Customer Reviews

Other Side of the Mirror

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(11)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I wouldn't usually write a review, but this CD really changed my life. The song "Juliet" helped me make a very important decision...when i needed help.

The poetry here...the sound...the songs. This album is Nick's masterpiece. No Tom Petty here to carry the day. I feel like Stevie really opened up her diary for this one... And i really love "Doing the Best I Can." That song is right up there in the masterpiece bracket along with "beauty and the beast" and "storms"

This was a different album for Stevie Nicks because it was produced by somebody different: Ruper Hine. (all 3 of her previous albums were produced by Jimmy Iovine.) This is really a great album and it was released in the spring of 1989. This contains some of her strongest material, like the hit "Rooms On Fire" which peaked at #16 during the summer of 1989, and is really awesome, and "Ooh My Love", which is really sad, and the haunting "Ghosts". "Juliet" is a good song and is very strong, too. "Alice" is a good interpretation of the famous Lewis Caroll tale of "Alice in Wonderland/Through The Looking Glass", which is really the whole theme of the album. "Two Kinds of Love" is pretty weak, just like "Cry Wolf". "Doing The Best That I Can" is about Stevie's drug problems, "Whole Lotta Trouble" is just plain rock n' roll fun, and "Long Way To Go" is an angry song. One of the really cool facts about this album is that it was actually recorded in a castle. Buy this album if you are looking for a different direction for Stevie and if you want some of her most exciting, and dramatic material.

The Other Side of the Mirror is Stevie's self-titled "magic album". Well I must say, it certainly is. Produced by Rupert Hine, some people don't really care for this album too much. I do, and I'll give you my opinion right now.

First off, the songs are among her most underrated work. While everyone is drooling over Bella Donna, The Wild Heart, and Trouble in Shangri-La, this album gets lost in the mix. Although addicted to Klonopin at the time, these songs speak of Stevie's emotions, and are true as always. She had just done Tango In the Night with Fleetwood Mac, which eventually resulted in Lindsey Buckingham, her former lover, leaving the band. Another factor that added in to these songs is that this was the first solo album she had done after she had been cured from her cocaine addiction. With that in mind, these songs are painfully realistic.

Lyrically, this album is her most down to earth effort. It still has a few mystical references, but it's mainly a straight forward album. In Long Way to Go, a very angry Stevie wails "It's a real long way to go to say goodbye. I thought we already did that. Have fun, tell the world!". This realism is again displayed in songs like Whole Lotta Trouble and Two Kinds of Love. I found that in this album, she uses quotations, which makes it seem like she's talking to you. Most obvious for me are in the songs Juliet and Doing the Best That I Can (Escape From Berlin). Doing the Best That I Can is what I consider to be the most real song on the album. She's trying to cope with Lindsey not being a part of Fleetwood Mac, getting over her cocaine addiction, and dealing with her Klonopin addiction all at the same time. It was tough for her to take, and the song is also the most depressing on the album, but it's also one of the most beautiful.

The whole theme for this album is the story of Alice In Wonderland. Many of these songs have stories behind them. The stellar Ghosts was inspired by A Christmas Carol, while Alice and Juliet were inspired by Alice In Wonderland and Romeo and Juliet, obviously. Ghosts is one of my favorites, it's very true. "It's just the ghost of what you want to be, and the ghost of the past that you live in..". The hit of this album, Rooms on Fire, is pretty catchy and romantic. But my personal favorite is Ooh My Love. This was obviously about Lindsey. "Yes, it was a strain on her..watching her castles fall down" It's beautiful, as is the introspective Alice, which is also about getting over cocaine.

Musically, it's very different from Stevie's other solo works. Its full on 80's pop sound is probably what turns most people off. Hey, don't blame Stevie. Rupert Hine produced and arranged the entire album, giving in the synthed-up pop sound it's become associated with. And come on people, it was 1989. Synth pop was in. This, however, gives it a very magical feeling. While the lyrics, as aforementioned, are among her most real and down to earth, the music has a dreamy feeling. It actually makes me feel dreamy when I listen to it. This is what makes the album totally unique though, so I applaud Rupert for that. Stevie only wrote the music for 2 of the songs, Juliet and Doing the Best That I Can.

Overall, I don't see how anyone can hate this album. It's my favorite work of Stevie's, tied with Trouble in Shangri-La. So just give this album a try, you won't regret it. "Alright said Alice..I'm going back..to the other side of the mirror.."

