Street Angel Revisited

[michelej1]

Hartford Courant, July 21, 1994

Section: CALENDAR

NICKS' HIP RETURN, ROGER CATLIN, Courant Rock Critic

POP / ROCK

STREET ANGEL

Stevie Nicks

Modern/Atlantic Records

Stevie Nicks has been in rock so long, she's due for a kitschy comeback of backhanded hipness. With all the ethereal females fronting rock bands these days, the woman behind the twirling veils with Fleetwood Mac must be something of a spiritual godmother. Sandra Bernhard did a famous routine involving a Stevie fantasy. Even currently hot chanteuse Tori Amos closes her shows with a cover by Nicks instead of Nirvana. Hey, even platform shoes are back.

All of this may make `` Street Angel ,'' Nicks' first solo album in six years, more welcome than her work has been in some time.

Who's to deny, for example, the opening ``Blue Denim'' -- rocking, simple with her pinched voice lending authority? And what a band she amasses here -- Heartbreakers Mike Campbell and Benmont Tench, L.A. session leaders Bernie Leadon and Waddy Wachtel, Kenny Aronoff on drums, David Crosby singing harmonies and Roy Bittan playing piano. Even Bob Dylan is persuaded to lend almost inaudible guitar and harmonica on Nicks' loopy treatment of ``Just Like a Woman'' (which changes from first to third person at will).

Some of these things, of course, are messes -- a wrongheaded disco beat to ``Greta,'' a revival of a song she wrote in 1965 (that's not so far removed from a lot of these lyrics).

Yet throughout, you're pulling for her, making her local live show (Friday at Great Woods in Mansfield, Mass.) sound interesting at least.

[michelej1]

New Jersey Record, July 10, 1994

Stevie Nicks, "Street Angel" (Modern Records/Atlantic; running time: 57:34, 13 tracks) ***

If Steve Nicks' new album is an indication, she made a good move severing her ties with Fleetwood Mac. "Street Angel" is Nicks' best solo album in a decade.

For starters, she's abandoned the mystical lyrics that often made interpreting her work, both as a soloist and as a member of Fleetwood Mac, a maddening, often fruitless effort. She's also ditched the intense seriousness that made her 1989 album "The Other Side of the Mirror" such a depressing listen.

On "Street Angel," Nicks is clear about what she's singing about, and that's love. And often, it's not the unrequited type. Why, Nicks sounds downright cheerful singing such upbeat lyrics as those in the tuneful "Blue Denim" and "Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind."

Even when a certain sadness creeps into the lyrics, as it does on the country-tinged "Rose Garden" and the more rocking "Kick It," the power and conviction in Nicks' voice tells you she's not going to be a victim any longer.

On "Street Angel," Nicks also has abandoned the cheesy synthesizers that filled her recent solo efforts and replaced them with guitars. They perfectly complement Nicks' dusky voice, which is at home on both the rockers and the ballads, particularly the stand-out title track.

Nicks' only misstep is an utterly soulless rendition of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman." Rather than slavishly repeat Dylan's version, she would have done better to bring her own style to the song. Dylan also appears on the track, but his guitar and harmonica are not distinguished.

[michelej1]

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (PA), July 8, 1994

Section: ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT


TRACY COLLINS

STEVIE NICKS STREET ANGEL (MODERN) three and a half stars

In a year marked by lackluster comeback efforts of '70s mainstays like Boston, Jackson Browne and Traffic, Stevie Nicks brings polish and spunk to her first release in six years, and scores the solid hit that has eluded her aging compatriots.

Nicks has avoided the trap of depending on her name to sell the music. That's probably because her name wasn't worth much, with bad performances, bad press and personal problems tarnishing the most recognizable voice of the quintessential '70s supergroup, Fleetwood Mac.

That group collapsed when Lindsay Buckingham took his immense talent and even greater contempt for Nicks and went his own way. But Nicks obviously knows the key to success as practiced by Buckingham: taking her time to work for quality. And if Lindsay wasn't going to be around anymore, well, she'd just find some friends to help out.

She got some of the best. On guitar, she's supported by two studio legends, Andy Fairweather Low and Waddy Watchel. David Crosby sings harmony on the title track, and for a solid pop cover of Dylan's "Just Like A Woman," who better to play guitar and harmonica than Dylan himself?

