After 10 years away, can our girl cut it in the Lady Gaga generation? Well, the good news is that Stevie isn’t trying – the sounds and styles are still very much her own, and firmly rooted in the 70s.
Her lieutenants here are Eurythmic Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard, but it’s hard to discern any tendencies towards Annie or Alanis. There’s nothing, either, that stands out as a smash single in Leather And Lace/Edge Of 17 style. The songs are chock full of words, to the detriment of the melody in some cases, as Nicks has too many diary entries for the space at her disposal. Standout tracks are, however, Wide Sargasso Sea, Annabel Lee and New Orleans; the former pair reference Jane Eyre and Edgar Allan Poe, the latter is simply a sigh from the heart for a city in ruins. Judging by the sleeve, Stevie (who, amazingly, turned 63 as the album appeared), has survived life’s storms better.
Curiously, the UK release has been postponed till the end of June, when Nicks plays at Hyde Park Calling. By that time, the US version will have been out two months, so mega-fans will surely have invested. They won’t be disappointed – but then Lady Gaga can sleep soundly too…
