Fleetwood Mac: Classic or Dud

Yes, Rumours *is* the OK Computer of its time. Therefore . . . dud.

[Kidding aside, I find both to be decent records, if not exactly "classics."]

Rumours I don't really care about, since I've been familiar with that one from childhood and I get nothing fresh from it.

New F.M.: Spaced-out California cokehead popmasters: Classic to almost rival ABBA. 'Fleetwood Mac' is okay, but 'Rumours' and esp. 'Tusk' are utterly brilliant, and the come-back album is underrated. Stevie Nicks = amazing pixie with one strange voice.

"Think About Me" from Tusk and "Never Going Back Again" in addition to most of the hits (especially the ones by Christine and Lindsey) are muchos yummy.

Seriously, was Rumours "ground-breaking?" Please explain. Is this comparison, between Radiohead und Fleety Mac, what you humans call "sarcasm?" Rumours sounds like standard 60s-70s pop production to me. Sure is a good record, though. Tusk was a little wierd...

Or are we saying that Okay, Computer!! isn't groundbreakin? Maybe that's what we're saying. By saying "we" I don't know who I'm referring to. What was the question?

- Daft Punk: which robot is the John Lennon?

- Mingus' 'Ah-hum': the 'Ok Computer' of jazz?

- Orpheus: the Brian Wilson of ancient Greece? Oh and search & destroy his underrated post-Hades phase!

No mention of their godlike rhythm section? Tsk. Lindsey is a god of production and a brilliant fingerpicking guitarist. Mirage and Tango In The Night are often overlooked and really pretty good records, although not quite up to the Rumours/Tusk standard. Forget the stuff post-Lindsey, some of it is alright but not classic in the least. The version of the band that featured none of Stevie/Lindsey/Christine is just embarrassing.

Having recently listened to their Greatest Hits recently, I was quite struck by the fact that my favourite Mac songs are Stevie's. "Sara" is phenomenal.

Classic. Oh yes.

I suppose the Blue Oyster Cult was somewhat gentler than Black Sabbath or AC/DC but this still seems like a bizarre characterization of their music.

This occurred to me tonight, when I was listening to "I'm So Afraid" (which I've decided is my favorite Fleetwood Mac song... see my top 100 singles list). The mid-to-late '70s Fleetwood Mac had this great moody quasi-metal stoner-goth impulse that reared its head every so often. You mostly hear it in the Stevie songs, but Lindsey had it in him too. :-)

You Never Know What Your Missing
Need You Love So Bad
Heavenly
Albatros

---ABut, you can't really compare the early years with their more popular 70s/80s era (which, of course, i don't particularly care for).

Like Genesis!! Geir, I kiss you.

"The Green Manalishi"!

The only AOR album Genesis released during the 70s was "And Then There Were Three". Which was a better album than anything Fleetwood Mac did, so you're right anyway. :-)

Hey what's the one Geir that starts out "Up on the forest road, there's hundreds of cars and they're luxury cars!! Each has got a load of convertible bars, cutlery scars, and superstars!! 'Cause tonite is the night when they sort it out sort it out, because they can't seem to agree on their gerrymandered boundaries? There's Salamander Slim with his whiskey and gin, whiskey and gin...and Big-Assed Rocker Ted, he's touched in the head, touched in the head? 'Cause tonite they gonna sort it out, sort it out, yes they're finding ways to agree on a boundary?" I may have gotten a few words wrong but I'm working from memory here--it's really a good song.

Jim is right: Mirage is totally underrated. I used to love that album.

Is Spiritualised - Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating In Space a Rumours for the 90s?

It also works as kind of a moral lesson about the excess. When you're in a rock band, and you get so coked up every night that you start to think that fucking your band members is a good idea, even when they're married to other band members, these are the feelings you end up with.

Classic. Very.

I love the Peter Green era so much. Green is so much better a blues guitarist than Clapton it's not even funny. And I actually sort of like Clapton! He's just such a ripoff artist though, and you never get the sense he really feels any of it, save for Layla. Whereas we know Green was a troubled soul, and it really comes through in his music. Like he really needed to play the blues, maaaan.

But just the whole presentation is great, the hardcore blues covers (with that very good McVie Fleetwood rhythm section), the fabulous Green originals, Jeremy Spencer's sense of humor and SPOT-ON Elmore James rips (though a little definitely goes a long way), Danny Kirwan's shy introspective stuff.

The record that nailed it for me is Shrine '69. I swear it is one of the best live albums ever. It's just really taut and the setlist is great and the playing is flawless. You get the whole show - around 45 minutes - and it's just right. They were the opening band that night, and they just go out and rip through their tunes and it's a fun listen. Peter Green's playing and singing on the version of Little Willie John's "Need Your Love So Bad" is tremendous.

I better stop but of course Then Play On is great as is the BBC Sessions, which has a bunch of things that weren't recorded elsewhere (and a great version of "Rattlesnake Shake").

Oh yeah, Buckingham Nicks era is pretty rad as well.

