Rock A Little - 25 Years!
 

Wow! Can you believe it?! Rock A Little is 25 years old this month! It was a long 2 year & 5 month wait since The Wild Heart. We only had "Violet And Blue", "Sorcerer", Westwood One radio concerts, uncredited backing vocals on "Don't Come Around Here No More" and endless re-listenings to Stevie's previous recordings to get us through that long gap.

As I noted in my "Rock A Little - November 1984 Track Listing" thread, there were 21 songs fully recorded and ready in November 1984 for release for Rock A Little, with "Mirror, Mirror" as the lead single to be released in December. Then, in August 1985, Ginny Kamano announced that 25 songs were now recorded for the album's consideration.

I had two thoughts. First, can we come up with a pretty definitive list of the 25 that were fully recorded. And second, maybe we can do an UPGRADE Thread for the unreleased Outtakes & Demos from the Rock A Little era. Most of us had to suffer through horrible sound quality of most of those songs, but several much better sounding versions have surfaced in recent years. Maybe we could post and try to find the perfect versions?

Anyway, for the RAL 25, we can start with the 11 songs on the album:

1. I Can't Wait
2. Rock A Little
3. Sister Honey
4. I Sing For The Things
5. Imperial Hotel
6. Some Become Strangers
7. Talk To Me
8. The Nightmare
9. If I Were You
10. No Spoken Word
11. Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?

Then we have the official b-sides, soundtrack songs and other confirmed Rock A Little recordings:
12. One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star
13. Mirror, Mirror
14. Battle Of The Dragon
15. Are You Mine?
16. Reconsider Me

Next, I'll use songs from the track listing from November 1984:
17. Lady From The Mountains
18. Chanel, Chanel
19. The Dealer
20. Thousand Days

In August 1985, another song was added to the fully-recorded listing:
21. She Still Loves Him

So, that leaves 4 empty slots:
22.
23.
24.
25.

I'm gonna make my own guesses:
22. I Call You Missing
23. Rose Garden
24. Jimmy Come On Back
25. Running Through The Garden

Just guesses, of course. "Something Exquisite" definitely is in the running, and so is "Tied Up (In Promises)", but it's so hard to narrow down. Stevie surely recorded more than 25. Anyway, I was just trying to celebrate Rock A Little and its place in Stevie History.

Love! Love! Love! me some Rock A Little! the Wild Heart era was kinda wild but nothing compared to the Rock A Little era! my first Stevie concert was RAL tour. June 14, 1986. It was my first Stevie record i got to buy the day it was released.

my guesses for the other songs recorded during that time...(since i have demos for all these labeled as being from RAL)
Running Through The Garden
All The Beautiful Worlds (this was recorded for BD, WH and RAL right?)
Greta
and
Love Is Like A River

I Call You Missing and Jimmy Come On Back was WH era, i think. and I Call You Missing wasnt recorded again til OSOTM?
Rose Garden ...idk??
Tied Up ...WH?
Something Exquisite...not sure.

Well, since Marilyn Martin sings on "Jimmy Come On Back", and Stevie didn't meet her until The Wild Heart tour in Summer 1983, "Jimmy Come On Back" can't be from The Wild Heart. And Rock A Little is the only Stevie album that Marilyn sang on.

I forgot about "All The Beautiful Worlds". Although it sounds very The Wild Heart, evidence points to it actually being a very early song from Rock A Little. I have percussion guides dated October 1983 for Bobbye Hall to put overdubs onto "All The Beautiful Worlds" that month. That's why I think "All The Beautiful Worlds" truly is an early Rock A Little recording, much like "One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star", which was recorded in July 1983.

Rock A Little is so special to me! I still remember hearing "Talk To Me" on the radio for the first time in October 1985, on a dark and rainy night. I thought Stevie's newest voice was just incredible, all raspy and wild! Then, when I got the 45, I was in heaven with the glorious epic, "One More Big time Rock And Roll Star".

To this day, Rock A Little is Stevie's most listenable album for me in terms of variety and flow. So many different sounds and emotions... epic!

This era through Street Angel always makes me sad. You can hear the deterioration of the songwriting and vocals through this period. I Can't Wait is probably the last great rocker (with the Bella Donna/Wild Heart vocal) we will ever get.

