Street Angel and In Your Dreams - A Comparison

[WideSargassoSea]

I realize this might be an unpopular opinion, but it's been buzzing around in my head since I first heard the In Your Dreams stream last week. People keep comparing Trouble In Shangri-La to its successor in the Stevie catalog, and I've enjoyed those debates...

...however, I think In Your Dreams reminds me the most of Street Angel.

*cue gasps from The Ledge*

Now, hear me out:

"For What It's Worth" was the first song I listened to from the new LP, and I kept going back to it because it reminded me of something else Stevie had done. It plagued me for a few days until my iPod was on shuffle and "Rose Garden" came on. I hadn't listened to that song all the way through in about five years, but I could not help but think it was "For What It's Worth's" sonic older cousin. The folksy, sing-songy sweetness is the selling point of both tracks.

This of course sent me into Stevie overdrive and I came up with the following comparisons in addition to the above:

1) "In Your Dreams" is this album's "Blue Denim": the rocking, Stevie-penned song that should have been the first single. (No offense to "Secret Love;" some offense to "Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind" )

2) The opening of "Street Angel" is equally as jarring coming out of "Greta" as "Soldier's Angel" is coming out of "Annabel Lee" (or "My Heart," depending on your version). Lindsey is a far more effective harmonic foil for Stevie than David Crosby, but...both songs are coincidentally about angels, albeit of different kinds, and feature prominent male vocals.

3) "Moonlight" incorporates the majority of "Lady From The Mountains," one of the most beloved Stevie demos/outtakes, then expands upon the theme to great success. "Love Is Like a River" does similarly (to a lesser extent) with "I Call You Missing" and...well, let's just say I prefer my muddy demo of the latter. ** See also: the wholesale lyric borrowing of "Destiny"/"Enchanted."

4) The production of both albums is very bright. I love Trouble In Shangri-La because it has that distinct "heavy yet polished"/John Shanks/1999-2000 sound. Street Angel and In Your Dreams come from entirely different "timespaces" (to coin a phrase), but they both sound timeless, bright, airy and more...acoustic, for a lack of a better word.

I'm sure if Stevie saw this post, she'd send me to a psychiatrist for a heavy dose of Klonopin, but I had to point it out. In Your Dreams is leagues greater than Street Angel simply because there are no mentions of "laundromats" or "forgotten chimpanzees," and it's quickly giving Rock A Little a run for its money as my #2 favorite Stevie album of all time.

[Josh2003]

I couldn't agree more.

I think both have a sort of gritty feel to them, with the only exception that In Your Dreams sounds RIGHT in its grittiness.

And when I first heard "Ghosts are Gone," I thought it immediately sounded like something that could have been on a polished Street Angel.

[WideSargassoSea]

Originally Posted by Josh2003

I couldn't agree more.

I think both have a sort of gritty feel to them, with the only exception that In Your Dreams sounds RIGHT in its grittiness.

And when I first heard "Ghosts are Gone," I thought it immediately sounded like something that could have been on a polished Street Angel.

To me, "Ghosts are Gone" is this album's "Kick It." Both are about "kicking" bad romances. Of course, 17 years later, Stevie's filled with a little more piss and vinegar.

[Josh2003]

Originally Posted by WideSargassoSea

Of course, 17 years later, Stevie's filled with a little more piss and vinegar.

Haha yes! I was thinking that she has a lot more attitude on this album than we've heard in a while...especially on Ghosts are Gone and Wide Sargasso Sea...sassy Stevie!

[louielouie2000]

Anthony (tilthefirefades) and I have both been comparing In Your Dreams to Street Angel since the first time we heard it. We're both Street Angel fanboys, so it's a high praise when we say that. Like y'all said, Stevie's layered low & high vocals on For What It's Worth are extremely Street Angel. The straightforward, rootsy guitar rock of IYD is sooo very Street Angel too. As are the quirky and often gritty lyrics. The production on both albums are equally as crisp and unfrilly. I hold true that I think Street Angel was exactly the kind of no nonsense album Stevie needed to make following OSOTM. And IYD is exactly the type of no nonsense album Stevie needed to make now given the state of the world. The biggest difference in between Street Angel and IYD is the fact IYD doesn't have warts the way SA does. Street Angel is very flawed (which seems to endear me towards it all the more), but IYD is just so strong throughout.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by Josh2003

Haha yes! I was thinking that she has a lot more attitude on this album than we've heard in a while...especially on Ghosts are Gone and Wide Sargasso Sea...sassy Stevie!