The worst thing for him is that I would be sort of interested in reading his books, but the writing of his I've read elsewhere has totally put me off.

Anyway, good on ya Kenan for digging that disc.

Also, I was sort of thinking: Isn't it weird that there is like thirtysomething replies to a thread about one of the weirdest (with the coming-and-going-of-different-personnel, the radical sound shifts), longest running, most "IMPORTANT" (certainly best-selling) groups around? Where are all the pop fans? Or is it all too maybe obvious.

Anyway a fascinating band.

Yes hahah well Lindsey B is an androgynous punk god (just check the photos in the Tusk CD booklet - next to the other four he looks like he's wandered in from the Blitz Club). Stevie N is a hippy through and through but only an inadvertent punk goddess, which usually are the best ones.

The freak-out sounds very proto-postpunk to my ears! At least until the more bluesy part toward the end of it. I can imagine JD or The Sound making something similar...

Even in the recording studio they can still write songs
that are fresh and up-lifting, Still years left in them yet.

Only The Kinks are equal to the LIVE! performance
you will see on the Fleetwood Mac - Say You Will World Tour.

ROCK ON... THE Mac

Danny Kirwan's song "Dragonfly" sounds not unlike the music that FM did with Buckingham/Nicks in the mid 70s. That song has that Byrds/Jefferson Airplane folk rock sound, which is something "Rumours" era FM expanded upon.

The compilation was great. Are any of the individual albums or records of the mid period with Bob Welch worth checking out?

not according to the exit polls! someone must have fucked with his ballot.

Utterly perfect (well, maybe not "Oh Daddy"...)

I've been listening to "Mirage" lately and am reminded of how a great band -- Christine's harmonies, the McVie/Fleetwood rhythm section, say, working in tandem -- can give the frothiest of confections unexpected and even subversive undertones ("Book of Love," "Can't Go Back," "Eyes of the World").

Also, "Silver Springs" was added to the remastered reissue last year.

okay. i'll bite:
she may be a better songwriter, but her arrangements are soundalike snorefests.

shivers please don't make me.

having just listened to Fleetwood Mac, i am again amazed at how alike "Sugar Daddy" and "Say You Love Me" sound.

anyway, i hear the same chords, bass riffs and vocal inflections all over her songs. even the songs of hers i dislike less (eg. "over and over") suffer from this.

Sorry, dunno what I was thinking when I wrote that. Obviously wasn't.

The freak-out sounds very proto-postpunk to my ears! At least until the more bluesy part toward the end of it. I can imagine JD or The Sound making something similar...

You're right. I'm listening to it for the first time and it sounds a lot like Joy Division, particularly the tone on the bass line. I can see the OK Computer comparison too with this track.

Stevie > Christie

???

Don't Stop is amazing duh.

haha "figure it out"...no, really, I was listening to the music you cynical bastards

haha, perfect

"Stand Back"! "If Anyone Falls"! "Edge of Seventeen"! "Talk to Me"!

but here's what jumps to mind wrt slick 70s production & mysticism: Joni Mitchell (Don Juan's & Hissing of Summer Lawns), Dennis Wilson, early Eagles, any solo Byrds from that period (the first David Crosby, solo McGuinn, Dillard & Clark). maybe even Steely Dan?

The male/female dynamic thing sounds like a good lead as well. Thanks for the suggestions so far, keep them rolling in.

xpost

If you don't have the Buckingham Nicks LP, grab that for sure. And as for remotely similar stuff, I've been really feeling the first America LP, though it actually sounds more like Neil Young or CSN&Y.

Completely OTM

First heard it en route to Vegas this summer. Have yet to go beyond that and the Dance though.

"The Essential Fleetwood Mac" pretends that Buckingham Nicks never happened.

Here's a post from seven years ago that is so bad, misguided and just plain wrong that it's funny.

"They were a bit like Blue Oyster Cult in that the music was so soft and gentle, but there was still a hint of menace about the band."

Maybe FM was soft and gentle, but BOC??

The BOC pop years are pretty gentle. "Burning For You" is what I'm thinking of. But that comparison is still off-base.

For me the BOC pop years don't count. If "Hot Rails to Hell" doesn't shake your house's foundations, nothing will.

Presumably the OP had only heard Agents of Fortune and Spectres.

Or hey, maybe somebody gave him a BÖC comp consisting of nothing but ballads, like the Sabbath one M@tt did a coupla weeks ago! I wouldn't mind hearing that myself. (For me, pop AND metal years count.)

Agents and Spectres both have some shit that rocks too. After that, it falls off the radar for me, but up through that time (esp. the first three albums) BOC was pretty kick ass.

The best early soft BOC song: Then Came the Last Days of May. The subject matter's pretty heavy though, three kids going out west to make a fortune in drug dealing have their brains splattered all over the desert by the narrator.

