Stevie Nicks Rock A Little album.

I'm not sure how it came about that she recorded those songs at the time, but she didn't write them. I imagine that she just wants to perform her own songs at this point.

She co-wrote "Imperial Hotel" which is hugely underrated IMO.

NO SPOKEN WORD is one of her best ever, and stupidly she never released it as a single.

It sounded incredibly dated then and sounds incredibly dated now. Her voice was nearing its low point (I loved that lady's voice in that 81-83 era- For me it was pique Stevie)

Agree with R2- Imperial Hotel is pretty good and also pretty timeless. I Cant Wait works for me too.

Not really a fan of her anymore since that Fleetwood Mac debacle.

And the last two songs she wrote and released are HORRENDOUS political leaning songs with some of the most cliche lyrics of her career. (The one from 3 -4 years ago is particularly godawful) and the recent one about abortion is pretty bad.

Aw shit- PEAK^^^

It's funny though. I love Stevie and think this is her best album. It doesn't have her best songs but it is consistently good from start to finish. There aren't any throw away tracks. The title song is especially good. Talk to Me is so good too.

Love this album! In all its 80’s synth production glory

There would be no Heaven Is A Place On Earth if it wasn’t for Rock A Little.

If I Were You is a great song.

Does Stevie not like the album because she was at the depths of her drug despair?

I LOVE THIS TACKY JEWEL. I think it's fabulous commercial crap, ridiculous and sublime. Iconic Steve. Love the song, the production. Love the video and Stevie in it. It's really everything!

How will we feel 20 years from now?

Talk to Me is kind of an embarrassing song.

She was going for that Wall of Sound sound.

After her disaster of a marriage to her dead friend's husband, she lost her mind.

I love this part. Pure camp.

There would be no I Get Weak without Talk To Me

I can do without I Get Weak and without Belinda Carlisle's singing voice.

Not her best. It probably would have been better had Stevie and Jimmy Iovine not parted ways. He seemed to know what to with her songs although not as well as Buckingham.

I love Talk to Me. Brings back great memories of driving around LA with the top down.

Maybe I was stoned but I couod have sworn she surprisingly dud "I Can't Wait" on a tour a few years ago (the 24 kt tour, maybe?). I read she likes the song but stopped performing it after the Rock A Little tour because they couldn't get it to sound right live. But nowadays, everyone uses recorded bits to simulate the recorded version live and I couod have sworn she played this. But "Talk To Me" I haven't heard in decades.

Apparently Stevie had rented a venue in Dallas to record RAL, and the musicians didn't get notice until days before the start. So she blamed the 'unprepared' rock stars for not getting the album done on time when it was her fault totally. The album was supposed to be released in the summer of 1984, ended up dropping 16 months later than promised. She was coked out of her mind, cancelling interviews etc. Thank God they got her into rehab after the RAL tour, but somebody should have done that right after The Wild Heart.

R19 says it all. Better late than never but an ‘84 rehab would have served her so much better than a late ‘86 rehab.

Stevie never felt much for Talk To Me… it was written and given to her for Hit Single purposes and its chugging chords and synths sound like Missing You by John Waite for that reason. It worked, it went Top 5, but fans don’t seem to mind its absence in her shows. Also she hasn’t been able to hit that climactic high note (“ Let the walls burn down!”) in a long time. I love that R14 noticed how I Get Weak is lifted heavily from Talk To Me.

I Can’t Wait is so frantically 80s! She hasn’t done that in forever either, and has said that the video reminds her in bad ways of how coked up and underslept she was at the time.

The album has some good stuff in it — but so many of the lyrics she did write (No Spoken Word, The Nightmare, Imperial Hotel) suggest Stevie was in a bad place. There’s a song Sister Honey that seems to be about cocaine and its persuasive lure. And her voice on some of the tracks, including the title track, sounded unusually weak and faltering.

If I Were You should’ve been the third single, it’s good and it was catchy enough to probably go Top 40.

p.s. Imperial Hotel is interesting… it’s a rocking good Heartbreakers tune in F major, the happiest of all keys, yet the lyrics.. if you were to reset them to downbeat blues, it would hit much stronger, the sadness and the admission that she is not doing well and needs help but would probably just reject it.

