Album Speculation

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by mitzo

I expect a pretty album cover and a wildly varied collection of tunes in terms of genre, songwriting, and production. At least one, hopefully a few, will be really moving and nicely produced ballads, some will be country-flavoured or mid-tempo attempts at rock, some will be rockers which may or may not hit the mark. I expect to love a couple of them (most likely the tender ballad type), like a few more (which are quirky or mysterious), skip/dislike 3 or 4 (likely the midtempo guitar-driven, possibly country-influenced ones) , and be more or less OK about the rest. The production quality will likely make or break a lot of the songs. I don't expect surprises or innovation. I am praying for one potentially iconic signature-type tune, likely a ballad.

You nailed my speculations perfectly . I expect a couple of "vault" songs thrown in there as well. We'll see how effective they'll be after all the dust is removed. I keep hoping this album will be on par with Trouble In Shangri La, but I'm guessing it'll be fairly equal with it. I just knew TISL would be awesome when she was recording it, and it fulfilled my expectations at the time (though I find it dated now and put it mostly on par with her other albums). I'm highly nervous about this album, though. Either Dave Stewart will be the one to return Stevie to glory, or he'll have diluted her Stevieness with all these cowritten songs. In no way do I think this will be the best work of Stevie's career. Mainly I'm just hoping the singing, songwriting, and production aren't wince-worthy. The addition of Annabel Lee to this work has me *highly* concerned. I'm trying to keep my expectations in check, because of all the albums she and the Mac have recorded since I became a fan in '93, this one has been the longest coming. I'm trying to be positive, but Stevie's lack of forward movement this past decade has burned me out, and this album will kinda be make or break for me regarding actively being a fan of hers. I guess we'll see what happens... but I can say for once, I don't have a "glass half full" outlook. I'm biting my nails and wishing hard for the best. I keep reminding myself that Dave seems to really take her seriously, knows her back catalogue very well, and he'll likely take her music to places it hasn't been in decades now. Time shall tell, I suppose!