But Nicks does more than just rely on significant others. Besides co-producing the disc, she wrote or co-wrote nine of the 13 songs, all of which shine -- from the Mac-ish pop of "Blue Denim" to the anthemic "Destiny" to the rocking "Love Is Like a River." She even tosses in the country-sounding "Rose Garden," which she wrote almost 30 years ago. It's a terrific collection that shows off her range.

Finally, we cannot ignore the most important instrument of any Nicks effort -- that smoky-bar-at-3-in-the-morning voice. It proves itself again a formidable weapon, glorious in its inability to hit all of the notes, and captivating in the feeling it conveys.

Stevie Nicks -- one of the most-dissed performers of our time -- shows there's no better way to shut up one's detractors than through a dynamite effort.

[michelej1]

Richmond Times Dispatch, July 7, 1994

All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't make Stevie Nicks' latest a worthy listen. All is the operative word. On "Street Angel" (Atlantic), Nicks is championed by singers and musicians such as Bob Dylan, David Crosby, Waddy Wachtel, Bernie Leadon, Michael Campbell, Andy Fairweather Low, Benmont Tench and Roy Bittan. Stalwarts all, but they're not enough to carry inadequate lyrics and a voice that bleats as though it inhaled a dozen party balloons. Campbell is game. For those selections on which he composed the music, it is a guitar power punch reminiscent of his work with Tom Petty. When Nicks steps to the microphone and spews gibberish with unbearable vocals, all is for naught. Whether simpering or grandstanding, Nick's "Street Angel" is headed for a roast.

[michelej1]

Atlantic Journal and Constitution, July 2, 1994

Street Angel Stevie Nicks

Modern Records/Atlantic. 13 tracks. CD/cassette. ***

Russ DeVault, staff writer

Stevie Nicks's ambitious "Street Angel" takes flight thanks to her willingness to tackle tough subjects, her stellar guest list, and her voice - sometimes sweet, sometimes raspy - which shines through.

The former voice of Fleetwood Mac is adept at being wistful ("Listen to the Rain"), downright sad ("Rose Garden," which brings to mind the country classic "I Never Promised You a Rose Garden") or properly respectful - in the case of two of her heroes, actress Greta Garbo and naturalist Jane Goodall, who are the subjects of different songs.

The guest list is an impressive one topped by Bob Dylan, who helps out on his song "Just Like a Woman," which Nicks decorates with some Dylanesque inflections. Guitarists Bernie Leadon and Waddy Wachtel make shimmering/ ringing contributions and David Crosby effectively sings backup, but no one gets in the way of Nicks's generally understated delivery.

Longtime fans may be ambivalent about the two tribute songs - the lyrics are rather lightweight - but Nicks makes them listenable, although neither is as interesting as the title track, a semiromantic anthem for the homeless. It's a reach for Nicks to move into social commentary - and to tackle a Dylan song in his presence - but her singing and the music make "Street Angel" an entertaining flight.

[SortaSavageLike]

So, to summarize the last 19 posts:

Music critics as a whole hated just about everything she did from 1975 to 1983, but thought that Street Angel was a good enough album to warrant three stars, and that it was her best solo album ever made.

Ummm....yeah.

Also, she'd take a lot less **** if she'd just dress like a butch motodyke on stage.

[David]

Originally Posted by michelej1

HEADLINE: THINKING ABOUT TOMORROW STEVIE NICKS, NOW A SOLO ACT, SEES HER MUSIC AS HER LIFE

BYLINE: GARY GRAFF Free Press Music Writer, August 19. 1994

"I don't have time to meet anybody or go anywhere or do anything except work," she says.

So she bears her desires and buries them in the work -- not just music but also painting and handicrafts.

"My whole thing is getting better, whether it's writing or painting or hand-knitting or photographs or writing songs for other people," Nicks says. "My life is made up of staying up all night and doing that stuff.

Oops. There's that pesky discrepancy again. Why not take off one of those nights from writing, painting, hand-knitting, photographs, & baking sugar cookies & do something else you say you have never had the time to do? News flash: You have -- & had -- time to do all sorts of things "except work."

It's not for the money. I can always make money -- I can go get a job if I have to."

Graveyard shift?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by David

Oops. There's that pesky discrepancy again. Why not take off one of those nights from writing, painting, hand-knitting, photographs, & baking sugar cookies & do something else you say you have never had the time to do? News flash: You have -- & had -- time to do all sorts of things "except work."