The mistress of lace, ribbons and bows and and ever so slightly kooky outlook on life has produced an album of great pop songs that wouldn't look too out of place in her other part-time job for Fleetwood Mac. Lyrically she inhabits the same world as ever - castles in the air, rooms on fire - but that is the charm of Nicks' work. Musically she has written songs that deserve to be great hits - the storming "Whole Lotta Trouble", the joyous "Ooh My Love" and the countrified jangle of "Fire Burning". Her ballads also deserve respect with "Alice" being a standout - all Lewis Carroll imagery and throaty longing. If you were looking for a Stevie Nicks album to start your collection then this is a great starter.

This is Stevie's last studio album of the 1980's. It follows the strained effort "Rock A Little" where it is evident Stevie is struggling to find her voice. She is in between producers and this results in a good, yet inconsistent album.

The highlights include her last Top 20 hit, "Rooms On Fire," with its breathy bewitching vocal and sentiments was my personal favorite. "Doing The Best That I Can" is a solid effort in which the listener can really hear the drama involving Stevie's struggle to overcome her substance abuse problems. "Two Kinds Of Love" is a beautiful saccharine duet with the great Bruce Hornsby that works. "Alice" is the brilliant chronicle of her personna exploring the "other side of the mirror." "Ghosts" is yet another classic. "Ooh My Love" is a chilling masterpiece.

As for the other tracks..."Long Way To Go" is a bit repetitive. "Cry Wolf" reeks of boredom. "Whole Lotta Trouble" is a track that mysteriously appears on her greatest hit compilations and in concerts which I do not find worthy. "Fire Burning" is a half baked country song. "Juliet is decent, but comes on a bit too strong. The Johnny Cash "I Still Miss Someone" was not necessary to cover.

Nevertheless, this is a good album, but clearly not the best representation of the artist.

The world had to wait four whole years for Stevie Nicks to come up with the followup to 1985's Rock A Little. Inbetween that time, she did an album with Fleetwood Mac, 1987's Tango In The Night. When she recorded The Other Side Of The Mirror, it was not with Rick Nowels producing, but rather Rupert Hine, the man behind Tina Turner's Private Dancer, although Nowels does co-writing and guitar on some tracks. There is a change in sound, but the air of mystery, enigmatic lyrics, and veiled scarves are still there.

The first single "Rooms On Fire" is a mid-paced affair and displays the familiar man of dreams who comes in briefly and exits, much to the woman's regret. The synth keyboards, some of which shimmer and get mixed with the bass heavy rhythm section, demonstrate a new sound Nicks gets into.

The pace picks up on "Long Way To Go" which has a distinctive bass, on an imagined conversation between another lover of whom she says, "obsessive was my love." She says, "I thought we already did that [said goodbye]. Have fun tell the world."

Her duet with Bruce Hornsby on "Two Kinds Of Love" is ballad awash in keyboards/guitar instrumentation, and Kenny G has a brief but decent sax solo here. Dual nature is a theme here, the Widow and the Dove, "outraged at each other...[but] engaged to each other in their hearts." The two kinds of love are "one for the way you walk/one for the way you love me."

"Ooh My Love" has a steady bass and rhythm guitar sound similar to John Waite's "Missing You" and that would later show up in Heart's "All I Wanna Do". This is a reminsicence of an emotional fragile woman who sees her "castles fall down" by a man of her dreams, with whom an affair was had, and later. "Yes, it was a strain on her/watching her castles fall down/Oh...but there was a time when he called her 'angel'/Where in the world did you come from?" she sings wistfully.

The melodic, aural, and slow-paced "Ghosts" has Heartbreakers shades of another fragile one whose fear of being burned leads to escapism in music, because "Well just the ghost of what you want to be/And the ghost of the past that you live in/It's the ghost of the future that you're so frightened of/So you turn to your guardian angel." That chorus really hits home with me.

I was surprised that the chugging, stomping, brass-heavy "Whole Lotta Trouble" became a single, because it lacks the kind of rhythmic oomph or emotional pulling power.

There's yet another woman living in the illusion of passion in "Fire Burning", with slight overtones of "Gypsy". "There's no fire burning...just a soul crying", she sings. Terrible to contemplate.

