Rock A Little release 37th anniversary
 

How will you feel 37 years from now?

RAL was released 37 years ago yesterday (November 18, 1985). The album got mixed reviews but most of them were positive. It was highly anticipated after about a year delay. I remember reading in Rolling Stone in April 1984 that Stevie was putting the "finishing touches" on her new album. It would not be released a year and a half after that article. The album did achieve some commercial success but was a disappointment in commercial success and album sales. After 2 prior solo albums raced to the top of the charts: Bella Donna #1 and Wild Heart #5 on the heals of a #1 Thriller and Flashdance soundtrack, RAL never even made top 10. Stevie lost many rock stations who had her Bella Donna songs in heavy rotation and were not going to play Talk To Me or HAEWAFY. Stevie's drug addiction was in full swing and its a miracle an album even got finished. Studios were rented where she never showed up. Jimmy Iovine walked out midway, and her demos were so messed up the record company had to bring a bunch of songs she never wrote to include on the album. Stevie rejected songs like These Dreams and Dont Come Around Here No More. I was 15 when the album came out and at the peak of my cult worship. Even though I bought the album immediately after release and played it to death, deep down I hid my disappointment. Even at 15 I was shocked how bad she sounded on some songs and wondered why anyone would allow a vocal like on the title track appear on the album. Sure Waddy adds a few guitar licks and the song has a cool bass line that shows up but the rest of the track is crap. You can barely hear her in her coked out, Kool Mild 100 raspy voice. The rest of the song sounds like a cheap casio keyboard programmed track. Songs like Sister Honey were ruined by the synth pop funk of its time. This was not the Stevie I knew. At least there was a Heartbreakers tune on the album and we hear real instruments. But it sounds like the Heartbreakers took about 5 minutes to make up and play that track. Imagine the Heartbreakers playing on Sister Honey. Remove the funk and have some guitars churning with real drums. It could have been a great rocker and a single. Even songs like No Spoken Word were ruined by synth pop programmed bass and drums. RAL is the only album by Mac members I owned on vinyl that I never upgraded to CD. I dont own a copy of this album since I discarded the vinyl many moons ago. As much as the album was not a huge commercial success, the RAL tour was wildly successful. It was the first time Stevie doubled looped around some cities playing there twice on the same tour. It also moved Stevie into concert success equaling Fleetwood Mac numbers which only strengthened her management's position for more percentages of Mac tour proceeds.
Imagine that after the Wild Heart tour Stevie went into rehab. She could have had a solo album much better and could have been there for the Mac's Tango album. The mid 80s were a dangerous time for Ms Nicks. Instead of doing RAL promotion in the fall of 1985, she was partying on tour with Heart. Instead of coming to her RAL tour rehearsals, she was partying down under with Tom and Bob. She did not take her career or music serious because the party became the priority. The studio time and concert time gave her an excuse to over indulge and facilitated her problem. Much of what attracted me to Stevie Nicks was not there on RAL but like any cult member, I hid my disappointment.

I know you hate Talk to Me, and your dislike for the song is affecting your feelings about how successful it was. I believe Talk to Me went to #4 and was one of her highest charting singles. It was also nominated for a Grammy for rock song of the year. It get tremendous airplay on radio stations, as well as MTV.

It went to #4, or so I read. But I couldn't find a source that mentioned as a grammy nominee for song or rock song (rock song awards were established in 1992). I did find it for Best Female Rock Vocal Performance in 1987.

While I still worship Bella Donna, and love The Wild Heart, Rock a Little was starting to show the cracks. I still liked it, and played it a lot, but the magic wasn't there. By the time Other Side of the Mirror came around, the cracks were blatantly showing. That album sucked. I'd gone from worship to meh.

I thought Rock a Little was a mess. I didn’t understand all the synthesizers and awkward attempts to serve the musical zeitgeist of the mid-80s.

I remember being baffled after listening to song after song—until “Imperial Hotel.” All of a sudden I thought “she’s back, her instrument is still intact.” Yes, she sounds a tad overwrought even here, but that suits the subject of the song. (Musically, it could have fit easily on Bella Donna. Her Tom Petty tributes like this were her best departures from the FM sound she perfected on “How Still my Love.”)

I remember a few weeks later reading Mark Coleman’s Rolling Stone review of RAL and agreeing with all of it (that she should take her own advice and rock a little more). I also felt vindicated that like me he saw the gold in “Imperial Hotel,” a song hardly anyone appears to like.

