Stevie Nicks: The Wild Heart (Japanese Pressing) CD Track Listing

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Stevie Nicks The Wild Heart (Japanese Pressing) (1983)
The Wild Heart (Japanese Pressing)\n\nOriginally Released 1983\nCD Edition Released 1986 ??\n\nAMG EXPERT REVIEW: Stevie Nicks was following both her debut solo album, Bella Donna (1981), which had topped the charts, sold over a million copies (now over four million), and spawned four Top 40 hits, and Fleetwood Mac's Mirage (1982), which had topped the charts, sold over a million copies (now over two million), and spawned three Top 40 hits (including her "Gypsy"), when she released her second solo album, The Wild Heart. She was the most successful American female pop singer of the time. Not surprisingly, she played it safe: The Wild Heart contained nothing that would disturb fans of her previous work and much that echoed it. As on Bella Donna, producer Jimmy Iovine took a simpler, more conventional pop/rock approach to the arrangements than Fleetwood Mac's inventive Lindsey Buckingham did on Nicks's songs, which meant the music was more straightforward than her typically elliptical lyrics. Iovine did get a Mac-like sound on "Nightbird," in which Nicks repeated her invocation to "the white winged dove" from Bella Donna's "Edge of Seventeen," and on "Sable on Blond," a "Gypsy" soundalike. His most daring effort was the album's leadoff single, "Stand Back," which boasted a disco tempo. Elsewhere, the songs were largely interchangeable with those on Bella Donna, even down to the obligatory duet with Tom Petty. Nicks seemed to know what she was up to -- one song was called "Nothing Ever Changes." As a result, The Wild Heart sold to the faithful -- it made the Top Ten, sold over a million copies, and spawned three Top 40 hits ("Stand Back," "Nightbird," and "If Anyone Falls"). And that was appropriate: if you loved Bella Donna, you would like The Wild Heart very much. -- William Ruhlmann\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nFrom The Heart, May 21, 2001 \nBy Thomas Magnum (NJ, USA)\nOn her first solo album, Bella Donna, Stevie Nicks showed that she could carry the show by herself. On The Wild Heart, she continues her winning ways with an album full of her trademark romantic mysticism. Bella Donna had an underlying country feel, but on The Wild Heart she employs a heavy synthesizer sound. In fact the big hit from the album, "Stand Back", was inspired by Prince. The song has a rolling synth sound and one of the strongest vocals of her career. She does another duet with Tom Petty on "I Will Run To You". The song isn't as good as their first effort, "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", but that song is an all time classic. "If Anyone Falls" is a brilliant track and the best song from the album. There are the requisite mystical work including "Nightbird", "Sable On Blond", "Gate & Garden" and the heavily orchestrated "Beauty & The Beast". The Wild Heart shows that Bella Donna was no fluke. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nWho is the beauty... who is the beast, September 26, 2003 \nBy Daniel J. Hamlow (Chikusei City, Japan)\nThe title track is a hint of a shift in music. Reduced is the hybrid country/Heartbreakers-style music in Bella Donna, although Benmont Tench still contributes his organ here. A beat more closer to 80's rock sensibilities, but still tinged with the Welsh Witch's mysterious aura seen through her glass darkly. And yes, the lonely but wildly independent women still prevail in her songs. And don't blame it on her soul, blame it on her wild heart!\nThe mid-paced single "If Anything Falls" indicates a heavier use in keyboard synths, here provided by Roy Bittan, gets a rock flavour by Waddy Wachtel's trademark "Edge Of Seventeen" guitar. This is another one of those featuring a man she falls for but knows he'll never come back to her.\n\n"Gate And Garden" is a metaphor, where in the garden, is the red rose symbolizing someone's heart, and the game is someone stealing that rose. This mildly upbeat, could-be-a-country-hit piano song.\n\nRoy Bittan's engaging piano serves as the backbone of "Enchanted", with a country-like tinge. Enchanted is how a man felt once seeing the woman, only to have that spell: "Enchanted...you thought you saw something in my eyes/Enchanted...it's a shame that you wanted me."