Graveyard shift?

I would suggest that since only her nights are free that limits what she can do. But I guess in the entertainment world that's not true. Night time is the right time.

I did laugh at the "hand-knitting." Michele

[Bella Figura]

I always feel that her Street Angel interviews are some of her most honest...believe me, take it from someone who knows, not having kids whether by biology or those pesky twist of fates is very devasting...it's very painful and takes a long time to work through whether you end up adopting or choose to be childfree...those years in the middle of trying and waiting and being disappointed drain you emotionally, physically, financially and do all sorts of damage...

at least now, she's back to her old flaky self-centered self...

[vermicious knid]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Fleetwood Mac's New Age songstress inhabits a world without rap, Nirvana or even, apparently, a radio.

Remember that interview from around this time where the interviewer mentioned Sarah McLachlin and Sheryl Crow? Stevie was like "I don't know who they are".

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Billboard, March 26, 1994
"I have no false illusions," she says with a chuckle. "Iknow that I'm like this little dinosaurette, truckin' and stompin' around. And you know, every once in a while I have to come out and have tea with my fellow dinosaurettes, Ann and Nancy [Wilson] and Pat [Benatar].

For Doug Morris, Co-chairman/co-CEO of the Atlantic Group, the return of Stevie Nicks strikes a personal chord.
"She is the first artist I ever signed to this label," he says, "She holds a very special place in my heart. It's great to see her in shape and ready to roll. I can't wait for her to go back on tour. I'll be at the opening date."

Funny how she spent years ranking on Pat and now(1994) that she's not dominating the charts away from Stevie she's cool in Stevies' book. And Doug Morris claiming she was in such good shape?? She was excellent when I saw her on tour but she was also the fattest I'd ever seen her and according to her-kolonopined out.
Thank you Michele for all these interesting articles. Also I notice whenever anybody releases a new album it's usually touted as their best album ever. I enjoyed Street Angel very much with only a couple of tracks I didn't care for, but this album carried me thru good and bad times. My favorite track was and still is Love is Like A River.

[jwd]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Richmond Times Dispatch, July 7, 1994

All the king's horses and all the king's men couldn't make Stevie Nicks' latest a worthy listen. All is the operative word. On "Street Angel" (Atlantic), Nicks is championed by singers and musicians such as Bob Dylan, David Crosby, Waddy Wachtel, Bernie Leadon, Michael Campbell, Andy Fairweather Low, Benmont Tench and Roy Bittan. Stalwarts all, but they're not enough to carry inadequate lyrics and a voice that bleats as though it inhaled a dozen party balloons. Campbell is game. For those selections on which he composed the music, it is a guitar power punch reminiscent of his work with Tom Petty. When Nicks steps to the microphone and spews gibberish with unbearable vocals, all is for naught. Whether simpering or grandstanding, Nick's "Street Angel" is headed for a roast.

I never "realized" just how many great musicians were on this record until I read this. What a shame it turned out to be Stevie's most sub par album to date.

[jwd]

Originally Posted by vivfox

Funny how she spent years ranking on Pat and now(1994) that she's not dominating the charts away from Stevie she's cool in Stevies' book.

I never heard or read Stevie being negative about Pat.

[michelej1]

Daily News (Los Angeles, CA), June 23, 1994

Section: L.A. LIFE

RETREAT TO DESERT CAME IN NICK OF TIME FOR NICKS


Steve Morse Boston Globe

Finding inner peace has taken years for Stevie Nicks . She didn't find it in her longtime base of Los Angeles, which she left after the Jan. 17 Northridge Earthquake. She didn't find it in the later years of Fleetwood Mac, which she left after the group sang at President Clinton's inauguration.

Finally, though, Nicks has found a measure of peace from living in the desert beauty of Phoenix - and from concentrating on a solo career that for years she had to juggle with Fleetwood Mac commitments.

"I gave it the old college try. I gave it everything you could give it," she said of Fleetwood Mac, for which she sang such hits as "Rhiannon," "Gold Dust Woman" and "Dreams."

Nicks is back with a new album, "Street Angel," which is rich in rock-survivor wisdom and features a haunting version of Bob Dylan's "Just Like a Woman," with Dylan on guitar and harmonica. There also is a passionate tribute to biologist Jane Goodall and several of the straight-from-the-heart love songs for which Nicks is known.