I saw her live on this tour. She was an absolute mess, all coked up and manic. At one point she threw a tambourine behind her in the air and it landed some place back stage. Here’s hoping no one’s head was split apart by it.

You missed my entire point. The charting of a pop song she did not write has nothing to do with my sediments. Your rating for talent depends on pop charts? I dislike Talk To Me because of its simplicity. This is where Stevie jumps the shark IMHO. She did not write SDMHA either but that song had some grit. Talk To Me is bubble gum puffery. I used to try and write songs when I was in high school and I couldn't. I was horrible. I bet I could have wrote the lyrics to Talk To Me. I remember people who liked Stevie at the time was not crazy about the song. The song had no Stevie mystery or charm as her earlier work.
I dont take Talk To Me into the equation of RAL at all. Its by itself. I am talking about the album. There was potential there but it went so off the rails. I Cant Wait is a powerful Stevie vocal and the song is good. If they toned down the disco swishes it would be better. Almost every other version of The Nightmare I have heard is better than the album version. If you listen to Stevie on Rockline in 1989 she states how she freaked out when her best pal Tom Petty called her a pop star. She loathed him saying that which I interpret how she looked back on RAL with distain. There is a reason why she never performs much from the album except her ballad HAEWAFY and No Spoken Word. She jumped the shark. Her cokey demos suddenly could not be morphed into a good song that also could be a radio single.
The chart success of its first single was a double edged sword. It gave the album a hit but put Stevie into another category where she needed others to write her songs. She had a catalog with good songs. Some discipline and creativity could have went a long way. She no longer was the innovator. She became the imitator. She was copying the mid 80s look with wearing neon gloves in videos.
BTW in case anyone is keeping score, Talk To Me is not Stevie's highest charting single. It reached #4 but SDMHA reached #3. Learn it. Know it.

I got your point, we just disagree, that’s all. I never thought of Talk to Me as bubble gum puffery, especially compared to, say, Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind. But then I like that song, too, so maybe I like bubble gum puffery LOL. Talk to me has grit, I’m not sure why you can’t hear it, so we must have different definitions of grit. My comments about Talk to Me were specific rebuttals to your comment that radio stations who played singles from Bella Donna and the Wild Heart weren’t playing Talk to Me, and I don’t agree with that.

I just wanted to add I never said Talk to Me was her highest charting single, I said it was one of her highest charting singles. I think Stand Back might have peaked at #4, too.

Stevie played a ton of songs from Bella Donna live, not just because it was a great album that she loved, but also because it was her only album up to that point, so she didn’t have much choice. You said she doesn’t sing songs from RAL live much anymore, and that’s true, but her Wild Heart tour only played 3 song live, I believe, and RAL had 4 songs on the tour. OSOTM played 4 songs as well, ironically she didn’t play the best songs on the album except for Rooms on Fire. My point being, RAL was better represented in the tour than the Wild Heart was.

Don’t get me wrong, I agree with your assessment of the album, but disagree with a few things.

Thanks for the correction. I knew it was nominated for a Grammy, just not specifically which category. I think a Pat Benatar song may have won that year, I’m not sure.

Just in case anyone is interested, I looked on Wikipedia and saw Stevie has been nominated several times for Best Rock Performance by a Female Artist- Edge of Seventeen 1981, Stand Back 1983, Talk to Me, Whole Lotta Trouble, and Planets of the Universe 2002.

Talk to Me peaked at #4 for 2 weeks, and hit #1 on Top Mainstream Rock Chart. Billboard said “it packs a real wallop.” Stand Back peaked at #5 and #2, respectively.

Pat Benatar won many times when she was nominated in the same category, but Tina Turner won the year Talk to Me was nominated for a song I never heard of. Back Where You a started, I think it was called.

Benatar's career was in even more trouble than Stevie's by 1985. Her album Seven the Hard Way released at the same time as RAL barely went gold and had no hits. The musical landscape had changed dramatically since 1983. In 1983 almost no one knew who Madonna or Whitney were. Still RAL is an uneven mess with a few highlights.

I think Stevie's two Grammy Awards are from Rumours?

Amazing though that Stevie won no solo Grammy awards yet she's called the Queen of Rock. Tina is the King and Queen. I stand with Lizzo's opinion on that.

Seven the Hard Way yielded the top 10 hits Sex as a Weapon and Invincible but no doubt the album was a failure but for different reasons. Pat had just had a baby and her contract was due another album and they threw something together. That is why its called Seven the hard way. Its her seventh album and it was very hard to put together with time constraints. Having said that she had 2 top hits from the album including the smash Invincible.
Pat NEVER changed her music or her style. Seven The Hard Way sold less than RAL and only went Gold which was a surprise since she was a platinum queen.