\n\n"Nightbird" sounds like a variation of "Dreams", only more upbeat. Another mysterious woman of the night song. The same mold is given to "Sable And Blond".\n\n"Stand Back" propelled Stevie to the Top Ten on the charts, with an engaging beat, fuzz bass, Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, and synthesizers. There is an uncredited artist who did keyboards here. In 1995, he might have the monicker The Artist Formerly Known as the Guy Who Did Uncredited Keyboards On Stevie Nicks's "Stand Back". Now, though, we can call him Prince once again.\n\nReprising "Stop Dragging My Heart Around" is a difficult chore, and "I Will Run To You", which again features Tom Petty and company. It does not top the catchiness of that song, but the song here at least seems hopeful. At least the bridge is more open to the heart, ending with "If you need me, I'll come runnin'". Sure beats, "You'll never see me again", doesn't it?\n\n"Nothing Ever Changes" falls straight into catchy rock enhanced by synths. Call it a lightweight Survivor-type song.\n\nVery best for last. For me the thing that makes Stevie Nicks special are those heartwrenching ballads like "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You." Well, "Beauty And The Beast" comes close to beating that for sheer emotion. Roy Bittan's piano, the string section. Thinking of the original Jean Cocteau movie version, the black and white schemes matches the melancholy of the song. The description of the lonely beast kind of matches me: "My darling lives in a world that is not mine/An old child misunderstood...out of time." The heartfelt questions asked by Belle, when the Beast allows her to briefly visit her father, is asked poignantly: "Would you die of grieving when I leave" Real three hanky stuff, people.\n\nThe Wild Heart, like its predecessor, was produced by Jimmy Iovine and engineered by Steve Yakus. The formula has slightly changed, but with variations that make it better. The sound would change radically with Rock A Little...stay tuned. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nThe Iron Fist in the Velvet Glove, September 10, 2003 \nBy Gary F. Taylor "GFT" (Biloxi, MS USA)\nStevie Nicks, of course, first gained international fame along side Lindsey Buckingham and Christine McVie as one of the front singers of Fleetwood Mac, and her unusual voice and strange lyrics were potent factors in the band's incredibly successful album RUMORS. But for all its success, the members of the band found (and continue to find) Fleetwood Mac an emotional pressure cooker--and perhaps more to the point, with three vocalists there were only so many solo spots to go around on a single release.\nIt was inevitable that Nicks, Buckingham, and McVie would write more music than Fleetwood Mac could ever find a recording slots for. And so all three begin to spin out from the band, each producing their own solo albums. Of the three, Stevie Nicks had the most visible success as a solo act, first with the platinum-selling BELLA DONNA and then with the equally memorable THE WILD HEART. Fans argue a great deal about which album is their favorite, and critics bicker about which album is Nick's best--but the truth is that both are extremely fine.\n\nWhereas BELLA DONNA had a somewhat country-music flavor, THE WILD HEART leans heavily on synthesizer and serious percussion, and it would generate at least three hit singles. Both "If Any One Falls" and "Stand Back" offer driving rhythms and some stunning keyboards, and with the latter Nicks recasts the almost savage fury that made BELLA DONNA's "Edge of Seventeen" so memorable; "Nightbird" presents Nicks in a slower, more melancholy, more thoughtful, and very memorable light.\n\nStill, the song for which this album is perhaps best remembered is one that was never really released as a single. Working with a near-symphonic arrangement with heavy strings, "Beauty and the Beast" is a truly stunning piece, with Nicks at her most romantic and vulnerable and yet her most emotionally powerful. Nicks' voice, which might be described as an iron fist inside a velvet glove, has always had a tendency to become just a shade too eccentric for its own good, but she controls it well throughout all these recordings--and most particularly here, in an incredibly complex array of delicately placed wails, cries, and surges. The vocal dynamics of this song alone are truly nothing short of miraculous.