Do you think Stevie should do a new solo album?

[Amlyn]

Here's my take. Sorry, it's long, but once I got going, I couldn't stop.

Stevie should do a new album if she feels she has something to express and share with us and not just for the sake of going through the motions. She needs to take all the what-ifs that exist in today's music world for putting out an album out of the equation and decide if it is something she still has passion for.

If we go back to basics, relaying a message or sharing an experience through song is the foundation for the success of all the great singer/songwriters. Whether the message be completely an account of their own experience, or someone else's, or even somewhat fiction, there was something that sparked the need for them to put those thoughts into words and put those words into a song and those songs into a performance. It was a formula that has worked for many, many years.

Then 29 years ago a music video premiered on a new network called MTV - Video Killed the Radio Star. Talk about a premonition. As much as I love music videos and still watch Totally 80's on VH1 Classic, this really was the beginning of the end for the mystique of the rock star. Ok, so maybe for 10-15 years, it was a good thing. We were able to listen to and watch our idols and dress like them and dance like them and just want to be them. But when MTV became anything but Music TV, it was a sign of the times. The music world was changing. With the inception of the internet and the boom with technology over the past 15 years, we are watching concerts on youtube from the comforts of our couches, we are downloading music in 20 seconds from our favorite music site, we are blogging about how off-tune Taylor Swift is before she can even finish her song. It's all there for us. No more mystery. And for who? The same regurgitated pretty to produce kids these record companies are signing over and over again. Somewhere in this cash is king formula, the general public has lost the reason why we listen to music. Everything these performers do becomes fodder for tabloids and blogs and websites, and at the end of the day...this is what is selling the music, not the music itself. What happened to the emotional experience and connection to lyrics and the music? Only someone who is a true musical artist like Stevie can and needs to bring us back to the reason why we listen to music in the first place.

Stevie needs to dismiss all the possible scenarios that can play out with a new album like will my music sell? Will I make any money if everyone steals off the internet? Is there anyone out there who wants to hear me anymore? All questions we've heard her state as a problem with today's music in one way, shape or form. She needs to just go with what she feels and not be so scared of what could happen. She doesn't need to rebrand herself. Last night's musical performance proved that based on all the positive publicity and labels like "legendary" and "veteran." History has proven you don't need to mess with a classic. If she really believed anything else, we would hear anything other than the Rumours history in every single interview she's done the past umpteenth years.

Personally, I'd love to see her put out a new album. It's been almost a decade since she's focused her energy on something new. Something must have inspired this woman in the past ten years. The story can't really be over yet.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

Hell yeah Stevie SHOULD do a new album. Will she is the real question. But I believe she will. Especially if she's heard any talk about her over the past 24 hours. I can't count how many articles I've seen with the words "legend" and "Stevie Nicks" in the same sentence and it makes me happy that most of the world outside of us stevieatics realize that there is something special about Stevie and that she really is a legend. People keep saying she may be afraid of ending her career on a bad album so she won't do one, but I don't think that's true. The main reason Street Angel was a flop was because Stevie didn't like it. I guarantee you, had Stevie loved that album and promoted the **** out of it, we'd all be singing a different tune about Street Angel, even if it were the same songs. And the reason Stevie wasn't happy with it was because it was recorded during the klonopin years, but released not too long after rehab. And she tried to "fix it" but she couldn't. I think Stevie has a lot of material and she will get in the studio and record some stuff just to see what it sounds like. If she doesn't like it, she won't release it, but I'm sure there will be many tracks she ends up liking and putting on a record. Hell, she even once said she may just release a few songs on iTunes here and there, so who knows? I really think we will get a new Stevie record, but I am positive we will get some new Stevie material in the years and possibly months to come.

Street Angel was a flop because the songs were boring and weak. I think Nicks realized this and it was her fault it wasn't a good album.

[APerfectLie]

Originally Posted by Amlyn

Here's my take. Sorry, it's long, but once I got going, I couldn't stop.

