Rank Stevie's Studio Ablums!

[ryguy2010]

Well I have been wondering for a while now why people dislike S.A. so much? Well compared to Bella Donna and W.h (aside from a select few songs on those albums) SA is much grittier and rock infused holistically than any of those/ others. With the exception of EO17 and not much else from those albums.. I would easily categorize them as pop/ heavy synth. S.A again is more "real" straight ahead rock... even has a nice bluesy feel. Whenever I would want to draw a comparison between Stevie and say someone like the Stones I would think S.A all the way!

[bluefox4000]

Quite simply.....for me anyway...The songs are not that good. I only like 4 or 5 songs. So that's my problem with SA.

Mick

[ryguy2010]

Well too each their own I guess I just love the whole Dylanesque vibe of the album. She really just breaks my heart as she sing the songs from S.A. That being said I love all of her albums as they each give me something different.

[David]

Originally Posted by TrueFaith77

How would you rank these from best to worst:

Bella Donna (1981)
The Wild Heart (1983)
Rock a Little (1985)
On the Other Side of the Mirror (1989)
Street Angel (1994)
Trouble in Shangri-La (2001)


The above is chronological. I'll have to think on this myself.

They're all interchangeable to me in terms of their artistic quality, except for the higher standards of engineering on the first few albums & the Shangri-La album.

I look over that list & I get sort of depressed. I wish Stevie had started her solo recording career in the mid 1970s. I think the albums would have been a lot better. She was a better songwriter then--she knew how to keep her imagery in better focus & she had a better ear for a deft turn of phrase--and the status the band had in the mid '70s would have spilled over into the solo sound in the studio. By the '80s, Stevie's sound turned into something pretty tasteless & even tacky sometimes.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by ryguy2010

Well I have been wondering for a while now why people dislike S.A. so much? Well compared to Bella Donna and W.h (aside from a select few songs on those albums) SA is much grittier and rock infused holistically than any of those/ others. With the exception of EO17 and not much else from those albums.. I would easily categorize them as pop/ heavy synth. S.A again is more "real" straight ahead rock... even has a nice bluesy feel. Whenever I would want to draw a comparison between Stevie and say someone like the Stones I would think S.A all the way!

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

I have long suspected that many people don't own or don't listen to Street Angel enought to really know the album - I was in this same group for a long time. I bought the album on release day, played it a few times over the next couple months and literally forgot about it for 10 years. It stuck in my mind as the 'bad Stevie album with bad songs'. And the dreadful pink cover.

One day around 2003/2004 I decided, mostly out of a strange curiosity to put it in my regular CD rotation, and was surprised at how well the album had aged. It sounded better, fresher and far more interesting than it had in 1994.

This isn't meant as a criticsim, but I suspect that there are many fans who just put it at the bottom of their list because of reputation. Like me perhaps, they bought it, heard it a couple times, didn't like it and forgot about it. I also think there are many fans who don't even own it. It's funny how people will say "Oh, I only like Blue Denim, Rose Garden and Street Angel" which is kind of funny since those are all on Enchanted.

Either way - I would recommend giving the album another shot to everyone - if I were trying to convert a new Stevie fan, one of the first albums I would give them is Street Angel.

For those who believe they don't like it, it really is worthy of another chance if you haven't played it from start to finish in a long time. Give it a try - you might be surprised. I'll concede, Jane has the weird chimpanzee lyric. So what, get over it. Unconditional Love & Destiny are rather sappy - yes - but no more so than If Anyone Falls or Gate And Garden or Beauty & The Beast or Beautiful Child. Docklands is an odd choice for a cover, but is actually a really good song about the despair of growing up in a lonely place devoid of opportunity. Listen To The Rain has one of the coolest rough-around-the-edges Stevie vocals I've ever heard. Love Is Like A River has a variation of the awesome 'Edge wail' in it that always makes me wonder why she never took it to the stage. Greta is one of the most fun songs Stevie has ever recorded.

[ryguy2010]

Ty karma C . For a while there I thought I was falling off the deep end. Glad to know someone else shares my love.

[Spoinny]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

I agree with you wholeheartedly.

I have long suspected that many people don't own or don't listen to Street Angel enought ot really know the album - I was in this same group for a long time. I bought the album on release day, played it a few times over the next couple months and literally forgot about it for 10 years. It stuck in my mind as the 'bad Stevie album with bad songs'.

One day around 2003/2004 I decided, mostly out of a strange curiosity to put it in my regular CD rotation, and was surprised at how well the album had aged. It sounded better, fresher and far more interesting than it had in 1994.

This isn't meant as a criticsim, but I suspect that there are many fans who just put it at the bottom of their list because of reputation. Like me perhaps, they bought it, heard it a couple times, didn't like it and forgot about it. I also think there are many fans who don't even own it. It's funny how people will say "Oh, I only like Blue Denim, Rose Garden and Street Angel" which is kind of funny since those are all on Enchanted.

Either way - I would recommend giving the album another shot to everyone - if I were trying to convert a new Stevie fan, one of the first albums I would give them is Street Angel.