\n\nLyrically, this recording also finds Nicks at or at least very near the height of her powers. A sort of rock and roll Rimbaud, Nicks' lyrics do not always make logical sense--but at her best, as on this album, they always make emotional sense, and both "Gate and Garden" and "Sable on Blonde" are particularly good examples of her often uncanny knack to fuse strange images to memorable effect.\n\nAlthough she continued to do memorable work with the on-again, off-again Fleetwood Mac, Nick's solo work entered a gradual decline of quality after THE WILD HEART until she suddenly resurged with yet another exceptional release: TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA. Where she goes from that point is any one's guess. But one thing is for sure: during Fleetwood Mac's SAY YOU WILL tour, Nicks was still performing "Stand Back"--and still doing it with the same vocal attack that made her recordings on THE WILD HEART so memorable--and still bringing the audience screaming to its feet. An exceptional recording by a truly unique recording artist.\n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nStevie Nicks - The Wild Heart (1983) , June 26, 2006 \nBy The Pete (Illinois)\nComing off the massive success of Bella Donna, which easily overshadowed Mirage, Fleetwood Mac's well-crafted but tepid 1982 release, Nicks side-stepped the sophomore slump by topping herself with The Wild Heart. Although "Stand Back" was a smash that has become her most popular song, The Wild Heart is not obviously as commercial as Bella Donna. The Wild Heart is more of an artist's album, and Nicks' spreads her wings to command and fill the entire effort with admirable authority. \n\nFor a Nicks' fan, The Wild Heart is nirvana: longer songs with more passionate, imagistic lyrics than ever. The title track and the album closer are epics - each over six minutes long - that work the opposite ends of Nicks' spectrum. "Wild Heart" is a thunderous, passionate anthem with her most thrilling vocal work ever, and "Beauty and the Beast" is symphonic gothica for which the term 'ballad' is just inadequate. In between, Nicks indulges her mixture of rock and fairydust with alluring results. "Enchanted" and "Nightbird" are pure Nicks and would never have seen the light of day in the more structured programme of Fleetwood Mac. \n\nThe Wild Heart also finds Nicks updating her sound into the 80s with striking ease, especially when you consider how most 70s acts that tried to do this either completely sold out or made fools of themselves. She stretches herself well beyond the Fleetwood Mac sound (the torrid "Nothing Ever Changes") and kicks out a trendy hit (the synth-pop confection "If Anyone Falls"). Tellingly, the one weak spot is the out of place Tom Petty duet ("I Will Run to You"). Another Nicks cut, such as "Sleeping Angel" or "Blue Lamp" (both of which ended up buried on soundtrack albums) would worked much better. \n\nIf you are a hard core Stevie Nicks fan, The Wild Heart is superior to Bella Donna. For the casual listener, it would be a toss up between two classic albums. However, Nicks' vocal performances, expansive writing, and the way she sells these songs makes The Wild Heart the more personal, adventurous, and therefore better effort. Maintaining careers in Fleetwood Mac and on her own, however, was bound to keep her from burning white hot for long. Her next solo album, Rock a Little, would show the strain. