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

DauphineMarie · #1 03-26-2015, 10:50 PM

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

PenguinHead · #2 03-26-2015, 11:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DauphineMarie

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?

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?

BlueLight · #3 03-27-2015, 09:07 AM

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."

BlueDenimLamp · #4 03-27-2015, 09:55 AM

"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"...

Travis · #5 03-27-2015, 10:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueDenimLamp

"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.

welcomechris · #6 03-27-2015, 01:40 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Travis

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

PenguinHead · #7 03-27-2015, 10:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BlueDenimLamp

"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"...

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?

DauphineMarie · #8 03-27-2015, 11:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

Changed her mind? She was somewhat out of her mind. What else was scraped, 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? Why can't it be 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.

Macfan4life · #9 03-29-2015, 05:24 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

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?

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.

Macfan4life · #10 03-29-2015, 05:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

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?

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.

UndoingTheLaces · #11 04-01-2015, 08:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DauphineMarie

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.

Does anyone have this or know where it could be downloaded? I'd love to hear that version of Sara.

DauphineMarie · #12 04-01-2015, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by UndoingTheLaces

Does anyone have this or know where it could be downloaded? I'd love to hear that version of Sara.

http://stevienicksivorykeys.blogspot...-tulsa-ok.html

The whole show is WILD and fabulous.. It is truly a gem. She sings Happy Birthday to Wizard in true Stevie fashion, which in my opinion is my favourite part of the show.

EDIT:: In the beginning, she talks about Scarlett from Gone With the Wind and making a dress out of drapes, and then she talks about Carol Ann who is at the show, who "lives here."

UndoingTheLaces · #13 04-02-2015, 12:30 AM

Wow! Thank you very much. I can't wait to hear this.