightbird for me.

Am I missing something, or do I need to listen to it a few more times?

carrie721 · #2 01-09-2007, 05:21 PM

i listened to it a couple times, then put it a way for quite a while. i immediately liked some songs, like the title track, stand back, and i will run to you, but i was at a loss in regards to the others. i broke it out a few months ago and really fell in love. i'd say it took about a year. now i rank it up there with BD, TISL, and RAL (yes, i ****ing love RAL.).

DavidMn · #3 01-09-2007, 05:22 PM

I liked it right from the first time I heard it.

jannieC · #4 01-09-2007, 05:23 PM

Since my first listen to it was when it first came out, I had the whole excitement thing going on. But truthfully, it's never really been my favorite. It took me a few listenings to really like it, and to this day there are a few songs I skip altogether.

ELIUD · #5 01-09-2007, 05:29 PM

I loved it the day it came out and I heard "Nothing Ever Changes". All it takes for me to appreciate an album of hers in one good gem, but I think there are several on this one. "Gate and Garden", "Beauty and the Beast", "Enchanted" and the title tune are a few. The synth is very dating and a little distracting but this is definitely one of her best collections in my opinion.

amber · #6 01-09-2007, 05:33 PM

Dude. I just got it a couple years ago, and I just started liking it mid last year.

I just didn't like it much before that. Now I love it. Of course I already loved Stand Back, and a few others on the record, but other than that it took awhile to grow on me. I still don't love Gate and Garden or Sable on Blonde (I like Sable more than Gate).
Just keep listening every so often, suddenly it will hit you that this is a special, special bridge time in Stevie's vocal life, quite spectacular and amazing, really.

HejiraNYC · #7 01-09-2007, 05:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

I bought a copy of this album on Saturday, I've listened to it three times, and I'm kind of having hard time getting used to it. There are times on this album where Stevie's voice sounds better than before, and at times it's so unpleasantly rough I want to press the Skip button. The synthesizers on the three songs she wrote with Sandy Stewart jangle my nerves a bit; they practically ruined Nightbird for me.

Am I missing something, or do I need to listen to it a few more times?

I am biased since I got it the day it came out (after wearing out the Stand Back/Garbo single for weeks). My initial impression was that the title track was the most killer thing I had ever heard in my life... but the rest of the album never quite made it to par. And I am probably in the great minority here by saying that I did not/do not care for "Sable on Blond" at all. Maybe it's because I am forever scarred by the scathing review in Rolling Stone that compared SoB to a toilet paper commercial jingle.

And it's only in recent years that I have grown to love "Nightbird." When it was released as a single back then, I was like WTF? I was convinced that "I Will Run to You" would have been the second monster single...

That being said, despite all of its flaws, in hindsight I think The Wild heart was the quintessential Stevie album, even moreso than Bella Donna, which had a decided masculinity about it, probably due to the fact that it was almost entirely a Tom Petty/Heartbreakers album. WH is a shamelessly girl-power album, probably since her major collaborator was Sandy Stewart. But the lyrics and the vocals were more passionate, more romantic, more self-indulgent, replete with images of boots, blankets, gardens, capes, hearts, etc. In a nutshell, it was Stevie to the nth power.

TheWILDheart · #8 01-09-2007, 05:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DavidMn

I liked it right from the first time I heard it.

I'm with you there mate. I love this album and always have. I still don't like I Will Run To You and it always gets skipped. Wild Heart, IAF, GAG, Enchanted, Stand Back, NEC, SOB and BATB were all instant likes..took a while to get into Nightbird but thats it. Stevie's joint second best with TISL for me.

SortaSavageLike · #9 01-09-2007, 05:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

And it's only in recent years that I have grown to love "Nightbird." When it was released as a single back then, I was like WTF? I was convinced that "I Will Run to You" would have been the second monster single...

Nightbird, to me, sounds like what Storms would have sounded like if it hadn't been produced by Fleetwood Mac. And ami I the only one who thinks that Sandy Stewart was the wrong choice to harmonize with Stevie?

Johnny Stew · #10 01-09-2007, 06:13 PM

I loved 'The Wild Heart' the first time I heard it... but even moreso now. It's always in a three-way tie with 'Rock A Little' and 'Trouble In Shangri-La' as my favorite of Stevie's albums.

There isn't a thing that I don't love about it... Stevie's passionate vocals, her evocative lyrics, the galloping synths, the driving drum lines... it's killer all the way.

'Bella Donna' often sounds too timid and laidback for me... but the 'Wild Heart' shows Stevie as a force to be reckoned with.

AliceLover · #11 01-09-2007, 06:39 PM

The Wild Heart is not one of my favorite albums as a whole, but it has 4 huge powerhouses for me that I love: Beauty and the Beast, Stand Back, Enchanted, and If Anyone Falls. The others are just blahhhhh. I really don't get the love for Wild Heart the song. When I first heard it I thought the chorus was decent, but then I realized it was because it sounds like Sara. I dunno....she had a great voice on it, but I never listen to it. I put it on my Ipod to see if there was something I was missing, but I still don't like to listen to it. My albums from Fav to least fav go:

1. Other Side of the Mirror
2. Bella Donna
3. Trouble in Shangri La
4. Street Angel
5. The Wild Heart
6. Rock a Little

chiliD · #12 01-09-2007, 06:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SortaSavageLike

I bought a copy of this album on Saturday, I've listened to it three times, and I'm kind of having hard time getting used to it. There are times on this album where Stevie's voice sounds better than before, and at times it's so unpleasantly rough I want to press the Skip button. The synthesizers on the three songs she wrote with Sandy Stewart jangle my nerves a bit; they practically ruined Nightbird for me.

Am I missing something, or do I need to listen to it a few more times?

You think it's tough now, just think how tough it was to listen to when it was CURRENT! Other than "Stand Back" (which I liked then, but can't stand now...the studio version, I mean) & "Sable On Blond", I really didn't care for the album. Rock A Little (side two only) regained my faith in her solo career, then OSOTM (excuse me while I projectile vomit at the thought of that album) came out and just lost me on anything she did thereafter until TISL.

JazmenFlowers · #13 01-09-2007, 07:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

... but the 'Wild Heart' shows Stevie as a force to be reckoned with.

yep!

I loved it the first time I slipped it into my cd changer. I bought it on the day I went to visit my cousin, who had cystic fibrosis, for, what turned out to be, the last time. I bought it and it was raining really bad outside. I bought TWH and Tusk on the same day. I remember listening to Storms and Sable on Blonde...the rest is a blur, but I remember listening to it on the way to the hospital and while it made me very sad, it also made me feel very empowered and strong.

Wild_Heart03 · #14 01-09-2007, 08:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I loved 'The Wild Heart' the first time I heard it... but even moreso now. It's always in a three-way tie with 'Rock A Little' and 'Trouble In Shangri-La' as my favorite of Stevie's albums.

There isn't a thing that I don't love about it... Stevie's passionate vocals, her evocative lyrics, the galloping synths, the driving drum lines... it's killer all the way.

'Bella Donna' often sounds too timid and laidback for me... but the 'Wild Heart' shows Stevie as a force to be reckoned with.

I swear Brian, sometimes we share a brain.

But really just like he said, I loved "Wild Heart" from the start. *points at username...

* It's second only behind RAL for me, but not by far - the album as a whole is very strong, and (forgetting my love for anything synth) I think that the synths and the drum machines really helped to bring a fresh new sonic perspective to the songs.

Plus, when I'm in a good mood I like to fashion my blanket into makeshift shawl and jam out to "Stand Back".

goldie · #15 01-09-2007, 08:36 PM

I loved it from the get-go.