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nStevie's WILD HEART beats strong & proud on her 2nd solo LP, July 13, 2001 \nBy 27-year old wallflower "Eric N Andrews" (West Lafayette, IN)\nAfter their 1979 double album TUSK failed to match the blockbuster sales of 1977's RUMOURS, Fleetwood Mac decided to take a breather and work on their own projects. It was clear each member of the band had their own distinct personality, so a solo turn was almost a surefire success. It worked for Lindsey Buckingham with his 1981 album LAW & ORDER. But nobody was prepared for the even bigger success of Stevie Nicks' solo debut BELLA DONNA, released that same year. Topping the charts, spawning 4 hit singles, and selling a million copies, Stevie almost threatened to eclipse even the Mac's big success at that time. The band reformed for their 1982 album MIRAGE before going solo again. To prove that BELLA DONNA wasn't a flash in the pan, 1983's THE WILD HEART managed to equal the previous album's success without changing the sound one bit. I somehow seem to think that Stevie's solo albums were a bit more "modernized" than her work with Fleetwood Mac. This was because she wasn't afraid of adopting the sounds of the moment, i.e. synthesizers and glossy pop, whereas Fleetwood often tried to satisfy both pop and rock audiences. THE WILD HEART was an album that was certainly made in 1983, but it's not stuck in that era. Songs like the title track, "Gate & Garden", "Sable On Blond", and the heartbreaking closer "Beauty & The Beast" can still manage to transport today's audiences to a time and place far, far away, in the age of chivalry and fair maidens. The subject matter is old-fashioned, but the modern synthesized sound helps make give the music an otherworldly atmosphere that has always been the true essence of Stevie Nicks. Of course, THE WILD HEART still had some hit singles up its sleeve, as evidenced by the top 10 dance song "Stand Back", which features an uncredited Prince contributing synthesizer, and the lesser-but-no-means-least "If Anyone Falls". The videos for those songs became staples of MTV, no doubt, and proved that Stevie could indeed hold her own outside of the mega-selling group she was with full time. Other great tracks include "I Will Run To You", which is a good follow-up to "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around", her hit collaboration with Tom Petty off of BELLA DONNA, the short, punchy "Enchanted" (not a hit, but a much-loved song that provided the title for her boxed set) and the touching "Nightbird", which Stevie wrote about the death of an old childhood friend. Sure enough, Stevie Nicks proved BELLA DONNA wasn't all she was capable of outside of Fleetwood Mac, and while some members may have considered her solo bid near-heresy, no less than drummer Mick Fleetwood has claimed Stevie is a wonderful, prolific songwriter. And with three songwriters in Fleetwood Mac, not every one of Stevie's songs were going to be recorded, so she had to do something to make those great songs of hers be heard. What better thing to do than record them herself? With Fleetwood Mac on another sabbatical after MIRAGE, Stevie would follow up THE WILD HEART with the slicker (even by Fleetwood Mac standards) ROCK A LITTLE in 1985. But it was clear that THE WILD HEART saw the end of a long stretch of great material, which would not pick up again until her 2001 comeback TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA. Still, THE WILD HEART (and, of course, BELLA DONNA) is an excellent album with which to experience the true magic that is Stevie Nicks. \n\n\nAMAZON.COM CUSTOMER REVIEW\nStevie's Ultimate Masterpiece, June 21, 1999 \nBy A Customer\nThis the absolute best Stevie album, ever! All of the songs (including the harder rocking ones) have this strange outerwordly, fairy-like "atmosphere" to them. Her unusual voice is at the height of beautiful singing. She has this particular thing for layering vocal tracks that helps to make the overall dreamy effect even more gorgeous. Even though the lyrics are sometimes hard to decipher, the way she uses symbols, again, help with the fantasy world in this album. I cannot think of a single bad song here. If you want to know more about Stevie's music, then this is the album you should buy. It is all Stevie, from the cover picture, to the lyric's/pictures insert, to the music itself. The best so far! \n\n\nHalf.com Details \nProducer: Jimmy Iovine \n\n\nROLLING STONE REVIEW\nSeldom has Stevie Nicks been in better voice than on The Wild Heart. Her distinctive lower-range growl has broadened and strengthened considerably; it may not be a bluesmama instrument, but it carries some emotional oomph when it gets cranked up. The Wild Heart boasts one of the best producers in the business in Jimmy Iovine (reprising his yeoman board chores on Bella Donna), and at least two of rock & roll's most valuable players, guitarist Waddy Wachtel and keyboardist Roy Bittan. And Nicks embarks on her second solo LP with some intriguing personal history to relate: she's a married woman now, wedded to her best friend's widower, stepmother to an infant daughter.