[SisterNightroad]

For the occasion Ivory Keys has done an interesting post on the Rock a Little sessions:

Rock A Little Sessions (1981-1986)

Even as Stevie’s first solo album, Bella Donna, was about to be released in the Summer of 1981, she was already writing a song that would become the title track of her third album, Rock A Little! Stevie explained the meaning of the title to MTV in Spring 1985 (several months before the album would eventually be released):

“We kinda rock a little all our life we rock ~ I did ~ I rocked in my cradle for sure and ah, then in mid-life you sort of rock on your feet and then you move onwards to a rocking chair at some point, probably, so that's kind of what Rock A Little means. It means to rock and roll all your life.”

For Jim Ladd’s Innerview radio program, Stevie further elaborated:

“[It] was also written before Bella Donna came out... and I've had most of the song, in fact, I mean really the entire ‘Sometimes it rages,’ that was about the ocean, you know, that, like, shook my house and scared me to death every night ~ 'cause I thought it was an earthquake. [Singing] ‘Rock a little/ Even when it's calm, the house still shook a little/ Just like the sea, I rock a little/ Some say it was just like me ~ Rock a little’. That means ‘Cool out. Relax’. Okay. Just rock a little all the time and you won't die.”

The demo session from October 23, 1981 below has Mick Fleetwood on drums as Stevie works out her song. In 1984, Stevie recorded a long piano demo of “Rock A Little,” which Ivory Keys exclusively premiered to the world in 2011.

The UK 12-Inch Single of "I Can't Wait" that was released in January 1986 contained a very long alternate version of "Rock A Little," the words of which go along with the printed lyrics in the liner notes for Rock A Little. It's interesting to note that the third verse of the Extended Alternate Version is the same Stevie vocal as on the album version's third verse. This would seem to indicate that the album version of "Rock A Little" is made up of several different takes spliced together.

In the Summer of 1983, Stevie related to Jim Ladd on his radio show that she and the band had just recorded a new song for her next album, which was entitled “One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star”. Joe Walsh plays guitar on the song, and it is about Stevie’s new romance with him, as well as her short-lived relationship with Joe’s fellow Eagle, Don Henley, circa 1976. The US Single of “Talk To Me” is one of the only releases to have the full-length version of “One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star”. European releases of “Talk To Me” fade the song way too early, which is also the fade on Stevie’s 1998 box set, Enchanted. Presented here is the full-length version of the song.

In March of 1984, recording for Rock A Little began in Dallas, as Stevie had decided to make a rock and roll record in Texas. In 1983, she had invested in a nightclub in Dallas called the Starck Club, which had increased her love for the city. She had all of the musicians, as well as producer, Jimmy Iovine, temporarily move to Dallas to work on the album. However, logistically, the entire experiment was doomed to failure. The musicians had their own lives elsewhere in the world and could not make an open-ended commitment to working so far away from home. Although many songs were recorded in Dallas, including the title track, "Rock A Little (Go Ahead Lily)", Stevie would soon realize that the best next step to take would be to return to Los Angeles.

One of the first songs recorded for Rock A Little in Dallas was a cover of a then-unreleased Bruce Springsteen song, "Janey, Don't You Lose Heart," leftover from his Born In The U.S.A. sessions. Bruce had been in the audience at the Grand Opening of the Starck Club on May 12, 1984, and perhaps that is when he gave Stevie the song to record. Stevie recorded the song in May of 1984 at Goodnight Dallas, but she changed the title to "Baby Don't Lose Your Heart," which, reportedly, Springsteen was not pleased with. He allegedly asked Stevie not to release her version of the song to which she complied. To this day, Stevie's recording of "Baby Don't Lose Your Heart" remains unheard and unreleased.

Rock A Little would mark Stevie’s first collaborations with Heartbreaker, Mike Campbell. Mike had played on Stevie’s two previous albums (as well as her 1980 sessions for “Gypsy”, “Sanctuary”, et al), but Rock A Little had Stevie adding her lyrics over Mike’s musical instrumental tracks which he gave her. Eleven takes of “Imperial Hotel” were discovered in 2011 and feature fascinating differences vocally and lyrically from the album version.

"Imperial Hotel" would be the fourth single released from Rock A Little in 1986, even only in Australia.

Another song written and recorded during the Rock A Little sessions in which Stevie used a Mike Campbell instrumental was “Greta”. The song, however, would not be released until 1994 when it was re-recorded for Street Angel.