I heart sassy, rocking Stevie!

[Jondalar]

I can see some comparisons. The thing about IYD is it seems like it is made up of songs that Stevie should of already sang earlier in her career. Good songs.

[WideSargassoSea]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

The biggest difference in between Street Angel and IYD is the fact IYD doesn't have warts the way SA does. Street Angel is very flawed (which seems to endear me towards it all the more), but IYD is just so strong throughout.

I had long put off giving Street Angel a fair shake because of those flaws you mentioned, but I've now come to love it because (or in spite of, however you look at it) them. Is it the best piece of work Stevie's ever put out? No, but it's not the black sheep she makes it out to be. I think there are a few "warts" on In Your Dreams, but because Stevie's lyrical chops are back up to snuff, they're more elegantly worded. Although the "Anne Rice"/"tropical birds"/"even if I left my girlfriend" literalness harkens back to 1994, for sure.

In Your Dreams is all about authenticity. Street Angel was the first step on the (long) road back to it.

[mylittledemon]

Originally Posted by WideSargassoSea

In Your Dreams is all about authenticity. Street Angel was the first step on the (long) road back to it.

I wouldn't really compare the two records... but that's an interesting way to put it.

[mylittledemon]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Anthony (tilthefirefades) and I . We're both Street Angel fanboys

Starting to like SA more... especially after getting the "single" version of Blue Denim. Man, that is one rockin tune. Rick Vito's guitar is spectacular.

[markolas]

I don't think you're (entirely) crazy.

SA (esp. compared to her previous 2 albums) has kind of a stripped-down sound, which you could compare to the roots rock of IYD.

However.

Stevie's SA songs are some of her absolute worst, IMO, and I can't stand half the album. I can listen to several of the songs individually and enjoy them, but SA as a whole is a very dull album to my ears.

IYD has some of Stevie's best songwriting in a very long time, and while the album as a whole has a definite rootsy quality to it, there's enough diversity that it isn't a boring mess when you listen to it all the way through. I cannot say the same for SA.

[mikebise]

Yesterday, I was typing up my thoughts about In Your Dreams for a few friends, and I referenced Street Angel a few times. I'm at work, but one song really reminds me of the guitars in "Love Is Like A River".

"Soldier's Angel" is cooly weird like "Street Angel", with some similar amazingly strange vocals by Stevie. "In Your Dreams" and "Ghosts Are Gone" remind me of both the Street Angel and Rock A Little albums, in totally good ways.

Markolas, maybe you need a fresher running order to give Street Angel another try!

[tabruns]

Meh, the only comparison I hear is that neither album sounds really slickly produced. I'd like to say I love Street Angel but I just never have. To me it's an album of songs that didn't make the cut from earlier Nicks albums and as I've said before it sounds very pedestrian to me. The mystical/magical/weirdness that is Nicks at her best is completely absent on Street Angel. The songs on In Your Dreams are MUCH better written, better sung and better produced.

I think its great that some people love it, but for me Behind The Mask/Street Angel really were the nadir of her career and creativity due to the Klonopin haze.

[Livia]

I immediately thought of Rose Garden the first time I heard FWIW, and found myself singing the RG lyrics with it.

[markolas]

Originally Posted by mikebise

Markolas, maybe you need a fresher running order to give Street Angel another try!

Funny you should say that...I've decided that Friday when I go back to work (where I'll be doing data entry for 10 hours), I'm going to listen to all of Stevie's solo albums starting with BD. Now, really, I don't have huge problems (except for a couple of songs on TWH that can easily be swapped out) with any of them until I get to Street Angel. I've played with the running order a couple of times, but haven't been really satisfied - I'm giving it another try now, as a matter of fact.

One major issue with SA is that there are 3 songs on the album that are absolute torture for me to sit through. And there aren't really many songs I can swap them out with - there's Thousand Days, which I love, then the Japan bonus tracks (Inspiration & God's Garden) which I've never been wild about, but that I can tolerate better than UC & MLWCYM. And I like (but don't love) If You Were My Love from the master mixes.

So I'm gonna see how this one pans out:

1. Blue Denim
2. Greta
3. Street Angel
4. Docklands
5. Listen to the Rain
6. Destiny
7. If You Were My Love
8. Thousand Days
9. Love Is Like a River
10. Rose Garden
11. Just Like a Woman
12. Kick It
13. Inspiration

Other configurations are welcomed - you can PM me if you want, so as not to derail the thread any further.