Stevie Nicks’s Album
She should have made a deal with Spanx!
What do we know about Stevie Nicks? She took Klonopin and got fat. If Jennifer Hudson can do a deal with Weight Watchers and only enhance her career, why can’t Ms. Nicks do the same? Show she’s one of the girls. Dealing with aging as opposed to trying to be younger and younger. She’s got to evidence she’s a member of her audience, those who buy her music.
But I would have given this album away.
That would have been the deal. Spanx pays Stevie a couple of million and does this big campaign wherein if you buy some Spanx, you get a CD…maybe even a digital download too! With live acoustic tracks!
Not that it has to be Spanx. But when Stevie Nicks makes her best album in decades it’s a crime that no one will hear it. Not a crime against humanity, but against her career. The more people who hear your music, the bigger your tribe, the more people want to see you live, the more money you make.  Assuming you live in the twenty first century and realize it’s about total revenue, not what you make on records.
Don’t watch the video. You’d think it’s still the eighties. If any project called out for a fan video contest, it’s this. With people having dressed like Stevie forever, with articles saying her old style is still influencing fashion today, she should have gotten her fan base energized to win a chance to appear on stage with her, maybe one person in every market. And it’s young people who truly embrace YouTube, this was a way to skew young at no cost.
And the album I’m referring to has eight tracks at most. There’s so much filler on the thirteen cut "In Your Dreams" you want to take it off before it’s done. The filler ain’t bad, but it’s boring, and no one wants to be bored today.
But the winners truly win.
You’ve got to listen to "New Orleans".
Check out "For What It’s Worth" (not the Buffalo Springfield song).
But you’ll immediately be enraptured by "Secret Love". It’s the opener, and like that critic on Amazon, she does sound like a baby, and the lyrics are too impressionistic and unfinished, but the track has got an amazing FEEL!
Hell, I would have released a four song EP. Isn’t it about leaving people wanting more? And if they really do need more, release another EP months later.
This album is over an hour long. "Rumours" wasn’t close, and there were THREE songwriters. There’s no excuse for "In Your Dreams" to be this long.
But I can’t stop listening to the winners.
Because they make me feel good.
And isn’t that the point of music?
And you can criticize me all day long. But you’re missing the point. It’s not about impressing everybody, it’s only about impressing THOSE THAT CARE!
All that scorched earth publicity, it reached too many people who could care less. The project was owned by the media instead of the fans. Play to the fans and they’ll spread the word. Like I am. I haven’t liked anything Stevie has done this much since "Bella Donna". What, is she waiting for radio to play a track and MTV to air the video? Who was in charge of this project? Does he still use a dial-up connection?
"New Orleans" barely sounds like Fleetwood Mac. It’s connected to the oeuvre of that group the way your cousin is related to you. You can see the thread, but they’re different. "New Orleans" is so intimate without being derivative of what Nicks has done previously that you not only feel good listening, you want to tell your buds all about it. If you ever spent a Saturday afternoon home alone, with a vinyl record spinning as your mind drifts, you’ll like this.
And a musicologist could explain why "Secret Love" is so infectious. From the very first note, you’re enraptured. Taken away. Your feet tap, your head does a figure 8, you’ve got to play it again and again and AGAIN!
I’m not gonna point out the losers.
But I am gonna say if Stevie Nicks stopped playing to the stars and put one foot in front of another here on Earth, made eye contact with those who truly care, she could get one hell of a victory lap, one that might even last.
"New Orleans"And for a special treat, the original 1980 demo for "Secret Love", the basics are there, but Dave Stewart truly makes the new version magical
P.S. "Rumours" is 39:58 long. "In Your Dreams" is 1:04:39 long.
