Stevie Nicks Bella Donna (1981)

Preposterous conversation opener. I'm not a big Stevie Nicks fan but I know Rock a Little. All big and likable hits for Stevie.

R1 Gays know Rock a Little, that's about it. Her sales after Bella Donna just kept getting lower with each album.

It’s a minor masterpiece and definitely her best solo album. Every song is a winner. Jimmy Iovine was her best producer, as far as her solo work is concerned.

R3 I think even 'minor masterpiece' is a gross overstatement. It is certainly of its time. I'd say it's the last gasp of 70s Country music inspired rock that began with The Eagles. Iovine was obviously inspired by the sound that was already established by The Heartbreakers and Fleetwood Mac in arranging a lot of the guitar parts (particularly in the use of a volume pedal in the guitar fills). The percussion (bongos and congas) gives it a slight modern update. It's competent but not particularly memorable or innovative. It's a clever pastiche of predecessors and a nice way to cap off 70s rock, which was already ancient in 1981.

Bella Donna was the 'Rumours II' that people were anticipating after they got rudely TUSKED.

The Wild Heart is almost as good as Bella Donna. After that Stevie’s voice and the production on her albums went to shit.

R4, you almost completely avoid addressing the album at all except to essentially complain that it’s “dated,” which I consider a completely invalid criticism of any music. I listen to music recorded 100 years ago and enjoy it as much as music recorded 5 years ago. To me, it’s a completely meaningless term when it comes to music. I enjoy all of it completely divorced from whatever era it’s from.

I love “Leather and Lace” and Don Henley never sounded better

R7 By dated I was trying to be nice. Hackneyed and banal might be better words. Rumours sounded dated in 1977 and by 1982 the sonic landscape expressed in this album was worn to its limits and music desperately needed new life. If you're familiar with The Eagles, Jackson Browne, Fleetwood Mac, then this album is like all of those things mashed together but not as good. Bella Donna acts as a sort of summary of 70s rock but it's not great nor does it approach masterpiece in any way.

Leather & Lace = 🤮

The very first time my mom let me pick out an album to add to the family collection, I picked this because I loved the "white winged dove" song. I was about 5 or 6 at the time, and I'm sure this was the moment my mom knew I was gay.

R6 by Wild Heart she already sounded haggard. Stand Back sounds bad. I'm amazed that it was ever a single. I actually think Rock A Little is better than both. It was the first album where the arrangements weren't recycled from Fleetwood Mac, Tom Petty, or The Eagles. It's her only truly original album because she(in reality Jimmy) ran out of material to rehash (or lift from Lindsey Buckingham, see below) and they had to do something new to compete with the likes of Madonna. I value artists who change than those who polish existing accomplishments. It's her most interesting album and the one that I go back to and listen to the most.

She gave her best solo tracks to movie soundtracks:

Blue Lamp

Sleeping Angel

Violet and Blue

Battle Of The Dragon

To this day, Edge of Seventeen gets me moving -- unusual, timeless, propulsive, and she sounds great.

R14 then you'll love the original version

R9: 🙄🙄🙄🙄

R16 nice argument

Bella Donna was just more of the same. It was an exercise in giving people what they want.

The title track, Outside the Rain and After the Glitter Fades are the best songs on the album. All of the songs were great, though. It was a solid album and well-received.

Stand Back is a fantastic song, and it still gets played today.

"Bella Donna" is start-to-finish perfection.

It is not her only beloved album. "Wild Heart" and "Rock A Little" are both great. I am especially fond of "Rock A Little." It is a fantastic album. Strong production and her vocals are great. I got it in college and have never stopped listening to it.

I fucking hate Don Henley. He should have died in a Learjet crash in 1978 - the last year he was relevant. Leather & Lace is an embarrassing song.

“Just like the white-winged dove sings a song sounds like she’s singing. Whoo, whoo, whoo”.

Sounds like a goat singing about a dove singing like an owl.

I prefer the Siouxsie and the Banshees version.

[quote] after they got rudely TUSKED.

The song that commanded “ Don't say that you love me” — and people were only too happy to comply!

R24 "Just tell me that you want me". They didn't do that either.

It's a crime that Tina Turner isn't in the RRHOF but Stevie Nick is.

I love The Highwayman. I think of it as Nadine's theme song, from The Stand.

Did she eat it and die, OP?

Stevie Nicks is corny as hell. Fleetwood Mac is State Fair music.

Bella! Don’t kill him, Bella!

R29 is an idiot.

I love this album. I enjoy most of her discography but Street Angel which just sucks.

[quote] It's a crime that Tina Turner isn't in the RRHOF but Stevie Nick is.

Well Tina is, but alongside Ike, which in retrospect seems wrong.

Street Angel is good.

R34 Street Angel is better than Bella Donna

R34 and R35 have terrible taste in music.

R36 Bella Donna sounds like The Eagles because it basically is The Eagles and The Eagles SUCK ASS. I hope Don Henley dies in a grease fire. Tom Petty and Mike Campbell are on there too but they were never as good as Fleetwood Mac.

Holy FUCK PIGS!!!!!

I despise Stevie after the last 2-3 years revealed what a piece of shit she is.

However- Street Angel better than Bella Donna?????

Are you high on ripple?

Ever heard her masterpiece Jane???? Jesus Christ.

For the ones she had lost Children of the world... The forgotten chimpanzee In the eyes of the world... You have done so much for me.

Stevie you are an overrated artist and egotist of the lowest order.

However the mysticism you have created with your image- and your voice from 40 years ago (I stand by that 1981-1983 was Stevie at her prime) has made you a eternal moneymaker.

Sickening,

At least you had more talent than a Kardashian.

r38 is off her meds again.

Not at all. I hate Stevie after the shit with Lindsey.

But to say that Street Angel is better than Bella Donna?

Even I have my limits!

[quote]Not at all. I hate Stevie after the shit with Lindsey.

You must've been the last person on Earth to discover that Stevie Nicks is an ego-driven narcissist diva. Guess what? They all are. That shouldn't reflect on or change anyone's opinion of her music or her artistry.

Fuck her R41.

She is a cunt.

Christ. Who makes RBG's death all about her!?

Stevie.

What a pampered princess. Fuck her.

Belladonna was the album that made me a Stevie fan around age 10. I would listen to the Album & stare at the album cover, mesmerized the entire time. No album has made me do that except for Blondie’s “Parallel Lines.”

The rock n' roll belting and country crooning Stevie did in her solo career has dated poorly. Edge of 17 is just Eye of the Tiger.