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If you ever wanted a single-disc collection of Stevie Nicks’ work with both Fleetwood Mac and as a solo artist, then maybe this is for you. There’s heartfelt intent behind the cherry picking of Mac songs mixed in with the obvious choices from here solo material, but the execution leaves something to be desired. It doesn’t help that the material removed between Timespace and this collection wasn’t in service of under heralded gems from albums like Street Angel (“Blue Denim”) or Trouble in Shangri-la (“Bombay Sapphires”), but inferior live versions (“Rhiannon” and “Landslide” reveal the cracks in her voice) or questionable remixes (“Dreams,” what happened to you?) of Fleetwood Mac songs.
The Very Best of Stevie Nicks? Hardly. The track listing skews heavily towards Bella Donna and The Wild Heart while giving short attention to the bulk of her solo material. Frankly, this thing needed to be two-discs if it really wanted to thread the line between her time in Mac and her solo work. Sure, it’s lovely to hear a studio version of “Silver Springs,” but it already appeared on 2003’s The Very Best of Fleetwood Mac. Nicks is justifiably proud of the song, but I’d be happier removing all the Mac material for more of her solo work.
A collection like this could have brought in various soundtrack-only appearances, or rarities regulated to her Enchanted box set into an economical set. Wherefore art thou “Beauty and the Beast,” “Sometimes It’s a Bitch,” “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?” or “Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind”? Crystal Visions… The Very Best of Stevie Nicks is a curious set that wants to have it several different ways but doesn’t do justice to the material in the end. I still think Timespace: The Best of Stevie Nicks is the greatest single-disc distillation of her solo work, as outdated as it is.
DOWNLOAD: “Leather and Lace,” “Rock and Roll (Live),” “Edge of Seventeen (Live)”
