Stevie Nicks, In Your Dreams (Warner Bros. Records) 3 stars.
The bewitching, beguiling, mysterious, enchanting Stevie Nicks has been busy of late, touring with her band Fleetwood Mac, touring on her own with Rod Stewart and now releasing this solo album that she’s worked on for a year with Dave Stewart, formerly of Eurythmics.
It’s nevertheless Nicks’ first new solo album in a decade, one that plays to her strengths, from singing about regrets in the opener “Secret Love,” to shimmering her way through the very nostalgic “For What It’s Worth,” and embracing every bit of her 1970’s and ‘80’s mythical image in the thickly layered “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dreams).”
It’s always interesting to hear Nicks offer reflections of her infamously tattered relationship/enduring friendship with Fleetwood Mac’s Lindsey Buckingham as she does in “Everybody Loves You,” but unfortunately in this case, the track is pretty drab. And that’s a problem with several cuts on “In Your Dreams,” which aims high but frequently comes up short in terms of the songwriting.
Still – and despite the fact that so many artists have written about the city lately – her tale “New Orleans” is better than most of the others, and the tougher “Soldier’s Angel,” offers a grittier side to Nicks than she typically reveals.
Musical guests on the album include Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Stewart, Glen Ballard, Mike Campbell and others.
Tracks to download: “Soldier’s Angel,” “New Orleans.”
Kevin O’Hare / The Republican / May 2, 2011
