Bradley's Buzz

bub98 Stevie Nicks – Mindscape
November 13, 2007

Okay, the minute I finished up the Fleetwood Mac compilation I knew I was headed to the land of Stevies for my Nicks Fix, so I immediately put together some of my all time favorite Stevie songs to make a new bubbatunes compilation. But this isn’t just some random greatest hits package instead Mindscape is made as a companion piece to go along with Stevie’s greatest hits collection Crystal Visions. So there are only a couple singles here, both of which never ended up on Stevie’s greatest hits, so they are a very welcome addition here. As for the rest of the cuts, you’ll find mostly album cuts from her five solo albums plus some soundtrack stuff and a rarity here and there from her box set.

Without any further delay, let’s whip out the shawls and the boots and head into the enchanted world of Stevie Nicks.

Stevie has released some brilliant singles over the years but there are just as many hidden gems on her albums as those hits. It’s probably not a big shocker that her solo debut Bella Donna is the album that has the most cuts represented here, but the fact is Bella Donna is probably her best solo album from start to finish. From that big debut I picked the fourth and final single “After The Glitter Fades” – a countrified take on fame and fortune and our girl’s plight with stardom. The opus that is the title track of Bella Donna has some of the coolest ethereal lyrics from our girl, while “Think About It” is a little take on life’s problems and how to deal with them – ‘take on the situation but not the torment/ now you know it’s not as bad as it seems…” and our final track from Bella Donna, is probably my favorite song on the first album “Kind Of Woman” is really just a song about infidelity but with the piano, Stevie’s warble and her great sense of poetic lyrics, it’s excellent.

1983’s The Wild Heart launched Stevie’s most brilliant singles with “Stand Back” and “If Anyone Falls” but for some reason they never bother putting the third single “Nightbird” on a compilation and it’s really one of my all time favorite Stevie singles. Co-written and sung with Sandy Stewart there are a ton of references to past Stevie including an ode to the white winged dove, but all of the lines in the song are brilliant. “and the summer became the fall/ I was not ready for the winter/ it makes no difference at all/ cause I wear boots all summer long…” So cool.

But one of my all time favorite Stevie cuts ever is “Enchanted” and that’s why I chose it to open this compilation – a rocking little ditty about a man who wants our girl, it’s sassy and fun. “Crying in the morning/ trying to be strong/ waiting for the spring to turn into the fall/ love don’t mean what it says at all/ and destiny says that I’m destined to fall… enchanted/ you thought you saw something in my eyes/ enchanted/ it’s a shame that you wanted me/ you didn’t try…” I love it.

Her third solo album 1985’s Rock A Little is my second all time favorite solo album by our little chanteuse. Full of synthy infused rock songs, it launched a few big hits as well but there isn’t a bad song on the album. In fact it was hard to pick out which songs I was going to use on here, but I finally did nail it down to three – the rocking “Some Become Strangers” with it’s sing songy chorus – ‘thing is/ time was/ part of me used to love you/ part of me still does…”, “I Sing For The Things” which has our girl cracking and warbling so beautifully as she talks about the more important things in her life – “You say I have everything/ well I’m living on dreams and chains/ but I sing for the things money can’t buy…” and a great little chorus, “well have you ever been in love/ have you touched the soul of someone?/ did the fear inside make you turn and run?” Not to even mention that Stevie says she will take off her cape for you, and she’ll let her hair down for you – oh yes.

But my favorite from Rock A Little is a steamy little rock song called “Imperial Hotel” that finds our heroine in third person contemplating why she doesn’t have love in her life and opens with one of my all time favorite lines – “he says to her…why do you do it? She says to him…why do you stay?” and then there’s verse 2 with “she sits across the table, the same glass table/ cries to her friend, why am I so alone?/ he says to her baby wo baby baby baby this is the path you have chosen…” and another great line with, “she probably goes under another name/ well that’s a good idea….” All leading with the chorus – “well you can get her/ but you can’t keep her/ and you can’t catch her fall/ well she will call you/ when she needs you/ you know where she lives/ the Imperial Hotel…”

The Other Side Of The Mirror launched the brilliant single “Rooms On Fire” in 1989 but as an album it just isn’t up to the par of her previous three, however in “Whole Lotta Trouble” comes a rocking number that is really good and it’s our one and only inclusion from the album. Though I do own it on CD and may have to go back and give it a few more listens.