WTF? CLASSIC

(From Wikipedia)

The influence of the Rumours album in popular culture is evident:

- Bone Thugs-N-Harmony sample The Chain for their song Wind Blow on the CD, Strength & Loyalty;

- The Chain was used by the BBC for their Grand Prix Programme title sequence since the programme's inception in 1978 until ITV won the F1 rights for 1997;

- The song "Don't Stop" was used as a campaign theme-song by U.S. President Bill Clinton.

- The song "Don't Stop" was used in the movie Accepted during the graduation party, playing softly in the background.

- In the pilot of HBO's Flight of the Conchords, while in the electronics shop, they describe a developing love triangle. Murray, the band manager, then states its not good for the band for such a thing to happen, comparing it to the "Fleetwood Mac Situation", though he describes it as a love square. He goes on to say they made some of their best music during this time, Bret simply says "Rumours," referring to the famous album. Murray then responds "No, it's all true," mistaking Bret's remark.

- Kid Rock sampled the chorus to "Second Hand News" for his song "Wasting Time" on his 1998 release Devil Without A Cause.

Looks like they've pretty much sewn that one up!

what's the best book out there about fleetwood mac? (preferably written by one of the members)

I don't know, but damn I love Fleetwood Mac full stop. I have "Then Play On," "The Pious Bird of Good Omen," "Kiln House," "Bare Trees," and "Tusk" and the "Greatest Hits" comp on my iPod, which I think covers all of the awesome versions of the band pretty well. I can't stop listening to them! And the Buckingham/Nicks record is awesome for "Long Distance Winner" alone!

Ah, no, you need one of the Bob Welch albums. Mystery To Me!

There are some interesting concerts from right after Buckingham/Nicks joined where they're still doing older tracks like Station Man. It's kind of weird to hear that right next to Rhiannon.

Also, the BBC Sessions and/or the live at Boston has a track that I don't think appears elsewhere called Sandy Mary which is just amazing. Kind of a cross between T Rex, bluesy Mac, and Cream. I've said this elsewhere, but stand by it, that White Stripes should be forced to cover it for their own good.

Lastly, Say You Will is pretty wonderful as well, though my favorite parts are mostly Buckingham's solo tracks that got absorbed.

i think say you will is one of the great forgotten albums. 'murrow turning over in his grave', 'thrown down', 'peacekeeper', 'silver girl', 'bleed to love her', 'say goodbye', 'goodbye baby' and the rest too. so god.

xxxp i've heard mick fleetwood's book is really good but i've never seen a copy; pretty sure it's oop

i got the fleetwood book pretty easily from the 'bay - it's a very entertaining and often very enlightening read. i'd like to see a buckingham bio one day to get a different part of the story..

I don't know, but damn I love Fleetwood Mac full stop. I have "Then Play On," "The Pious Bird of Good Omen," "Kiln House," "Bare Trees," and "Tusk" and the "Greatest Hits" comp on my iPod, which I think covers all of the awesome versions of the band pretty well. I can't stop listening to them! And the Buckingham/Nicks record is awesome for "Long Distance Winner" alone!

-- J, Saturday, 8 March 2008 18:25 (Yesterday) Link

Ah, no, you need one of the Bob Welch albums. Mystery To Me!

Welch was in the band for Bare Trees. It contains his signature tune: "Sentimental Lady."

True that, but it didn't really turn into "his" band until later. Bare Trees is kind of the Kirwan album.

I hate to use the word perfect in any context but damn, 'sara'. PERFECT.

That's all, carry on.

Single edit or album version?

Also: Cheryl Crow This doesn't seem like the worst idea in the world, a world where dinosaurs collide.

Album version. It's a travesty that such a glorious song was even edited.

Thunder only happens when it's raining.

I saw an ad in the paper that they are playing here, but Christine wasn't pictured in the ad. Is she really not participating? I guess I could google this but the whole task seems really daunting right now. I've been on an insane Stevie Nicks trip, but Fleetwood Mac without Christine??

she officially retired a couple of years ago i think

;_;

Is 'Rumours' the 'OK Computer' for the 'Whisperin' Bob Harris generation or would you rather 'jack'... than Fleetwood Mac?
― D*A*V*I*D*M, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (7 years ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

Wonder why I compared Rumours to OK Computer all those years ago? I mean, Tusk would've been the more obvious comparison, but even then... ¯\(°_o)/¯

Classic, btw.

I like OLD Fleetwood Mac - when they made R&B (rhythm & blues, not Rap & Bullshit!). Prior to THAT WOMAN's arrival.
― Kodanshi, Monday, 2 July 2001 00:00 (7 years ago)

This is archetypal.

Can irony bite its own ass?

The qualifying phrases used so many years ago are endearing and embarrassing ("I will confess to enjoying the Nicks ballads on it as well").

oh life

FMac w/o Christine = no Steve Shasta, sorry dudes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NXxbHM_Eb78

big 'Station Man' fan right here

clip is fucking unreal

Lindsey just fucking *owns* it ... who was it anyway, Danny? Jeremy? who cares

http://doomandgloomfromthetomb.tumblr.com/post/2930694239/stevie-nicks-solo-gypsy-demo-intense

URGH

Some of FM's music is just ... painfully beautiful.

