Background
Shortly after the somewhat muted reception to her previous album, Street Angel, and a crushing bout of writer's block caused by Klonopin dependency between 1987 and 1994, Nicks asked close friend Tom Petty to help her write and record a new album. Petty advised her that she did not need any help and to have more faith in her own abilities, which Nicks recounts in the track "That Made Me Stronger". Nicks then proceeded to write the title track to the album and the closing song "Love Is", but whilst crafting a track for the 1996 movie Twister, entitled "Twisted", she was reunited with former lover and Fleetwood Mac frontman, Lindsey Buckingham, which formed part of a chain of events that led to the full reunion of the Rumours line-up of the band in 1997.
One of the tracks on the album, "Fall from Grace", recounts the ever-troubled relationship between Fleetwood Mac members as experienced during that 1997 reunion, which nonetheless culminated in the multi-platinum selling live album The Dance. This somewhat turbulent experience was a 9-month interruption to the recording of Shangri-La but it ironically inspired Nicks to pen this track, and another, "Thrown Down", which, although recorded for her solo album, ultimately surfaced in a newer version on the 2003 Fleetwood Mac release Say You Will.
Following promotion for her 1998 3-disc retrospective Enchanted and an accompanying tour (both at the insistence of her former label Atlantic, who wanted to capitalise on the 1997 reunion of Fleetwood Mac, and complete Nicks' six-album deal), Nicks finally continued to record her material for Shangri-La, enlisting the help of Sheryl Crow, who had been a fan of Nicks for some years. The pair worked on a couple of tracks that would end up on the soundtrack to the movie Practical Magic (see below), but Crow also contributed the song "It's Only Love", and performed on and co-produced several other tracks. The two became good friends and Nicks, in return, performed on Crow's 2002 album C'Mon C'Mon, including writing and providing lyrics for the b-side song "You're Not the One". The pair have also performed on stage together numerous times since the 1990s.
When Crow's own career commitments in 1999 prevented her from completing work on the album, Nicks initially produced one track, "Bombay Sapphires", alone. At the suggestion of their mutual management company, Macy Gray performed backing vocals. Nicks then enlisted the help of John Shanks for co-production duties on the remaining tracks to be recorded. He had previously sent her a demo of the track "Every Day", which she liked, and it was the first track the pair then recorded at Shanks' home. The track would also be released to radio as a single. Shanks is notable for helping Nicks to finally record a completed studio version of her 1976 composition "Planets of the Universe", after several failed attempts over the years with other producers. It was the last track to be completed for the album in late 2000.
The dragon that is used for the "S" in Stevie's name on the album cover (and also appears elsewhere on the disc art) was drawn by Sarah McLachlan, who also provides keyboards and background vocals on the album's closing track, "Love Is".
Read more about this topic: Trouble In Shangri-La
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