Her cover of Laura Branigan's "Cry Wolf" from Touch is a retread, but it's a song that was clearly made for Branigan. This is a contrast to her tenderly done cover of Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone".

Alice in Wonderland references abound in "Alice", as in "Alice through the looking glass" and the title of this album. and the enigmatic "Juliet" about a wandering gypsy has that "Missing You" beat.

The quiet "Doing The Best That I Can" is the third Nicks song my NMSU roommate used to sing out loud to, and is yet another lonely grieving woman whose overwhelming control sundered the relationship. "In my distress...well I wanted someone to blame me/In my devastation...I wanted so to change," she sings.

The harder-edged sound present in Rock A Little has been stripped away. She also gets help from Fixx guitarist Jamie West-Oram, who also did guitar on Tina Turner's Private Dancer. Despite the change in producers, some common elements remain. The backup singers of Lori Perry, actually Lori Perry-Nicks, and Sharon Celani, are still there. But there is more filler or songs that rely more on sound, and the cryptic lyrics become more eccentric than interesting. Still, it's good to see that Nicks doing her own brand of lovelorn music as opposed to her time with Fleetwood Mac.

Soulful, fun and energetic, "The Other Side of the Mirror" is Stevie Nicks at her best. Each song, from "Long way to go" to "Juliet" reveals the sultry side of the sexy siren, whose enchanted lyrics and melodies of love's more intimate and sometimes darker side, captivates the imagination. "Mirror" has great power and can touch the heart of the listener familiar with the singer's genre, if only one will listen and dare to step through to "The Other Side of the Mirror".

I love Stevie Nicks, I love her works. But the intensity of that love varies from song to song, album to album.

With "The Other Side of the Mirror" my love lessens a bit. On the whole, the album is just "O.K." and nothing more. Does it come close to previous works like "Bella Donna" or "The Wild Heart"? No, it doesn't. But it is a decent solo effort and honestly much better than most music put out in the last 12 years or so.

Stevie just isn't "Fresh" with this album. The music may be a tad different but overall it's the same mysterious woman, her love-affairs with various men, the darkness, the velvet. All of it's so familiar, but in this case, too much so.

This album isn't going to win over non-fans or ever be considered a masterpiece. But it's never going to be considered a "bad" effort by those in the know.

I reccomend this as a good addition to any Stevie Nicks fan's collection. Songs to watch for are; "Rooms On Fire", "Long Way To Go", "Two Kinds of Love", and "Fire Burning".

Following Fleetwood Mac's successful comeback in 1987 with "Tango in the Night", the band had re-couped much of the momentum they had lost. As for Fleetwood Mac band member, Stevie Nicks - she had a lot of momentum in the 1980s. She had released three solo albums in the 1980s, the 1981 country music infused "Bella Donna", the successful 1983 follow-up "The Wild Heart", and the Rock infused "Rock a Little". Each of those albums had produced a Top Ten hit in the U.S. ("Stop Draggin My Heart Around", "Leather and Lace", "Stand Back", and "I Can't Wait"). In addition, Nicks garnered critical acclaim for being able to launch a solo career in her own right. Therefore expectations were set high when Nicks would release her fourth album, "The Other Side of the Mirror". While this album is pretty good, compared to the previous albums it isn't quite as strong as the work she had done throughout the 1980s.

Nicks' "The Other Side of the Mirror" takes on a distinctive synth-pop feel. For this album, Nicks would bring in producer Rupert Hine who had garnered a reputation for being successful with synth-pop artists (most notably, Tina Turner for her "Private Dancer" album). Nicks', "The Other Side of the Mirror" would still be a commercial success - and this comes on the heels of a decline of synth-pop which was occuring in the late 1980s. The late 1980s had seen the pop music landscape move more toward a natural guitar-laden sound. Hine deserves a lot of credit for making Nicks' synth-pop effort a commercial success.

Nicks has historically surrounded herself with good musicians for her solo albums. This album is no exception. Most notably on this album is Mike Campbell from Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. Campbell provides guitar work on four tracks and co-writes three of those songs with Nicks ("Ghosts", "Whole Lotta Trouble", and "Fire Burning"). When Campbell isn't doing guitar, Jamie West-Oram of The Fixx is. Nicks makes some very good use of background vocalists to help her. These background vocalists, Lori Perry-Nicks and Sharon Celani are on all 12 tracks (except for "Ooh My Love" which just has Perry-Nicks on background vocals). A trademark of Nicks is that she often features a male vocalist. For this role, an unlikely vocalist - Bruce Hornsby is brought in for 2 tracks.. Finally Kenny G makes a guest appearance.