Landslide kills me, every time.

this looks pretty bad

http://consequenceofsound.net/2012/06/fleetwood-mac-tribute-album-features-mgmt-the-kills-anthony-hegarty-and-more/

Fleedwood Mac Tribute Album Tracklist:
01. Entrance Band – Green Manalishi
02. Crystal Ark – Tusk
03. Best Coast – Rhiannon
04. The New Pornographes – Think About Me
05. MGMT – Future Games
06. Marianne Faithful – Angel
07. Antony Hegarty – Landslide
08. Ranaldo and Mascis – Albatross
09. Trixie Whitley – Before the Beginning
10. Washed Out – Straight Back
11. Super Wolf – Storms
12. The Kills – Dreams
13. Gardens and Villa – Gypsy
14. Billy Gibbons – Oh Well
15. Lykke Li – Silver Springs

Interested to hear the Crystal Ark's version of Tusk though.

can imagine entrance's green manalishi being quite badass too tbh

who is Ranaldo of Ranaldo and Mascis?
Future Games is a cool jam, that could be good too.

must be Lee, can't imagine who else it would be

o for some reason i thought that wasn't how he spelled his name. weird.

04. The New Pornographes – Think About Me

this could work

Mostly would like to hear Billy Gibbons and Marianne Faithful's tracks.

http://pitchfork.com/reviews/tracks/13773-think-about-me-fleetwood-mac-cover/

Mentioned it on my "Tusk" thread, but I'm not sure the New Pornographers cover works, as much as I appreciate the stab at making it different.

That's disappointing. "Think About Me" has with great stealth become my favorite Mac single.

^feeling this

don't like that track at all (I am an NPs fan in general). hate all the squiggly farty keyboard junk on there.

Zactly. When I want the Cars I'll take the Cars, not NP doing the Cars doing the Mac.

hate all the squiggly farty keyboard junk

^^^ yeah, this. But without it, the NP's version could pretty much be any bar band with competent harmonies. I want to hear Billy Gibbons too.

wau @ that album art

how did the crystal ark get dragged into this shit show

Best Coast – Rhiannon

hahahaha

"Rhiaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa-verrrrb."

her version of storms is really beautiful

a live version of the crystal ark track is on youtube, i don't love it

yeah, i don't even really care about best coast but i heard her do "storms" on morning becomes eclectic and was pretty wowed.

How could you mess up such a pretty song?

11. Super Wolf – Storms

i think this could be great.

~peter

Have you ever sat around wondering, "I wonder what Fleetwood Mac's 'Rhiannon' would sound like if someone re-harmonized it for a major rather than minor key?" I know I have! Well, wonder no more!

ewwwww

So many things wrong with that cover, but the piano comping is seriously wack.

like it's been retrofitted to be done by christine mcvie instead

speaking of covers I don't even like yo la tengo but this is all time

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jnGRtiKyO_A

after hearing her excellent 'storms' i had high hopes for the BC cover but that sucked

Even the Fleetwood Mac guy who *wrote* this great song couldn't cover it well...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2rSWMMO4LeU

dig the tame impala doing 10cc doing fleetwood mac thing

some of the more faithful versions aren't bad.. the lykke li & will oldham ones could grow on me.. but the ones trying to be 'different' are almost uniformly crap

Yeah, Fleetwood Mac didn't spend all that time and money making something perfect for some shitty indie band to come along and prove how hard it is to be that good.

Something to effect of that line needs to be in EVERY review of this compilation.

saw this on UK TV when I was like 9 or something, made me a Mac fan for life. they are on severely awesome form here, spitting mad and totally frenetic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCUKvMO_wgE

Actually this is my test band. If someone doesn't like Rumours Tusk or the S/T one, out he/she goes. :-)

LOL. I wouldn't really do that. Not then, not now. But I still play Rumours quite a bit (in the car mainly).

Seeing Buckingham tomorrow night. I've seen the Mac once. This will be the fourth or fifth time seeing Bucky solo.

Really digging "Mystery to Me" lately.

That making of Rumours book is great. Like how he divides the factions into pot and alcohol/cocaine, with poor Stevie (with nothing to do most of the time) dabbling in everything. It's a wonder that album got made, it's a greater wonder that it does not sound like it was made under duress.

I get the impression that today's producers and engineers are slightly less indulgent of such, well, indulgences. The sheer amount of time/money wasted when someone is too drunk, too high, or everyone is too drunk or too high ...

Read the Mick book, too, which is more like a mini-coffee table book. It's worth it for his dedication by ending with several pages of the Buckingham-free "Behind the Mask" era as yet another fresh start (ha!). Also for the picture of Lindsey sitting in what I think is called his artificial rain room. Looks like a greenhouse with water constantly sprayed on the glass from the outside.

whatever for?

in which faction was Buck?

