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

[BlueLight]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

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.

This has always been my understanding. Not two separate albums, but definitely a different direction.

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by BlueDenimLamp

"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

It's a misunderstanding.

She did not dump an entire album of songs, then began an entire new album from the ground up. The Mirror Mirror/Rock a Little production was problematic for various reasons Stevie has never properly addressed. This was a very shaky and vulnerable time in her life, as it was the height of her cocaine addiction. Her erratic behavior made it very hard for Jimmy to work with her. Along with Mirror Mirror, a few songs were swapped out, and others were reworked.

For entertainment purposes, is it possible to speculate what songs would be on a Mirror Mirror album?
1. Mirror Mirror
2. Running Through the Garden
?

[David]

Originally Posted by welcomechris

The song "Rock A Little" was written in 1981

Does somebody have the August 1983 Jim Ladd Innerview audio around? I think Stevie says, "I'm already working on my next album, Jim." And he says, "I know you are." She says the concept at that time was "Rock a Little" and she starts singing, "Sometimes it rages, rock a little/Even when it's calm, the house still shook a little/Just like the sea, I rock a little."

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

It's a misunderstanding.

She did not dump an entire album of songs, then began an entire new album from the ground up. The Mirror Mirror/Rock a Little production was problematic for various reasons Stevie has never properly addressed. This was a very shaky and vulnerable time in her life, as it was the height of her cocaine addiction. Her erratic behavior made it very hard for Jimmy to work with her. Along with Mirror Mirror, a few songs were swapped out, and others were reworked.

For entertainment purposes, is it possible to speculate what songs would be on a Mirror Mirror album?
1. Mirror Mirror
2. Running Through the Garden
?

Reconsider Me - Stevie says how much she hated this song. I think Jimmy made her do it and she was backed up vocally by Don Henley. I think once Jimmy walked out, she tossed this song immediately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNoaIr2OJNk

[BlueLight]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Reconsider Me - Stevie says how much she hated this song. I think Jimmy made her do it and she was backed up vocally by Don Henley. I think once Jimmy walked out, she tossed this song immediately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNoaIr2OJNk

Interesting - and so odd that she ultimately chose to include it in the boxed set.

[BlueLight]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

It's a misunderstanding.

She did not dump an entire album of songs, then began an entire new album from the ground up. The Mirror Mirror/Rock a Little production was problematic for various reasons Stevie has never properly addressed. This was a very shaky and vulnerable time in her life, as it was the height of her cocaine addiction. Her erratic behavior made it very hard for Jimmy to work with her. Along with Mirror Mirror, a few songs were swapped out, and others were reworked.

For entertainment purposes, is it possible to speculate what songs would be on a Mirror Mirror album?
1. Mirror Mirror
2. Running Through the Garden
?

This is one of my favorite pasttimes.

3. RAL
4. Thousand Days
5. Battle of the Dragon
6. She Loves Him Still
......

[SisterNightroad]

I've always thought that if Rock a little was a different album (with Jimmy Iovine for example), Violet and blue would have been the best choice for the first single.

Other possible tracks, in addition to the ones you have already listed, could have been One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star and Thousand Days.
There is also the possibilty that Greta, Love Is Like A River and Listen To The Rain would have been released on this album instead of Street Angel.

[DauphineMarie]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

I've always thought that if Rock a little was a different album (with Jimmy Iovine for example), Violet and blue would have been the best choice for the first single.

Other possible tracks, in addition to the ones you have already listed, could have been One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star and Thousand Days.
There is also the possibilty that Greta, Love Is Like A River and Listen To The Rain would have been released on this album instead of Street Angel.

One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star was a given, because according to Stevie's afformentioned 1983 Jim Ladd interview, that was one of the first songs they had started for the album.

[welcomechris]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Reconsider Me - Stevie says how much she hated this song. I think Jimmy made her do it and she was backed up vocally by Don Henley. I think once Jimmy walked out, she tossed this song immediately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNoaIr2OJNk

She said she wasn't in a "reconsider me" mood at the time because Jimmy and her were fighting. She later thanked warren and the song was released as a single

[StevieNicksfann]

Originally Posted by BlueLight

This is one of my favorite pasttimes.