Stevie should do a new album if she feels she has something to express and share with us and not just for the sake of going through the motions. She needs to take all the what-ifs that exist in today's music work for putting out an album out of the equation and decide if it is something she still has passion for.

If we go back to basics, relaying a message or sharing an experience through song is the foundation for the success of all the great singer/songwriters. Whether the message be completely an account of their own experience, or someone else's, or even somewhat fiction, there was something that sparked the need for them to put those thoughts into words and put those words into a song and those songs into a performance. It was a formula that has worked for many, many years.

Then 29 years ago a music video premiered on a new network called MTV - Video Killed the Radio Star. Talk about a premonition. As much as I love music videos and still watch Totally 80's on VH1 Classic, this really was the beginning of the end for the mystique of the rock star. Ok, so maybe for 10-15 years, it was a good thing. We were able to listen to and watch our idols and dress like them and dance like them and just want to be them. But when MTV became anything but Music TV, it was a sign of the times. The music world was changing. With the inception of the internet and the boom with technology over the past 15 years, we are watching concerts on youtube from the comforts of our couches, we are downloading music in 20 seconds from our favorite music site, we are blogging about how off-tune Taylor Swift is before she can even finish her song. It's all there for us. No more mystery. And for who? The same regurgitated pretty to produce kids these record companies are signing over and over again. Somewhere in this cash is king formula, the general public has lost the reason why we listen to music. Everything these performers do becomes fodder for tabloids and blogs and websites, and at the end of the day...this is what is selling the music, not the music itself. What happened to the emotional experience and connection to lyrics and the music? Only someone who is a true musical artist like Stevie can and needs to bring us back to the reason why we listen to music in the first place.

Stevie needs to dismiss all the possible scenarios that can play out with a new album like will my music sell? Will I make any money if everyone steals off the internet? Is there anyone out there who wants to hear me anymore? All questions we've heard her state as a problem with today's music in one way, shape or form. She needs to just go with what she feels and not be so scared of what could happen. She doesn't need to rebrand herself. Last night's musical performance proved that based on all the positive publicity and labels like "legendary" and "veteran." History has proven you don't need to mess with a classic. If she really believed anything else, we would here anything other then the Rumours history in every single interview she's done the past umpteenth years.

Personally, I'd love to see her put out a new album. It's been almost a decade since she's focused her energy on something new. Something must have inspired this woman in the past ten years. The story can't really be over yet.

I couldn't have said it better myself.

[APerfectLie]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

Street Angel was a flop because the songs were boring and weak. I think Nicks realized this and it was her fault it wasn't a good album.

I disagree. I love most of Street Angel. Is it Stevie's best? No, and she realized that. But her dislike of the album made it seem much worse than it was. The problem with Street Angel was that she was clouded by klonopin until it was too late and then she was disappointed with what she had done. I think today she wouldn't be in the same situation because she would know whether or not the songs were good and whether or not she wanted to release them. And even if people said the songs were "boring and weak" I think she'd still be perfectly content if she was happy with them herself.

[Musicman408]

What kind of sound would we like to hear from Stevie? A sound that could sell?

I can't help but think of Robert Plant and Allison Krauss's album and how chill that is. I love it- and it totally did really well. Should Stevie do something like that?

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

I disagree. I love most of Street Angel. Is it Stevie's best? No, and she realized that. But her dislike of the album made it seem much worse than it was. The problem with Street Angel was that she was clouded by klonopin until it was too late and then she was disappointed with what she had done. I think today she wouldn't be in the same situation because she would know whether or not the songs were good and whether or not she wanted to release them. And even if people said the songs were "boring and weak" I think she'd still be perfectly content if she was happy with them herself.

Well Trouble in Shangri La wasn't a masterpiece and she was parading around telling everyone it was.

[APerfectLie]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

Well Trouble in Shangri La wasn't a masterpiece and she was parading around telling everyone it was.