I'm sure this has been posted, but this 1975 concert is pretty illuminating. An odd transitional period from blues rock to Buckingham/Nicks, I believe well before the self-titled album had taken off. Christine is really into this, Buckingham/Nicks have yet to become the "stars."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxDskCL-EHk&feature=related

xpost Buckingham was really into pot c. "Rumours." Clearly his interests ... expanded.

The producers and engineers have to strike a balance. They can't abstain, because it would kill the mood, but they can't drink, because it hampered their skills. One would always have to get high with Lindsey, the other one tried to limit his smoking for the sake of stability. Coke was in and out of the scene around then, but at least so far in the book is doesn't seem to be as much of a problem as alcohol, which in particular turned McVie from the nicest guy in the world into a big asshole, which would spark fights with Christine, which would set off Lindsey and Stevie ...

I really liked that Rumours book a lot. John McVie's daily studio routine (come in early and already drinking hard, get surly hammered by the time everyone else is in their groove and go home early, yet still lay down killer tracks) boggled me.

seriously though, what was the rain room for? Just a vibes thing?

Never explained!

From a 1984 Rolling Stone piece:

Lindsey Buckingham is standing in the "rain room." This is his favorite room in the house --- other than the recording studio. The room has a glass ceiling. Flip a switch and a gentle shower of water begins pitter-pattering against the roof --- as if it were raining. "It's great for freaking people out," he says, smiling. "You just turn it on without saying anything, and you're in here talking, and suddenly they think it's raining." the room also contains an immense pine tree growing right out of the floor and up through a hole in the ceiling.

Here's the whole thing, which I guess is interesting: http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:hVgyDFYMEVEJ:bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php%3Fpage%3Dindex_v2%26id%3D60%26c%3D9+&cd=3&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us

How did he keep rain from coming in around the edges of the tree trunk? Was there some kind of huge gasket?

xpost. I've heard both a million times before, but while watching that Capital Center video realized that the intro to Station Man could just as easily have gone into Think About Me. Also, for some weird reason I never noticed that Lindsey (with beard and 'fro) looks a hell of a lot like Peter Green! Has anyone ever remarked on that? So weird...

http://www.streamingoldies.com/content-images/streamingoldies.com/0524-Peter-Green.jpg

http://www.buckinghamnicks.net/lb/images/LBuckAlbum.JPG

Maybe that's why Lindsey ditched the Les Paul!

Coke turning up more and more in this book. The producers are such doofuses here. "I hear a hit!" "I smell a Grammy!" "Let's make some magic!" "Let's kick some ass!"

Also, not surprised to hear that Lindsey is basically a control-freak dick. Somewhere at the start of the book the author actually writes "I found (and still find) Lindsey to be extraordinarily talented, extraordinarily opinionated, and extraordinarily annoying."

I couldn't imagine dating that man.

Also, not surprised to hear that Lindsey is basically a control-freak dick.

I never understood why the accusations of violence against LB in Carol Ann Harris’ book were just sort of left out there on the table. AFAIK LB was never asked to confirm/deny it, and you would think accusations of that kind against any kind of public or semi-public figure would have been picked up by someone in the media, even if it was just some blogger. Maybe (as you suggested) there’s an assumption of that kind of thing coming with the territory among creative types (but I think that’s inaccurate, or at least shouldn’t be excused), or maybe there’s an ‘he’s not a major star anymore, so no one cares about it’ (but if no one cares, how did CAH get a book deal?) effect. Anyway, both the allegations and the non-response to it kind of bugged me,

I'm not saying it's just you, Josh -- I mean, to my knowledge no journalist has so much as asked Lindsey about this. And I don't think it ultimately changes how I feel about his music. But I'm really kind of stunned at how people can kinda just write this shit off -- as if he's just some kind of spastic artist who sometimes just couldn't control himself. It's pretty clearly a lot more than that -- and wholly indefensible.

I want a "rain room" in my house.....

<I>The producers are such doofuses here. "I hear a hit!" "I smell a Grammy!" "Let's make some magic!" "Let's kick some ass!"</I>

Haha, yes, the behind the scenes stuff and the delving into the specifics and mechanics of making the record are terrific, but after reading the book there's little doubt that someone as corny and silly as Ken Caillat fathered someone as dull as Colbie Caillat. (Who gets mentioned in the book far more than an editor should have let him get away with.)

xpost I'm not forgiving Buckingham his alleged abuses, or defending him. But if I'm being honest, I don't really know how to process the information, which so far has dribbled out in passing in belated behind the scenes books, one of which is a chronicle of an admittedly mutually self-destructive relationship fueled by copious hard drug use. I guess I'm not surprised. For all I've read and seen of similarly mutually self-destructive co-dependent drug user tales, any number of abuses seem par for the course. God knows, given the standard rock star treatment of women as documented countless times in books, movies, documentaries, article and, yes, law suits, amplified by excessive drugs, power and other perks of fame that accord the illusion of invincibility, I'd be shocked if physical abuse of some sort was not a common occurrence in rock star relationships. Because verbal and mental abuse sure seems to be a mainstay.

