Whenever I Call You "Friend"
 

I just got back from a road trip with some friends. I made a playlist and put this song on it. Listening to it made me think just how good of a song it really is. I would dare to say that Stevie's vocals on this track are some of the best of her career. It made me wonder though. Did Stevie ever perform this live with Kenny Loggins? I don't recall ever seeing a video or hearing a live recording. It was a pretty popular duet, I'd be surprised if they never did it live. Anyone know?

Stevie and Kenny have performed together quite some times and there are a bunch of photos but no recordings that I know of, pretty much like Tom Petty.

Kenny claims that he pushed Stevie pretty hard in the studio to get a great vocal. He got the impression that Fleetwood Mac has a pretty laid back style of recording, where a lot of work didn't always get done. In turn, Stevie called Kenny a "slave driver" in the studio.

I have seen a couple of the photos I think. I wish some recordings would surface. I bet this song would be phenomenal live.

It was the 1982 High Times interview:

HIGH TIMES: You did a duet with Kenny Loggins, "Whenever I Call You Friend."

STEVIE NICKS: That was a discipline thing. I call him Slave-Driver Loggins. He cracked the whip on me for two days to get that particular performance. And I was downright angry at points where I was going, "I'm not going to do this." He said, "Yes, you are." He's a real good producer, Kenny, he got exactly what he wanted. When it was done and I left, I was knocked out. I really had to keep my mouth shut and do what I was told. And it worked. He wasn't interested in a dull vocal.

HIGH TIMES: How does he get the performance out of you? Does he have to create a mood?

STEVIE NICKS: Yeah, that's exactly what I do, I light a little incense. Jimmy did it for me too. If I get mad enough, he'll say, "This is really uncool" over the talkback. We have the most hysterical video of him giving us a lecture telling us we were doing something wrong. We don't answer him, we just talk to each other. He says it's like tuning in on my mother's poker game. He walks out carrying my little bottle of brandy that I use when I sing, which he hates because he doesn't drink. I asked him for some and he's swinging it at us as he's talking. He said, "Okay, you want a little drink?" He goes into this incredible thing about us being magpies. And we're totally ignoring him. We would turn to each other and forget what he said completely. He'd say, "Wait one second everybody, stop talking and listen to me." Then someone would make some sly comment about little girls who have been caught doing something wrong, and then we'll get back on the track. That was basically what Kenny did too. He let me kind of tangent off to a point and then he'd say, "That's it, now we have to start doing this for real."

Yes, if I remember well Stevie tentatively improvised a line or two acapella during the sketch of her appearance on the "Up All Night" show and for how little it was I liked it enough to still remember and want more.

Her often forgotten/overlooked appearance on that show was PERFECTION! Any Ledgie who may not have seen it should look for it on Youtube!! (The show was brilliant too-and sadly ended way too soon :shocked: )
*Ricoh*

re:Her often forgotten/overlooked appearance on that show was PERFECTION!

Absolutely! It was brilliant at hilarious at points. This was a big score for "Up All Night".

This is the best vocal stevie ever gave along with Midnight Wind.

It's up there with Won't You Say You Will.

I only wish Kenny Loggins produced Rock A Little. Maybe then we could have gotten some audible vocals and the discipline she so badly needed :eek:

Cool, thanks for that. I wonder if the clip she is referring to is the same one that we recently saw for the first time in The Defiant Ones.

I love, love, LOVE this song. Kenny may have been a "slave-driver" but it clearly worked because her vocal is divine on this. And he also has a great vocal and obviously wrote the great song to begin with.

:laugh: This a hoot! This Kimm person sounds exactly like Stevie! It's uncanny! :lol:

UFB! I can't believe Kenny Loggins let this happen, I don't remember ever seeing this horror.