Without Edge of Seventeen there would be no Vacation by the Go-Gos.

My dad gave me a cassette of “Rock a Little” as one of my Christmas gifts in 1985. My mother had died just a few weeks before. So it represents the darkest time in my life as well.

I liked Stevie Nicks but wasn’t a diehard fan at age 14. So i was vaguely annoyed that my dad gave me this and had the impression he just grabbed the first tape he saw in the music department at Walmart or whatever.

About 7 or 8 years later, I started listening to the tape for some reason and remember I went through a phase when I thought it really spoke to me.

Now—another 32 or 33 years later— I can’t remember why I liked it so much circa 1992.

Time and memory are so strange.

[quote]There would be no Heaven Is A Place On Earth if it wasn’t for Rock A Little.

I'm sure I don't need to elaborate but Rock A Little was the debut production effort of Rick Nowels - he co-wrote I Can't Wait and If I Were You with Stevie and went on to co-write Rooms On Fire and other songs for Stevie. Nowels also produced 3 other songs on Rock A Little.

So that was Rick's big break and when Belinda and Stevie met during a "rehab" (a coke binge) Stevie recommended Rick to Belinda for her first solo album proper, which Nowels produced with 4 writing credits including Heaven and Circle In The Sand.

Also I Can't Wait was one of the songs that is featured in the last Grand Theft Auto. Steal a bus and drive around with the police chasing you listening to Stevie on Los Santos Rock Radio.

I loathe this album with the heat of a thousand suns.

It's her Klonopin nightmare.

Correction, it’s her cocaine nightmare. Her klonopin era didn’t start until Tango in the Night in 1987.

I hate "Talk To Me" but I love the rest of "Rock A Little." I really love "Some Become Strangers" and was surprised a few years back to hear the original version by the original artist in one of those 80s teen movies.

My favorite song of hers was on some soundtrack for some shit movie. Plus the actual song has a shit title. I love Battle of the Dragon.

“Tango in the Night” is another deeply weird—but in a good way— album from only two years after “Rock a Little.”

I remember listening to “Tango in the Night” while driving by see “The Witches of Eastwick” with my best friend. It was raining and I was going through a terrible breakup and not really even functioning.

My friend is gone now— died relatively young from COVID.

Tango had her weakest songs ever. Welcome to the Room Sara and the one where she keeps moaning 'Baby..baby' were plain lazy & awful. Seven Wonders was written by her old friend Sandy Stewart, with Stevie only contributing a couple of words to it, and it was the only coherent song she had. She did bitch at the time, if there were 12 songs each writer should get 4 on the album, but she had to accept she'd be outvoted on that. I think someone said this was her Klonopin phase and she does sound checked out.

I remember buying the cassette in late 1985 along with Sheena Easton Do You. Loved it.

I have a soft spot for 1989’s “Rooms on Fire,” her final solo Top 40 hit.

Did I dream this, or wasn’t there another, high budget concept video for “Stand Back” that she had scrapped because she thought she looked too fat in the period costumes? They had to quickly make the basic video that was used to promote the song.

Sorry, I could have just Googled that. My bad.

Two music videos were filmed for the single. The first, which was never aired and is referred to as the "Scarlett Version", was a lavish production directed by Brian Grant and features Nicks in a Gone with the Wind type scenario. Upon seeing the completed video, Nicks rejected it as, according to Grant, she felt she looked fat.[16] This version can now be found (with Nicks' commentary) on the DVD supplement of her 2007 collection Crystal Visions – The Very Best of Stevie Nicks.

As an alternative, a second video was made on a much lower budget than the original. Directed by choreographer Jeffrey Hornaday, it features Nicks performing the song behind a microphone in a spotlight-filled room surrounded by glass walls and mirrors, interspersed with shots of choreographed dance sequences. This was the version aired on television and was also included on Nicks' 1986 video compilation I Can't Wait - The Video Collection as well as the aforementioned Crystal Visions compilation DVD.[17]

The 'Scarlett' version of Stand Back is hilarious because she is riding a horse that she says was 'trying to kill her' by heading straight for a covered bridge she felt was too low and leave her decapitated. I thought she looked beautiful in that vid, and she hated the violence at the end showing a man shot and killed. Typical Stevie in a cocaine mist making bad decisions. Still love her, there was no one like her.