Again, not a defense. I'm just surprised more stories like hers regarding other musicians haven't made the rounds. Has Stevie ever alleged abuse? Anne Heche?

Wow, looking at reviews of her book on Amazon, which run the gamut (as usual), I found a comment from Jeremy Spencer! Who proceeds to get in a back and forth with her!

http://www.amazon.com/review/R2ID24GLLQB6U8/ref=cm_cr_pr_cmt?ie=UTF8&ASIN=1556526601&linkCode=&nodeID=&tag=#wasThisHelpful

http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2012/dec/04/fleetwood-mac-plan-world-tour-2013

YESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYESYES

Sweet. Please play near my house.

saw them last time they were in london, amazing (obviously) but man i would love it if christine was there

I wouldn't mind another 'Mac album, actually... it's been a good few years since the last one!

irredeemable dud, but "tell me lies" takes me back to the 80s, when my mom would have this terrible soft-rock radio station on after picking me up from swim practice.

Get out of here

poliopolice with fake troll cool shit

"Mick Fleetwood VIP Experience"

Ticket in First 5 Rows
VIP Entry to Venue
VIP Host for the Evening
Meet & Greet with Mick Fleetwood
VIP Q&A with Mick Fleetwood onstage at his Drum Kit
Personal Photo with Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood VIP Laminate
- $425

Ticket in the First 20 Rows
VIP Entry to Venue
VIP Host for the Evening
Meet & Greet with Mick Fleetwood
VIP Q&A with Mick Fleetwood onstage at his Drum Kit
Personal Photo with Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood VIP Laminate
- $375

I do not want to meet Mick Fleetwood but I very much do want to be in the first few rows, what to do?

Ticket in the First 50 Rows
VIP Entry to Venue
VIP Host for the Evening
Meet & Greet with Mick Fleetwood
VIP Q&A with Mick Fleetwood onstage at his Drum Kit while he soundchecks
Personal Photo with Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood VIP Laminate
- $325

I do not want to meet Mick Fleetwood but I very much do want to be in the first few rows, what to do?

...get an amex

just picked up a nice vinyl copy of future games this week. what a great record...title track is absolutely stunning

yep. listening to mystery to me right now - the sleeper years (bet green and buck/nicks) are a gift that keeps giving

I realised today that "Isn't It Midnight" is like The Cure's Disintegration played at the wrong speed.

and with one extra riff

I'm getting sticker shock at the prices of tix for this tour so far. I realize Lil Stevie told us, years ago, that she didn't want to be a cleaning lady, so I shouldn't be surprised, but still... yikes.

It'll be my only arena show in ages, and probably their last go at this, so will bite the bullet.

Christine or GTFO for me, yep.

I thought the acronym was GYOW.

I feel you, though.

is there anything more glorious than the end to this performance? buckingham's vocal

http://youtu.be/XoMWa3jRtLo?t=3m47s

man that's straight-up fire

lmfao i had no idea "little lies" was by fleetwood fucking mac until today, wtf i though that was tiffany or smthn

Excellent performance. This reissue is moving towards essential territory now, sadly.

lmfao i had no idea "little lies" was by fleetwood fucking mac until today, wtf i though that was tiffany or smthn

The arrangement boasts too many off-kilter filigrees (those breathy "close my close my close my eyes" harmonies, the synthesized chimes) to confuse it for Tiffany!

Well it's not the remasters of Mirage and Tango in the Night that we've been waiting for, but how about a Rumours 4-CD/1-DVD/1-LP Super Deluxe Edition and, amazingly enough, a separate 3-CD version for people who already own the 2004 2-CD reissue?

http://www.superdeluxeedition.com/news/fleetwood-mac-rumours-super-deluxe-edition-6-disc-box-set/

i really wish this deluxe edition trend would stop

i guess that you tube studio footage comes from an unreleased doc that is in the set! woo hop!! (my bank account is a deluxe box set sieve, sad but true)

woo hoo i meant

20 Sept Dublin, Ireland - O2 Dublin
24 Sept London, UK - O2 Arena
29 Sept Birmingham, UK - LG Arena
1 Oct Manchester, UK - Manchester Arena
3 Oct Glasgow, UK - The Hydro
6 Oct Cologne, Germany - Lanxess Arena
7 Oct Amsterdam, Netherlands - Ziggo Dome
9 Oct Antwerp, Belgium - Sport Palais
11 Oct Paris, France - Bercy
13 Oct Zurich, Switzerland - Hallenstadion
14 Oct Stuttgart, Germany - Schleyerhalle
16 Oct Berlin, Germany - O2 World
18 Oct Herning, Denmark - Jynske Bank Boxen
20 Oct Oslo, Norway - Oslo Spektrum
23 Oct Stockholm, Sweden - Globen
25 Oct Helsinki, Finland - Hartwall Areena

that would be swell, except

Price Range
£88.00 - £137.50

D:

I was fretting over that at lunchtime, and could only conclude that even at £137.50 this still has to be done.

it is great testament to my love of them that i'm torn on whether or not to exceed my usual ticket price limit by um 1000%, but i think i'll end up coming out on the 'no' side.

