Earlier or later writings better?

[GateandGarden]

Do you prefer Stevie's earlier lyrics or current ones? Do you think her songwriting is better now than in her earlier days of witches, faeries, angels, and blue lamps? We talked about this a little bit on The Legboard and I thought everyone here would have some insight.

I've noticed a dramatic difference between pre and post Street Angel songwriting. TISL was my first Stevie CD, and I assumed that the first four tracks were new because I didn't know any better (I think they're quite different from others like "I Miss You" and "Love Changes"), but I wasn't surprised to find out that they were demos re-recorded for the album. The newer material is quite different to me. On the Legboard, an article from 1994 was posted, (see thread) in which Stevie admitted that her earlier writings were "in codes" so that only a handful of people would know precisely what (and who) she was talking about. (I know almost all of that is really screwed up grammatically, so I'm sorry about that). That seems about right, since, from what I've heard, the writing is much clearer from Street Angel and on. There's also the hypothesis that various drugs allowed her to write the mystical, magical, and wonderfully ambiguous (in my book) lyrics of the early days.

So, what do y'all think? (I know those are quite a few questions and ideas to explore there).

Hillary

[ontheEdgeof17]

I chose "Both Equally". Go figure. I admit it was getting sluggish in the late 80s/early 90s. It's been up to par again from The Dance until now. I can't wait for her new material!

[Johnny Stew]

There were a few years there when Stevie's writing became somewhat spotty (the "Klonopin Years"), but I think she rebounded from that quite beautifully, and many of her more recent songs are among my favorites.

I chose "both equally."

[Sorcerer386]

While Stevie has had some great moments in her later writing, I have to say I prefer her earlier lyrics.

[takenbythesky]

I chose "both equally" as well. For the same reasons that Mr. Stew stated so eloquently.
--Justin

[Moony]

Well I would say both, however I do have a slight preference for her older writing. A lot of her new material is wonderful though, and on par with the writing of old.

Either way, I still can't get enough of the woman. NEW ALBUM PLEASE!!!!!

[GODDESS6]

the r both "enchanting" , the mysticalness tho runs thru all eras of her writing which is my fav part~ but to listen 2 her music from the very beginnings where she was more wide-eyed & innocent 2 being a veteran rock chick, it tells a story in there & i 4 1 love it ALL!!! ~

[dissention]

Earlier.

She's too self-conscious nowadays and her writing suffers dramatically. The messages aren't as universal as before and half the time it seems like you have to be part of a special club to understand and care about the crap she writes and sings. She needs to do what true musical artists do: search out new experiences and find new muses and sources of inspiration for your music. Stop dwelling on your goddamned relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, it's old hat and makes for ****ty and boring music in the twenty-first century. Give me the masterpieces she wrote up until the mid-eighties and you can keep junk like Say You Will and Love Is. There's something about her writing that just evaporated about 15 years ago and while she's much better than she was a few years back, she still hasn't even come close to recapturing the magic of yesteryear. The only song that I can think of off the top of my head that is just as good as anything she wrote twenty years ago is Trouble In Shangri-La. If she wrote more songs that were as shockingly good as that one, she'd be ON FIRE and I'd be in awe.

[GardenStateGirlie]

Originally Posted by dissention

Earlier.

She's too self-conscious nowadays and her writing suffers dramatically. The messages aren't as universal as before and half the time it seems like you have to be part of a special club to understand and care about the crap she writes and sings. She needs to do what true musical artists do: search out new experiences and find new muses and sources of inspiration for your music. Stop dwelling on your goddamned relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, it's old hat and makes for ****ty and boring music in the twenty-first century. Give me the masterpieces she wrote up until the mid-eighties and you can keep junk like Say You Will and Love Is. There's something about her writing that just evaporated about 15 years ago and while she's much better than she was a few years back, she still hasn't even come close to recapturing the magic of yesteryear. The only song that I can think of off the top of my head that is just as good as anything she wrote twenty years ago is Trouble In Shangri-La. If she wrote more songs that were as shockingly good as that one, she'd be ON FIRE and I'd be in awe.

