32 Years Ago: Stevie Nicks Sticks With the Formula on ‘The Wild Heart’

[SisterNightroad]

Originally Posted by Papillon

Thank you for posting that Sister Nightroad
It never ceases to amaze me when I read these detailed backstories & see the enormous, meticulously archived catalog of Stevie Songs that Ivory Keys gives to us.

You're welcome, I'm glad you found it interesting too.
Thanks to Mike Bise, he's the greatest source of informations on Stevie's songs we could possibly have, we're lucky to have him.
I was particularly surprised by the Early Mix of "Stand Back" used as the musical track for Stevie's live performance for Solid Gold in 1984.

[SisterNightroad]

Upping to celebrate again the occurrence, as well as the Wild Heart outtake of Julia we gained thanks to Ivory Keys; it's the upgraded version form the Uncirculated Rumours 3-LP Bootleg Album:

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

Ivory Keys has put another essential account of Stevie's album sessions, this time for The Wild Heart:

The Wild Heart Sessions

Stevie recorded "All The Beautiful Worlds" for The Wild Heart in Dallas in 1982 with Gordon Perry as the producer. Perry would also produce several more songs for the album, in both Dallas and Los Angeles, including "Wild Heart," "Destiny," "Julia," and "Gate And Garden."

In October 1983, four months after the release of The Wild Heart, Bobbye Hall was paid for a week in the studio adding percussion overdubs to "All The Beautiful Worlds." Was "All The Beautiful Worlds" being prepped as a b-side for the upcoming "Nightbird" single? Did Stevie decide to keep the song her her next album, Rock A Little? Those questions remain unanswered, but Stevie finally did record a fantastic new version of the song in 2014 as part of her album, 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault.

One of the great "controversies" from The Wild Heart era has been concerning the original video for "Stand Back," which was scrapped and remained officially unreleased until 2007 on Stevie's Crystal Visions DVD. Bootleg copies of the original video circulated for two decades before the official release and fans always wondered why this version with the Civil War theme was deemed not worthy of release.

In Danny Goldberg's book, (he co-founded Modern Records with Stevie and Paul Fishkin), he revealed the truth about the Civil War concept being for the original lead single, "If Anyone Falls", and that it was too late to change the theme when "Stand Back" became the new lead single (sets already built, costumes bought, director hired, etc.) After watching the final results, everyone agreed that they should go ahead and film another video for "Stand Back".

The video for "If Anyone Falls" was recorded in Dallas in early September 1983 when Stevie was there on her tour for The Wild Heart. Outtake photos from the video shoot reveal several sequences not seen in the released final video.

Another Sandy Stewart instrumental that Stevie wrote lyrics to is "One More Tomorrow." After Stevie's version did not make it onto The Wild Heart, Sandy wrote her own lyrics for it and recorded it as "Leave It All Behind" on her 1984 album, Cat Dancer.

The liner notes for The Wild Heart reveal some extra lyrics for "Nightbird" not heard on the album but are present in this Extended Ending version of the song.

After "Julia" was axed from Bella Donna at, literally, the last minute in 1981, Stevie was desperate for the song (about her friendship with Robin Anderson, who was dying of leukemia) to be on her next record. Gordon Perry produced the song in Dallas (as he did several others for The Wild Heart). However, as the main Producer for the album, Jimmy Iovine had final say in the album's tracks, and he once again dropped "Julia" from the record, much to Stevie's dismay.

"Sable On Blond" has always been one of the most beloved songs by fans from The Wild Heart. Stevie explained to Rock Magazine in 1983 the meaning of the song:
"'Sable On Blond' is my serious statement on The Wild Heart. It fits into a particular group of my songs; 'Rhiannon,' 'Beautiful Child' and 'Sara.' It reflects the mood I was in when I moved into my new house last year. It was a time when I was learning how to live with myself. 'Sable On Blond' meant to learn how to be a stranger, to learn to be with yourself, to learn to be one color. In the legend of Excalibur, the sword is there for protection, but you don't call upon it unless it's absolutely necessary. During that period in my life, I was learning how not to call on the sword."

The outtake of "Violet And Blue" below is the actual version from the 1984 film, Against All Odds. The soundtrack album, however, contains a completely different version, which was also released on Stevie's 1998 box set, Enchanted.