Exactly! And now people are wondering if she can top TISL.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

Exactly! And now people are wondering if she can top TISL.

Well if Stevie would come out with a small, intimate album that contained songs like Twisted (demo version) and three birds of rhiannon or an experimental album, I wouldn't mind. But she won't, she'll do the same type of stuff again. How many versions of Sweet Girl or Silver Girl or Freedom or Blue Denim or Touched by an Angel, can a person take? I don't want to hear anymore of that. They are crap. They are more for her, then the listener. If hasn't learned by now, she never will.

[Meowi]

She can pull it off, although I don't know what to expect

[EnchantedKiwi]

I'm keen for a Buckingham Nicks record.

Maybe they could remaster the original album aswell.








Yeah Right

[Brad]

Originally Posted by Jondalar

How many versions of Sweet Girl or Silver Girl or Freedom or Blue Denim or Touched by an Angel, can a person take? I don't want to hear anymore of that. They are crap. They are more for her, then the listener. If hasn't learned by now, she never will.

That's exactly why I voted "no." Her days of "Rhiannon'", "Angel," "GDW," "Eo17," and "Sara" are over, and have been over, for decades. For the past 13 years, we've seen nothing but rehashing over and over ad nauseum in her live "performances" (term used loosely), and pulling out 1 rarity per tour a la "Sara" or "Beautiful Child" isn't cutting it. Based on her touring, she's not going to do anything experimental or different on an album either. She'll pick up the flavor of the week such as Taylor Swift or Katy Perry, do a lame duet about some unrequited or unattainable love interest or how men just don't "get" a female rocker's lifestyle and therefore she'll always be alone, and the CD will soon be lost between the car seats.

I've been a fan for 25 years, so this isn't me just being anti-Stevie. I would love for her to come out with a new album that would amaze me and bring her back into the spotlight. But honestly, I've been left disappointed with ~90% of what she has done sine 1987. Why would a new album be any different? She's so comfortable with what she's been doing on stage since The Dance, what in the world would make you think she would actually change things up on an album? It's not gonna happen. And this talk of dueting with Taylor Swift bringing her back into the mainstream? That worked out really well with Crow, Maines, and Gray the last time around, right?

Just my opinion, of course.

Brad

[holidayroad]

Originally Posted by APerfectLie

Exactly! And now people are wondering if she can top TISL.

When Trouble in Shangri-La came out, I didn't have the internet, cable Tv, or anything where I heard Stevie's thoughts on the album. I didn't have her influence to tell me it was a good album. All I knew was what I was hearing.

[holidayroad]

Originally Posted by Nikolaj

I think, seriously, it's thoughtful and nice of you to be concerned. I don't think that Stevie has to put Fleetwood Mac first, do they put her first? Even if they do, I doubt that Mick or LB consult her about solo projects they work on. SN has been there when they have wanted her, the 'Say You Will' tour went on forever, longer than she initially expected, and the Unleashed Tour was proof of her being there for the band to great commercial gain for all involved. I really think the behind-the-scenes game plan is that the band very much wants to have Christine on their next cd and tour, and that it will happen, in time for summer of 2011 and the cash-c0w reunion tour, and that leaves time for Stevie to do a solo cd. The band knows it will take more than a few months to work out the return of Christine, there would be no way to have it all together by this summer, and record, and have a tour ready to go, so I believe they're shooting for the summer of 2011 for the return of Christine and a major Fleetwood Mac renaissance that they've been unable to make happen without her. They need Christine for their next tour and in the next 16 months they can work it out and have a cd ready for summer 2011, the reunion tour is their ace up their sleeves, and it can't happen by this summer.
As for Stevie not being respected musically by a not-great solo album, there are some people who never have and never will respect her. Their loss. I think her next solo cd is going to be amazing, because she has it in her, and also because it really needs to be. If it turns into a "not great solo album" I don't think it will 'ruin' her chances at being 'respected musically'-- She has, and has had, the public, forever, and even some of her most excellent work, at the height of her career, got slings and arrows from critics or from people who felt like Stevie deserved the criticism. I think she's critic-proof by now, but I agree it's way better to have her held in high esteem than not to be.
I just want the new music. I'd rather have new music than worry about critical response, she's a legend, that can't be taken away from Stevie Nicks!

