Violet and Blue
 

This song was on the 1984 Against All Odds soundtrack. The lead single from the album by Phil Collins went to #1, won a Grammy and nominated for Song Of the Year among other awards and nominations. It was huge. It was Phil's first #1 song in the states. The song was so big that it carried the movie. The movie is not that great. Many times a hit movie carries the song to the charts. The album actually went all the way to #12 on Billboard. It was a huge loss of an opportunity not to release Violet and Blue as the second single. Perhaps there was something preventing them from doing so? The album's second single was Peter Gabriel's Walk Through The Fire that never charted. Stevie's limelight from The Wild Heart was fading and it would have been a much better second single. I don't think it would have been a huge hit but it definitely would have charted. The song got major rock airplay and even pop radio stations were playing it. I remember going to my local record store at the mall and WYDD Pittsburgh had Violet and Blue as #38 on their charts. I think the song would have done better than Nightbird. It was an easy set up but a major fail.
On a side note, my local rock station in March 1984 played Violet and Blue and Christine's One In A Million back to back. I will never forget that moment. Something new from Stevie and something new from Chris.
I always liked the song. You can tell its a live vocal all the way through the song. I love the bridge too. Ten thousand Times....Oh I tried to tell you .......then she yells YEAH!

So overwhelming
:)

I love Violet & Blue very much. If I recall, they play a live version of it in the actual movie.

Good post! I bet it would’ve been a sizable hit on the Rock chart, and maybe scraped into the the lower reaches of the Hot 100. By 1984, rock was really starting to get eclipsed by synth pop and dance pop on the charts (which isn’t a complaint - 1983 and 1984 are some of my favorite years in music!).

LOVED this song! I even bought the stupid cassette of the soundtrack.:p I think it's on Enchanted, too? Really good song.

I loved this song at the time and still do!

"Take your Violet and Blue mornings with you......!":wavey:

I loved when Stevie added the line from this song to the end of "I Need To Know." Unfortunately she stopped doing that after her 2005 Vegas residency.

I can see why it wasn’t released as a single. The chorus isn’t especially catchy and the song is quite long. I think it would have required major remixing and editing in order to have gotten radio airplay. Against All Odds by Phil Collins really set a high threshold for the soundtrack; plus wasn’t 1984 the year Madonna and Cyndi Lauper hit it big? It’s hard for me to imagine Violet and Blue being played alongside Crazy For You or Time After Time, for example.

I’m not criticizing the song itself, just offering some ideas as to why it wasn’t a single. 1984 would have been an ideal time for a Stevie song on a soundtrack to be released as a single, as it was in between the Wild Heart and Rock a Little.

OMG you better check your meds. Attacking Stevie songs? Before you go all anti-Stevie on us go listen to the rest of the songs on the soundtrack then come back here. Pretend its your job to release the next single and make the album more popular.
Its a great song. It has passion and the music and drumming is really good. Comparing it to Madonna is so insulting. The song is not long at all. Its typical. You deserve to be whipped with chiffon.

You are so right! I remember when I first joined this board asking a question about a different version heard in the movie. I thought maybe it was not Stevie because it was the version that was not on the radio. It is some sort of live or alternate version. Its in the movie when they walk into some club. So maybe they wanted a live sound to make it sound like someone was performing. Regardless I am glad I am not the only one that caught that. I used to watch that movie only to hear the song. Its quite the brutal task because I never liked the movie ;)

I looked the soundtrack up, and I really think My Male Curiosity by Kid Creole and the Coconuts would have been the obvious choice for a second single. :lol:

Violet and Blue was also listed at 5:03, which is longer than the average radio song. Stevie had a number of soundtrack songs that were never singles- Sleeping Angel, Violet and Blue, Battle of the Dragon, Blue Lamp, and Twisted. I wonder why? Well, I guess If You Ever Did Believe was a single, or at least it was a video that got some airplay.

I thought I read somewhere that Stevie intended to put the Chris Lord-Alge remix of Violet and Blue on Timespace but the record label wanted SIAB instead.

Even though 'Violet and Blue' was never a single, it did get some buzz. I remember a rock magazine printed the lyrics to it.

It should've been on 'The Wild Heart', replacing the boring 'Gate and Garden'.

Also, if 'Violet and Blue' was on the album, it (or 'Nothing Ever Changes') should have been the third single. While I love 'Nightbird', it wasn't meant for Top 10 radio and only went up to the low 30s on Billboard.

