The New CD, TIS-L, is wonderful, and far exceeded my
expectations (and I really thought "Street Angel" was
OK...love "Greta"). Anyway, the CD cooks, and the fact
that she dug out the early demos of "Nomad" (now
"Candlebright") and "Sorcerer" gives the album
something really special. "Candlebright" is
copyrighted as written in 1970, "Sorcerer" in '72, so
she really went way back to re-vamp these songs
(wonder if that was Crow's idea...). Rather than
suffering from lifeless performances, the CD DOES have
a high degree of emotion and clarity, as opposed to
the confused "Other Side...". What's more, the overall
sound of the music recorded here is a vast
improvement. Somewhat of an arena veteran, Stevie's
previous releases have suffered a little from a
bombastic rock and roll sound that isn't always
appropriate to her voice.
The disc also features a more coherent, overall, vocal
performance from Stevie. She stretches her voice here
and there to reach for a higher note - it's almost as
though she made a deliberate attempt to sing a little
differently this time around. Due to the deepening of
her voice over the years, she falls into a monotone
sound that drones at you after a while, but she avoids
this on the new CD. Can ya'tell I'm sold? If you
listen to "The Wild Heart", nonetheless a GREAT CD,
you can hear how ravaged her voice was becoming from
touring and from all that cocaine slipping down the
back of her throat. She sounds at her best now,
considering all the damage.
The letterman performance was kind of plain, but then
again, she's on a promotional tour, and a lot rests on
the potential success of this disc. This is her first
effort for Reprise (w/o the Mac), as "Street Angel"
was the last release from her own ill-fated company,
Modern Records. The contract was signed several years
ago at this point, and the disc took forever to make
(and was probably VERY expensive), so I'm sure there's
a little pressure to just 'get out there and perform'
for the masses as opposed to being idiosyncratic and
wailing and flailing...having seen the "Enchanted"
tour in '98, I'm sure that Stevie will be her old self
in front of her own audience. The promotional gigs
serve another purpose entirely, and I think this is
why they're sedated.
This disc is to be followed by a long tour, and then
another Fleetwood Mac Cd, then possibly a second
"Buckingham/Nicks" project, so we'll be hearing from
her for the next few years non-stop. I, for one, am
pleased.
-Chris
NP: Buckingham/Nicks singing backup on Walter Egan's
"Magnet & Steel"
