Reconsider Me
 

Hello everyone!
This is my first thread and I'm very excited to be a member of The Ledge. Thanks to the many postings on the Mirror Mirror project I've finally realized that the track "Reconsider Me" is in fact an outtake from the original recording sessions for RAL and not a re-recording from the late 90s as I previously thought. What is people's opinions on this song? Do you think it should have been on RAL? And do you think it could have been a hit back in the mid-80s?

It was remixed in 1998, but, yeah, it's an outtake from Rock A Little.

I really like Stevie's vocal on it. It's not as desperate as some of her Rock A Little vocals, but still pretty emotional and rugged.

Could it have been a hit in 1985/1986? Well, Iovine certainly hoped so. I'm not so sure. "Talk To Me" succeeded with that synth-and- chugging drum sound, a la "Voices Carry" from earlier in 1985, as well as 1984's "Missing You" (co-written by "Talk To Me"'s author, Chas Sanford). "Reconsider Me" has a sound that isn't that distinct as far as eras go, to my ears. Were there more "generic" sounding hits in 1985? Bruce, Sting, Tom... all sounded like their usual stuff in 1985. Well, Sting had all those jazz horns on his first solo album. And Tom had Dave Stewart... Even Eurythmics had a more rock sound with Be Yourself Tonight that year. I don't know where "Reconsider Me" fits in soundwise.

However, I like the song very much and always make room for it on my own Rock A Little deluxe CDs.

Interesting point, thanks. I never knew "Missing You" was written by the same guy as "Talk to Me". I wonder why Iovine insisted on bringing in other songwriters' material. Even if Stevie might have been unreliable at that point, she must have had dozens of left-overs and demos that they could have worked on and turned into a hit.

The Warren Zevon version of the song has a really good vocal, but I like the arrangement on Stevie's more.
I do like Stevie's take on the song, but IMO it's not right for RAL. It is too safe a song all around, plus it has none of the vocal wildness that helped make RALStevie distinct from other Stevie eras. I think the only thing the vocal on Reconsider Me & the RAL songs really have in common is that stopped-up nasal sound.

- Jake

Slightly off-topic here but HURRAH for the mention of Voices Carry! I'm a huge Aimee Mann fan and love her work with 'Til Tuesday too but they are never, ever mentioned!

Oh yes they are! Lookey here: http://www.ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/sh...ad.php?t=45209

Am I the only person who considers these songs, for all intents and purposes, identical?

I think Stevie herself wanted the song because she loved "Missing You."

Yes. They are similar in some ways. But I love them both. :)

For a long time I never knew about "Reconsider Me" being a RAL outtake. For some reason it doesn't sound like RAL at all. It's still a lovely song and I listen to it occasionally.

"Reconsider Me" feels so incomplete. Great intro and first verse, but once those 45 seconds are up it's just the chorus repeated for 3 minutes save for an all-too-brief bridge.

I agree. That's why I was so surprised to read on the other threads that is was in fact a real outtake. To me the vocals sound a bit "lazier" and detached or, as darklinensuit puts it, lacking the wildness of the other RAL recordings.
I always thought that the dedication to Jimmy I. was cute. Do we know if he ever commented on their working relationship after he quit RAL? And are they in touch today?

Steve Earle does a great version of Reconsider Me.
With regards to the songwriter question, Stevie has said that Jimmy was always on the hunt for a "hit for Stevie." She said she doesn't consider herself to be a great single writer.

That's interesting, coming from a woman who wrote FM's only US no. 1, Edge of 17, Stand Back etc... Seems like her producers including Iovine did not do a lot to boost her self-confidence.

Hey, I STILL jam out and dance around to "Love In A Vacuum" and enjoy a cold beer to "You Know The Rest", looking at old photos >sigh<... Desperate for the single remix of "Love In A Vacuum"!!!!!!!!!!!!

I really think "Talk To Me" was the way to go with the first single, and it's still Stevie's highest charting solo single! (#2!!!).

Yeah, Stevie said that in her Crystal Visions documentary during the 'Talk To Me' video, that Jimmy found her that song because she's a 'Good Writer ...but not a good single writer.' :shrug: I dunno, I always thought she was decent.

Welcome to the Ledge, peer_gyny10! I see you're from Canada, as am I, eh! ;)

I am a HUGE Aimee Mann fan too...both with Ti' Tuesday and solo. An extremely talented, composed woman with a lot of integrity. (sorry for going off topic).

Back on topic!

Considering Stevie's success up to that point and the fact that RAL was hotly anticipated by fans and radio alike. Pretty much any 1st single being released in 1985 (including Reconsider Me feat. background vocals by Don Henley) would have been likely to become a top 10 hit.

