SortaSavageLike reviews The Wild Heart (Yay?)

[SortaSavageLike]

The other day I was browsing through my old MS Word documents when I found a third-written review of The Wild Heart in my old documents. Feeling inspired, I decided to finish it and posted it on Epinions.com later that night. It's not as long as my review of Bella Donna (which was probably too long!), but then again, I've been writing shorter reviews overall now. So, here it is:

http://www.epinions.com/content_322947485316

I still duck when Stevie wails "Shadow against...Shadow against...Shadow against the wall!" Man, was she angry back then. I bet Stevie had acid for estrogen in the early 80s. Alanis ain't got nothing on her!

[SortaSavageLike]

C'mon, I must have pissed somebody off!

[Rickypt]

I love this:

Now, I love Stevie to death, but I'd be a liar if I said she had a stunningly beautiful voice, or if I understood the meaning of her songs the first time I heard them. What matters to me is that I believe what she sings, and she's the only person who ever managed to find the romantic in me. (Blushes)

You captured something I feel about Stevie; i.e., that I don't often get the meaning of her songs (sometimes never) but I know she believes in what she's saying....and also brings out romantic in me. Well said!

[Phoenix]

I liked your review. Positive but honest.

[SpyNote]

Thanks for your review. The Wild Heart is in my Top 3 (behind Bella Donna and before TISL). I agree with you on the filler songs and the dated production. I think Nightbird and Stand Back are two of the strongest songs on the album, but they are plagued with the same problem -- those drum machines. I never really understood her reliance on them. They sound very artificial to my ears. The end result are songs that sound incomplete. I feel the same way about "Love Changes" on TISL, which also uses programmed drums.

I don't mind the use of synthesizer so much. I think If Anyone Falls sounds great with this arrangement.

I would have preferred the album to flow like this. Yes, I've removed the title track, which makes this a completely different album.

Gold and Braid
If Anyone Falls
Julia
Sleeping Angel
Enchanted
Nightbird

Stand Back
Violet and Blue
Nothing Ever Changes
Sable on Blond
Beauty and the Beast

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by SpyNote

I would have preferred the album to flow like this. Yes, I've removed the title track, which makes this a completely different album.

Gold and Braid
If Anyone Falls
Julia
Sleeping Angel
Enchanted
Nightbird

Stand Back
Violet and Blue
Nothing Ever Changes
Sable on Blond
Beauty and the Beast

dies. this would be kick ass...but you gotta add WH back.

[UndoingTheLaces]

I really like The Wild Heart but it always seemed really uneven to me. When the title track starts up you feel like you're about to enter into Belladonna 2, which even though most serious artists want to stay away from that type of thing, isn't such a bad idea. Songs like the title track, Beauty and the Beast, Gate and Garden and Julia (had it been included) really fit the tone of Belladonna. But then there were the songs that jumped on the 80's synth pop train and rode it all the way into the station. Stand Back could always do with a heavier rock guitar feel but the synth is so much a part of the song that if played without it you'd totally miss it. And the drum machine helps drive the hard edge of this song home, I think. If Anyone Falls would sound interesting if done with some more natural sounding keyboads or strings, but again, the arrangement has become such an ingrained part of the song after so many listenings that a totally different arrangement might seem really odd. Having said that, the new sexy jazzy lounge version of She Bop that Cyndi Lauper currently does in concert is proof that a classic can be reborn, remixed and reimagined. So who knows. One of my favorite songs on the album will always be Nightbird. I think it's a haunting song, and one filled with so much sorrow. I've can totally relate to it. I'm fortunate to have a very large group of friends, all of whom care deeply for me, and yet some nights would come home from a night on the town to a horrible loneliness. It's an odd feeling to have so many people care about you but not be able to reach out, or to have someone understand how much pain you're in. So that line "sometimes I am surrounded by too much love" gets me every time. My beef with the song is those tinny synths. It's such a gorgeous song but real drums, stings, oboes, and acoustic guitar would really make this track shine.

I hate to admit it but the other songs I can give or take. we all have our favorites and songs we don't care for. Not that they are bad but they never really grabbed me.

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

My beef with the song is those tinny synths. It's such a gorgeous song but real drums, stings, oboes, and acoustic guitar would really make this track shine.

That's why the SNL performance of Nightbird is so great. Real instruments!

[JazmenFlowers]

Originally Posted by SpyNote

That's why the SNL performance of Nightbird is so great. Real instruments!

there was something about the SNL show that night. all the stars were aligned because everything was perfect...from Stevie's voice, the music, the dancing, the clothes...it was perfection.