Which album does Stevie sing best on?

[SpyNote]

I picked Bella Donna, but it should be noted that the final tracks were patched together from many different vocals. That must have been Jimmy Iovine's style. There was a lot of drive to make the album as perfect as possible, though I don't feel like that was the case with her subsequent albums.

[saintbernard]

While I think Stevie has delivered some great vocals on many of her records, I voted for Bella Donna. I think she delivers strong vocals on every single track. I've never had reason to complain about them anyway. The record was a work of beauty.

If I could choose more than one, I'd have to definitely put TISL as a strong second. There are a couple of songs on there that I'm not too crazy about but I think she delivers consistently strong vocals throughout. I see the title track, POTU, Every Day and Sorcerer as older Stevie at her finest.

And I'm one of the weird fans, I guess. I've never had a problem with her more criticized records: RAL, OSOTM and SA. While every song isn't a gem I think each record has something strong to offer. The production of some of the songs from those eras ("Film at Eleven" Mirror Mirror or carnival I Still Miss Someone, anyone?) leave a lot to be desired but the vocals aren't that bad. I actually consider OSOTM to be my favorite Stevie solo album.

The only records I really have vocal issues with is IYD and 24 Karat. I've not liked any of the vocals from 24 Karat except for the title track and IYD was almost, as a whole, a fan deal-breaker for me.

[TheWILDheart]

Originally Posted by sorcerer999

TISL had some really strong vocals (the passion was back because she was sober for the first time in a long time) but there were a lot of spots that sounded like she had been smoking 2 packs a day. You can hear a little bit of this in "Planets", "Candlebright", "It's Only Love" and "Every Day". A little bit of this smokiness carried over into Fleetwood's SYW album with "Destiny Rules" and "Illume". Yuck.

The best vocal from the whole damn TISL album is the ending of the unedited full length "Planets Of The Universe" and the woman didn't even keep it on the record.

[TxEpiscopalian]

I don't think I can chose one specific one, but I did for the purposes of the poll as the first real album of Stevie's I had was Trouble In Shangri-La and to this day it is the only album in the history of ever (aside from Cher's "Believe") that I can listen to start to finish and I love every single song on it.

Each and every album she has done she has sang amazingly on, including Street Angel. Her voice changes, it happens. Age, Drug Use, Producers all have an affect on the sound. But I appreciate and love each album, although each album has a few songs I usually pass over but thats just me.

[brad975]

I guess I have to go with BellaDonna, even though I listen to The Wild Heart more (despite her rumbling vibrato having some goat-like moments).

I'm surprised more people didn't vote for Rock a Little. There seems to be a lot of love out here for that era, even though she was beginning to sound physically ill on songs like the title track and "I Sing for the Things" (but still sounding strong on "Imperial Hotel" and a few others).

1983-1985 must have been a nonstop party because that really marked a steep decline in her vocal ability.

I'm not sure how to accurately assess 24K based on what we've heard so far, but she's not sounding bad for an entertainer of a certain age and substance-abuse history. But it's nowhere close to the best.

I recently made a "rock block" playlist where I put three of her tunes back-to-back. While I love all three, it was jarring how she sounded like a different performer from song to song:

"The Chain" (demo) - sweet, high, and a lil raspy
"Garbo" - baaaa
"You May Be the One" - you can talk-sing to me