Hm, looking at it that way ... my mistake may be in using Arsenal tickets as a reference point.

tempted...!

jesus. i'd love to. i'd so love to. but that's just too expensive for my budget.

But they may never tour again! Except they probably will. But they may lose an essential member! Except they already have. I'm going, but if I were to make a recommendation, I would say just catch Lindsey solo.

How much did Lindsey solo cost? What kind of venue?

If Christine was involved I'd probably bite the bullet and accept my summer of eating nothing but Tesco Value beans.

xpost I didn't pay, but I know it was much less than seeing the Mac in an arena, and he played/plays pretty small rooms.

Is anybody else trying for these? I'm having no luck. Going to the secondary £200+ sites is as step too far, even for them.

The security check things are getting too difficult as well - I get the words wrong half the time.

I went via O2 site and got some. This was dead on 9am though.

mmmmofo

They were amazing last time they came over here …

that makes me feel much better

o so well i guess i'm seeing fleetwood mac in paris. (i bought it RIGHT NOW so perhaps you could too, ismael: http://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/fleetwood-mac-tickets?c=micro_site_fleetwood_080213 )

Reissue Mirage and Ta-ahhn-GOOOOOO already!

Thanks for the tip Merdey - it was showing as *one* ticket left, but had gone by the time I got through. Downside - no fm; upside - I may remain married.

ah bad luck. lucky me, having no one to alienate but my bank account.

not quite sure what my logic is whereby £140 + a £2 round trip is less affordable than £64 + whatever a round trip to Paris will cost.

I could've had seats in the 6th row for the Cleveland show but was not willing to drop $149.50 a seat.

ISMAEL. THIRD LONDON DATE ANNOUNCED http://www.livenation.co.uk/artist/fleetwood-mac-tickets?c=twit_ln_fleetwoodmac_080213

Okay wtf is this, dripping out dates over the day of sale? Presumably the gap days are going to get filled now too.

London prices were ridiculous, so have booked for Antwerp- 70 euro. OMG.

seriously not even worth it without christine

Done it. Merdey, I am in your debt.

HOORAY. good luck with yr marriage.

i've heard some rumours that chat with christine is still ongoing.

:O really?? damn. i'll believe it when it happens tho

if not they should at least bring in a ringer. maybe those chumps who replaced lindsey can do a christine impersonation between them.

guessing sitting on the top tier at the o2 would feel nearly as frustrating and out of things as not being there at all?

hey this band just got a 10.0 on pfork

why do u think we're paying big buxxx 2 c them jeez.

the warning that the top tier of the o2 may not be suitable for those with vertigo made it sound kinda cool actually.

lol at whiney goin in on twitter
"Websites like Pitchfork should be built to destroy Fleetwod Mac, not enforce them."

just done a GIS and it does look p cool. maybe for watching sport rather than fleetwood mac for 85 quid tho?

just watched the VH1 Classic Albums on Rumors...man, felt bad for John McVie, he still seemed haunted by what happened, like some Vietnam vet with PTSD

I would say just catch Lindsey solo

and, um, stevie solo. the dave grohl sound city live shindig was totally worth sitting thru for stevie's headlining set (and a few other wonderful moments).

xp yeah mcvie seems like a dude with regrets on that doc. oh well, he can probably drown his sorrows on his bed made out of diamonds.

he and Mick live on neighbouring Hawaiian islands, he can probably console himself somehow.

Pumped that this rare hard to find record is finally back in print! Can't wait to hear what the hype is about, is it streaming anywhere?

oh i'm sure he's fine, it was just kinda weird in that doc how sad he seemed, but i think that was the first classic albums or close to it, so the stuff was a lot more recent i guess

he was really glum in the rock family trees episode on fleetwood mac, too. still really angry about the guy they had to kick out because he was fucking mick's wife. still really bummed that bob welch left when he did. still really miffed about lindsey leaving after tango.

still destroyed that Christine left him.

I loved Nick's explanation: "Chris and John aren't together because John drinks."

liked jessica hopper's review of this on pitchfork but this was OUT OF LINE:

Two years prior to recording Rumours, though, Fleetwood Mac was approximately nowhere. In order to re-establish the group's flagging stateside reputation, in early 1974 Fleetwood Mac's drummer and band patriarch, Mick Fleetwood, keyboardist/singer Christine McVie, and her husband, bassist John McVie, moved from England to Los Angeles. The quartet was then helmed by their fifth and least-dazzling guitarist, the American Bob Welch.

not cool

give it a couple years, pfork will be giving future games a 10.0 too.

future games is so tight, as is bare trees

"homeward bound" is my fav christine mcvie jam

not to derail but if you guys haven't heard this one, damnnn
http://image.musicimport.biz/sdimages/disk1/464559.jpg

no, but that cover is fucking awesome even if the font reminds me of ten years after for some reason

it's great, super-psyched out hendrix-y/fusion instrumental jams.

