Rock a Little

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Rock A Little
File:Rockalittlelarge.jpg
Studio album by Stevie Nicks
Released November 18, 1985
Recorded 1984–85
Genre AOR,[1] pop rock
adult contemporary
Length 44:54
Label Modern Records (US)
Atlantic Records (Canada)
Parlophone Records (outside US & Canada)
Reprise Records (reissue)
Producer Rick Nowels
Jimmy Iovine
Stevie Nicks
Keith Olsen
Stevie Nicks chronology
The Wild Heart
(1983)The Wild Heart1983		 Rock A Little
(1985)		 The Other Side of the Mirror
(1989)The Other Side of the Mirror1989
Singles from Rock A Little
  1. "Talk to Me"
    Released: October 1985
  2. "I Can't Wait"
    Released: February 1986
  3. "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?"
    Released: May 1986
  4. "Imperial Hotel"
    Released: September 1986
Professional ratings
Review scores
Source Rating
Allmusic 3.5/5 stars[2]
Chicago Tribune (Favorable)[3]
The New York Times (Favorable)[4]
People (Positive)[5]
Rolling Stone (Mixed)[6]

Rock A Little is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter and Fleetwood Mac vocalist Stevie Nicks.

Released in late 1985 while Fleetwood Mac were still on a lengthy hiatus following their album Mirage in 1982, Rock A Little hit the top 20 in its second week and ultimately peaked at #12 on the U.S. Billboard charts, and was certified platinum after just 1 month of its release for sales in excess of 1,000,000 units. It was also certified gold in the UK for sales in excess of 100,000 units. [7] The album was ranked #41 in the best-selling albums of 1986 in the U.S. Although sales did not match Nicks' earlier albums, Bella Donna and The Wild Heart (selling in excess of 4 and 2 million copies in the U.S. respectively at the time), Rock A Little produced the hits "Talk to Me" (US#4), "I Can't Wait" (US#16), and the mainstay encore for Nicks' live shows, "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?" (US#60). A fourth single, "Imperial Hotel" was released in Australia. The album peaked at #5 in Australia, #8 in Canada, and #30 in the UK.

Album history

Recording for her follow-up project to 1983's multi-platinum album The Wild Heart originally began in 1984. Selected songs were recorded, including "Running Through the Garden" and "Mirror Mirror". However, Nicks scrapped these recordings and parted ways with long-time producer and romantic interest Jimmy Iovine, and in late 1984 began work on what is now recognized as the Rock A Little project. "Running Through the Garden" would resurface in completed form in 2003 on the Fleetwood Mac album Say You Will.

The album is reputed to have cost $1 million to record (according to Mick Fleetwood in his autobiography), and is seen as a watershed in the singer's career. The vocal style is distinctively more husky and nasal (many claim this was due to increasing cocaine abuse) than on previous recordings. It was later revealed that Martin Page and Bernie Taupin had specially written the track "These Dreams" for inclusion on the album, but Nicks turned it down. The track was then recorded by the band Heart and became their first number 1 in 1986.

Nicks had recorded various other tracks prior to the album's release, including "Battle Of The Dragon", a moody and intricate contemplation of the stormy relationships between Fleetwood Mac members at that time. Rather than include on her own album, it was featured on the movie soundtrack forAmerican Anthem, as well as on Nicks' 3-disc retrospective Enchanted in 1998. A duet with Eagles drummer and former lover Don Henley titled "Reconsider Me" would also see the cutting room floor, and the rock ballad "One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star" was relegated to the B-side of the "Talk to Me" single. Many other discarded demos from the sessions have never seen the light of day, but a few, including "Greta" and "Love Is Like A River", were dusted off for her 1994 album, Street Angel. "Thousand Days" was relegated to a B-side. "Mirror, Mirror" was tried out again for 1989's The Other Side of the Mirror, and was again revisited in 1994 for inclusion on Street Angel, but ultimately the original Rock a Little version was only released on a cassette single of "Blue Denim" in 1994.

Jimmy Iovine was originally brought in to produce the album and work on the demo recordings in 1984. However, he parted ways with Nicks midway through the recording sessions, claiming he did not like the direction in which Nicks wanted to take the album. It was later revealed that the two had been in a relationship for several years, and he left production of Rock a Little due to their break-up and Nicks' subsequent relationship with Eagles member Joe Walsh (for whom she penned the ballad "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You"). Keith Olsen, Rick Nowels and Nicks herself took over production duties after Iovine's departure.

Upon release in November 1985, Rock A Little received very mixed reviews. Combined with Nicks' growing addiction to cocaine at the time which hampered her tour performances (she would famously check into the Betty Ford Clinic at the tour's conclusion), the album did not achieve sales or chart positions expected of Nicks at that time. It entered the U.S. Billboard chart at #60, eventually peaking at #12 in its ninth week of release. The album spent 35 weeks on the Billboard 200 chart, including 13 weeks in the Top 20.