By 1994’s Street Angel, it was implied that our Miss Nicks had lost her touch and apparently she isn’t very proud of this album either, however it has two of my favorite songs from the girl – “Blue Denim” is a clever little single not that different from anything she had previously done but still rousing and a great listen – ‘I saw him the other day/ I saw him again…yesterday/I wonder if I’ll ever see him again/ he reminded me of blue denim/ blue gray eyes they change with the color/ change with the sun/ they run with the sight/ they change with the wind/ but they’re always bright/ bright eyes/ blue denim.”

And another of my favorite Stevie tracks – the acoustically driven “Rose Garden” which takes that old 70’s song about being promised a rose garden and turning it all around – “You never promised me a rose garden/ you never said it would be easy/ you never promised a leisure lifetime/ you only said you’d never leave me…” and the kicker in the chorus – “well I never took the time to realize/ how much I needed love in order to survive/ I was so spoiled/ a princess in my time/ and your love was so deep/ and mine so blind…” As the song continues we learn she was never promised a ring of diamonds, only a band of gold, and of course she doesn’t accept it, only to get her big house, big rose garden and everything she ever wanted – everything except a small gold band on her left hand… aw.

When Stevie came barreling back with 2001’s Trouble In Shangri-La, she came swirling like a banshee in the night, proving to everyone that she could still make a solid solo album. I wanted to include almost every song from the album but was obviously limited so I went with two of my favorites – “Every Day” which was a video and a promo single and one that just captures me with its lyrics – and a Natalie Maines duet called “Too Far From Texas” with a bit of a twang, a bit of a storyline and some awesome vocals, its by far my favorite song on Trouble…

From there we had to include some of those little gems Stevie threw on box sets and soundtracks including the excellent Sheryl Crow produced “If You Ever Did Believe” from the Practical Magic soundtrack, “It’s Late” is an acoustic cover of the 50’s little rockabilly song that may seem out of place for Stevie but it’s a song her grandfather always sang and it proves that Stevie can wrap her warble around anything she wants and it comes out perfect.

The ultimate of the little gems is her cover of Tom Petty’s “Free Fallin’” that was included on the Party Of Five television soundtrack (???) but she does such a frickin’ killer job on the song I can’t believe it wasn’t a huge hit.

To go back into the vaults we put on “Long Distance Winner” which is from the 1973 Buckingham Nicks album which is how it all really started; and the Brett Michaels co-write and produced “Love’s A Hard Game To Play” that was released as a single off of her Timespace: The Best Of Stevie Nicks album in 1991.

Of all the Bubbatunes compilations I make I have to admit that Stevie’s Mindscape is one of my all time favorites. I haven’t stopped listening to it since I made it and because of my love affair for Stevie’s lyrics it is our very first Bubbatune ever to include lyrics. Because I simply must sing along with my girl and it’s always nice to have the right words when swinging your shawl and dancing in your boots.

Stevie Nicks – Mindscape (bub98)
Track List:
01. Enchanted 02. Kind Of Woman 03. Some Become Strangers 04. Rose Garden 05. Nightbird 06. Bella Donna 07. Imperial Hotel 08. Too Far From Texas 09. Think About It 10. Love’s A Hard Game To Play 11. If You Ever Did Believe 12. I Sing For The Things 13. Blue Denim 14. Every Day 15. Whole Lotta Problem 16. Free Fallin’ 17. Long Distance Winner 18. It’s Late 19. After The Glitter Fades