3. RAL
4. Thousand Days
5. Battle of the Dragon
6. She Loves Him Still
......

A full tracklisting for the Mirror Mirror album exists somewhere. There had been a press release made or someone leaked an officical tracklisting at the time that ultimately got revamped. I remember The Dealer was originally on the album.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Reconsider Me - Stevie says how much she hated this song. I think Jimmy made her do it and she was backed up vocally by Don Henley. I think once Jimmy walked out, she tossed this song immediately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNoaIr2OJNk

well…just to focus on that point for a moment, did he really walk out? It's often been said (including by her) that she fired him. And if I recall it was something about her being upset that he was giving more attention/spending more time/more focus on Tom and other projects than on hers…. but maybe someone here will remember better. Later she said (on her BTM among other places) that it was her drug use and the craziness of the entourage and all the people she'd have hanging around in the studio etc. that drove him away. Jimmy did a great job on BD of keeping the entourage out and keeping her focused on work. (He had the power then because she hadn't had all the solo success yet and was very nervous about how it all would go and was willing to listen to him).

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Reconsider Me - Stevie says how much she hated this song. I think Jimmy made her do it and she was backed up vocally by Don Henley. I think once Jimmy walked out, she tossed this song immediately.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNoaIr2OJNk

She didn't say she hated the song; she said she wasn't in a "reconsider" state of mind at that time. She sure stays true to her emotions --if she is not feeling it, she won't sing it.
It's a great song, so she obviously felt the need to reconsidered the song decades later.

"How will you feel twenty years from now?"

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by SisterNightroad

I've always thought that if Rock a little was a different album (with Jimmy Iovine for example), Violet and blue would have been the best choice for the first single.

Other possible tracks, in addition to the ones you have already listed, could have been One More Big Time Rock And Roll Star and Thousand Days.
There is also the possibilty that Greta, Love Is Like A River and Listen To The Rain would have been released on this album instead of Street Angel.

Violet and Blue is such an overlooked song in her catalog. It got a lot of air play on local radio stations in New England.

How can I forget this song: One More Big Time Rock and Roll Star ...just what I need I love the sarcasm of it. It's almost the opposite end of the Byrds song "So You Wanna be a Rock and Roll Star.

There was a very prolific era - as Stevie balanced solo her career with Fleetwood Mac. Almost every year, if it wasn't an album by the band, it was a Stevie album, or a Lindsey album, or a Christine album, or a Mick Fleetwood album. It was great time to be a fan!

Aside from Stevie's albums, there are quite amount of exclusive solo songs that found homes on soundtrack albums and b-sides etc... I love the Enchanted box set because it gathered a lot of those stray tracks. Since then, she has amassed quite a few more, such as At Last and Not Fade Away. It would be nice if all of those songs could be collected and featured on their own, for a double disc compilation. By collecting them on their own exclusive platform, they would gain more recognition (and appreciation) as a significant part of her legacy.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

Later she said (on her BTM among other places) that it was her drug use and the craziness of the entourage and all the people she'd have hanging around in the studio etc. that drove him away. Jimmy did a great job on BD of keeping the entourage out and keeping her focused on work. (He had the power then because she hadn't had all the solo success yet and was very nervous about how it all would go and was willing to listen to him).

In one interview she said:

"In order to do an album with him, I had to change. I couldn't be Stevie Nicks from Fleetwood Mac. I had to be much stronger and much more in control of myself because he would not waste his time working with a flaky out of control girl singer from Fleetwood Mac. He had no reason to be in the studio with that person and it was made very clear to me from the very beginning that if I was going to do this, I was no longer the coddled, dependent baby of Fleetwood Mac. I had to go up and be very strong or we couldn't do this album."

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

well…just to focus on that point for a moment, did he really walk out? It's often been said (including by her) that she fired him. And if I recall it was something about her being upset that he was giving more attention/spending more time/more focus on Tom and other projects than on hers…. but maybe someone here will remember better. Later she said (on her BTM among other places) that it was her drug use and the craziness of the entourage and all the people she'd have hanging around in the studio etc. that drove him away. Jimmy did a great job on BD of keeping the entourage out and keeping her focused on work. (He had the power then because she hadn't had all the solo success yet and was very nervous about how it all would go and was willing to listen to him).

That sounds pretty accurate. I never knew those details of what went down between them.