Bella donna --- Stevie Nicks --- 1981 (Atlantic)
Although she has had six solo albums since this, her debut, I personally view this as Stevie Nicks' best album. There's not a bad track on it, and it yielded four singles, three of which were big hits. Add to that the presence of both Tom Petty and Don Henley on the recording, and how can you go wrong? Of course, there's no doubt this wasn't a normal debut album: this wasn't the first we heard of Stevie, as she had been plying her trade with Fleetwood Mac for years, and still is to this day. So she was already well-known on the rock scene, making it obviously easier for her to get a label to give her a chance as a solo artist.
Again, it's only my own personal opinion, but I've always believed Stevie to be the most talented in Fleetwood Mac. She sings, writes, plays piano and dances. Sure, others in the band do similar, but I always felt she brought a very tender, innocent, ethereal quality to the band that Christine McVie couldn't, not for me anyway. Just look at her on the back cover of “Rumours” --- yeah, albums have
back covers too, you know! --- she's just this young, gorgeous, wide-eyed innocent looking back at you, and she seems like some sort of princess in a fairy tale. Chrstine, on the other hand, looks more hardened, tougher, more knowledgable in the ways of the world. By then Christine, five years Stevie's senior, had already released one solo album (“The legendary Christine Perfect album”), which was largely unsuccessful, before even joining Fleetwood Mac. She was more a veteran of the music scene than was her “sister”, and it showed.
In any case, to the album: “Bella donna”, which can have two meanings: Italian for beautiful woman, or indeed the flower --- which I believe you can see in the foreground on the album cover --- starts off with the title track, and it opens with country-style piano, pedal steel guitar and then Stevie's vocal, starting off slow but then picking up a little speed as the electric guitars chime in. The song is very country-tinged, with excellent backing vocals from two ladies who would go on to back her on every album she released from then on, Lori Perry and Sharon Celani. There's also a good deal of folk-rock inherent in the track, and it's a really nice opener.
“Kind of woman” is almost a waltz, with a gentle acoustic guitar and piano opening, then we're into the biggest hit single on the album, and the only song not written by Stevie, the Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers-penned “Stop draggin' my heart around.” You probably know it: it reached number 3 and is still played and mentioned whenever Stevie's music is discussed. A sleazy blues rocker, it's Tom Petty himself who duets with her on it, and as duets go it's up there with the best of them. The guitar gets heavy and then slackens off again, keeping the rhythm of the song. Great organ really complements this classic song.
Being already well-known in the music biz, Stevie had a lot of musician friends to call on for help in making this album, and apart from the already mentioned Tom Petty and Don Henley, she enlists the aid of Roy Bittan from the E Street Band, Don Felder from the Eagles, Russ Kunkel and the infamous Donald “Duck” Dunn. It's Bittan that co-writes the next track, “Think about it”, a mid-paced rocker with some great piano, as you might expect from “Professor” Roy Bittan. “After the glitter fades” is pure country, and then “Edge of seventeen” will strike a familiar chord with all you young 'uns, with its chugging guitar intro and theme which was sampled for Destiny's Child's “Bootlicious”, to my everlasting chagrin. It's a monster of a track, and was in fact a single, though it's quite long, so they must have cut it down quite a bit for the radio. I swear, the first one who starts singing “I don't think you're ready for this jelly” gets a slap!
The most pure rock track on the album, it's a great example of how Stevie could pen, and play, a great hit single and stay true to her rock roots. “Leather and lace” is another duet, this time with Don Henley, and again a hit single. It's a gentle love song that trips along at a nice sedate pace, and then we're into my favourite on the album, the excellent “Outside the rain”. I don't know what it is about the song I like so much: the melody is great, the rhythm suits it perfectly and there's just something really together about the track that speaks to me. I've YouTubed it here for you guys to see if you think the same.
The closer is almost as good, the almost acapella ballad “The Highwayman”, reflecting Stevie's interest in the romantic age and lore and legend, mixed with ghosts and magic. And magic indeed it is, the tale of a woman who forever pursues an enigmatic highwayman whom she can never catch. Great picked electric guitar really lends this final track a laid-back, yet sad air, a feeling of yearning and unattainable goals.
I liked her next three albums, but really feel Stevie got it perfect the first time out, then unfortuantely slipped a little. I haven't heard anything since “Trouble in Shangri-La”, and that only sporadically, but unless her current album, “In your dreams” is a real belter, she's still got a long way to go to beat her debut. Which is odd, as artistes usually progress past their first album and get better. Not that Stevie didn't get better, I just feel that on the subsequent albums there was more filler as each new one was released, and to my mind, the amount of filler on this is zero.
Like Billy Joel said, “Get it right first time, that's the main thing.” And she sure did.
TRACKLISTING
1. Bella donna
2. Kind of woman
3. Stop draggin' my heart around
4. Think it over
5. After the glitter fades
6. Edge of seventeen
7. How still my love
8. Leather and lace
9. Outside the rain
10. The Highwayman
Suggested further listening: “The wild heart”, “Rock a little”, “The other side of the mirror”