Hate to nitpick but Invincible hit number 10 months before the album's release as it was originally on a film soundtrack .Sex as a Weapon the album's true lead single bombed at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100. It recieved very little airplay as I recall as I was avidly listening to the radio then for new RAL songs. I agree that her album failed for different reasons. Pat as I recollect was not a drug addict.

Ah yes, Invincible was from the soundtrack to the award winning classic film the Legend of Billie Jean! Well, it may not have won any awards, but Invincible the video was played non-stop on MTV. I did like Le Bel Age, the third single, but I’m pretty sure that, like Sex as a Weapon, it didn’t chart very highly.

BombaySapphire3, I’m curious what some of your favorite Benatar songs are. I bought her 2 disc collection many many years ago, and I love it! Temporary Heroes is one of my favorites, along with Don’t Walk Away, Shadows of the Night, Everybody Lay Dowm, Everytime I Fall Back, the list goes on. I’m so glad she’s in the RARHOF.

That was interesting about why she named her album Seven the Hard Way.

I have to disagree with you again though, Macfan4life- don’t think I’m picking on you because I’m not LOL but Pat DID change her music and style. She recorded a blues album, her album Gravity’s Rainbow sounded different from previous albums, and critics said her album Innamorata seemed inspired by Alanis Morrisette. Personally I am fine when artists change with the times, in fact that’s one way to continue to be relevant. Even though her later albums weren’t big hits, in some ways I think her material was better as she adapted to the new music trends.

In honor of the anniversary. Here are the Ho Hos with the bad Stevie and I Cant Wait

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONqEOtxA5Tw

Still wish this album would get an expanded release.

Thank you for posting. I have always loved the talents of these two girls. Loved how they incorporated Nu Shoes' I Can't Wait into Stevie's version.

Yes their talent is unmatched.

Its funny because Nu Shooz's I Cant Wait was on the charts the same time as Stevie's. How odd to have 2 songs with the same title on the charts. They were released almost the same week.
But wait, it gets even crazier:
The B side to Nu Shooz's I Cant Wait was "Make Up Your Mind"

You simply cant make this stuff up. Both songs had unique keyboard sound track too.

Which is all another brilliant reason the Ho Ho's put it in their set. BTW, the bad Stevie singing with the window frame is priceless.

I remember when J Geils' Band lead singer Peter Wolf went solo and his lead single was going to be Dancing in the Dark. Bruce had just released a song with that title and it was huge. So they changed the name to Lights Out. It still became a hit at #12.

It happened in the summer of 1979 when ABBA and Roxy Music both had singles titled Angeleyes out at the same time in the UK where both bands were huge in those times. The DJs ended up playing the other side of the ABBA single Voulez- Vous instead and both bands ended up with top 5 hits.

This album was a fascinating mess. A few good songs that were basically written by other people. Some atmospheric gems like Rock A Little and Has Anyone Ever Written that were sort of ruined by cryptic lyrics. But most of all, a lot of overproduced crap which signaled her end of having quality albums. She had a big head and was on drugs and you could hear her meltdown on the album.

Three good songs ("I Can't Wait," "Talk To Me," "Has Anyone..."). If what's on the album is this bad, I don't see what could justify an expanded release.

Everybody has different favorites, naturally, and different ideas of “best.” I love these:

• The Nightmare
• Imperial Hotel
• Some Become Strangers
• If I Were You

A deluxe set may have some of those nice unreleased or demoed songs:

• Priest of Nothing
• Lady from the Mountain
• Battle of the Dragon
• Night Gallery
• Greta
• It’s Not a Dream

. . . plus the ever-so-slight chance of some live material (although the deluxe for the second album botched that one big time).

Other items for the expanded release

1. Running through garden
2. Reconsider Me
3. Mirror Mirror
4. Thousand Days earlier version

I’m sure there are more. I’m guessing there are alternate versions too

• Talk To Me (alternate take re-recorded version that’s been floating around for years)

Add in the B sides. I think there was at least one?
Then I think for the Live disc it is very easy to just tack on the audio from Red Rocks and call it good enough unless there was a Westwood recording of another whole concert out there.

YES!
The RAL version of Running Through The Garden is incredible. I cant even imagine having that on CD. I love the extended Nightmare too. Mirror Mirror too. The RAL left overs are the best part of the album IMHO.

