Rock a Little Announced Nov. 1983 - What About Mirror Mirror?
 

I was listening to a bootleg of the Wild Heart Tour show from Tulsa, Oklahoma on 11 November 1983, and Stevie announces that the new album is going to be called Rock a Little. Now I know she has said in multiple interviews that she knew what the new album was going to be called before Wild Heart came out, but I guess I don't know where Mirror, Mirror fits in. Was it the original working title for RAL? Was it a separate project? Was it done alongside the Wild Heart? I always thought that Mirror Mirror was the original title for Rock a Little, but I guess not now. Anyways, I guess I thought Mirror Mirror came first, and then was scrapped for RAL, but that's evidently not true.

Additionally, she improvises a "watch chain" and "I've always been a storm" during Sara from this show ;)

Interesting mystery. How strange for her to share with an audience the title of an album that is two years away. We generally assumed the album was initially titled Mirror Mirror.

Perhaps it was just someone's assumption that got passed around for so long that it became our truth. Are there any official articles or press reports that state the original title was Mirror Mirror? I always thought she changed the title to Rock a Little because the song Mirror Mirror was withheld from the album.

Was the b-side Mirror Mirror released years later from that session, or a remake?

Very interesting!

I believe the cassette B-side was indeed from those Jimmy Iovine sessions. From what I recall, the album originally had a 1984 release date, but that was bumped after she and Iovine parted ways.

Stevie referenced the Mirror Mirror title in several interviews. Here's one from an Atlantic Records interview:

"The Other Side of the Mirror came from…well first it was going to be Mirror Mirror, that was going to 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 turned out, I changed it to Rock A Little because Rock A Little became the lead song."

"Mirror Mirror" was to be the follow up to "Wild Heart" ..."Mirror Mirror" was all but finished and then Stevie changed her mind and scraped the whole project and started over with what is now "Rock A Little"...

Also interesting to note that during a RAL radio interview, she mentioned that she had the title "Rock A Little" in her head even before Bella Donna was released.

The song "Rock A Little" was written in 1981

I can't remember the source, but I knew the album's title was Rock A Little long before it was ever released.

I would love to hear the audio. I also remember hearing it was going to be called Rock A Little years before it was released. It was not until years after RAL was released that we learned the entire store and true story....How Jimmy quit the project, drugs were in the way, and most of the album was scrapped in 1984 to begin again.

I remember being 14 and a HUGE Stevie fan and opening up Rolling Stone magazine in a convenience store and reading a small article that Stevie was putting the finishing touches on her next solo album. This was mid 1984 and was so excited. It was a year and a half later that the album was released.

But back to the stage audio. In Nov 1983 she probably had rough tracks and was playing around more than serious album tracks. Names can change all the time. I think I remember that Tusk was not named until the album was finished and Stevie threatened to quit the band because of the name.

"Mirror Mirror" was a separate project from "Rock A Little"...Stevie was unhappy with "Mirror Mirror" as whole and decided to start over with new songs this became "Rock A Little"...If Stevie had not scrapped "Mirror Mirror" it would have been her 3rd record and "Rock a little would have been the 4th

An excerpt from her wiki page...

Following the tour for The Wild Heart, Nicks commenced work on her third solo album. Originally titled Mirror Mirror, Nicks recorded songs for the album during 1984. However, Nicks was unhappy with the album, and opted to record a new batch of songs in 1985.[55] Rock A Little, as it was re-titled, was released November 18, 1985 to commercial success, supported by three successful singles. Stevie Wiki

Back then Stevie had things planned out 2 or 3 records in advance...Perhaps FM should of put Stevie in charge of things back then maybe they might have made more records...

The audio is from the Tulsa, Oklahoma, 12 November 1983 show off of Ivory Keys... The track is called Band Introductions and Happy Birthday Wizard if you want to listen to it (fascinating stuff lol). But she says how much she writes, and that she's bummed out because she's already starting her new album, which is going to be called Rock a Little. So my guess is that she wanted to call it Rock a Little to begin with, moved on to Mirror Mirror, found it wasn't going well with Jimmy and scrapped the project, and then returned to Rock a Little. Because I would agree they're separate projects, but to announce in late '83 the name of "the next album" seems premature for either of them... However that doesn't explain why she would say that Rock a Little was "originally titled" Mirror Mirror, considering she had had the Rock a Little the concept in her head since 1981.

Changed her mind? She was somewhat out of her mind. What else was scrapped, aside from Mirror Mirror? It must have been a very bad scene for Jimmy to walk out, having been so loyal to Stevie.

I don't think there were two separate projects. I assume that the Rock a Little album contains most of the material that was recorded for the originally named Mirror Mirror album. Perhaps some of the songs were reworked or remixed after Jimmy left. Maybe a few songs were cut, and others added.

Side note: Why does any song, initially slated as the title track, have to be banished from the album? Could it just be another album track?

To your side note: I think that question supports the fact that though RAL and Mirror Mirror are similar in the way that certain tracks were believed to be included on both albums, the exclusion of the concept of the Mirror Mirror thing says that it was separate, and she wanted to use it later, as when she did for the Other Side of the Mirror.

That makes perfect sense!;) When the Mirror Mirror concept wasn't fully realized on what became Rock a Little, she transferred it her proceeding album as The Other Side of the Mirror. In context, it's clear why she chose that title. But it's strange the song Mirror Mirror didn't make it on the album.
album.

I think you are part correct. Its probably wrong to use the word scrapped but many songs were not quite finished and without Jimmy they were not going to get finished. This is why there are so many RAL demos and some of them are so good like Running Through The Garden, Mirror Mirror, etc.

When Jimmy walked out and quit because of the non-stop party atmosphere, there was not a complete album and no single. This is when all these songs not written by Stevie were brought to her to sing i.e. some become strangers, Talk To Me, etc. There was a rush to get the album out since for almost 2 years nothing but rough cuts.

I think you are part correct. Its probably wrong to use the word scrapped but many songs were not quite finished and without Jimmy they were not going to get finished. This is why there are so many RAL demos and and some of them are so good like Running Through The Garden, Mirror Mirror, etc. Some of them are more than demos and completed tracks.

When Jimmy walked out and quit because of the non-stop party atmosphere, there was not a complete album and no single. This is when all these songs not written by Stevie were brought to her to sing i.e. some become strangers, Talk To Me, etc. There was a rush to get the album out since for almost 2 years nothing but rough cuts.