Oh please. Yes, I agree Stevie suffers from a certain level of self- consciousness but I think that goes with the territory. You look at her prior to the Street Angel album and then look at her now, you can tell she aproaches her endevors with a certain level of awareness. HOWEVER, to call her music ****TY and accuse her of DWELLING on a relationship that may or may not have been (depending on who I'm speaking to with this post) the greatest love she's ever had is completely and totally assinine. You're telling her to act like younger artists and I believe we've already had this discussion before in one way or another. SHE ISN'T 25 ANYMORE. She's lived her life and been through some tough times whereas many of these younger artists haven't and a lot don't even write their own songs. What's she supposed to do? Go out and find another addiction so she can write about it? As far as muse is concerned maybe in her mind, the relationship she had with Lindsey was more satisfying to her than any other relationship could possibly ever be and who the hell am I to knock her for that? JMO.

I enjoy both now and then and IMO, her songs are still incredibly beautiful and incredibly relatable. Writers write about what they know and this is what she knows---heartache, addiction, love, loss, etc. Inevitably, that's going to be what she writes about and I wouldn't want it any other way.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

Oh please. Yes, I agree Stevie suffers from a certain level of self- consciousness but I think that goes with the territory. You look at her prior to the Street Angel album and then look at her now, you can tell she aproaches her endevors with a certain level of awareness. HOWEVER, to call her music ****TY and accuse her of DWELLING on a relationship that may or may not have been (depending on who I'm speaking to with this post) the greatest love she's ever had is completely and totally assinine. You're telling her to act like younger artists and I believe we've already had this discussion before in one way or another. SHE ISN'T 25 ANYMORE. She's lived her life and been through some tough times whereas many of these younger artists haven't and a lot don't even write their own songs. What's she supposed to do? Go out and find another addiction so she can write about it? As far as muse is concerned maybe in her mind, the relationship she had with Lindsey was more satisfying to her than any other relationship could possibly ever be and who the hell am I to knock her for that? JMO.

I enjoy both now and then and IMO, her songs are still incredibly beautiful and incredibly relatable. Writers write about what they know and this is what she knows---heartache, addiction, love, loss, etc. Inevitably, that's going to be what she writes about and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Well, maybe I'm just thinking Marissa's all on fire!!!!!!!!!

PREACH IT ON SISTA!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Merf]

Originally Posted by GardenStateGirlie

Oh please. Yes, I agree Stevie suffers from a certain level of self- consciousness but I think that goes with the territory. You look at her prior to the Street Angel album and then look at her now, you can tell she aproaches her endevors with a certain level of awareness. HOWEVER, to call her music ****TY and accuse her of DWELLING on a relationship that may or may not have been (depending on who I'm speaking to with this post) the greatest love she's ever had is completely and totally assinine. You're telling her to act like younger artists and I believe we've already had this discussion before in one way or another. SHE ISN'T 25 ANYMORE. She's lived her life and been through some tough times whereas many of these younger artists haven't and a lot don't even write their own songs. What's she supposed to do? Go out and find another addiction so she can write about it? As far as muse is concerned maybe in her mind, the relationship she had with Lindsey was more satisfying to her than any other relationship could possibly ever be and who the hell am I to knock her for that? JMO.

I enjoy both now and then and IMO, her songs are still incredibly beautiful and incredibly relatable. Writers write about what they know and this is what she knows---heartache, addiction, love, loss, etc. Inevitably, that's going to be what she writes about and I wouldn't want it any other way.

PREACH THE TRUTH, SISTA!)(@*!()@!

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by dissention

Earlier.