Nonetheless, we did get two nice live performances out of 'Nightbird' on 'Solid Gold' and 'SNL'.

Oh - does anyone have a link to the 'SNL' performance if its online anywhere?

All of those soundtracks you listed except American Anthem did not release singles. They were released as an entire soundtrack. Against All Odds was a popular album and released singles which was the point I was making. It would have been a good release.
The lead single had a music video with movie clips, etc. Something could have been thrown together for Violet and Blue especially since it was so successful with its first single release. The movie industry learned from Flashdance how to make a successful movie and music. Flashdance did not charm test audiences. But once the lead single from the soundtrack appeared on MTV with movie clips, Flashdance took off like a rocket. It appears they started the same formula for Against All Odds but only for one single.

Both audios of Nightbird of SNL and Solid Gold are on youtube. I think the videos are gone but the audio is still up. IMHO the Solid Gold peformance is better than the SNL but is always over looked because SNL is more famous. Stevie sang live on Solid Gold twice and once was Nighbird and I prefer that performance over SNL.

Thanks!

I wish the video for the 'SNL' Nightbird was still up. I haven't seen it ages. :(

The performance on 'Solid Gold' is up at least (with Stevie singing live and the band miming to the instrumental track):



And 'Stand Back' on 'Solid Gold' is still up too:

I have always enjoyed this song--I bought the AAO LP when it came out--with a lead vocal on the chorus that is preacher-like in delivery, AND those lovely low F#s "hard on my heart", AND the dreamy choir of Stevie's in the background, and the murmur at the start, and the ad libs at the end. All great stuff.
What I've always not liked about the recording: the thuddy sounding drums and sluggish performance of them. It's at odds (no pun intended) with the driving nature of the song. It's as if someone told the recording studio's drum tech, "just keep the time, and we'll get someone else to come in and overdub."

Never liked the song at all. Nor Blue Lamp. That style of Stevie is not for me.

I’m guessing because they both sound TP and the HBish.
Blue Lamp is one of her best compositions of all time. So good that she brought it back for Welcome To the Room… the best song on Tango.

How do you feel about If You Ever Did Believe? It was written in 1981

oh dear lawd.....nooooo wayyyy. :sorry: :distress: :eek:

It's a half-baked song and the music on it is terrible. The vocals are fun, and her vamping at the end is classic. But the music is crap frankly and the lyrics are sloppy. That said, I enjoy it for what it is.... but it is not even remotely a masterpiece. None of her songs are musical masterpieces (and anything masterful on them is due to Chris/Lindsey/Mick/John) but lyrically-- her peak is songs like Dreams, Gold Dust Woman, Silver Springs, Storms, etc.

I love Blue Lamp, too. The music, the vocals, the lyrics, everything. It’s a very visual song.

Stevie Nicks was the only artist to perform on Solid Gold who did NOT lip-synch her songs. I guess her agent made a deal with SG producers that she would not lip-synch.

I believe there were a few others that did what Stevie did. She sang live vocals to a pre-recorded track. But most performances were lip synced.
Stevie has said she cant lip sync. I think someone posted many years ago that she actually tried to lip sync on Solid Gold and it was so terrible that she had to do live vocals. Even she points out her first video SDMHA she is flubbing trying to lip sync. When doing a music video they will give her a thousand times to get it right. Solid Gold did not have the budget or patience for constant retakes. But I admire her for singing live on a program that most other artists never did.

Maybe because they are TP and the HBish. I just find the songs crappy. I also dislike I Need to Know, Gold and Braid, and I never ever listen to stuff like Enchanted, SDMHA, and the like.

Of You Ever Did Believe is just kinda meh to me too. All those lack the drama and mystery that our girl often excelled at.

Wow. If you don't like the songs you mentioned, you have to not like Starshine, The Dealer, Hard Advice, Watch Chain, and I Don't Care, no? I would even say Touched by An Angel is sort of Bella Donna/TPHB/E Street Bandish (Roy Bittan).

I love all the songs above. You can have Show Them the Way every day, just not performed live:laugh:

You are right I do not care for those tracks on 24KG.

good gracious, who wants that??? :shrug:

The song has been out for three years and she hasn't performed it live and it wasn't included on her 2023 rarities disc.

It's not a song meant for stage because it sounds more electronic based rather than instrumental.

That’s what made it really cheesy — the complete opposite of Midnight Special. However, Marilyn McCoo, the host, used to sing occasionally. Once she sang a stunning version of “Every Breath You Take.” Does anyone remember that?

^this. :nod: