Street Angel Album

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by UCYOURGYPC

To my memory, beside producer issues (and isn't Glenn Parish listed), this was also the time when she was heavily into Klonopin, weight gain & alcohol, so I think it just wasn't a happy time for her bottom line, myself I have always liked the album, it does have some gems on it, have never understood the Angel haters when it comes up, but oh well, can't please all of the people....

Glen Parrish was only given executive producer credit on Street Angel. It was during this time that he was also her ill-fitted & misguided manager. I liken that decision to Stevie having her brother be her creative designer on SA. I Blame it all on the Klonopin! And I agree, not all of SA is bad. The only songs I truly despise are "Jane" & "Just Like A Woman" -which probably only made the cut due to Bob Dylan making the fateful journey into the studio and adding his precious harmonica part.
And for the record, I think the Glyn Johns produced version of "Unconditional Love" is much better than Stevie's reproduction. The slighly off drum beat (one of Glyn Johns trademarks) and the softer chorus is a nice touch over the caterwauling sung chorus (courtesy of the girls) and tweaking of the final version.

[Bandon]

My thought when I saw the CD cover for SA was, "Why the hell did they make a pink CD cover?" I thought it was horrible marketing decision. Talk about putting off a good chunk of the male market.

Then when I listened to the CD for the first time, I thought the music did not sound contemporary, and she was going backwards musically. Hey the use of keyboards was so on its way out...at least for a long while.

Anyways, I like Blue Denim (good lyrics), Maybe Love Will Change, and Kick It. I love Unconditional Love and Rose Garden.

What I don't get is why did she put Jane in the mix AFTER she got her head straightened out??

[StandbackStevie]

Yes I actually Love the Street Angel Album I love every song too yes its not her best work but it's not a bad album at all and I loved the tour too she was great on tour was at the opening night of Street Angels at Great Woods in Mansfield,Ma. and went to the second show at Jones Beach in Wantaugh, NY long Island. since there was no CT date and at the time there was no shed type venues in CT until the 1995 When The Meadows Music Thearte Opened in Hartford. My least favorite Song is When I see you again from Tango In The Night.

[drzubritsky]

Originally Posted by Artemis

Don't forget that at the time, Stevie was about the most uncool person in existence, so any chance of picking up new fans was non-existent. Plus, I think from reading articles, that she didn't promote it very well?

And the material is noticeably weaker than her classic 80s work; although it isn't the pile of crap it's often made out to be. It's just not as immediately brilliant. I don't think the ghastly album cover will have helped either, but that's just me.

Stevie was definitely viewed as passe at that time. Heck, I had been a major fan and bought all her solo output and FM albums up to that time, but even I lost interest and passed on Street Angel (it didn't help that the lead single didn't exactly rock my world).

Ironically, female singer-songwriters and bands fronted by women were making quite an impact during the Street Angel era. Sarah McLachlan, 10000 Maniacs, Sam Phillips, Cranberries, Lisa Loeb, Frente and Tori Amos had successful releases earlier in the year and Sheryl Crow and Mazzy Star would hit later in the year. Most if not all of these acts were surely influenced by Stevie to some degree.

But the releases from the above acts sounded fresh in 1994 while SA's production sounded quite stale. While Stevie's previous attempts to go trendy with production styles didn't work too well IMO, I think she could have benefited from the types of production arrangements the successful female-oriented acts were employing in 1994. In that respect, I think Glyn Johns was a poor choice even if their relationship had gone better.

When I finally acquired SA in 1997 after The Dance, I actually found it to be much better than I expected. Definitely has a few duds ("Just Like A Woman", "Unconditional Love"), but even much-maligned tracks like "Docklands" and "Jane" have some good qualities. The other cuts range from decent to very good, but unfortunately there's nothing close to an obvious hit single like her previous albums had...that was another factor in SA's failure.

[mitzo]

I grabbed SA as soon as it was released and had to dig deep to maintain my enthusiasm for her work. Stale production, dreary songs, really not a package worthy of Stevie.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by mitzo

I grabbed SA as soon as it was released and had to dig deep to maintain my enthusiasm for her work. Stale production, dreary songs, really not a package worthy of Stevie.

This was me. I remember I was on a 2 weeks road trip with my partner traveling along the north west pacific coast from Portland all the way up towards Vancouver, anyway on release day I made sure I was in Seattle, went to the 1st record store I found, which was like a sam goody's or some other big music chain, And I had to dig hard to find it buried in the N section. I think they only has 1 or 2 copies I already knew what the cover artwork was going to look like, cause I saw the Atlantic pre-release catalog (from the picture I posted on pg. 1 in this thread) since Sept of 1993, but seeing in person, I remember it looked anemic and really cheap - It definitely did not look like the Stevie Nicks album covers I was accustomed to, and I too thought the PINK hue was a bit much, like someone else mentioned - Stevie has always been ultra-feminine with no apologies, but I also agree it was a bad marketing decision, why alienate male cd buyers. But that was a mute point since it was soon apparent that Stevie and Street Angel were not en vogue, and Gen. X had moved on and were more interested in the new Stone Temple Pilots or the new Seal records etc. Stevie was as literally washed up as her album cover depicted her to be.

I still enjoyed most of SA, even though I remember it not sounding contemporary at the time, with very basic arrangements. Stevie was never more out of touch with the times then on SA. But I loved "Greta", "Blue Denim", "Destiny", "Docklands", "Rose Garden" & "Love Is Like A River", as well as the 1st single "Maybe Love" which was getting decent AC radio play & the b-side "Inspiration". But I knew the record was basically a dud & a misfire. But I played along as fans often do. The tour was fantastic though, even though it was sad to see her play 2 dates at The Greek that summer, and both shows were barely over half full. But in Denver she played to a packed house at Fiddler's Green amphitheater where she did one of her rare solo versions of "The Chain". I also chased her tour bus back the Westin in downtown Denver and got to say Hi to her briefly as she was whisked into the hotel by security. Nice memories. GAWD that seems so long ago!

Thank God Stevie found her way back with 2 stellar solo records in TISL and now the even better IYD

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by Christopher

but seeing in person, I remember it looked anemic and really cheap - It definitely did not look like the Stevie Nicks album covers I was accustomed to, and I too thought the PINK hue was a bit much,

Spot on - exactly what I thought when I picked up my copy as well. I remember the three-block walk home from Waxx Traxx thinking to myself, "What in the world is this going to be like?" I remember my friend Siet and I chatting with feigned excitement as we pretended to just LOVE Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind after hearing it ont the radio. We only heard it that once, and nevermore.

All these years later, I think Street Angel has aged very gracefully, and it's easily one of my favorite Stevie albums.

[TheWILDheart]

I think the one major thing that people forget about "Street Angel", is that it's not finished. It has LOTS of potentially amazing songs on it, and the single edit of "Blue Denim" is a brilliant example of what could've been with a bit more work. All the songs sound like demo's to me, and I really cannot be doing with "Unconditional Love", "Jane" and "Just Like A Woman". But I love the title track, Love Is Like A River, Kick It and Blue Demin