Some of the songs required more than a four-note range so they couldn't be reproduced live.

R33 / R34, yeah... the lower-budget Stand Back video that they went with, was a much better fit for the song. Stand Back the song is pulsing, alive, energetic with those Prince keyboards and guitar licks, and the video conveys that. Stevie's opening 10 second twirl in the apartment-loft setting is iconic.

More background... the "Civil War/Scarlett" Stand Back video was originally planned and staged as a video for If Anyone Falls, but then Stevie jumped on that collaboration with Prince and it became clear Stand Back would be the bigger hit. So they swapped Stand Back in, and came up with a new concept for If Anyone Falls. There are a couple of scenes in the IAF video that you can see/connect to the Scarlett Stand Back footage.

TREADMILLS FOR EVERYONE!

It’s awful she was made to sing the B word against her wishes for the greatest hits album.

It is a great song however

She looks like shit - fat, old and noticeably shorter with much longer unkempt hair that exasperates the former.

Stevie looks amazing for a 76 year old, even more so considering she has had chronic addiction and mental health problems.

R4- has not seen her circa summer/fall 2024 on stage

I’m a SN fan too

R40, the word you were fumbling for is “exacerbates”… and R41 has a more accurate assessment. She’s 76! She looks good for 76 and, hell, a third of her past peers are dead.

Yes exasperates and she looks noticeably worse for the wear lately. Like I said up thread she’s shrunk and let her hair grow down to her ass while looking unkempt and fatter. I’m a long-time fan and was shocked to see how poor she looks as of September 2024

exacerbates Fucking autocorrect

R45, Stevie is verging on elderly. Shrinking and aging happen. She turns 80 in three and a half years. She’s lucky to be alive and in good enough health to sing decently and tour with a full set list.

No shit r47

You guys are talking about some deep cuts on these albums. Kudos.

Stevie was bitching about Covid taking away her touring time.

I do love the old gal. Her voice certainly isn't what it used to be, and I LOVED her raspy voice from early years through early 2000s. She's had quite a good run.

I really liked the Rock a Little album!

She was great on SNL last night... and shattered the record for oldest musical guest!

So long as she didn't shatter a hip.

First song on SNL was a good wall of sound. Sounded better and ore natural on SNL than the video on Youtube.

I will never understand why Stevie insists on opening her shows with Outside the Rain. It’s so low energy and just meh. I would love to overhaul her setlist. Sister Honey and Imperial Hotel are fun uptempo cuts.

Yes I think she hated it. She was going thru a rocky time.

Street Angel was her Klonopin album. She hates that album.

"Blue Denim" was the only good song on "Street Angel" but only good by comparison to everything else that surrounded it. And I believe she stated "Street Angel" was the album most effected by the Klonopin. It's an incoherent, rambling mess. As much as I hate "The Other Side of the Mirror", "Street Angel" made Rupert Hines' dated and tedious production seem like a masterwork.

Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind could have gotten her Light Pop/Rock airplay, but didn't. Rose Garden was a good country song, a tribute I guess to Lynn Anderson. Stevie had country roots. She was just such a mess at the time, I imagine trying to advise/help her was a chore.

Do any of you know any Stevie Nicks obsessives? I hadn’t realized this was a thing until about fifteen years ago I got friendly with a younger guy at work. He was really into doing Stevie drag. And then he started going on and on about Night of a Hundred Stevies or some such. I was sure he was making that up.

Rock a Little was my first disappointment of Stevie's music. I realized that her voice had changed and not for the better.

Do any of you like alternate fan versions? I do.

r59 You mean just like very single other huge star?

She lost hitting the high notes early on.

I saw a video of her on SNL singing Stand Back and for her age she sounded fine. Not a skinny little thing anymore.

r64 She sang "Stand Back" on SNL 41 years ago! She didn't sing it the other night.