Stevie also wrote her song, “You Like Me”, set to a Mike Campbell music track in 1984. The Williams Brothers released their recording of “You Like Me” on their 1987 album, Two Stories (featuring Mike Campbell on guitar), but fans would not hear Stevie’s 1984 demo of it until 2011 when it was discovered in a storage locker with a plethora of other songs from the Rock A Little sessions, which Ivory Keys exclusively shared with the world.

Another connection Stevie has with the Williams Brothers is her recording of a song they co-wrote, “Some Become Strangers”, for Rock A Little. Perhaps that is why she gave “You Like Me” to them in return. Stevie’s version of “Some Become Strangers” contains many different lyrics compared to the Williams Brothers’ own recording of the song on Two Stories in 1987. Stevie may have added some lyrics without taking any credit.

Back in 1984, “Don’t Come Around Here No More” was meant to be a single for Rock A Little with Stevie writing the lyrics. However, she was having a hard time getting around to writing the words. Finally, Tom Petty just went ahead and wrote the lyrics himself and recorded the song with the Heartbreakers and Dave Stewart. Stevie was at the recording sessions (as was Sharon Celani), and she actually sings backing vocals on the released “Don’t Come Around Here No More,” although she is uncredited.

Stevie has claimed from time to time that the “Don’t Come Around Here No More” frustrations are what caused Jimmy Iovine to leave production duties of Rock A Little, but she’s also said the same thing about “Reconsider Me” and being “forced” to record someone else’s song in order to get a hit.

However, Iovine would return to Rock A Little for five weeks in the Spring of 1985 to pull the album together somewhat and record several new songs with Stevie.

In May 1984, MTV Music News, Billboard Magazine, and other sources reported that Stevie had parted ways with producer Jimmy Iovine and had hired Keith Olsen to take over at the helm of Rock A Little. The only song from Olsen’s tenure as producer to make it on Rock A Little is “No Spoken Word”, although several others were recorded with him producing.

As Stevie notes in TimeSpace, she wrote “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?” in 1983 while on The Wild Heart Tour. It was written for Joe Walsh and is intrinsically linked to her unreleased song, “Priest Of Nothing”, which shares some of the same lyrics.

Keith Olsen is credited with some kind of contribution to the music of “Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You?”, but Rick Nowels is listed as the producer of the final version on the Rock A Little album.

“Priest Of Nothing” was discovered in a storage locker in 2011 along with dozens of other unreleased recordings from the Rock A Little sessions. Two versions of this song were on a tape labelled: “Sharon’s Tape: Stevie Demos 1984”. Stevie wrote the lyrics and sings along to two instrumentals from Joe Walsh’s 1978 album, But Seriously, Folks… album.

In the second take, Stevie has a completely different lead vocal and she adds on several backing vocals herself. It also sounds like Joe Walsh added some guitar overdubs to this second take.

When Stevie dedicated “Rhiannon” to Joe Walsh at her Dallas concert on September 5, 1983 at Reunion Arena, she even sang a few lines from “Priest Of Nothing”: “Can he play? Yes, he can!”

Lyrics by Stevie Nicks, Music by Joe Walsh, Joe Vitale, Jay Ferguson, Willie Weeks, Bill Szymczyk (music tracks from "Inner Tube" [just Joe Walsh] and "Theme From Boat Weirdos", from 1978's But Seriously, Folks... album)

It is important to note that there is no unreleased or “scrapped” Mirror, Mirror album. That is an apocryphal story that arose from one single statement that Stevie made in 1989 when describing where the title of her fourth album, The Other Side Of The Mirror, came from:

“The Other Side Of The Mirror came from… well, first it was going to be Mirror, Mirror; that was going to be the name of Rock A Little. And then, because the song ‘Mirror, Mirror’ didn’t end up going on the record because I didn’t like the way it came out, I changed it to Rock A Little because ‘Rock A Little’ became the lead song. So, this record [TOSOTM] sort of was a little bit of an extension of Mirror, Mirror. ‘Mirror, Mirror’ is the other side of the mirror, and the Gemini personality. The two, you know, the nine or ten personalities that I have, and how I deal with all of them.”

So, even if Stevie briefly considered naming her third record Mirror, Mirror, she did not "scrap" an entire album of songs and start all over as Rock A Little. Stevie mentioned Rock A Little as the title of her third album back in 1982 before The Wild Heart was even completed. All throughout 1984 and 1985, all media sources reporting on the work on Stevie's album referred to it as Rock A Little only, never Mirror, Mirror.

This "scrapped" and "unreleased" Mirror, Mirror album is a fan-made falsehood. Wikipedia is wrong.

Keith Olsen produced the Rock A Little versions of “Mirror, Mirror” (Chris Lord-Alge would produce the 1992 version recorded for Street Angel). In November 1984, “Mirror, Mirror” was solicited as the first single off of Rock A Little, which was to be released a month after the single. Of course, that did not happen as Stevie continued to work on the album.