In October 1990, Chris Lord-Alge began remixing songs that were being considered for inclusion on Stevie's upcoming 1991 Greatest Hits compilation, TimeSpace. The TimeSpace Remix of "Violet And Blue" has never been commercially released but was discovered on a Master Reel in 2002.

Stevie wrote and recorded "Belle Fleur" for Bella Donna in 1981, but it was also a song she re-recorded for The Wild Heart. In 1982, Stevie gave an interview where she talked about her new album's progress, and she listed four of the songs already completed: "Violet And Blue," "Garbo." "Belle Fleur," and "Destiny." None of those songs made it onto The Wild Heart! "Garbo" would, of course, be released as the b-side of "Stand Back" and also on the 1998 box set, Enchanted (which is still in print, which is why "Garbo" is not included in the links here). "Violet And Blue" would be on the 1984 soundtrack to Against All Odds as well as Enchanted. Stevie would re-record "Destiny" for Street Angel in 1993, and "Belle Fleur" for 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault in 2014. The version of "Belle Fleur" below is considered to be an outtake from The Wild Heart sessions but it could possibly truly be from the Bella Donna sessions instead. It's hard to tell.

Stevie's demo for "Nothing Ever Changes" features several lyrics not on the album version. Once The Wild Heart was released in 1983, "Nothing Ever Changes" received extensive airplay on Rock Radio stations.

Stevie wrote her lyrics for "Dial The Number" in 1982 and set them to a Sandy Stewart instrumental. After not making it on The Wild Heart, Stevie would re-record "Dial The Number" in 1988 for The Other Side Of The Mirror, where it also failed to make the final cut.

A preliminary final track listing for The Wild Heart in Late 1982 revealed "Goodbye Baby" as the final song rather than "Beauty And The Beast," which is not listed at all. "Beauty And The Beast" and "Stand Back" were recorded in Early 1983, which caused the track listing to change significantly. The version of "Goodbye Baby" recorded for The Wild Heart has never circulated among fans, nor has "Gold And Braid," which was also re-recorded for The Wild Heart and later slated for release on Stevie's 1998 box set, Enchanted, but did not end up on the final release.

In the Summer of 1981, after returning from France where Fleetwood Mac had begun recording Mirage, Stevie had a long photo session in Manhattan for her upcoming cover and feature in Rolling Stone magazine. The entire session was also video-taped, which is where the early version of "Wild Heart" comes from. As Stevie is getting her makeup and hair done for the photo shoot, she is listening to tapes of the new Mirage recordings, and an instrumental of "Can't Go Back" comes on, to which Stevie sings lyrics of her in-progress new song, "Wild Heart."

Like with "Nightbird," the liner notes of The Wild Heart contain several extra lines of lyrics for "Wild Heart." The file below is just the ending because that is all that exists in this great sound quality (there are "complete" versions in terrible sound).

The first copyright for "The Charmed Ones" is from 1982, when the recording below most likely is from. Stevie would also re-record the song in 1986 and 1996, but it remains unreleased to this day.

This Early Mix of "Stand Back" was surprisingly used as the musical track for Stevie's live performance of the song that she filmed for Solid Gold in 1984. The Vocals Only version comes from the Multi-Track of "Stand Back" that was leaked a few years ago.

One of Stevie's more obscure duets is with Robbie Patton on his 1982 album, Orders From Headquarters, "Smiling Islands," which was also released as a single.

Stevie's duet with Sandy Stewart, "I Pretend," from Sandy's 1984 debut album, Cat Dancer, was another "rare" song that was originally intended for inclusion on Stevie's 1998 box set, Enchanted, but was not on the final release.

Stevie also had featured backing vocals on "Cat Dancers" and "Get My Way" from Cat Dancer.

Marilyn Martin went along on The Wild Heart tour in 1983 as one of Joe Walsh's back-up singers (Joe was Stevie's opening act). Soon, Marilyn was joining Sharon and Lori (and Carolyn Brooks in Texas!) as one of Stevie's backing singers on several songs like "Rhiannon,""Edge Of Seventeen," and "Stand Back."

When Stevie's unreleased song, "Sorcerer," was chosen to be recorded for the upcoming soundtrack to the 1984 film, Streets Of Fire, Stevie suggested Marilyn sing the lead vocals. Stevie is very clearly on the soundtrack version but she is not listed in the credits. Stevie actually takes over the song near the end!

