Thoughts on Crystal Visions CD / DVD

[skcin]

Originally Posted by AliceLover

I thought it was humerous that all of the songs she could add back into the set, she talks about doing Whole Lotta Trouble. While *I* agree with her saying there is a lot of energy in that song, I thought there would be a lot of opposition against it. Personally if she added anything from OSOTM I'd be thrilled. I think its safe to say that Rooms on Fire is gone. She didn't even put it in the booklet.

OMG, I know. I was like "NO, for the love of God, not that song!"

Originally Posted by Kelly

Oh and the shot of Jimmy Iovine in those tight white jeans? Good God....I nearly lost my dinner. I do not need to see him sans undies every again. (Lindsey...anyday but not JI)

Gross. The paritally zipped hooded sweat-jacket with no shirt underneath was also a nice touch. Barf.





I love this DVD. Love her dancing to Edge in the studio. Love her commentray on Brad Jeffries "he's such a good dancer." LOL! ROF "Give me back my baby."

I Can't Wait was done only once on stage & didn't work so you never did it again? Really. OK, Stevie. Ah, the glorious cocaine fog.

[GypsySorcerer]

LOVED the audio commentary. Her take on the Scarlett Stand Back is hilarious. I love the relaxed, comical side of Stevie. The Bella Donna footage is wonderful. Stevie and her voice are just gorgeous.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by Phil

However, when she began gushing about what a great guy and producer he was, it made me surge with anger.

Hello, it's Stevie. Everyone is roses, angels, butterflies and the man of her dreams according to her. I always take it with 12.000 grains of salt.

[TwistedGypsy]

I just wanted to add my 2 cents on the Cd/DVD...it's about damn time!!!! Thank You for putting together a great package!
The gem on the cd for me has got to be EO17 live! I've fallen in love with it all over again. Listening to it felt like the first time I heard it on a field trip in 8th grade. Rock & Roll is mind blowing, Landslide is fresh, Dreams is fun to dance around to. It's a great cd and the DVD well, its perfect. Right down to Stevie giving the finger to Sharon and Lori.
I know I've waited a long time for a great package like this.

[Johnny Stew]

The only producer I ever recall Stevie describing as "controlling" was Glyn Johns... not Jon Bon Jovi.
It was a 1994 radio interview with Mary Turner, and she said that she waited until he had left the country before she went back into the studio to "fix" what he had done to her record ('Street Angel,' of course).

And so I went back in, with Thom Panunzio, to try and fix what I was not happy with. And I didn't fix it while I was working with the person that I was working with [Glyn Johns]... who doesn't like to be talked about because he's not speaking to me... I didn't like it when he was there, and he knew it, and basically he told me to... like, in no uncertain english, very rough terms, to shut up and deal with it and this was the way it was going to be.

So I waited for him to not only leave, but be gone for two months, before I summoned up enough courage to say well, I know this isn't right, this is just not me. This is not my record. So I went back in for about eight weeks and I didn't mess with the vocals, which I should have. But I was so sort of overwhelmed with trying to fix the things that I didn't like about the music, which was like... there was no percussion, there was no Waddy Wachtel. Because I was told that the last thing that I would need was Waddy Wachtel. And I, you know...I mean, to that comment I was so speechless that I just didn't do anything, I said ok. So when I went back in, I had Waddy come in and play, and I had Peter Michael come in and put percusssion on, and Michael Campbell came back and put some more guitar on it, and we re-mixed everything, and we did a lot of other things besides that.

In anything that I've ever read or heard, she's never said anything remotely unkind about Jon Bon Jovi.

[michaelD]

My thoughts...

The CD good, mostly rehashed, a few things that were fresh, no biggie.
The DVD:
The videos w/ the commentary are classic... the hair conversation during Blue Denim... Is it my imagination or was she singing different lyrics for Whole Lotta Trouble... I realize it was "live" but I don't recall even hearing that version live??? Has it always been that way...

The making of Bella Donna was the best part for me...
The Blue Lamp footage is my favorite part of the package...
It's one of favorite Stevie songs, and the interaction with Jimmy was great (earth to Stevie!)

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

. . . In anything that I've ever read or heard, she's never said anything remotely unkind about Jon Bon Jovi.

Me either - but Kelly's got a good memory - so, maybe she can post the thing she was talking about. I wish my memory was better!

[ELIUD]

I think this release is in a word: a treasure.

All the live recordings are way better than I expected. This is my most favorite version of Landslide next to the 1980 live album. And with all the contradicting or revised comments of comments made in the past, throughout the videos, it's still an amazing offering of Stevie's views and opinions on some of her most memorable material.

She's shines throughout "Crystal Visions". Like she always has in my heart.

[BTFLCHLD]

Originally Posted by michaelD

(earth to Stevie!)

That comment seemed to hurt her feelings.

my favorite favorite part of the dvd is when she pined "i love you tom"

[Livia]

I love what she said about Jon Bon Jovi - what was it? "Great butt, loyal man..." and something else? And then that *smack* noise w/ her mouth - "They don't make 'em like that anymore."

[Lala]

I've been in bliss watching the DVD and listening to the new tracks on the CD.

