Re-Release Date: 5/1/2001 Reviewed on 3/28/2007... Classic Stevie Nicks voice--timeless. Reviewed on 10/26/2006... Received as a gift, not a big Stevie Nicks fan, but a decent listen in my mind. CD Reviews Gary F. Taylor (5 out of 5 stars) "After a stunning career with Fleetwood Mac in the 1970s, Stevie Nicks emerged as one of the hottest solo acts of the music industry in the 1980s with BELLA DONNA and THE WILD HEART. But although she scored a memorable success with Fleetwood Mac on 1987's TANGO IN THE NIGHT, after 1985 the quality of her solo work began to decline. 1989's THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR offered the memorable "Rooms on Fire" but was disappointing as a whole, and of 1994's STREET ANGEL the less said the better. Her occasional performances with Fleetwood Mac aside, it seemed that her glory days as a solo act were far behind.Then in 2001 Nicks quietly released TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA. Working with what seemed a different producer on almost every cut and drawing in supporting talent from the likes of Cheryl Crowe, Nicks stripped herself of her past personas. Gone was Rhiannon, gone was the Welsh Witch, the Gypsy. Gone were the third person lyrics, the ethereal notes, the hard rock flourishes. TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA was Stevie Nicks, pure and simple and unadorned. Quite a lot of her long-time fans, who would have preferred Nicks to remain in her Bella Donna persona forever, balked. But quite a few people who had never been fans suddenly reappraised her. And when all was said and done, Nicks garnered some of the finest critical praise of her long career and picked up a Grammy nomination in the process.Opening with a solid rocker on the title cut, TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA finds Nicks remarkably unpretentious and completely devoid of the self-indulgence that made THE OTHER SIDE OF THE MIRROR such a disappointment and STREET ANGEL such a disaster. Her voice, always a delicate instrument, has changed, and the high notes are gone and the lower notes have become deeper still--but at both extremes it now possesses an unexpectedly dark richness of tone. Both it, and the emotional tones of her performance, are those of a mature woman in full command of her talents.Some have complained that there is not really a "hit single" track on this album, and in a sense that is true--nothing here jumps ahead of the pack. But that is not because the music is weak; rather, it is because it is all so consistently good. And throughout the entire collection the overall sound creates a somewhat hypnotic quality that gradually draws you deeper and deeper into the artist's skills. Because of this, it would be extremely difficult to pinpoint any one single selection for singular praise; I will say, however, that I find "It's Only Love" particularly fine.When I first sat down to listen to this recording I found myself completely surprised by Nicks' overall approach, which is considerably more disciplined than anything she has previously offered. I was not immediately enthusiastic and I set the recording aside--only to find myself drawn to it again and again, and with each listening discovering more and more in it. And I now think of this as quite possibly Stevie Nicks best overall solo release. Whatever the case, it is certainly her most subtle and most complex effort to date.I had the pleasure of seeing Fleetwood Mac on the SAY YOU WILL tour, and while Nicks did not perform any of the selections from this album (the only selection of her solo work she offered was a knock-out "Stand Back"), I found her live performance with the band very similar in tone to TROUBLE IN SHANGRI-LA: completely unaffected with the focus on the music itself. After some three decades of stardom and one of the most jolting personal roads imaginable, at the end of the day Stevie Nicks has become a musician in her own right. And in an industry that spawns so few of them, that is the highest compliment any one can offer a rock star. The bell has a deeper tone, and it tolls with a more measured note, but it still "rings through the night." Rock on, my lady, rock on.--GFT, Amazon Reviewer--"