The actual film of Streets Of Fire includes a completely different version of "Sorcerer," sung by Laurie Sargent.



Here are the demos and outtakes: http://stevienicksivorykeys.blogspot...1982-1983.html

Thanks for posting this. The original All the beautiful worlds is one of my favorite Stevie songs. Its a shame this gem never made it to the Wild Heart.
The story about the Civil War theme for In Anyone Falls makes sense. I wonder why they decided against releasing it as the first single after starting to create the video for it.
I love the 1981-1983 Stevie era. She was on top of her game writing and her voice was perfect.
I also wish Garbo could have made the cut for the album. The album needed some acoustic guitar.

[SisterNightroad]

[Macfan4life]

I still really enjoy the "All the beautiful worlds" statement. Could it be Stevie or someone else wanted this gorgeous song to prop up Nightbird? The 1982 version of All the Beautiful worlds is a masterpiece. It could have been the 3rd single with Nightbird on the B side. Its almost as bad as using Silver Springs as a B side.
It would have been great on Rock A Little but it would so be out of place. Stevie's voice was so different and the whole album and songs are so disorganized. All the beautiful worlds got lost in the shuffle
But its nice to know by October 1983 Stevie ordered a remix of the song and flirted with the idea of it being a B side.

[24karatstevie]

Jimmy made such a huge mistake putting Julia on the chopping block twice. It's one of Stevie's best songs imo.

[Steviegirl]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

The summer of 1983 was all about Stevie She was in Hit Parade magazine, Rock magazine and the cover of even more.
Stand Back burned the charts. Not only a huge top 5 song but rock stations had it on top too. Plus the video was on MTV, HBO's video show, and Friday Night Video.
Wild Heart was keeping pace with some of the biggest albums that summer, Thriller, Flashdance, and Lionel Richie.
Stand Back was released in May and it peaked in August. So all summer long....it was nothing but Stand Back.
I loved that summer

You're right-that was a great summer. "SB" was in heavy rotation on MTV, and Stevie rounded out the year by appearing on SNL with Flip Wilson in December. That was an amazing performance.

[TheWildHeart67]

Stevie's performance on SNL in 1983 is my FAVE version of "Stand Back."
I remember "If Anyone Falls," was in heavy rotation on MTV throughout the fall of 1983 and made the top ten video countdown for several weeks.
I LOVED that video!

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by TheWildHeart67

Stevie's performance on SNL in 1983 is my FAVE version of "Stand Back."
I remember "If Anyone Falls," was in heavy rotation on MTV throughout the fall of 1983 and made the top ten video countdown for several weeks.
I LOVED that video!

LOL You brought back a bad memory for me. We did not get MTV where I lived until 1987. We were all such deprived teenagers
Unlike Stand Back, the video for If Anyone Falls was not played on Friday Night Videos or other video shows. Does anyone remember Night Tracks? In the early 80s the TBS channel would play nonstop videos from 10 pm till the early morning on Friday night. I would stay up ALL night and be a zombie waiting to see If Anyone Falls. Never did see it. I did not see the video until probably 2 years after the release of the song. So your post gave me a flashback to a very very frustrated teen

[BLY]

Originally Posted by TheWildHeart67

Stevie's performance on SNL in 1983 is my FAVE version of "Stand Back."
I remember "If Anyone Falls," was in heavy rotation on MTV throughout the fall of 1983 and made the top ten video countdown for several weeks.
I LOVED that video!

Those were such great years.... As much as I wished at the time it was all new Fleetwood Mac music, Stevie got to put out a great deal of music which I was all over. I loved all of it. She was amazing live as a youngin.😎

[BlueLantern]

Looking back, what I loved most about The Wild Heart was Stevie's voice. It was stronger than ever in some ways, and could nail a wide range of notes and tones - from powerful fury to tenderness. She expressed so much as a singer on this album.

My only minor criticism of the album was (and is) its overuse of loud blaring synthesizers in a few places. If Anyone Falls could have been so much more gorgeous with a more natural guitar/percussion treatment, instead of the synths going full blast. Same with Nothing Ever Changes.

[TheWildHeart67]

I wouldn't change a thing about "If anyone Falls." Sounds awesome, including the blasting keyboards. IMO, that entire album is flawless.