besteveralbums.com - Stevie's best album

[jcalzaretta]

1. Bella Donna
2. In Your Dreams
3. Trouble in Shangri-La
4. Wild Heart

Top 4

[Johnny Stew]

1. The Wild Heart
2. Rock A Little
3. In Your Dreams
4. Trouble In Shangri-La
5. Street Angel
6. Bella Donna
7. The Other Side Of The Mirror

For me, as good of an album as 'Bella Donna' is, it isn't quite "Stevie" enough. It lacks many of the eccentricities and idiosyncrasies of her later albums. I realize, for some, that's a good thing -- but I prefer when Stevie is in all of her indulgent, quirky, hyper-romantic, windswept, melodramatic glory.

While 'Street Angel' lacks some of those Brontë-esque qualities that I find to be a big draw, I love that it represents a more grounded, pragmatic point of view. Plus, it served to anchor her music after the synth-laden 'The Other Side of the Mirror.'

[Jondalar]

There are only three whole, solo albums that I liked from her;

1. Bella Donna
2. In Your Dreams
3. The Wild Heart

the rest I only like bits and pieces:

4. Rock a Little & Trouble in Shangri La tie
6 . The Other Side of the Mirror
7. Street Angel

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

See? I totally disagree. Everyone heralded TISL as Stevie's return to form, but I do not concur. Street Angel was the album where she cast off the overwrought mysticism & heavy production her previous albums were known for. Street Angel is, for the most part- a straightfoward, back to the basics, honest, rock album.

There are several awesome rockers, such as:

Blue Denim, Docklands, Listen To The Rain, Love Is Like A River, and Kick It.

I love the quirkiness of Greta, the dark & gritty introspection of Street Angel, and the school-girl wistfulness of Rose Garden. Yes, there are turds... but every Stevie solo album has them.

To me, the album where Stevie actually lost her way was Wild Heart. She set herself up for 2 decades of not being taken seriously with that one. In making Wild Heart, she eschewed the rock sound that had made her famous, and instead drowned herself in a pool of narcicistic, over-indulgent, disengenous, sappy, adult contemporary pop garbage.

I liked the production on Street Angel, but the material was bad and it had other problems such as her voice and her commitment to the material.

I liked Greta, Kick it, Destiny and Rose Garden (to a point). The best song was Inspiration and she took it off the album because she didn't write it.

However, her voice ruins Docklands & Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind. Sounds like she is not even trying.

And Blue Denim is hardly a song. It's basically a guitar lick with a chorus that everybody seems to like to read to much into - very small and the best part is the guitar.

[mitzo]

I agree with Johnny Stew about BD, it lacks the mystique. In fact it was a shockingly crude and boring attempt at a solo debut, after her work with FM previously. We expected a luxurious journey through misted forests past castles and through valleys of ghosts and haunted children and shimmering glimpses of brilliant emotion. Instead, she gave us a harsh bellowed set of faux rock and midtempo tunes set against what seems like an amateur garage band recorded in an empty rainbarrel. Grating guitar effects, painfully coarse unmodulated vocals, raw percussion, and flat harmonies mar what actually is not a bad set of songs but done like this and coming on the heels of her frigging masterpieces on Tusk, for god's sake..... It took me a few years to recover. Wild Heart was a better effort, it almost looked as if they bothered to actually produce the album and it has three (four) outstanding gifts, Nightbird, Stand Back, BATB, and, on a good day, Sable on Blond. Rock a Little and TOSOTM to me are good solid albums, a lot of the big drama is there, lots of '80s studio trickery, some big songs, and enough wacky but engaging emoting from Stevie. SA was another letdown, mostly due to bad songs IMO. TISL still perplexes me, it has so many gems but also some real clunkers. IYD is good but a flat effort with no real grabbers, just decent (mostly Dave Stewart) tunes well produced. I really want another solo album soon...

[StevieNicksfann]

1) Rock A Little - love every song
2) Wild Heart - BATB is the only one I don't like
3) In Your Dreams - Cheaper Than Free and Soldier's Angel I don't really listen to.
4) Trouble In Shangri-La - That Made Me Stronger I hate - Candlebright and It's Only Love are ok but I usually skip
5) Other Side Of The Mirror - DTBTIC and Cry Wolf I don't listen to.
6) Bella Donna
7) Street Angel - I only like Listen To The Rain, Maybe Love, Greta, Rose Garden, and Unconditional Love

[Gold Dust Woman]

1 Bella Donna - I don't skip any tracks on this album. Love them all.
2 Trouble In Shangri-La
3 Rock a Little
4 Wild Heart
5 In Your Dreams
6 Street Angel
7 The Other Side of the Mirror

[WatchChain]

1. Bella Donna (classic/timeless)
2. The Wild Heart (a sweeping epic)
3. In Your Dreams (utterly delicious!)
4. Trouble In Shangri-La (still makes me squeal with delight!)
5. The Other Side of the Mirror (some shining moments save it from disaster)
6. Rock A Little (cheesy 80's synthesizers/sounds dated)
7. Street Angel (at times, unlistenable--where do I start? The sole savior is "Rose Garden")

[ahafan02]

01 Rock A Little
02 Trouble in Shangri La
03 Bella Donna
04 In Your Dreams
05 The Other Side of the Mirror
06 Street Angel
07 The Wild Heart

[annabellee]

It's like picking your favorite child. Impossible! They all have their highs and lows. Some highs are higher and some lows are lower. I've learned to appreciate the gift that's been shared. Thank you Stevie!

[Dreamz19]

1. Bella Donna
2. Rock A Little
3. In Your Dreams
4. The Wild Heart
5. Trouble in Shangri La
6. Street Angel
7. The Other Side Of The Mirror

I like all of her solo albums except for TOSOTM.

[Hawkeye]

1. Wild Heart
2. In Your Dreams
3. Bella Donna


4. Trouble in Shangri La
5 Rock a Little
6. Street Angel









7. Other Side of the Mirror



So as the spacing kind of indicates there's a slight drop in quality between 3 and 4 with 4 thru 6 almost being interchangeable TISL getting the top spot due to the sentimental value of being the first new album I anticipated so much. And I didnt feel it did the other albums justice if I simply called OSOTM 7th. It isn't just one notch below street angel, it's a cliff below street angel.

[James89]

Originally Posted by annabellee

It's like picking your favorite child. Impossible! They all have their highs and lows. Some highs are higher and some lows are lower. I've learned to appreciate the gift that's been shared. Thank you Stevie!

After some thought, I now agree with this!!!

[Gold Dust Woman]

Originally Posted by Gold Dust Woman

1 Bella Donna - I don't skip any tracks on this album. Love them all.
2 Trouble In Shangri-La
3 Rock a Little
4 Wild Heart
5 In Your Dreams
6 Street Angel
7 The Other Side of the Mirror

After relistening to several of Stevie's albums in the past few days I need to change the order of my list...

1 Bella Donna
2 Wild Heart - I forgot how much I enjoy this record. Not a duff track on the album imo, although afew minor niggles which I'm too lazy to type
3 Trouble In Shangri-La
4 Rock a Little
5 In Your Dreams
6 The Other Side of the Mirror - Rooms on Fire saves this record from last place, but that is its only redeeming feature
7 Street Angel - I've never given this album the time of day but I put it 6th before just because TOSOTM is such an awful record... but as I said, Rooms on Fire saves it

[James89]

I listened to 'The Wild Heart' the other day and even though Stevie's voice sounds more nasal than on 'Bella Donna' I have to say that every song on the album is fantastic. I just don't understand why it only ever reached #5.....??