Spins: Stevie Nicks • Bella Donna Ultradisc One-Step 2xLP
Stevie Nicks
Bella Donna Ultradisc One-Step 2xLP
(Mobile Fidelity)
2025 was a good year for devotees of audiophile vinyl and Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab followers. The label reissued pristine pressings of albums reviewed in Illinois Entertainer, including Rick James’ soul-funk classic, Street Songs, and Miles Davis’ genre-blending jazz standout, Sketches of Spain. Fans of the best ’80s rock and followers of Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks herself will be thrilled by the quality of this reissue of Nicks’ 1981 solo debut, Bella Donna.
The album was meticulously recorded with the best technology of its day and has always sounded good, but it has never sounded this good on vinyl. This prestige-format release benefits from the label’s best mastering and highest-tier pressing process.
MoFi’s Ultradisc One-Step process reduces the generational loss experienced in the traditional three-step plating process by directly making a metal stamper from the lacquer. This results in greater detail retention, increased dynamics, and a lower noise floor. These qualities are evident in the new pressing of Bella Donna. The album is mastered for 45RPM playback, which requires the 10-song program to be split across two vinyl platters but also provides increased sonic fidelity compared to the original analog source tapes. Many who know the album from its eventual CD release in the ’80s will be impressed by this vinyl release’s depth, body, warmth, clarity, dynamic range, and spatial staging.
None of the technical work would matter if not for the performances and songs conveyed. Songs including the conversational duet with the Eagles’ Don Henley, “Leather and Lace,” remain among Nicks’ most beloved songs. The glistening acoustic love song used its titular fabrics as metaphors for the attraction of opposites. “Kind of Woman” is a haunting waltz reflecting on the repercussions of infidelity. E Street Band pianist Roy Bittan’s piano and Dan Dugmore’s weeping pedal steel ring through the countrified “After the Glitter Fades,” a melancholy portrait of a rock star’s hopes and fractured dreams in gilded Hollywood.
“Edge of Seventeen” is tense and restless, driven by a carpal tunnel syndrome-inducing Waddy Wachtel rhythm guitar part that echoes “Bring on the Night” by the Police. The coming-of-age song probes Nicks’ own mindset in the wake of loss and grief. Infused into the song’s imagery are the loss of John Lennon (a close friend of Bella Donna producer Jimmy Iovine) and the loss of Nicks’ beloved uncle Jonathan, who succumbed to cancer during the same week that Lennon was killed.
Brooding rocker “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” is steeped in the sound and songwriting of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. The song sprang from the same sessions that produced “The Insider” on the Heartbreakers’ Iovine-produced Hard Promises album. Nicks arguably got the most mileage out of the collaboration. “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” rose to #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and has remained a mainstay in Nicks’ solo set lists. The Heartbreakers would revisit the song with Nicks on stage as well.
The album features first-call players from the era. Drummer Russ Kunkel propels most songs, often joined in the rhythm section by top bassist Bob Glaub. Duck Dunn from Booker T. & the M.G.’s guests with the Heartbreakers on “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around.” Bill Payne from Little Feat plays piano on the stirring mid-tempo thriller “Think About It.” Heartbreakers keyboardist Benmont Tench plays Hammond shimmering organ throughout the album. Harmony vocalists Sharon Celani and Lori Perry are featured on many tracks, including the title cut. The pair continue to work with Nicks today. The players’ performances and Nicks’ own tremulous, inimitable vocals are rich, nuanced, and vivid on this One-Step pressing.
The price for this premium release is not cheap. With an MSRP of $125, this might be the most you spend for a new copy of an in-print domestic LP. For audiophiles who count Bella Donna among their favorite records and want the definitive vinyl experience, though, this reissue can’t be topped.
– Jeff Elbel
9 of 10