Here is a quick synopsis of the 12 tracks on this collection:

"Rooms on Fire": This was the lone Top 10 hit from this album. The song has a strong synth-pop feel and it will be the keyboards will take over this track. This song manages to showcase Nicks' vocals talents at her best. Nicks-Perry and Celani do a terrific job with supplementing Nicks with great background vocals.

"Long Way to Go": This song combines some harder Rock elements with Synth Pop. There is a nice guitar solo by West-Oram. halfway through the song. This is another good song where Nicks-Perry and Celani do a real nice job supplementing some great Stevie Nicks vocals.

"Two Kinds of Love": I'm shocked that this song did not become a hit. Bruce Hornsby shares lead vocals with Nicks on this song. Surprisingly, Hornsby was brought in for his vocals and not his trademark piano work. Hornsby's unique and smooth vocals blend perfectly with Nicks' raspy vocals. While I'm not a Kenny G fan, his saxophone solo works perfectly in this song and can easily be picked up.

"Ooh My Love": Nicks does another nice job on the vocals. It is going to be Rupert Hine's keyboard that can easily be picked out.

"Ghosts": This is one of the Mike Campbell tracks that he co-wrote with Nicks. The song sounds out with a haunting sound and then transitions into something that has a bit of a Tom Petty feel.

"Whole Lotta Trouble": Another Campbell co-written track. This song has a blues element to it. It also has a Tom Petty feel to it. While this song had its moments, I felt the chorus was weak.

"Fire Burning": This is the third Campbell co-written track. This has more of a Synth Pop feel than the other Campbell tracks. Not a bad track. Nicks does a nice job on vocals, and gets help from Nicks-Perry and Celani.

"Cry Wolf": On Laura Branigan's "Touch" album, she sang this as a power ballad. Nicks is not a power ballad singer, but gives a nice spin to this song. She doesn't try to do a power vocal here and instead uses her own unique raspy vocals to give this song her own touch. This is one of two songs not written by Nicks.

"Alice": Many have said that this was the cornerstone song to the album. This song makes an analogy to the whole "Alice in Wonderland" theme. Kenny G has a saxophone solo. Many people really like this song, but it just didn't make it for me. It's ok, but I wouldn't say it's great.

"Juliet": Hornsby is back and this time contributes piano work as well as some background vocals. Hornsby's piano gives this song a catchy beat. In another storytelling analogy, she draws an analogy to "Juliet" from "Romeo and Juliet".

"Doing the Best That I Can": A good song captures my imagination and this song just doesn't do that.

"I Still Miss Someone (Blue Eyes)": This is the other song that Nicks did not write. This song is a throw back to the Country-infused days of "Bella Donna" days as Nicks does a good job with this Johnny Cash cover. Nicks-Perry and Celani do a nice job with background vocals.

The liner notes include all of the lyrics as well as musician and production credits. There are some terrific acknowledgements to the contributors by Nicks. Overall, this album should keep Nicks' core fans happy. I'd rate this album a good one, but I do feel it falls short of being a great one.

By far the most overlooked of her 80's solo output, TOSOTM is conversely her best album of that period, at least in my opinion. After the slick 80's production that permeated ROCK A LITTLE, this album saw Nicks back on more solid ground, if not lyrically, then certainly in the production department. Opening with the rousing 'Rooms On Fire', most of the album follows that songs general path, concentrating on mid- to uptempo rockers rather than ballads. Strong contenders in that vein include 'Long Way To Go', 'Ooh My Love', and the sterling 'Ghosts'. Bruce Hornsby shows up for two tracks, the standard ballad 'Two Kinds Of Love' and the far superior 'Juliet'. My personal faves would be the aforementioned 'Long Way To Go','Juliet', 'Ghosts' and the jangly country rocker 'Fire Burning'. The album also presents Nicks at her most mystical, with those types of themes apparent throughout. If there is a downside, it would be 'Whole Lotta Trouble', a pleasant but far from extraordinary track obviously highly favored by Nicks herself(she include it on both of her compilation packages), but ultimately overrated. Otherwise, a very strong entry in Nicks' solo catalog.