Tuesday, May 27, 2025

Stevie Nicks : Bella Donna (Deluxe Edition)



AND THE DAYS GO BY,
LIKE A STRAND IN THE WIND..

 Bella Donna

 is the 

debut solo

 studio album

 by American singer

 and songwriter 

Stevie Nicks 

Released on 

July 27, 1981, 

the album peaked at 

number one

 on the

 US Billboard 200

 in September 

of that year.

 Bella Donna 

was awarded

 platinum status

 by the

 Recording

 Industry Association

 of America 

(RIAA) 

on October 7, 1981, 

less than 

three months 

after its release, 

and in 1990 

was certified 

quadruple-platinum

 for four million 

copies shipped.

Bella Donna 

spent nearly three years

 on the Billboard 200,

 from July 1981

 to June 1984.

The album spawned

 four hit singles 

during 1981 and 1982: 

The Tom Petty

 and

 the Heartbreakers

penned duet 

"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" 

(number 3),

 the Don Henley duet

 "Leather and Lace" 

(number 6), 

along with 

"Edge of Seventeen"

 (number 11)

 and the

 country-tinged

 "After the Glitter Fades"

 (number 32).

Bella Donna

 would mark the

 beginning of Nicks'

 trend of calling upon

 her many musician friends 

and connections

 to fully realize

 her sparse 

demo recordings. 

Along with friends 

Tom Petty 

and 

Don Henley, 

Nicks brought in 

session musician 

Waddy Wachtel, 

Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band 

pianist

 Roy Bittan, 

and Stax 

session man 

Donald "Duck" Dunn 

of 

Booker T. & the MGs.

 The album marked 

the first recording 

featuring Nicks' 

backing vocalists, 

Sharon Celani 

and

 Lori Perry, 

who still record 

and tour with

 Nicks today.

The album was also

 included in the 

"Greatest of All Time 

Billboard 200 Albums" 

chart.

History

Nicks began work on

 Bella Donna

 in 1979,

 in between sessions for

 Fleetwood Mac's

 Tusk album, 

released in October 

that year. 

Nicks recorded 

various demo versions 

of songs in 

early and mid-1980 

but these recordings 

were not used

 on the album. 

Following the end 

of the Tusk tour

 on September 1, 1980, 

work with a f

ull band commenced

 under producer 

Jimmy Iovine.

Nicks recalled that

 the album was recorded 

piecemeal since several 

of the session musicians, 

including 

Waddy Watchel 

and

 Russ Kunkel, 

were operating under 

a tight schedule. 

"We didn't put on

 50,000 guitars

 because we didn't have

 Waddy around

 long enough to do 

50,000 guitar overdubs.

 We were lucky to get

 him to do one guitar part."

 The Bella Donna

 recording sessions 

also presented 

Nicks with an opportunity 

to work on arrangements 

without Lindsey Buckingham, 

who extensively assisted 

with arrangements

 on her

 Fleetwood Mac material.

 For Bella Donna

Nicks instead allowed

 the session musicians

 to develop 

their own ideas

 for the instrumentation

 based on the demos

 she created.

Recording sessions 

continued until the spring

 of 1981 

when the final songs 

for the album were completed:

 "Edge of Seventeen" 

and 

"Stop Draggin' My Heart Around". 

The 10-song, 

42-minute album

 Bella Donna 

was released in the

 summer of 1981.

 Nicks wrote

 "Think About It" 

for her friend 

and

 Fleetwood Mac

 bandmate

 Christine McVie

 during the

 Rumours 

recording sessions,

 but the song 

was never completed

 until 

Bella Donna

After the Glitter Fades 

was Nicks' 

oldest song 

on the record, 

having been written

 in 1972, 

while 

"Think About It",

 "Leather and Lace", 

and

 "Highway Man"

 were written in 1975.

A number of finished songs

 did not make it on the album,

 including

 "Blue Lamp",

 which was released

 instead on 

Heavy Metal soundtrack

 later in 1981, 

and

 "Sleeping Angel",

 released on the 

Fast Times at Ridgemont High 

soundtrack

 in 1982.

 These two songs 

were included on

 Nicks' Enchanted boxed set

 in 1998, 

along with another

 unused 

Bella Donna session song, 

"Gold and Braid". 

Three more songs

 from these sessions,

 "If You Were My Love", 

"Belle Fleur" 

and

"The Dealer", 

were finally released on

 Nicks' album

 24 Karat Gold: Songs from the Vault 

(2014). 

"Julia" 

was a song written

 and recorded by 

Nicks during the 

Bella Donna

 recording process

 about her close friend

 Robin Anderson. 

In total, 

Nick recorded 16 songs

 for the album, 

of which 10 

were selected for

 Bella Donna.

Rhino released an expanded, 

three-disc version

 of 

Bella Donna

on 

November 4, 2016.

 The first disc

 is the remastered 

original album. 

The second disc

 includes outtakes, 

alternative versions, 

demos, 

and material released 

on soundtracks. 

The third disc 

consists of live tracks

 from Nicks'

 "White Wing Dove" tour

 1981, 

recorded at the

 Fox Wilshire Theatre

 in

 Los Angeles, California

 on 

December 13, 1981

TRACKLIST


CD 1

Bella Donna

Kind Of Woman

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
 (w/ Tom Petty)

Think About It

After The Glitter Fades

Edge Of Seventeen

How Still My Love

Leather And Lace
(w/ Don Henley)

Outside The Rain

The Highwayman

Edge Of Seventeen
 (Remix)

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around 
(w/ Tom Petty) 
(Drums & Bass Mix) 

CD 2

Edge Of Seventeen

 (Early Take)

Think About It 

(Alternate Version)

How Still My Love 

(Alternate Version)

Leather And Lace

 (Solo)

 (Alternate Version)

Bella Donna

 (Demo)

Julia 

(Demo) 

(1st Day, with entertaining talking)

Gold And Braid

 (Unreleased Version)

Sleeping Angel 

(Alternate Version)

If You Were My Love 

(Unreleased Version)

The Dealer

 (Unreleased Version)

Blue Lamp

 (From "Heavy Metal")

Sleeping Angel

 (From "Fast Times At Ridgemont High")

Belle Fleur 

Julia

 (Unreleased Track) 

CD 3

 Live Fox Wilshire Theatre 

Los Angeles, California

 12/13/81

Gold Dust Woman

Gold And Braid 

I Need To Know 

Outside The Rain 

Dreams 

Angel 

After The Glitter Fades 

Leather And Lace 

Stop Draggin' My Heart Around 

Bella Donna 

Sara 

How Still My Love 

Edge Of Seventeen 

Rhiannon 

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