Rock A Little turns 40

[bombaysaffires]

Gawd The Nightmare is the stinkiest pile of poo......

Really melodic songs like If I Were You and Some Become Strangers are really catchy but just DROWNING in overdubs and synths..... sadly they had to go to outside writers for them because her writing dried up so bad. They could have been sooo much better with some weed whacking of some tracks

I didn't mind the title track, or I Can't Wait but ICW again is an outside writer (Rick Nowels) saving her backside coz she just had so little to bring.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

but ICW again is an outside writer (Rick Nowels) saving her backside coz she just had so little to bring.

Nowels appears in 2 RAL songs and in 4 TOSOTM songs, all of them as cowriter (other songs have other cowriters too). Then he is absent in the following albums. Just curious about why he didn't write with her anymore, but the main point is that Yes, most songs from the 1985-1994 albums were "co-written". How much did she contribute, I think we'll never know. But one doesn't have to be a genius to know why she didn't wrote most of her songs alone. So sad, indeed.

[UnwindedDreams]

Can anybody guess why Stevie doesn't perform any of the singles off Rock A Little on her concert tours?

Stevie hasn't performed Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You? on a concert tour in 18 years. I Sing For The Things was a surprise. But nothing else from RAL now since that one song in 2023. Yet Free Falling and Wild Heart + Bella Donna mix for years now.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by UnwindedDreams

Can anybody guess why Stevie doesn't perform any of the singles off Rock A Little on her concert tours?

Stevie hasn't performed Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You? on a concert tour in 18 years. I Sing For The Things was a surprise. But nothing else from RAL now since that one song in 2023. Yet Free Falling and Wild Heart + Bella Donna mix for years now.

Did she not introduce I Sing For Things that it was a part of her life where she was not well. I think the whole era is painful to her. I do not think she ever liked Talk To Me. I think the 2 songs she did perform regularly she has pride in is No Spoken Word and HAEWAFY.

[Macfan4life]

Sort of long but Jeremy's panel of Stevie experts really made this an incredible review of RAL. This is a must watch. As the one guy who worked for Stevie's record label states at the beginning, the end of the Wild Heart tour was a train wreck that morphed into 1984 and 1985 where little is know about Stevie. The one panelist actually wrote her parents a letter on note book paper telling them how sad and out of control she was. But he brings up a good point. From 1985 to 1986 she looked like she aged so many years.
This will make you laugh several times.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkW7aNln9Ag

[UnwindedDreams]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Did she not introduce I Sing For Things that it was a part of her life where she was not well. I think the whole era is painful to her. I do not think she ever liked Talk To Me. I think the 2 songs she did perform regularly she has pride in is No Spoken Word and HAEWAFY.

You’re totally right in that she did say that the album version of ISFTT is “agonizing.” I think you’re right that she said she wasn’t okay at the time. She did perform it at every solo concert in 2023. I wonder why she didn’t try No Spoken Word since it’s such a rocker! What’s incredible is that the song played when she walked onstage as she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was “Talk To Me.”

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by UnwindedDreams

You’re totally right in that she did say that the album version of ISFTT is “agonizing.” I think you’re right that she said she wasn’t okay at the time. She did perform it at every solo concert in 2023. I wonder why she didn’t try No Spoken Word since it’s such a rocker! What’s incredible is that the song played when she walked onstage as she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame was “Talk To Me.”

which she didn't write, or even co-write

I'm trying to remember the interview, I'm pretty sure it was a Jimmy Iovine interview where he said he was always on the lookout for songs for Stevie, songs that could be hit singles for her during this time. As someone noted the mid 80s she went way downhill... Tango in the Night fell during that period as well, and she couldn't even provide her usual minimum 3 songs for that... Seven Wonders was all Sandy Stewart no matter what the bogus writing credits say. And other than that we got Wassamatta Baby and Welcome to the Room Sara which I find interesting as a document of her experiences in rehab but isn't frankly a great song. Where did that horrible carribean-style arrangement even come from....??

also HAEWAFY was about Joe, and she was so messed up in the head about him and he was such a dingus about her and that relationship that maybe now with more reflection she doesn't want to relive it...

On a totally unrelated note I find it curious we have not seen Mick show up to any of her shows on this tour or even make mention of it or her on any of his socials (which he is on all the time). We did get a few pics of him with LB at some function or other but...