"I'm a much happier person now," Nicks, 46, said recently from Arizona. "My life is easier and I'm really looking forward to going on the road this time. Probably that has a lot to do with the fact I haven't just come off the road with Fleetwood Mac. Whenever I'd come off the road from Fleetwood Mac, I'd be exhausted.

"Not being with Fleetwood Mac has made more of a change than I ever expected," Nicks said. "To not be on call to Fleetwood Mac is really something, because up until the inauguration, I was. There was no getting out of a call from Fleetwood Mac. If they needed you, you had to go, no matter what else was in your life or what was planned. There was nothing else that came first.

"I look at that now and I'm kind of amazed that I let that go on for so long. And I don't mean 'Why didn't I leave?' I just mean that I could have been not as wimpy a person."

Nicks has a new song, "Greta," about a restless wanderer who "packs her bags and she goes back to the Valley of the Sun." Which is what Nicks did after the Northridge Earthquake. "There was no possible way I was going to wait around for another earthquake," Nicks said.

Nicks still maintains a home in Los Angeles, but her heart clearly is in Arizona. "It's hot here - it's 106 degrees today. But when the sun goes down, I sit outside and it's so beautiful. If you have any problems, you go outside and they disintegrate. I've grown to really depend on my desert-sky time. . . . I guess that's why the Indians became very spiritual, because it's very easy to get into a spiritualistic kind of mode here."

Her more relaxed life also has enabled Nicks to feel better about the aging process. "I'm enjoying the wisdom of getting older," she said. "I look at it that you've become a wiser woman, more of a teacher, more of an adept person. . . . I really dislike all the 'I'm getting old' complaints from people who are bothered by it. In other cultures, the older people were the most revered.

"Personally, I still feel that I can do all the things I could when I was young and still have just as good a time, like riding around the desert in a Jeep or climbing Camelback Mountain. I can still do all that, but there's a certain wisdom I didn't have before. Like the thing about going outside. Rather than going to a psychiatrist, I can look up at this incredible red mountain, watch the sky and feel how good the air feels on my face. And (unlike therapy) it doesn't cost $150."

[michelej1]

Columbia State (SC), STATE-RECORD CO. , June 10, 1994

Section: WEEKEND

STEVIE NICKS RETURNS TO TOP FORM IN STUDIO ALBUM


HOWARD COHEN, Knight-Ridder Newspapers

''Understanding me is not an easy thing to do,'' sings Stevie Nicks in ''Blue Denim,'' the vibrant lead track from '' Street Angel '' (Modern/Atlantic 4-stars) her first studio album in five years.

No kidding.

Interpreting Nicks' confessional, sometimes mystical, lyrics has often been a formidable task -- both in her solo work and her days with Fleetwood Mac. So it's a relief to find Nicks sticking to a common theme on ''Street Angel'' -- love. And plenty of it.

There's ''Kick It,'' the set's most infectious track, a spry, harmonious number with an uplifting sing-along chorus. And ''Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind,'' the first single, is another charmer, thanks to Nicks' relaxed vocals and its seizing and chipper pop-rock nature.

But the CD's standout is its title track, a haunting ballad that ranks among the songwriter's finest moments on record. ''Street Angel'' tells of a homeless woman who must choose between the love of a wealthy man and her family on the streets. The exquisite melody and detailed harmony by David Crosby lend the tune a grace you don't often find in today's pop market.

Nicks' only misstep here is an unnecessary and overly reverent cover of Bob Dylan's ''Just Like a Woman'' (with the man himself playing harmonica behind her Dylan-aping vocals).

''Street Angel'' is Nicks' most consistently tuneful solo set to date. Moreover, it equals her first two -- and previous best -- LPs, ''Bella Donna'' and ''The Wild Heart.'' (Three cuts -- ''Greta,'' an ode to screen legend Greta Garbo, and the country songs ''Destiny'' and ''Rose Garden'' -- predate 1981's ''Bella Donna'' and find a fitting home here.)

With ample guitars erupting all over ''Street Angel,'' Nicks finds her wings as a rocker and reminds us why we fell in love with her when first she spun her tale of a Welsh witch named ''Rhiannon'' 19 long years ago.