Weren't "These Dreams" and "Don't Come Around Here No More" meant for this album? So many missed opportunities on this record. :distress:

maybe im remembering wrong...but wasnt TTM released to radio way before the actual 45 was released, like in early Sept?? idk...but everytime i heard it on the radio i always caught it half way through...around the 2 verse. and the "ive shown you all my cards" part, we thought she was saying "ive shown you...oh my god!" lol! i still sing it that way.

my first listen to OMBTRARS when the 45 came out, was thru huge stereo speakers...those opening chords and Stevies voice echoing was amazing. those same emotions come back everytime i listen to that song.
"Undah-covaaaaaaaaaaah" and the guitar behind her...i cant put it into words

the radio stations in Ohio never played the album version of ICW on the radio that i can recall, but i do remember hearing the extended remix on the radio once when the 12" was released in early summer of 86.

aah such sweet memories. can't believe its been 25 years!

What about What Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You? And I know Joan of Arc was Tango, but I heard it was originally written for RAL??? And Ooh Ooh Baby? I always thought that was RAL too.

It's interesting... I used to really hate Rock A Little. I thought it was extremely dated and cheesy, and that Stevie's performances from that era were just total train wrecks lol. As time has passed though, I've come to just adore everything Rock A Little. There was so much passion in that era. Stevie didn't hold back, and wasn't afraid of musical and vocal experimentation. The album itself is just pure fun to me now... dated in the GOOD way. And Rock A Little was the last tour we saw Stevie's passionate side. Rock A Little seems to be the only Stevie album I've been playing this year in fact. Happy Birthday Rock A Little!!! :D

I effing LOVE Rock A Little! Just yesterday I was going through my unsorted files of mp3's and found 3 discs of RAL outtakes & demos (tho I think some of em are actually Wild Heart), there were a bunch I already had but some of em were "new", it made my day.
On those discs were also Rock-A-Bye Baby, All These Years, Night Gallery, Mabel Normand, City Of Hope and Gypsy Beggars.

I remembering the raw emotion in Stevie's voice and wondering what her pain was. I supposed it could have still been Robin's 1982 death, but Stevie sounded so heartbroken.

We wouldn't learn until 1989, in the Refelctions From The Other Side Of The Mirror interview, that some man had dumped Stevie in 1984, sending her into a huge writing spur. Two years later, in 1991, Stevie even revealed that man's name: Joe Walsh, surprising Stevie fans everywhere. (She sorta revealed it in the liner notes to TimeSpace, but not completely).

On Rock A Little, it sounds to me like Stevie is trying to laugh through her pain sometimes, and then cry some more.

And the song "Rock A Little"... Wow. Well, I love the long version, but, honestly, the album version is the killer, with that opening rasp: "Sometimes it rages... rock a little..." Stevie is SO intense! "Rock A Little" remains on of my favourite songs of all time.

Oh, Mike!!! That's exactly the chills I got hearing the parts you're describing of "One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star"~~!!!!! Just Stevie and Joe's guitar the first time, and the the second time with Stevie overdubbing herself and with the girls... That was SO totally different for Stevie!!! Just an incredible epic song! Oh, where "music lover" rolls right into the second "Undercover......"

When I make my own Rock A Little CDs, I always put "One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star" after "Some Become Strangers" and right before "Talk To Me". It fits SO perfectly!

Here's one of the track listings when I make an extended Rock A Little CD, using official releases.

1. I Can't Wait
2. Mirror, Mirror
3. Rock A Little
4. Sister Honey
5. Reconsider Me
6. I Sing For The Things
7. Imperial Hotel
8. Some Become Strangers
9. One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star
10. Talk To Me
11. The Nightmare
12. Battle Of The Dragon
13. If I Were You
14. Are You Mine?
15. No Spoken Word
16. Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?

Rock a Little will always be special to me because it was the album where I first started liking Stevie. "I Can't Wait' was the first song I liked by her. I was 11 when I first heard it. Of course, later, I realized I'd heard other songs by Stevie and liked them, but with ICW, I knew who she was. I didn't know she was in Fleetwood Mac until TITN. Lucky for me, the band she was in included my very favorite musician...Lindsey Buckingham!!!

oh yes yes yes!
music lovaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhooooooohhhhhhhundaaahhhhhcovaaaaaahh
and what is the line after all that??
ooh owww heey kaaay mhaaay?
i have no idea what shes saying but i love it!

sounds like a good track list...which Are You Mine? are you using?

That's just about exactly how I'd translate it!!! :)

"Are You Mine?" ~ I usually use the version from the August 1987 Rock Stars radio interview, even if the intro is shortened. Mainly I use it since that version is a duet and there are no duets on Rock A Little. Also, Billy is listed in the credits for Rock A Little, so it's kinda keeping with the liner notes. In the interview, Stevie makes it seem as if this was the version she wanted on Rock A Little. Also, I'm trying to use only official releases for this version of Rock A Little.