“Mirror, Mirror” would see an official release in July 1994 as the b-side of the US Cassette Single of “Blue Denim”. Stevie had wanted the final 1992 version of the song produced by Chris Lord-Alge as the b-side, but someone at Atlantic grabbed the wrong Master Tape and that is how a 1984 Rock A Little version of “Mirror, Mirror” ended up as the b-side of a 1994 Street Angel single.

“Lady From The Mountains” dates back to at least 1976, but Stevie has often said it was written in 1972. Whatever the song’s origins, Stevie demoed it several times in the Late Seventies and Early Eighties, and a completed version of “Lady From The Mountains” was on the November 1984 track listing for Rock A Little. However, the song would not make the final release in November 1985. In Late 2009, Stevie would take much of “Lady From The Mountains” and craft it into a new song, “Moonlight (A Vampire’s Dream)”, and release it as a single from her 2011 album, In Your Dreams.

A completed version of “Chanel, Chanel” was on the November 1984 track listing for Rock A Little but the song was not on the album a year later. The third version here of “Chanel, Chanel” first surfaced in 2005, leading some to think it was an outtake from Trouble In Shangri-La with Stevie saying something about Sheryl Crow. In fact, it is from 1984 and Stevie is saying, “Like the Shirelle Sisters, thank you very much,” referring to the 1960s pop group, The Shirelles.

When “Battle Of The Dragon” appeared on the American Anthem soundtrack in June of 1986, it was clear that the song was a leftover from the Rock A Little sessions. In fact, it had been on the November 1984 track listing for Rock A Little. Two of the versions below feature Tom Petty singing along with Stevie.

In Late September of 1984, Stevie was joined in the studio by Billy Burnette, who would become her fellow Fleetwood Mac member in less than three years. Together, they recorded a cover of an old Country song, “Are You Mine?”, which a young Stevie had sung with her grandfather. The duet between Stevie and Billy aired on Timothy White’s Rock Stars radio program shortly after Billy and Rick Vito joined Fleetwood Mac. Stevie’s interview detailing the recording of “Are You Mine?” is included in the final link.

There have always been mysteries surrounding Rock A Little that fascinate fans. Why was Don Henley thanked in the liner notes but he was not on the album? The answer would finally arrive in 1998 when “Reconsider Me” was part of Stevie’s box set, Enchanted, with Don on backing vocals of the song that was recorded for Rock A Little.

One mystery during this era was solved pretty quickly. Just where was Stevie when “We Are The World” was recorded after the American Music Awards on January 28, 1985? Almost every big name in the music business was in Los Angeles that night for the awards show and went to the recording session for the recording of “We Are The World” right after, including Stevie’s fellow Fleetwood Mac member, Lindsey Buckingham. But where was Stevie?

It turns out that Stevie was in a recording session with Phil Collins and Marilyn Martin for their duet, “Separate Lives,” which would be a Number One single from the White Nights soundtrack later that year. Stevie even contributed a few backing vocals to the song, which has been confirmed by Lori Nicks on the NicksFix. Stevie can clearly be heard at the 2:06 mark singing “My eyes” in the background.

Another mystery that is still unsolved is what tracks did Brian Setzer record with Stevie in the Fall of 1984? So far, no answers have emerged, although they definitely did record together for Rock A Little.

Also, “The Dealer” was recorded for Rock A Little in 1984 but copies of the recordings have never surfaced.

Piano demos for “The Nightmare” and “Gypsy Beggars” were both clearly recorded around the same time in 1984. These piano demos were submitted to Atlantic Records in Early 1998 by Stevie herself for consideration on her then-in-progress box set, Enchanted.

Most Stevie Fans assumed that the Vocal Special Remix of “The Nightmare” that appeared on the “I Can’t Wait” 12-Inch Single in February 1986 was a newly-recorded version of the song since it was so different from the album version. There was also a notation of added guitar on the track by Waddy Wachtel.

However, once various Rock A Little work tapes were discovered in 2011, it became clear that the “Vocal Special Remix” versions of “The Nightmare” were actually from 1984 and were recorded before the album version. So, while it was assumed for over 20 years that the “Vocal Special Remix” was a newly reworked version of the song in 1986, it actually was a precursor to the album version.

Stevie History is always unfolding!

In Late 1984, Stevie added lyrics over the Mark Knopfler instrumental, “Irish Boy”, from the film. Cal. Her tragic ode to Joe Walsh, “She Loves Him Still,” was slated as the closing track on Rock A Little, per a November 1984 track listing. However, the album was pushed into 1985 and “She Loves Him Still” was pushed off of the record as well.

