Fixing Street Angel

[louielouie2000]

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Despite being outdated at the time, I think the production on SA has actually held up BETTER than some of Stevie's other albums, particularly RAL, TOSOTM and the new cuts on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

This has to be one of the most well thought out critiques of SA I've read! I agree with most everything you said too.

I might have to niggle on a few little issues with you though. I was into Natalie, Sheryl, Alanis, etc when they all first hit the scene. I remember thinking that their sounds were very distinctly retro 70s, especially Sheryl's self titled album. But that's the irony of it all... new artists can find great success and acclaim sounding retro, but if an older artist reverts back to their golden era sound, they're panned.

Overall, I still really like SA despite it's flaws. I hold steady to my belief that it was the right kind of album for Stevie to make at the time. With the advent of grunge, and the general hardening sound of popular music following the '80s, Stevie badly needed to follow up OSOTM with a more back to basics rock album. And that's what SA is to me, despite it's shortcomings. Stevie stripped off her shawls, put away the fairy dust, and brought back out the electric guitars. I rate Blue Denim up there with anything she's ever recorded. I love the hard edged sound of Love Is Like A River, and the whimsy of Greta. SA really is a good little album in my book.

I agree, some tracks should never have seen the light of day, and others should have taken their place. She did some demos of If You Were My Love at the time which would have been GREAT! Thousand Days could have been worked in too . In the end, I think I like the potential SA possessed more than anything. There were some great bones holding the album up, which is why I will always defend it when people bash it.