Other times I'll use the solo Stevie version from the Masters. Billy plays guitar still, but doesn't sing. The intro is complete and Stevie's a little raspier, which I love.

But... since Stevie didn't write it, I'm thinking she wanted "Are You Mine?" to be the duet version, since it was a shout-out to her grandfather, Jess, whom she used to sing the song with when she was young.

What a cool story!

When "Edge Of Seventeen" got me into Stevie in November 1981, and I found out she was in Fleetwood Mac, I bought a bunch of their albums to hear her other songs. I was shocked to realized that in 1976 I had loved this song which I could never figure out the title to, and I learned it was a song by Stevie!

Title? "Rhiannon". :)

Most people who did not know the real title thought it was Will You Ever Win. Is that what you thought it was? In fact, on the original single it said that in parenthisees after the song title.

I think I did! I remember in 1976 hearing it on the radio, and trying to "sing" along with the "Rhiannon" on the chorus and having no idea what that word/sound was!

I also loved both front and back covers for Rock A Little. Even the lettering of the title was very different for Stevie, those simple red letters. And on the back, she quoted some mystery lyric that I would not know which song it came from until 1994, when I got my first outtake of "Thousand Days".

The shot on the back of the album is one of my all time favorite shots of Stevie. I have the promo poster for the album, which uses that shot, and it too is one of my favorite posters of Stevie.
"Rock A Little" is the first album of Stevie's I was eagerly waiting for. I had become a serious Stevie fan the previous year and back then the only way I knew of new music was thru MTV or Rolling Stone. I also used to flip thru the "new release" 45's at the record store. I found "Talk To Me" in that bin (it hadn't charted yet) and bought it without ever hearing a note of it. Got it home and played both sides non stop until I had both songs memorized (although it wasn't until "Enchanted" that I found of the correct words to OMBTRARS, I thought the line was "it sounded good on a deli cat, wine, women and song" which makes no sense at all!!).
I played the album nonstop (I also got "Tusk" that year for Christmas, so those two albums were played thru the winter of '85/'86). The RAL tour was the first time I saw Stevie as well. I have the platinum record award for the album (awarded to Modern Records). The album isn't my favorite album of hers, I don't think it's aged well, but it holds a lot of "firsts" for me, so it gets points for that.
Finally the thing about the album that I always thought was so cool was the line in "I Can't Wait" were it says "How will we feel twenty years from now..." that seemed like such a long time off, I was 14 when the album came out and to think that I would be 34 in twenty years seemed so far off, and here it is twenty FIVE years later!!!

That poster is looking down on me as I type these very words! :)

"How will we feel twenty years from now?!"

Yes, a great line! In 2007, Stevie still proclaimed Joe to be the Great Love Of Her Life, over twenty years later...

I miss my ROCK A LITTLE Tour T-shirts!!!!!

I wore the black one with the "I Can't Wait" video shot on it to death; it finally fell apart. However, I loved the white T of the album cover even more (I look better in white? Me, as vain as Stevie!), but an ex-boyfriend stole that in 1990. :mad:

TOO expensive on eBay or Chris Nicks! ;)

I still have the black one, it's WAY too small for me now!! But I have it, I wore that for a very long time. There's a small hole in it though, the day after the concert I was wearing the shirt and my cat jumped up on me and put her claw thru it, actually right into Stevie's face!! My mom fixed it as best she could, but I know the hole is still there!

Though the correct lyrics are "a delicate white written card said OMBTRARS," I, like you, got it wrong and thought the words were, " a delicate white rythym guitar and we both were called OMBTRARS."

omg...get outta my head! i could have written this post lol!!!
only i originally heard the lyrics as "it sounded good honey...delicate wild women become...one more big time rock and roll star" which kinda makes sense huh?
National Record Mart had the RAL poster up in the store when the album was released...somebody somewhere has a picture of me standing next to it!!
i had both the black tour shirt and the white. i lost the black one many many years ago, still working on replacing it. the white one i had out grown long ago ....so i did a little alteration last year on it...
http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...RALtshirt1.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...RALtshirt2.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...RALtshirt4.jpg

http://i27.photobucket.com/albums/c1...RALtshirt5.jpg

delicate white ribbon card

I have been so busy I haven't even had a chance to look at this thread until now but the first I will say is that I have chills reading through it. I too fell in love with Stevie over I Can't Wait at the age of 10 so that song will always have a very special place in my heart. When I first got heavily into Stevie back in 20001-2002 and started collecting...**** gotta run. Will continue this post later. I <3 my RAL Stevie!