\n\nSo the question is, how did it all turn out so badly? Let's not mince words: much of The Wild Heart is an outright catastrophe, a one-two punch of cracked-cookie lyrics and stunningly pedestrian music. It's hard to believe that the woman nominally responsible for such fine pieces of songcraft as "I Don't Want to Know" or even "Edge of Seventeen" could have concocted the inchoate ramblings that pervade this record. Stanzas don't hang together, and choruses verge on the utterly meaningless: "If anyone falls in love/Somewhere, twilight, dreamtime, somewhere/In the back of your mind/If anyone falls," offers one particularly pellucid example in "If Anyone Falls." "There is a gate/It can be guarded/Well, it is not heaven/It has a garden/So to the red rose goes the passion" begins the inexplicable "Gate and Garden." Emotions flit through these songs like Hades' shades--shapeless forms, unable to escape. In "Stand Back," she sings, "No one knows/How I feel/What I say/Unless you read between my lines." Well, whose fault is that?\n\nThe pro forma L.A. rock that accompanies -- rather, encases -- these sentiments only makes matters worse. It neither creates a structure that could codify Nicks' wacked-out world nor enhances its ethereal, unfinished quality. Sandy Stewart lurches on her synthesizer as if it were Billy Swan's organ, when she should be using the instrument to breathe life into Nicks' phantasms with shimmering, spacey textures. The lockstep rigidity of the tracks blunts the idiosyncratic dash of Wachtel and Bittan and stomps on Nicks' fragile visions. "Enchanted" could make a nifty Warren Zevon song musically, but behind Stevie's tinkerbell tales and arrhythmic count-off, it sounds ludicrous. Only Mick Fleetwood's deft drum accents on "Sable in Blond" bring any cohesion to The Wild Heart.\n\nWhat went wrong? Part of the problem may have to do with Nicks' oft-expressed love of fairy tales. Such stories may enchant us because of their distilled emotional quality: their ritualized time sequences ("...And on the seventh day") and abstract kingdoms conjure up a richly romantic world, free of the mundanities of our own existence. But Nicks gets distracted by the archetypal trappings -- doves, gardens, beasts with hearts o'gold--and misses the emotional core. As a result, her lyrics are awash in setting but curiously clumsy in matters of the heart. "Do I love you?" she asks in "Gate and Garden." "Well, I always did." Clunk. There's no dance of souls here, nothing to lure us into caring. Nicks' romances, as in "Beauty and the Beast," are pure self-realization: "I never doubted your beauty/I've changed."\n\nIt takes Tom Petty to coax Stevie out of the dusky bogs and bushy fens. His heart-tugging "I Will Run to You" may not have the angry fire of their Bella Donna duet, "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," but it does snap side two to life. "I will run to you/Down whatever road you choose," croon the pair in chilling harmony, and that straightforward sentence says more about love and experience than any of Nicks' dizzy verse.\n\nIt's simple to mug a mystic, and Nicks' voyages into the ozone do make her an easy target. But mysticism doesn't obviate the need for clarity, rigor, structure. In fact, it makes them all the more important, so that those of us who look askance at crystal visions can partake along with the true believers. And if her lyrics are going to have the open-ended quality they have here, Nicks needs eerie, on-the-edge music to complement them (the snaky grace of "Gold Dust Woman" comes to mind). Hers is a heady muse, and one hopes The Wild Heart will just be a brief slipup. Too bad no one told her early on, but as she sings in "Nightbird," "Sometimes I am surrounded by too much love." (RS 399 -- Jul 7, 1983) -- CHRISTOPHER CONNELLY
This rock cd contains 10 tracks and runs 45min 17sec.
Freedb: 910a9b0a
Buy: from Amazon.com

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