The CD...
I'm glad to have a Stevie compilation cuz I don't have Timespace or Enchanted (before my fandom began). Every once in a while you want to throw on a Greatest Hits and get some work done. So, it's a nice thing to have. A double CD, with some more important tracks would have been nice, but probably too much to ask for and less marketable.
The first thing I listened to was the live version of Rhiannon simply because I wanted to hear one of the new songs. It's certainly not the best version in the world, but in terms of post-Dance versions (that I've heard) it's not bad.
I feel like the mixing on the MSO songs could have been better. IMHO, the two things that make any song better are 1. vocal harmony and 2. string arrangements. What's there is good, but it should be bigger and louder.
I'm getting a little sick of the Rumours version of Silver Springs. How great would it have been if one of the more passionate outtakes floating around got remastered for CV. My favorite one has a lot more passion in the vocal and harmonics in the guitar.
Rock and Roll was fun. Stevie can do anything.
It was cool that Leather and Lace had that extra line from Don in it. I don't know if that's old news to some of you, but it surprised me last night.

The liner notes were nice. I was dissapointed that Rooms On Fire got the snub...I've always liked it. Does she really not like that song?

The DVD...
I love this thing. It made me so happy to have GOOD QUALITY versions of her videos. Watching the commentary today made me love Stevie even more. It felt like talking with a good friend on some level. She seemed to notice the same flaws and funny things that I did. (ie. the treadmill...I always make fun of that).
Am I the only one who things the Scarlett Stand Back is better than the second try? I mean sure...it's nonsensicle...but it was the 80s. It certainly has more of a concrete story than the second version. I love Stevie's commentary "And now that I've come through the civil war...I need a drink!"
I was a little disapointed that the videos for EO17 and If You Ever Did Believe weren't on there. But the live version of EO17 kicked ass. I've never seen the HBO Special so...it was great. Let's release that thing already.

The Making of Bella Donna
The quality of the video tape made me sad. If the thing had been released earlier, would it have been better?
That said, it was cool to see. Stevie giving Lori and Sharon the finger and Sharon's big glasses were awesome. Jimmy Iovine's package was not.
It would have been nice if the Making Of had been put together and little better with present-day interviews from those involved spliced in with the clips. But of course...that's probably too much to ask.

Watching the videos made me want an equivalent Fleetwood Mac release SO BAD. Common...gimme a music video DVD including the Rosebud performaces. Imagine all five of them doing commentary on the videos. I think I would die happy. No...if I got the Tusk doc and Mirage concert on DVD as well, then I would die happy.

Overall, I love it! Horray!

[paleshadow]

I think the home movie footage of Bella Donna is the best part of the whole package. I love the part when Stevie and the girls are in the studio kidding around and Stevie gives Sharon and Lori the finger. It's funny how during the commentary of the videos Stevie keeps calling it "lip singing".

[sparky]

Originally Posted by Phil

No offence Takenbythesky, but Stevie's comments regarding Jon Bon Jovi really left a bad taste in my mouth. When she commenced talking about him on the dvd, I initially thought from the hesitant tone of her voice that she was attempting to be diplomatic and perhaps was unsure of what she could say that would be deemed positive. However, when she began gushing about what a great guy and producer he was, it made me surge with anger.

I think she's just being politic.

This guy is an absolute prick and Stevie has attested to as much in the past. Does she even recall what she said during the Vox interview in early 1992? She spoke about how unpleasant and controlling he was, not to mention the fact that she had her hand forced in regard to recording that piece of crap or else "her career was over".

I wanna see where she said that! Please. I'd love it.

JBJ (I can't even bear to repeat his name in full) was a powerful industry player at that time whereas Stevie wielded none of his clout. This, coupled with her advancing years in age and the prescription drug dependancy, made her easy prey and that son-of-a-bitch exploited the situation.

Umm, I believe that the record compnay and management came up with the idea. he hardly needed to write her a song for his career. He didn't propose the idea. He's sold more records than she has anyway.

(Belinda Carlisle is on record as stating that he threatened to end her career in the late 1980's unless she "put out" for him. Thankfully, the little worm was no match for bold Belinda but she was indeed younger, feistier and more bankable than Stevie at the time.)

Details! Quotes! Bring it on!

I also have a radio interview that Miss Nicks did in 1991 where she spoke of not even being able to tolerate being in the same room as JBJ and that she actually waited until he abandoned the sessions before returning to the studio to lay down the vocal without him breathing down her neck.
What hypocrisy! I know that Stevie is fickle at the best of times but my god, this takes her inconsistent behaviour into a whole other realm!

She was a lump and a tranqhead at the time. I would be surpirsed at nothing.
We're lucky she was standing. Again, please, a transcript. I never heard her say anything bad about him.

What are we to make of this latest admission? Did Stevie secretly lust after this misogynist or did she actually lay the hard word on him only to be spurned, resulting in the subsequent (well deserved) denigrating of his character at the time? As for JBJ being loyal to his "wife of thirty years" - what is this woman smoking? Maybe that's how she dealt with the possible rejection of her advances??

Well, he's got a great ass. And a handsome face. She didn't say he wrote her a great song. Which is good, cause the song is crap. I think she's just being nice. As for loyalty, loyalty to JBJ when it comes to marriage is very Clintonesque. He has admitted as much in the press recently, which I will never understand. He's writing a book detailing such exploits, while still married. He's an adulterer and a sexual opportunist, but he's a rock star. That's what they all do.

This time I've been well and truly turned off. I'm losing respect...

Hm. I don't respect her any less for this. I think she's in LA LA land a lot.
I love that she comments on his butt.

[Phil]

I love that she comments on his butt.

Ordinarily, I would too - just so long as the "butt" belonged to some other arsehole. JBJ truly is a ****.

[sparky]

Originally Posted by Phil

Ordinarily, I would too - just so long as the "butt" belonged to some other arsehole. JBJ truly is a ****.

Have you worked with him or something?

I mean, I like some musicians who have terrible reps, Stevie being one of them. I don't doubt your opinion, I'm just interested in some backup.

Interview source material, second hand gossip from stagehands, whatever.