The simple arrangement frame a lovely torchy vocal and haunting melody and make this a stand out track. Stevie could have propelled this to become a hit IMO even if it were a bit prudish sounding by the mid 80's compared to the mid-tempo pounding drum machine and pulsating synths that made Talk to Me leap off the radio. But I sometimes wonder if Reconsider Me would have endeared more as a hallmark song and aged better than TTM in the end. As Mike B. mentioned TTM did afford Stevie her highest charting Billboard pop chart single as a solo artist but is now more of a time capsule in Stevie's catalogue and not played as much compared to her more classic and timeless hits. I think very possibly Reconsider Me could have transcended just being another 80's hit to being an ageless and enduring classic for Stevie in the same vein of SDMHA, Edge, L & L, and Stand Back

(Btw Aimee Mann is probably my 2nd favorite female singer-somgwriter after Stevie. I loved Til' Tuesday back in the day, but to me Aimee really blossomed even more beautifully as a solo artist.)

LOVE the song, but HATE both Stevie's and the Pretenders' versions!
I think it's VERY obvious Stevie did NOT want to record this song!
You like the song? Pick up Warren Zevon's version.....still the definitive take!!

Hello! Nice to hear from a fellow Canadian :D. Yes, she certainly is a decent single writer, that is, if working with the right producer. I don't know if this is true, but didn't she state somewhere that Sheryl Crow was the only producer who truly respected the vision communicated by the demo recordings?

I suppose it's true that any lead single at that point would have been a hit. Still, it is weird that they eventually went for another song that was not written by Stevie. And I really need to check out Warren Z's recording of RM.

I don't like this song AT ALL and there are so many other gems that could have and should have taken it's place on Enchanted. Why is it even on there? What does Stevie say about it? Her vocals aren't bad and neither is the production but the song itself is lame, just plane lame. Just a horrible song lol. Have I made myself clear? It seriously hurts my everything and I'd like to think Stevie doesn't like it but apparently I'm wrong b/c it's on Enchanted...Definitely a top 10 worst Stevie song, sorry.

I agree.
Stevie said she told Jimmy(in 1985) she didn't like the song because she would never ask someone to reconsider her. I think she put it on the album to please Jimmy, though I don't know why she felt she had to then.

Aaah well at least that makes some kind of sense. Thumbs up for good self-esteem! I, unfortnately have asked to be reconsidered...
I just hate that he had her by the balls all those years. I hope in the years since she's told him to go f**k himself. If I ever met him, I would say it on her behalf. Especially for ATBW not being included on TWH.

Here's what Stevie said to the Boston Globe about RM upon release of Enchanted.

''When Jimmy brought me the song, he thought it was going to be a key song in my career, like a second `Stop Draggin' My Heart Around.' But we got in a big fight, because I really don't like to do other people's songs that often. That's why I write my own songs. I was pretty crazy at that point in my life, and you couldn't tell me anything. And I said to him, `I would never say the words ''reconsider me'' to somebody. I would never ask somebody to reconsider loving me.' Well, he thought that was the biggest bunch of crap he'd ever heard, so we had a big fight about it and that's just about the last time Jimmy and I ever worked together."

''But all these years later, I'm not uptight about it anymore,'' Nicks added. ''And Zevon was a very good friend. ... I'm delighted to be doing Warren's song now.''

Thats why the RAL era is so fascinating. The endless speculation of what could have been. What the Hell really happened?? And what we ended up with in retrospect.

Stevie's stubbornness (to put it politely) at the time is also what led her to let "Don't Come Around Here No More" slip through her fingers as well.

I love Reconsider Me. I don't think it belonged on "RAL" though... It just doesn't really fit with the rest of the record. I think she should've put it on TimeSpace or something.

Ever since this thread was posted "Reconsider Me" has been constantly stuck in my head! :laugh:

Mine too!

I love her version, and much prefer it to Zevon's, which, to me, falls a bit flat. Stevie brings such a beautiful vulnerability to it.

At the same time, I agree that it wouldn't have really fit on RAL. And I love that she held her ground, insisting she wouldn't ask to be reconsidered. That's our girl! She didn't quite stick with that insistence to write her own songs, but I guess that's our girl, too.
Anyway, lovely song and I'm glad she's proud of it now, if not on RAL.

I love it. But, it sounds very, very sad to me.

Great song, great vocals by Stevie on it - open, believable and vulnerable. Should have been on an album somewhere besides Enchanted.

:laugh: :laugh: :laugh: I wonder if the two are on speaking terms.