Stevie re-recorded “She Loves Him Still” in May 2014 and it is the closing track of her 2014 album, 24 Karat Gold: Songs From The Vault.

In early 1985, Stevie watched a documentary about the life of actress/performer Mabel Normand, and was inspired to write a song about her. Stevie felt her life of excess paralleled Mabel’s. As she revealed to Billboard (09/26/2014):

“Mabel was an amazing actress and comedian from the '20s, and she was a terrible cocaine addict. She eventually died of tuberculosis, but it was really her drug addiction that killed her. She was in love with a famous director, who tried to get her off coke, and he was murdered. Rumor has it, drug dealers killed him. I saw a documentary of her in 1985, when I was at my lowest point with the blow. I was watching TV one night, the movie came on, and I really felt a connection with her. That's when I wrote the song. Less than a year later, I went to rehab at Betty Ford.”

Around the same time, Stevie dusted off her 1979 song, “All The King’s Horses”, and demoed it again, incorporating some of the lyrics of “Mabel Normand” in one of the demos.

“It’s Not A Dream” was a new song recorded during this time, and the keyboard/drum machine demo of it has Stevie beginning the song with several lines from “Blue Lamp”.

In 1985, Stevie wrote a new song entitled “Running Through The Garden.” Although it did not end up on Rock A Little, the song eventually was released on the 2003 Fleetwood Mac album, Say You Will. In the May 2003 issue of Performing Songwriter, Stevie explained the song:

“I wrote that song around 1985. It’s about the story ‘Rapaccini’s Daughter’ by Nathaniel Hawthorne. We didn’t realize it until it was completely recorded. I thought it was a Twilight Zone episode I’d seen on TV fifteen or twenty years ago. But it’s the story of this girl who’s raised in this beautiful Italian villa and her dad is this gardener and he raised all these poisonous plants and he, like, infused the poisons into her. It’s very hazy what I remember about the story. She became poisonous, so if anybody were to kiss her, they would die. And she could never leave, because she’s addicted to the poison. So everybody’s like, ‘Wow, that’s an incredible story.’ There’s a picture that Christine did, a drawing, and Chris is an incredible artist, probably twenty years ago, and she gave it to me, and it’s her, it’s the girl in the song. So I went back and forth about maybe calling it ‘Rapaccini’s Daughter,’ but I thought I’d have to get publishing rights and all that, so I left it ‘Running Through The Garden.’”

Throughout the long process of recording Rock A Little, Stevie continued to write and demo songs in 1985, many of which have never been officially been released, but are greatly loved by her fans. (Ooh ooh baby, Nigh gallery, All these years, Rock a bye baby, Something Exquisite)

When Stevie turned in several tapes to Atlantic Records in Manhattan in Early 1998, among the songs to be considered for inclusion on her upcoming box set was “All Over You.” The song is from the Rock A Little era and is recorded with Prince, which somewhat contradicts Stevie’s assertion that they only ever worked on “Stand Back” together. However, it is 100% certain that Stevie herself handed over the tape with “All Over You” on it to Atlantic Records, so there should be no confusion that it is definitely Stevie singing on this song with Prince.

Interviews with Stevie in 1986 and 1987 (and Mick’s autobiography in 1990) contain references to a song recorded for Tango In The Night entitled “What Has Rock And Roll Ever Done For You?” that did not make it on the album. The recording here is most likely a Rock A Little studio leftover from 1985 or it was recorded in 1986 with her touring band.

Stevie has said that she wrote “Whole Lotta Trouble” to a Mike Campbell music track in February of 1986 when she was a guest of Bob Dylan and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers in Australia. The song shares many lyrical links to “I Call You Missing” and “Thousand Days”. Although this version is technically past the Rock A Little release date, I have included it here due to the whole Rock A Little vibe in Stevie’s voice.

“I Call You Missing” was one of the songs on the November 1984 track listing for Rock A Little although it did not appear on the final album. In that same era, Stevie also wrote another song called “Love Is Like A River” that includes many of the same lyrics. Are they the same song? I do not think they are. The music is not the same and the lyrics are often inverted positions from the other song. In “I Call You Missing”, Stevie burns a candle for him, while in “Love Is Like A River”, she sings, “Everything all around me is electric now and I haven’t burned a candle in a real long time.” To me, they are bookends and companions but not the same song undergone a huge change.

Both songs were also recorded for Street Angel in 1992, but only “Love Is Like A River” made it on the final album.