There was a Westwood One recording of that tour- the only songs I remember for sure that were played were Talk to Me, Has Anyone Ever Written Anything, Rhiannon, Edge of Seventeen, Stand Back, and maybe Beauty and the Beast. I’m sure there were more, but those are the only songs I remember.

If they ever do a Deluxe Edition of RAL, the audio of the Red Rocks concert would be nice, especially if they could include songs that weren’t included on the release, such as I Can’t Wait.

Forgot some!

• Something Exquisite
• JImmy Come ON Back
• Mable Normand
• She Loves Him Still
• Tied Up in Promises
• You like me

there are so many, only heard in various stages or completeness. There may have been completed ones we never heard.

She started and stopped the productions so many times with so many producers she may not even remember she was so coked out.

One More Big Time Rock & Roll Star

There was also a fantastic remix of The Nightmare on a 12 inch record. Blows the album version out of the water.

My dream RAL reissue CD would be:

Mirror Mirror (1984 version)
Rock A Little full length version with bridge
Battle of the dragon
Night Gallery
I Cant Wait remix or single version
Running Through The Garden
The Nightmare full edit remix
Imperial Hotel out take
Reconsider Me
What has Rock N Roll Ever Done For You
One Big Time Rock and Roll Star

The live CD should not be Red Rocks (dear Lord). It should be her professionally recorded Australian show where she is very grounded and sounds good. From the soundboard it sounds like Benmont Tench may have joined her which has never been confirmed but his playing is very distinct.

Stevie turned down two really good songs for this album. One was Reconsider Me and the other was Don't Come Around Here No More. These are good songs. Both would have probably been hits for her and could have changed the album to positive for me. I cannot believe that we got The Nightmare instead of Reconsider Me. No wonder Jimmy left her.

Didn't she also turn down These Dreams by Heart? Or was that one that was written prior to Wild Heart and would have gone on that one?

Yes, These Dreams was offered to Stevie, “who expressed no interest in recording it,” according to Wikipedia. These Dreams was on Heart’s self-titled album, which was released on June 21, 1985. So it seems like it would have gone on Rock a Little, if she had recorded it, which was released in late 1985.

Diane Warren wrote I Get Weak with Stevie in mind, but Rick Nowels gave the song to Belinda Carlisle. Since Nowels worked as a producer on RAL, I Get Weak would likely have also been on RAL if Stevie had recorded it.

These Dreams I can totally imagine Stevie singing- I Get Weak, I cannot imagine, though.

If you read the lyrics to These Dreams....its one cheezy line after the other
I can see Stevie not wanting to sing those lines especially thinking people would think she was trying to capitalize on her biggest song. The lyrics are someone trying to be the mystical Stevie which makes it so un-Stevie. Nancy Wilson gave that song some teeth. Not sure it would have worked in anyone else's hands especially with her RAL rasp at that point.
I cant hear Stevie singing the double negative in DONT come round here NO more.

I totally see her passing on both songs. She should have not passed on Love Will Find A Way which was specifically written for her.

I can't IMAGINE...

Ann Wilson vs Stevie..... that's like a Ferrari vs a Chevette.

It was actually Nancy on the lead on that song
But your point remains

Know what.... I knew that Nancy had one hit, but I couldn't remember which song. I own no Heart(now there's a double entendre), but I've seen them twice in recent years. Ann is amazing in that she can still hit most of the high notes. $tevie farms those out to 3 other singers. ;)

She also had the hit "There's The Girl"

Very good points. How about a mash up of These Dreams and Imperial Hotel? “I walk without a cut through the stained glass table, the same glass table and cry to my friend why am I so alone? I want to see you clearly, come closer than this- who’s there, where has she gone. Well I think she just went home.”

Who says songwriting is so hard LOL!

You ain’t got no heart but you got soul.

I was like, I would hardly call Nancy Wilson a Ferrari compared to Stevie, but Ann Wilson, oh yeah! That is a voice. But Nancy only sings lead one or two songs live, so she better be able to hit those high notes. Ann and Stevie carry the whole show, so they get some grace from me. Ann does still got it, judging from YouTube.

Up until 2016 I'd say, Ann's voice was much stronger than Stevie's but now, Ann really struggles and she tries to go for original notes and I cringe. I feel bad for her because it sounds painful sometimes.

What Stevie did well was she started singing lower in her late forties so that people came to expect that from her so now Stevie sounds really strong because she sounds like she did around The Dance just that she doesn't hit some notes in songs that she did around The Dance.