For those who believe they don't like it, it really is worthy of another chance if you haven't played it from start to finish in a long time. Give it a try - you might be surprised. I'll concede, Jane has the weird chimpanzee lyric. So what, get over it. Unconditional Love & Destiny are rather sappy - yes - but no more so than If Anyone Falls or Gate And Garden or Beauty & The Beast or Beautiful Child. Docklands is an odd choice for a cover, but is actually a really good song about the despair of growing up in a lonely place devoid of opportunity. Listen To The Rain has one of the coolest rough-around-the-edges Stevie vocals I've ever heard. Love Is Like A River has a variation of the awesome 'Edge wail' in it that always makes me wonder why she never took it to the stage. Greta is one of the most fun songs Stevie has ever recorded.

funny you posted this, I actually NEVER listened to (or even had!) this CD until recently so I always dogged it too (just based on snippets and based on Stevie hating it), but I have to agree, it is really a great CD! I prefer it for the most part over RAL and definately over OSOTM.

[vivfox]

1. Rock a Little (1985)
2. The Wild Heart (1983)
3. Bella Donna (1981)
4. The Other Side of the Mirror (1989)
5. Street Angel (1994)
6. Trouble in Shangri-La (2001)

[chiliD]

1) TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA
2) BELLA DONNA

3) ROCK A LITTLE (without the dreadful side 1, it might've made #1)

4) STREET ANGEL









5) WILD HEART

------------------------------- ground level













6 feet under) OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR

[TrueFaith77]

Originally Posted by David

They're all interchangeable to me in terms of their artistic quality, except for the higher standards of engineering on the first few albums & the Shangri-La album.

I look over that list & I get sort of depressed. I wish Stevie had started her solo recording career in the mid 1970s. I think the albums would have been a lot better. She was a better songwriter then--she knew how to keep her imagery in better focus & she had a better ear for a deft turn of phrase--and the status the band had in the mid '70s would have spilled over into the solo sound in the studio. By the '80s, Stevie's sound turned into something pretty tasteless & even tacky sometimes.

Truth.


ty

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by David

They're all interchangeable to me in terms of their artistic quality, except for the higher standards of engineering on the first few albums & the Shangri-La album.

I look over that list & I get sort of depressed. I wish Stevie had started her solo recording career in the mid 1970s. I think the albums would have been a lot better. She was a better songwriter then--she knew how to keep her imagery in better focus & she had a better ear for a deft turn of phrase--and the status the band had in the mid '70s would have spilled over into the solo sound in the studio. By the '80s, Stevie's sound turned into something pretty tasteless & even tacky sometimes.

That's a pretty easy observation to make looking through the rear view window. Stevie was embracing and experimenting with the musical styles of the day and also the new music technology. Sure if Stevie had started recording her solo records in the mid to late 70's, her sound would have been somewhere between Linda Ronstadt, Suzi Quatro and Nicolette Larson, but it was not to be. Instead Stevie entered the big 80's head first with arguably a more powerful and exciting new musical landscape to consider.

[jwd]

TISL
Bella Donna
The Wild Heart
Rock A Little
OSOTM
SA

[Ghosty]

1. Bella Donna & Wild Heart - tied

2. Rock a Little

3. Street Angel

4. Trouble in Shangri-La

5. Other Side of the Mirror


I am hoping IYD ties with BD and WH (so far, seems like it could), or at the very least, ties with RAL.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

For those who believe they don't like it, it really is worthy of another chance if you haven't played it from start to finish in a long time. Give it a try - you might be surprised. I'll concede, Jane has the weird chimpanzee lyric. So what, get over it. Unconditional Love & Destiny are rather sappy - yes - but no more so than If Anyone Falls or Gate And Garden or Beauty & The Beast or Beautiful Child. Docklands is an odd choice for a cover, but is actually a really good song about the despair of growing up in a lonely place devoid of opportunity. Listen To The Rain has one of the coolest rough-around-the-edges Stevie vocals I've ever heard. Love Is Like A River has a variation of the awesome 'Edge wail' in it that always makes me wonder why she never took it to the stage. Greta is one of the most fun songs Stevie has ever recorded.

I have listened to Street Angel many times. Taken as a whole, it's my least favorite album of hers. Out of all her albums, this one has the most songs that I can't stand. It is possible for people to genuinely not like it.

Unconditional Love does not compare to If Anyone Falls, Beauty & the Beast, or Beautiful Child. At all. The co-dependent lyrics (bested by Maybe Love, if such a thing is possible, and it is) are cringe-inducing.

Some of the songs are fun: LILAR, LTTR, and Greta - but neither the compositions themselves, nor Stevie's performances of them, are anywhere close to her best work.

[WildHearted]

Well, I was kind of curious as to how the albums were fairing in the big picture... So I went through and tallied up everyones answers so far. I used a simple point system based on the rankings people gave them (6 points awarded if number 1, 5 if number 2, 4 if number 3, 3 if number 4, 2 if number 5, and 1 if number 6), then added those points up for each album to find their overall rank.

So in case anyone is interested in the mean ranking of these albums (so far):

1. Bella Donna (229 points)

2. The Wild Heart (206)

3. Rock A Little (179)

4. Trouble in Shangri-La (166)

5. The Other Side of the Mirror (100)

6. Street Angel (97)