She's too self-conscious nowadays and her writing suffers dramatically. The messages aren't as universal as before and half the time it seems like you have to be part of a special club to understand and care about the crap she writes and sings. She needs to do what true musical artists do: search out new experiences and find new muses and sources of inspiration for your music. Stop dwelling on your goddamned relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, it's old hat and makes for ****ty and boring music in the twenty-first century. Give me the masterpieces she wrote up until the mid-eighties and you can keep junk like Say You Will and Love Is. There's something about her writing that just evaporated about 15 years ago and while she's much better than she was a few years back, she still hasn't even come close to recapturing the magic of yesteryear. The only song that I can think of off the top of my head that is just as good as anything she wrote twenty years ago is Trouble In Shangri-La. If she wrote more songs that were as shockingly good as that one, she'd be ON FIRE and I'd be in awe.

I was hoping you'd go into a long-ass explanation instead of simply saying, "Earlier because her newer music is crap."

One thing I really don't get is how you say her music is not as universal now. Who can't relate to "Say You Will" and "Love Is"? But who feels they can really relate to "Sisters of the Moon" or "Bella Donna"? I imagine some listeners are too busy trying to figure out what the hell she's talking about in the last two I mentioned. But that is why I really like her earlier writings, because they are wonderfully vague and I come up with my own interpretations. They mean whatever I want them to mean. (Is this starting to sound like one of her lame Q&A answers? ) I am tempted to say that her earlier lyrics have more depth, but do I just have it in my head that ambiguity and inimitability automatically equals depth? I'm not sure. I know that her earlier writings generally mean more to me because "Outside the Rain" can be about a number of things, some of which I have experienced, whereas "Everybody Finds Out" can really only be about a guy and a chick who are having an affair and the chick is angry with the other chick the guy's with. (I suppose EFO does fall into that category you mentioned diss, since it is one that doesn't have that universal appeal).

Now, it seems presumptuous to me to say that she needs to lose the Lindsey obsession. Do you really know that all those SYW songs are about him? I don't know; maybe it's common knowledge that they are and I'm just fooling myself in saying that they might be about someone else. But it pains me to think that EFO could be about Lindsey. How hurtful would that be to Lindsey and Kristin and eventually, their children? It's hard for me to fathom Stevie being so thoughtless and self-absorbed. I don't know; maybe it's all part of the game, just like how they insist on being affectionate on stage because, as Stevie has put it in articles, that's what people come to the concerts to see. I find that disturbing as well.

And I thought she wrote "Trouble in Shangri-La" twenty years ago? I thought it was an old demo. Am I wrong? Whatever the case, I agree that if she came out with more songs like that one, it would be beyond awesome. I'll take more of that over "Love Is," "I Miss You," and "Say You Will" any day. (I still don't think "Say You Will" is "junk," as you say, but then I'm not going to agree with a lot of what I see as your over-the-top negative language in that post).

Hillary

[Merf]

Originally Posted by dissention

Earlier.

The only song that I can think of off the top of my head that is just as good as anything she wrote twenty years ago is Trouble In Shangri-La. If she wrote more songs that were as shockingly good as that one, she'd be ON FIRE and I'd be in awe.

So you can honestly tell me that none of the songs she wrote for SYW (the ones that were from recently, not "Smile At You" & "Goodbye Baby" obviously) were just crap? I mean, yeah, they weren't her best, but I think they were the best she's written in a long time (especially "Thrown Down" & "Illume")

[GateandGarden]

Originally Posted by Merf

So you can honestly tell me that none of the songs she wrote for SYW (the ones that were from recently, not "Smile At You" & "Goodbye Baby" obviously) were just crap? I mean, yeah, they weren't her best, but I think they were the best she's written in a long time (especially "Thrown Down" & "Illume")

I know I'm not dissention and this was directed at him, but I don't think the songs on SYW are nearly as good as her earlier writings. I still enjoy most of her SYW material. I think you said it--they're the best she's written in a long time, but not the best ever.

Hillary

[Merf]

Originally Posted by GateandGarden

I know I'm not dissention and this was directed at him, but I don't think the songs on SYW are nearly as good as her earlier writings. I still enjoy most of her SYW material. I think you said it--they're the best she's written in a long time, but not the best ever.

Hillary

That's why I said they were the best she'd written in a long time. Come on people, they were MUCH better than anything on Street Angel & "Sweet Girl."