I understand what you are saying. Maybe Stevie shouldn't have to put Fleetwood Mac first, but at this point, I think she should. The main reason is that you have 4 people in their 60s. As much as we'd all love to think so, the members of Fleetwood Mac are not going to live forever. Time is not something they need to waste anymore. Yes, it would be nice if they all took time on their own, for solo albums, working on getting Christine back, etc. In 2011, Christine will turn 68 years old. Does this sound like a band that should be taking their time?
I also agree that some people will never respect Stevie and that some people will Always respect Stevie, no matter what she does musically.

[wheart]

Stevie putting out any solo material would make me very happy indeed. A collection of piano/guitar demos would make me the happiest!

[starshine]

Originally Posted by Brad

That's exactly why I voted "no." Her days of "Rhiannon'", "Angel," "GDW," "Eo17," and "Sara" are over, and have been over, for decades. For the past 13 years, we've seen nothing but rehashing over and over ad nauseum in her live "performances" (term used loosely), and pulling out 1 rarity per tour a la "Sara" or "Beautiful Child" isn't cutting it. Based on her touring, she's not going to do anything experimental or different on an album either. She'll pick up the flavor of the week such as Taylor Swift or Katy Perry, do a lame duet about some unrequited or unattainable love interest or how men just don't "get" a female rocker's lifestyle and therefore she'll always be alone, and the CD will soon be lost between the car seats.

I've been a fan for 25 years, so this isn't me just being anti-Stevie. I would love for her to come out with a new album that would amaze me and bring her back into the spotlight. But honestly, I've been left disappointed with ~90% of what she has done sine 1987. Why would a new album be any different? She's so comfortable with what she's been doing on stage since The Dance, what in the world would make you think she would actually change things up on an album? It's not gonna happen. And this talk of dueting with Taylor Swift bringing her back into the mainstream? That worked out really well with Crow, Maines, and Gray the last time around, right?

Just my opinion, of course.

Brad

You make many great points. I've been a fan just about as long...since like '88....I would love it if she would release 'new' & old songs....or even another 'larger' boxed set but done better than Enchanted.....like a 10 cd box set with a book of photos encluded.....it would have rare and unreleased songs on it alternates/extended mixes....masters /rare live songs/and maybe a DVD or 2 with more from the BD sessions/WH/RAL/Mirror....etc....interviews/rare live video....oh theres really so much she really could do with this.....it does still take work....I wouldn't want the regular versions.....I want more thought to go into either a 'new' recording or whatever she does. I agree she should do it cause 'she' wants too.......personally, its a crime that there is UNreleased material that will not ever see the light of day. Same for outtake photos etc......really if she or Mac are gonna do something or have something up there 'sleeve' to me NOW is the time not 3-10 yrs from now.....there getting older as are we the listening public......when your not in the public eye your not even given a 2nd thought about......I don't think that TISL is Stevie's master piece but thats only IMO....I mean its good but it could've been better too me....now SA does have its issues but Stevie shouldn't care what others think of her or that solo effort. Ok so it went bad , but it was your record with songs you recorded.....and released.....love it for what it is.....I mean its been since '94.....its part of your music.....love your music again. Sometimes I wonder if she does love her music cause of all the endless touring solo/Mac.....I'd think she'd be tired of her own voice right now & songs. She needs a full yr brake.....go to Hawaii and relax on the beach ......and figure out what you'll do from now on.....enjoy your life.....its not like she can't......so the question is really for her to answer.....I mean if it happens great & if nothing happens I guess I can live with it.....life does go on ............
she just has to realize that she has options and openings.....if she will only open her mind up to see them.......