In the April 18, 1998, issue of Billboard, Stevie explained to Timothy White the genesis behind her song, “Thousand Days,” which was being released on her new box set, Enchanted:

“'Thousand Days' was written about my non-relationship with Prince," says Nicks, who had earlier composed "Stand Back" with him -- although she notes he's never called her back "to set up his payment on 50%" of the latter. "Days" recounts an abortive, all-night '80s recording session with him at his Minneapolis home during a Fleetwood Mac tour, climaxing with Nicks "smoking my pot -- he didn't agree with my lifestyle -- and going to sleep on Prince's floor in his kitchen. I like him, but we were just so different there was no possible meeting ground."

The November 1984 track listing for Rock A Little’s impending release contained “Thousand Days” on it, but, a year later, the song would not be on the record. In July 1992, Stevie would record several versions of “Thousand Days” with producer Chris Lord-Alge in early sessions for Street Angel. One of those takes would end up as the b-side for “Blue Denim” in Holland and for “Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind” in the UK in 1994. The same version would be released on Enchanted in 1998 but without the fade ending.

Is “Jimmy, Come On Back” Stevie’s way of trying to coax Iovine into returning to production duties on Rock A Little? Perhaps. It’s unfortunate that the sound quality on these three takes is so poor. In 2011, Rock A Little work tapes of “Jimmy, Come On Back” were sold on eBay but the winner has never shared them with the world.

When a Master Reel popped up in the Early 2000s with a piano demo of “I Sing For The Things” on it dated 1981, that pushed the date back on when fans thought Stevie wrote the song, realizing it was older than 1984 or 1985. Stevie’s piano demo is very simple and beautiful, and the album version follows her original sound for the song.

However, Stevie would also record a bouncy, uptempo version of “I Sing For The Things” with a definite Prince/“Manic Monday” feel to it. Eventually, though, she would go with a ballad version to include on Rock A Little.

After her split from Joe Walsh, Stevie dated guitarist Les Dudek for a short time, and she wrote at least two songs in 1985 set to his musical tracks, “Sister Honey” and “Freestyle.” “Sister Honey” would, of course, be released on Rock A Little, but it would take almost twenty years for Les to release his own version of “Freestyle” on his album of the same name in 2002. Hopefully, Stevie’s version for Rock A Little will surface one day. The Les Dudek recording of “Freestyle” (featuring some very Stevie-esque backing vocals) can be purchased on iTunes or Amazon.

Once Jimmy Iovine made a return to Rock A Little in the Spring of 1985, one of his missions must have been to help craft a hit single for Stevie. Stevie recorded more new songs with Iovine for five weeks, one of which was the Chase Sanford-written “Talk To Me.” In her TimeSpace liner notes, Stevie notes how she went back into the studio to re-record her vocals for the final time and was pleased with the final results.

However, in 1996, an unreleased version of “Talk To Me” was put on Time/Life’s Sounds Of The Eighties collection. This version fits with the printed lyrics in Rock A Little, with the “La la la la” vocals with the saxophone solo, and the “I can see you running” lyrics.

"Rose Garden" was written in 1965 when Stevie was 17 years old. She recorded the song from Rock A Little in 1984 but it did not make the final cut. "Rose Garden" would finally see the light of day on Stevie's 1994 album, Street Angel.

In Paper Magazine (Summer 1994), Stevie was asked about “Rose Garden” and if it was a prophecy of sorts for her life. She replied:

"It was very much a premonition, a lot of it happened. I did end up giving up an awful lot. I got the house. I got the rose garden and I got the money, but I don't have the marriage. If I had a different life I probably would have married at some point and I definitely would have children. Now at this stage of my life, if I met someone who I was crazy about, it would be a lot easier for me to make some serious concession whereas ten years ago with Fleetwood Mac it would have been very hard. I didn't do it because of that, but now the only person I would have get ‘permission’ from is me."

“Tied Up (In Promises)” is a Lee Ritenour song that was recorded by Olivia Newton-John and released on her second Greatest Hits album in the Fall of 1982. Stevie’s take on the song is much wilder. While Olivia’s version was not a huge hit, it’s a little surprising that Stevie would cover such a high profile song for Rock A Little so soon after it had been on the charts for Olivia. Perhaps Stevie just loved the song!

“I Can’t Wait” was co-produced by Rick Nowels and Jimmy Iovine in the Spring of 1985. It seems to be the final song actually recorded for Rock A Little, although Stevie would re-record vocals for various songs throughout the Summer. In April 2011, I received seven tapes full of remixes and outtakes of “I Can’t Wait”, many featuring completely different vocals by Stevie, which are included in the links below, as well as the out-of-print remixes from various singles releases in 1986.

http://stevienicksivorykeys.blogspot...1981-1986.html