I always thought it was delicate white ribbon called OMBTRARS lol.

from Nicksfix:

I told you last night or did you tell me
I think that it was me and I know that you heard it
I was crazy about you that's how it always was
Do you think about me now as I sing about this love

When it rains it pours
When there's no one at the door
Yes he did send me flowers
Well that was a long time ago
Sounded good on a
Delicate white-ribbon card
"One more big time rock and roll star"
Just what I need

As you walk away you know that I will call
If it's just to say goodnight and that is all
Well alright that's a lie she says she wanted you to stay
But you know much better than she
She's better off this way

Undercover music lover
Oh undercover music lover and an art lover like me
There were candles, crystals, I was anyone's fantasy
Say I'm not 'cause the work just gets harder
The work gets...
Oh, one more big time rock and roll star

I always thought ATBW was recorded specifically for TWH and Jimmy Iovine pulled it due to his personal involvement with Stevie. What a prick! That song rules the world and should have been on that album. I'll never forgive him! :mad:

it probably was, never heard the story about Jimmy pulling it but it sounds believable.
i have demos of it labeled as Bella Donna, The Wild Heart and Rock A Little...but thats not my doing, just the way i got them and i am have never questioned it...but after just listening to the BD labeled demo it sounds WH era. so i have 2 WH era ATBW demos and a RAL era demo.

I'd like to know which song you would have replaced it with?

There are only ten songs on The Wild Heart, must we sacrifice one?! But if so, I would have trashed I Will Run To You.

When I first really started listening to Rhiannon I just thought it was her and lindsey going "yeahhh nahh" (at the chorus) or that's what it sounded like to me, then i suddenly realised about ten listens later that it actually made sense :lol:

Oh and,

Rock A Little is the first Stevie solo album i bought that wasn't a greatest hits, it remains to this day one of my very favourite albums, just for it's diversity and changibility. That and the experience cannot be topped by listening to the vinyl of it! which is a gazillion times better than the CD!

Happy Silver Anniversary Rock A Little...

From the first moment I heard it, I thought it went, "We both caught one more big time rock and roll star... just what I neeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeddddddd!!!!!" ;)

Mike! LOVE that rescued T-shirt!!! That hoodie is amazing!

Silva, the Rock A Little era photos are also my favourites, so dark and mysterious, especially the one in your sig!

And, yes, like you and Stevie both say, music sounds better on vinyl.

I also thought Stevie was screeching "Oh my god!" on "Talk To Me" ~ LOL!

Even though Stevie wrote "I Sing For The Things" in 1981, it certainly fit her Rock A Little timespace. Her voice is so heartbreaking, so breathy and dark... just love it!!!

Oh, John, absolutely! I'm so glad Stevie did several takes of the song and that take got used for the first time. "Absolute destitute sadness"... what a perfect description!

Without a doubt, Gate and Garden. Seriously though, ATBW is epic. It could have replaced anything in my mind, it's just that good! (ok maybe not BATB).

I don't know how many outakes/demos of this song are "out there", but I found this one yesterday, I think she sounds even more sad and I'm absolutely in love with it:
http://www.mediafire.com/?a54no86kisexhk5
When did she wrote "Rock A Little"? There's this piano/drum demo but she sounds so much younger in that one, her voice isn't RAL-ish at all.

Stevie gave an interview in September 1981 saying she had just written a song called "Rock A Little".

In her newsletter in November 1984, Ginny Kamano confirmed that Stevie wrote "Rock A Little" "in the Summer of 1981".

So, presumably, those piano & drums demos of "Rock A Little" are from 1981, since Stevie talks a lot in it about having the perfect chorus and trying for better verses.

Agreed with replacing Gate and Garden with ATBW. I find the sequence of If Anyone Falls - Gate and Garden - Enchanted to be totally and utterly boring. The songs from Nightbird to BATB all sequence wonderfully and are all fantastic in my eyes.

Replace Gate and Garden with ATBW, and TWH would be Stevie's best album. As it stands, after the fantastic opening, the first half of the album just drags.

RAL....the last great stand of Stevie Nicks. I still can not believe how much Stevie could change so completely in such a short time frame. From the upbeat happiness of Bella Donna/ Wild Heart to the dark dangers during RAL to the dullness after '85. Oh, and rock on, Sister Honey!!!!!!

RAL is definitely one of my favorites! I've had it in my car CD player for the past month now. My favorites off this record: "If I Were You", "No Spoken Word", and "Some Become Strangers". Stevie's vocals were CRAZY on this record and on the tour! I guess that's why I like it so much.