Oh boy. We did NOT like this album, and it shows.
Stevie Nicks’ fifth solo album was released on May 23, 1994, and was the lowest charting album of her career. Still, it managed to ship over 500,000 units, certifying Gold by the RIAA (we would like to have a word with the other 499,998 people who bought this album)
It is well known that Stevie herself has disavowed this album, stating:
“This is not my record. So I went back in for about eight weeks and I didn’t mess with the vocals, which I should have. But I was so sort of overwhelmed with trying to fix the things that I didn’t like about the music, which was like… there was no percussion, there was no Waddy Wachtel. Because I was told that the last thing that I would need was Waddy Wachtel. And I, you know… I mean, to that comment I was so speechless that I just didn’t do anything, I said ok. So when I went back in, I had Waddy come in and play, and I had Peter Michael come in and put percussion on, and Michael Campbell came back and put some more guitar on it, and we re-mixed everything, and we did a lot of other things besides that.”
“I should have gone back in and really worked with the album, with the vocals. Because that’s something that… I guess that was the last thing that I knew was wrong with it, and after being in two months trying to fix everything that I thought was wrong about the music and the mixes, it was almost kind of like, you know, maybe you just need to let this go and go on. I mean, this is three years now. And this record should have been out a long time ago. It may be new for everybody else, but it’s really old for me.” (Off the Record with Mary Turner).
Where’s Raven?
If your only exposure to Raven was this podcast, you would not understand why we make the connection between Raven and Stevie. She’s NEVER in the book when a Stevie album is released. SHEESH! We’re gonna have to do an episode JUST on the Stevie/Raven connection.
Dig Deeper
There’s no alternate playlist for this album, and the non-album tracks will be covered when we get to the rarities collection, but there are a couple of original mixes that have surfaced on YouTube (‘Unconditional Love,’ and ‘Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind’). Randy thinks these mixes are better than the released versions, (although Stevie’s going full Bob Dylan on ‘Maybe Love…’).
Lacy James, Anthony’s good friend and singer/songwriter put out her own song for Jane Goodall and the gorillas. Listen to ‘Silverback.’
Further Reading
As promised, Anthony is sharing his river song that he wrote.
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The Generic, Non Specific Stevie Nicks Podcast 