Fixing Street Angel

[drzubritsky]

I am one of the minority that actually kind of likes SA and thinks it is underrated (or at a minimum does not deserve the bashing it gets from Stevie and most of the fans). I agree with the OP that the SA version of "Blue Denim" is better than the Enchanted version.

But as far as "fixing" it, I don't really see any easy fixes. Certainly omitting a few of the weaker tracks ("Unconditional Love", "Just Like A Woman") and replacing them with some of the better songs that were cut during this era would help (e.g. "Inspiration", maybe "Thousand Days"). It would have been kind of cool to have her acoustic "It's Late" on there, but I believe that was cut the following year.

The real "unfixable" problem with SA is that the arrangements and production were very out-of-step with the times in 1994. For SA, Stevie reverted back to the 70s L.A. rock-style arrangements that had served her so well on BD and WH...not an unreasonable decision, but one that ultimately proved commercially disastrous as well as sealing her image at the time as something of a has-been.

Ironically, new female artists were blossoming around the time of SA (1993-1995 ish), with artists and bands like Sheryl Crow, The Cranberries, Alanis Morrissette, Natalie Merchant, etc. releasing music with a distinctly female perspective and which sounded up-to-date without being overly trendy. It would have been great to hear the production styles of some of these artists applied to the better SA material. While I don't think that would have turned SA into a major hit, it may have kept Stevie somewhat "in the game" as far as being a relevant female artist.

Despite being outdated at the time, I think the production on SA has actually held up BETTER than some of Stevie's other albums, particularly RAL, TOSOTM and the new cuts on Timespace.