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

that horrible carribean-style arrangement even come from....??

What is Lindsey. I suppose.
I like WTTRS anyway. Even with that arrangement, it is much nicer than Whattamattababy.

[bwboy]

[QUOTE=Villavic;1303895]Nowels appears in 2 RAL songs and in 4 TOSOTM songs, all of them as cowriter (other songs have other cowriters too). Then he is absent in the following albums. Just curious about why he didn't write with her anymore, but the main point is that Yes, most songs from the 1985-1994 albums were "co-written". [/ QUOTE]

If I’m remembering correctly, Rick Nowels went from Stevie on RAL to produce (and write) Belinda Carlisle’s 1987 album Heaven on Earth, which really jump started Belinda’s solo career and elevated his status an in demand producer. Then he did the four songs on Stevie’s Other Side of the Mirror album before producing Belinda’s next album Runaway Horses, both of which were released in 1989. By then Nowels was really successful and went on to work with Madonna on Ray of Light, Celine Dion, Adele, Dido, Lykke Li, Dua Lipa, Lana Del Ray, etc. I’m pretty sure Nowels helped Stevie on Trouble in Shangri-Li.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

also HAEWAFY was about Joe, and she was so messed up in the head about him and he was such a dingus about her and that relationship that maybe now with more reflection she doesn't want to relive it...

Much like every other man she screwed, I'd say that Joe had 5 seconds of sobriety, and realized he needed to run for the hills, to get away from nut job Stevie. Because she's cuckoo for Coco Puffs, and always has been.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Much like every other man she screwed, I'd say that Joe had 5 seconds of sobriety, and realized he needed to run for the hills, to get away from nut job Stevie. Because she's cuckoo for Coco Puffs, and always has been.

Neither of them is Einstein. He was a slobbering piggy mess and still talks like he's had multiple strokes which no bad face lift can fix. And after all the porn stars and hookers he's banged, there's not enough penicillin in the world.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Neither of them is Einstein. He was a slobbering piggy mess and still talks like he's had multiple strokes which no bad face lift can fix. And after all the porn stars and hookers he's banged, there's not enough penicillin in the world.

They really were perfect for each other.

[Macfan4life]

I watched the RAL panel review again yesterday and it brought back a major reason I rebelled against this album. Yes many vocals are bad, yes she did not write many songs, yes it has way too much synth.
Stevie was 38 when the album came out. Today that is young but in 1985 that was an aging pop/rock star. There was a clear attempt for Stevie to compete with younger acts like Madonna. For that reason it just came off so inauthentic. Talk To Me is an empty song. Anyone could have done it. At least on some songs like Some Become Strangers she tries to make it her own. Sister Honey is a lame attempt to sound like Prince. Stevie you are no Madonna and no Prince so please do not try. I agree that the song If I Were You is a polished pop gem and could have been a single. But that bridge is so perky its so un-Stevie. Stevie does not beg men for anything. She does not beg men to talk to her, or to teach them to develop from boy to man. Stevie writes as a scorned woman. She will follow you down to the sound of her voice will haunt you. She's not waiting by the telephone begging for you to talk to her. I think most of us like Stevie for her poetic writing and singing. This album just is so inauthentic and so un-Stevie. Bella Donna as the title track is one of the best songs on Bella Donna. Wild Heart is no Bella Donna but still a fairly strong track. Yet for RAL we got this oddball. The whole vibe of the record is wrong and Stevie and her record company trying to make her compete with younger pop stars. This is why as a fan it just rubbed me the wrong way.
Another thing that is odd and it was refreshing to hear the panel say what I always felt was songs like The Nightmare or Some Become Strangers every other version of the song is better than what appears on the album. One panelist said something I never thought about before that The Nightmare was probably about her marriage to Kim. After he said that I can sort of see that.

[UnwindedDreams]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

which she didn't write, or even co-write

Good point! Free Falling, Rock and Roll, For What It's Worth and Not Fade Away get the love from her instead of Talk To Me!

[sleepless child]

I started think that the nightmare was also about her marriage to Kim. While I liked Rock a Little because I was such a fan, it is the beginning of the fall of her great songwriting. Someone that can write Rhiannon to Beauty and the Beast comes out with The Nightmare? Doesn't compare at all.