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Stevie Nicks, the onetime opener for Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin, and CCR, who later became a core member of Fleetwood Mac, just released her first solo studio album in ten years, In Your Dreams. One of the first impressions of the LP is that it’s a high-fidelity production, more along the lines of mainline rock releases from the best eighties studios than what we’d expect from such a folk mainstay. Occasionally this works against her strengths – I’ve always found Nicks to be at her strongest when her usually top-notch lyrics and fingerpicking are front and center, away from the steady rock beat a full band provides. To this end, tracks like “Ghosts Are Gone” and “In Your Dreams” have much more of a Pat Benetar feel to them than I’m used to – or, frankly, than I’d like. This isn’t entirely unfaithful to her sound, however, so enthusiasts of her Eighties period may still have parts to like. Overall, I did find there to be a bit too many steady, relatively uninteresting standard rock beats backing her comparatively excellent words.
And it’s the words that really make In Your Dreams. Nicks draws from a variety of sources, from vampire tales (“Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream),” which despite the inspiration manages to be quite un-Twilight-y) to Jean Rhys (“Wide Sargasso Sea”), to the excellent “Annabel Lee,” after the titular Edgar Allen Poe tale. Her sense of narrative is excellent, and even on the more musically pedestrian tracks she manages to lyrically hook the listener in. The best track is the softer “Secret Love,” which she actually wrote back in 1976. In Your Dreams isn’t all at that level, but if you like what she’s put out, it’s worth getting. And a couple tracks are worth listening to regardless of your tastes.
Written by Jimmy
Source: Audio Cred.. Music with Insight