Track listing

Side one
No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
1. "I Can't Wait"   Stevie Nicks, Rick Nowels, Eric Pressly Jimmy Iovine, Rick Nowels 4:37
2. "Rock A Little (Go Ahead Lily)"   Nicks Iovine 3:39
3. "Sister Honey"   Nicks, Les Dudek Nowels 3:50
4. "I Sing For The Things"   Nicks Iovine 3:45
5. "Imperial Hotel"   Nicks, Mike Campbell Mike Campbell, Iovine 2:53
6. "Some Become Strangers"   David Williams, Amy Latelevision, Peter Rafelson Iovine 3:30
Side two
No. Title Writer(s) Producer(s) Length
7. "Talk to Me"   Chas Sandford Chas Sandford, Iovine 4:10
8. "The Nightmare"   Nicks, Chris Nicks Nowels 5:23
9. "If I Were You"   Nicks, Nowels Nowels 4:31
10. "No Spoken Word"   Nicks Keith Olsen 4:14
11. "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?"   Nicks, Keith Olsen Nowels 4:38

Alternative versions and 12-inch releases

  • "I Can't Wait" was released as a 12-inch single in an extended 6:00 rock version in many territories, but the UK release exclusively included a longer and different version of the album track "Rock A Little (Go Ahead Lily)" running at 5:12, currently unavailable on any other release.
  • "Has Anyone Ever Written Anything for You?" was also released in a 12-inch version in the UK, and included a 'dub' rock version of "I Can't Wait", clocking in at 5:50.
  • All 7-inch and 12-inch releases of "Talk to Me" included the non-album track "One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star", written by Nicks, which later appeared with a slightly truncated ending on her 1998 retrospective boxset, Enchanted.

Personnel

  • Stevie Nicks — lead vocals, synthesizer on track 8
  • Jamie Sheriff — synthesizers, programming (tracks 1-3, 11)
  • Billy Payne — synthesziers (track 2)
  • Charles Judge — synthesizers, piano (tracks 3-4, 8-9, 11)
  • Greg Phillinganes — synthesziers, keyboards, timpani (tracks 5, 7)
  • Chas Sandford — synthesizers, guitar, bass guitar (track 6)
  • Rick Nowels — keyboards (tracks 1, 3, 8, 10-11)
  • Bill Cuomo — keyboards (track 10)
  • Benmont Tench — piano, organ (tracks 5-6)
  • George Black — guitar, bass (tracks 1, 3, 8)
  • Michael Landau — guitar, background vocals (tracks 1, 3, 8)
  • Waddy Wachtel — guitar (tracks 2, 10)
  • Danny Kortchmar — guitar (track 3)
  • Mike Campbell — guitar (track 4)
  • Kenny Edwards — bass (track 2)
  • Bob Glaub — bass (tracks 4-5)
  • Michael Porcaro — bass (track 10)
  • Bobbye Hall — percussion (track 3)
  • David Kemper — percussion, tambourine (tracks 9, 11)
  • Steve Jordan — drums (track 2, 5, 6)
  • Russ Kunkel — drums (track 3)
  • Andy Newmark — drums (tracks 8-9)
  • Denny Carmassi — drums (track 10)
  • Barney Wilen — saxophone (track 7)
  • Lori Perry-Nicks — background vocals
  • Sharon Celani — background vocals (tracks 1-10)
  • Maria Vidal — background vocals (tracks 1-2, 7-8)
  • Marilyn Martin — background vocals (tracks 1-3, 5-6, 10)
  • Carolyn Brooks — background vocals (track 11)

Videos

Promotional videos were shot for the singles "Talk to Me" and "I Can't Wait". In 1986 a 6-track VHS tape titled I Can't Wait was released in many territories, and featured the following promos:

This release is notable for including a live solo performance of "Leather and Lace" from the last night of Nicks' 1981 Bella Donna Tour, which was cut from the VHS release of White Wing Dove: Stevie Nicks Live, a 9-track edit of the same concert. The version was used as the song's music video, and was played on MTV in 1981.

Five of these promos are included on the DVD supplement to Nicks' 2008 collection Crystal Visions — The Very Best of Stevie Nicks, but the only DVD availability of the live version of "Leather and Lace" is the Australian release of Fleetwood Mac's Mirage Tour concert, for which all six videos of the I Can't Wait collection are included as a special bonus feature.

Tour

The US leg of the Rock a Little Tour kicked off in 1986 and concluded with a show at the famous Red Rocks Amphitheatre in Colorado, which was captured and released on video (and later on DVD) usually entitled Live at Red Rocks. Evidence of Nicks' drug abuse is apparent in both performance and vocals, but the show is noticeably 'cleaned up' with re-shot close-ups, inserts and vocal overdubs. The video/DVD is also a very much shortened version of the actual setlist, clocking in at only 57 minutes, 15 of which are devoted to a very lengthy version of "Edge of Seventeen" though this was adjusted on the DVD release.

Charts

Certifications

Region Certification Sales/shipments
United Kingdom (BPI)[20] Gold 100,000
United States (RIAA)[7] Platinum 1,000,000

^shipments figures based on certification alone

References

  1. ↑ Allmusic.com Album Review
  2. ↑ Allmusic review
  3. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  6. ↑ Rolling Stone review
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. If necessary, click Advanced, then click Format, then select Album, then click SEARCH Cite error: Invalid <ref> tag; name "United_StatesStevie_NicksRock_a_LittlealbumCertRef" defined multiple times with different content
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  15. ↑ Allmusic – Rock a Little> Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums
  16. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/280712/stevie-nicks/chart?f=412
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  20. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. Enter Rock a Little in the field Keywords. Select Title in the field Search by. Select album in the field By Format. Select Gold in the field By Award. Click Search
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