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Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks (1991)

“This is music to miss your lover to, love songs that manage to stagger above the over-sentimentality of recent album oriented rock, due to Nicks’s distinctive delivery and beautifully arranged songs.”–Q

Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks (1991) is Stevie Nicks‘s first retrospective release. It contains 11 tracks from Stevie’s first four solo albums and three new songs. Mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge remixed several tracks for this compilation. Stevie wrote detailed liner notes, explaining the inspiration for each song.

Tracklist

  1. Sometimes It’s a Bitch (new song)
  2. Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around* (from Bella Donna)
  3. Whole Lotta Trouble** (from The Other Side of the Mirror)
  4. Talk to Me (from Rock a Little)
  5. Stand Back* (from The Wild Heart)
  6. Beauty and the Beast (from The Wild Heart)
  7. If Anyone Falls* (from The Wild Heart)
  8. Rooms on Fire* (from The Other Side of the Mirror)
  9. Love’s a Hard Game to Play (new song)
  10. Edge of Seventeen* (from Bella Donna)
  11. Leather and Lace* (from Bella Donna)
  12. I Can’t Wait (from Rock a Little)
  13. Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You* (from Rock a Little)
  14. Desert Angel^ (new song)

*  Remixed by Chris Lord-Alge
**Remixed by Tom Lord-Alge in 1989
^ CD edition only

New songs

Jon Bon Jovi contributed one of the three new songs, “Sometimes It’s a Bitch.” Stevie initially had reservations about singing the song because of the word “bitch.” Jon deferred to the meaning of the song about life’s trials and tribulations and eventually convinced Stevie to record the song. Modern Records had similar reservations about the song’s title, issuing the song as “Sometimes (It’s a Bitch)” in its radio marketing campaign.

Stevie had a better experience recording “Love’s a Hard Game to Play,” a new song that Poison‘s lead singer Bret Michaels had written for her.

“[Bret Michaels] sat down with an acoustic guitar and played me his song. Sometimes you meet a person and you feel like you’ve known them for years,” she told the Denver Post in 1991. “After the hassle of getting ‘Sometimes It’s a Bitch’ done, he gave me back my laughter and self-esteem.”

The third new song was “Desert Angel,” a tribute to the military service personnel involved in Operation Desert Storm. The song appeared as a bonus track on the CD edition of Timespace.

‘Silver Springs’ dispute

Stevie wanted to include the Rumours-era track “Silver Springs” on Timespace, but Mick Fleetwood had plans to include the song on Fleetwood Mac’s 25 Years: The Chain (1992). While Warner Records ultimately had control of the recording, the final say in the matter resided with Mick, who allegedly chose not to release the recording to Stevie. The decision caused friction between the two band members for many years. Stevie distanced herself from Fleetwood Mac and left the group altogether in 1992, along with fellow band member Christine McVie.

In 1997, Stevie and Mick finally resolved the “Silver Springs” dispute when Fleetwood Mac’s 1975 lineup reunited to record a new version of “Silver Springs” for The Dance.

In 2007, Reprise Records included “Silver Springs” on Stevie’s third retrospective, Crystal Visions… The Very Best of Stevie Nicks.

Other remixes

Mix engineer Chris Lord-Alge  remixed many songs for Timespace, but several did not appear on the collection. These included “Battle of the Dragon” from American Anthem, “Sleeping Angel” from Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and “Violet and Blue” from Against All Odds. The remixes of “Battle of the Dragon” and “Sleeping Angel” later surfaced on the Timespace singles and the Japan-only release A Hard Game to Play. While officially unreleased, the “Violet and Blue” remix has circulated among fans.

Release

Modern Records released CD, cassette, and vinyl (exclusively through Columbia House in the U.S.) versions of Timespace on September 3, 1991. The compilation reached No. 30 on Billboard 200 Albums.

“Sometimes (It’s a Bitch)” was the the lead single from Timespace. Its peak position on various charts is shown in the table below:

Chart Name Peak position
US Billboard Hot 100 56
US Billboard Mainstream Rock 7
UK Singles Chart 40
Australia (ARIA Singles Chart) 18
German Singles Chart 55
New Zealand Singles Chart 39

“I Can’t Wait” was also reissued for the European market, reaching No. 47 in the U.K.

Stevie supported the release of Timespace with a national tour dubbed “The Whole Lotta Trouble Tour.”

In 1997, the RIAA certified the compilation platinum for the shipment of one million units to retailers.

Promotional Video

Sometimes It’s a Bitch

Love’s a Hard Game to Play

Desert Angel

Whole Lotta Trouble (Remix)

News & Coverage

The Other Side of the Mirror | Street Angel >