I'm always shocked when I see her now. For no sensible reason I still envision her as a beautiful young woman. It must suck for her when she looks in a mirror.

Jame Gumb was a Stevie fan.

......

Edge of Seventyseven….

“ I will never understand why Stevie insists on opening her shows with Outside the Rain. It’s so low energy and just meh. I would love to overhaul her setlist. Sister Honey and Imperial Hotel are fun uptempo cuts”

I agree, she’s done that on several tours including the latest 2022-2024 dates. The chords do match Dreams so the transition works, but longtime fans have seen it over and over. I liked her 24 Karat tour (2017) especially because she finally really mixed up the set list.

Why did she cover the Destiny's Child song? Can't she write her own songs?

R70- Completely agree about the 24 Karat Tour. She opened that tour with Gold and Braid, another very curious choice but a much better song than Outside the Rain. She doesn’t really seem to factor in fan service when she devises her set lists.

r67 / r71 All your posts here are... just desperate to keep the thread going?

There's people running 'round loose in the world

Ain't got nothing better to do

They make a meal of some bright-eyed kid

You need someone to look after you

[quote] "Blue Denim" was the only good song on "Street Angel" but only good by comparison to everything else that surrounded it.

I love "Blue Denim"!!! It is the ultimate Stevie Nicks song! A guitar-led rocker, with a strong lead vocal, urgent background vocal arrangement, and completely bizarre lyrics about "bright eyes" changing color and a threat to "come back to get you!" It is said to be about Lindsey Buckingham, if I were him I'd be terrified.

Lindsey Buckingham is terrifyING.

R75, interesting take on that line. I always thought it was Stevie explaining why she needs more rehab again (this time for klonopin) and promising that she won’t abandon her fans… if the experience shows her anything revelatory, she’ll come back and share it with you too.

“So I’m going away for a little while, to remember how to feel. And if I find the answer out there, I’ll come back and get you.”

[quote]Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind could have gotten her Light Pop/Rock airplay, but didn't.

A Rick Nowels and Sandy Stewart song, I bet Belinda turned it down.

Sandy Stewart was 1/2 of the group "Blue Yonder" and it had one good LP.

I remember Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind getting a lot of play on our adult contemporary station. Was there an official video for it? I can imagine it getting play on VH1. I always liked the song though I guess it’s pretty mid for Stevie

[quote] I will never understand why Stevie insists on opening her shows with Outside the Rain. It’s so low energy and just meh. I would love to overhaul her setlist. Sister Honey and Imperial Hotel are fun uptempo cuts.

Why is that song even on her set list, at all? It's not bad, but it sounds like a mashup of some of her other songs.

She should begin with something like "Stand Back" or even "Edge of Seventeen." Or "Gold Dust Woman" (with that ominous cowbell sound).

I've seen 3 Elvis Costello concerts. At one of them, he hit the stage with "Accidents Will Happen." Opening lyric is, "Oh, I just don't know where to begin." It's one of his big hits and it was just a great way to start that concert. He's got so many hits (as does Stevie), why not start out really strong instead of "saving stuff for later."

Edge of Seventeen is a fucking masterpiece.

Christine, can you handle it?

Lindsey, can you hand it?

Mick & John, can you handle it?

I don't think they can handle it!

"Outside The Rain" is fantastic and I love it as an opener. A standout from "Bella Donna." For those of us old enough to remember her solo debut it takes us right back to the start.

'It's only a dream'

[quote] My dad gave me a cassette of “Rock a Little” as one of my Christmas gifts in 1985. My mother had died just a few weeks before. So it represents the darkest time in my life as well.

I am a lifelong Stevie fan. My mother died after a long illness in February 2014. It was the season of AHS:Coven when Stevie made an appearance and sang a few songs including "Seven Wonders." It is a song I never thought much about but the last week of my mother's life, traveling to and from her home and hospice I could not get that song out of my head.

I saw FM in concert later that year and they performed "Seven Wonders." I began to weep and my date was like "WTF?!"