[The Highwayman]

Bella Donna is a masterpiece. The Wild Heart is fantastic. Both are tight and focused, filled with timeless (less so in WH's case) songs that rank among the best things Stevie ever did.

Rock a Little's focus is all over the place, the songs are funky, uneven and liberally smeared with '80s pop hallmarks such as drum machines and lots of synth. Timeless? Maybe, maybe not. Incredibly awesome? Hell yeah. RAL features some great songs, pure and simple, no matter how much cocaine is stuffed into the crannies (in fact it could be argued that it helped provide texture). The title track, 'I Sing For The Things' (so under appreciated!), 'I Can't Wait', 'Sister Honey', 'The Imperial Hotel', 'Talk to Me', 'If I Were You', 'Some Become Strangers' and 'Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You' are all hugely enjoyable songs in my opinion, filled to the brim with passion and character, which is more than I can say for OSOTM and Street Angel. Passionless! Bland! Though there are a few good songs on each album ('Ooh My Love' being the only really great one), I just get bored and sad listening to both. Not RAL. Never a dull moment. Not even with some of the weaker tunes.

Hell, I even like the best songs on RAL more than a lot of Stevie's output that came after, even up to now. There a certain songs, like 'Thrown Down', 'Sweet Girl', the three '70s tunes on TISL and the aforementioned 'Ooh My Love' that match or surpass those RAL sings, but still that's a big thing to say.