If that ever gets a boxset reissue they should use modern photoshop techniques to remove that slice of bright sky above the leopard's neck

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDUdM7K9SVk

Future Games is the bomb, as is End of the Game

I have no problems with Future Games, but I'd take Bare Trees over it in a heartbeat.

nah

Dust is a really great song, and there are a couple of others, but there are just some amazing epic melancholia on FG. I need to listen to those records again tho.

The quartet was then helmed by their fifth and least-dazzling guitarist, the American Bob Welch.

God, even when she's writing on a subject I'd normally agree with her on, SHE DOES IT WRONG.

no sentimental lady this jessica hopper

least-dazzling = did not become homeless or was not mentally ill

Um, Welch had his own problems, obviously.

less dazzling than Billy Burnette and Rick Vito?

They wore bolos. How could they not be dazzling?

You know, I love the Bob Welch era, but it's entirely possible that he *was* the least dazzling guitarist. In context, though, I don't know that that's a horrible criticism. My favorite FM album is, for the record, Mystery To Me closely followed by Bare Trees.

he wasn't hired for his guitar heroics tho, he was there for songwriting/front man duties to compliment kirwan

i would certainly rate his contributions way above jeremy spencer's at the very least

complement

I'm thinking Green-->Buckingham-->Kirwan and then I really don't know enough to decide between Welch and Weston and Spencer in terms of guitar playing. But it seems entirely possible that Welch comes in fifth. (My impression is that Weston was pretty hot shit, though I'd have to go back and listen some more...)

Ticket in First 5 Rows
VIP Entry to Venue
VIP Host for the Evening
Meet & Greet with Mick Fleetwood
VIP Q&A with Mick Fleetwood onstage at his Drum Kit
Personal Photo with Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood VIP Laminate
- $425

Ticket in the First 20 Rows
VIP Entry to Venue
VIP Host for the Evening
Meet & Greet with Mick Fleetwood
VIP Q&A with Mick Fleetwood onstage at his Drum Kit
Personal Photo with Mick Fleetwood
Mick Fleetwood VIP Laminate
- $375

Maybe Lindsay could do one and I could accost him during his guitar Q&A about the domestic violence stuff.

i would certainly rate his contributions way above jeremy spencer's at the very least.

I dunno if I'd agree with this. He's an ok songwriter but guitar-playing-wise Spencer shreds all over his ass.

Spencer's album from last year is pretty great, incidentally.

I'm still p terribly lacking in non Buckingham-Nicks FM knowledge, but listening to Bare Trees for the first time now it's rly good, if not at all vibing with my ideas of it based on the cover. 'Sunny Side of Heaven' is super gorgeous (and most aligned with what I was imagining).

(Also just listened to Peter Green's The End of the Game, amazing Hendrix-beyond-Hendrix jazz-funk-psych blues.)

jamming out to End of the Game right now, and man I am liking it even more than I remembered the last time I gave it a listen. Something about Peter Green's style hits so deep, even in a sort of free form loose jammy context

I'm going to do the meet Mick thing if it becomes available in my town.

It's all about the laminate, baby. But seriously, I will.

mick seems like he would be the most fun

never gotten the sense that i would ever want to be in the same room as lindsay buckingham

Apparently, they're letting fans design the tour poster: http://www.facebook.com/FleetwoodMac/app_288858114510005

Competition seems weak so far. Designy type ilxors should hop on this.

never gotten the sense that i would ever want to be in the same room as lindsay buckingham

yeah dude might be a total musical genius but there is no question in my mind that he is also a humourless psycho

christine mcvie would probably be very polite

Oh man the box set in INCREDIBLE! I don't know much about mastering and all that jazz, but the CD doesn't sound optimal. I got it for the rest of the stuff, and those demos don't disappoint! (Admittedly I've never explored their bootlegs so maybe they are old hat by now). I can't wait to see the DVD, hope it's more of that great behind-the-scenes stuff floating around you tube.

Christine would be polite, offer you a glass of good red wine, listen to you prattle about "Warm Ways," and say, "Alright, love, time for you to get the fuck out."

stevie would offer you a glass of wine, listen to you prattle about the buckingham nicks album, then prattle back to you for two or three hours or until you said, "alright, love, time for me to get the fuck out. and you've got a show to do, don't you?"

Apparently, they're letting fans design the tour poster: Competition seems weak so far

lol go through their fb page's photos for all of the "reimaginings" or w/e of the rumors cover

The band went through so many incarnations they really should be evaluated as three different bands.

I do believe, however, that Peter Green was one of the most expressive blues guitarists and far more emotive than Clapton could ever hope to be.

That's certainly true for the British blues crew. Though Clapton's pre-Cream stuff, what little there is, is worth a listen for sake of comparison.

he was aight in yardbirds, but beck really made that band great imo

God bless The Onion...

Man Who Bought 34th Anniversary Reissue Of Fleetwood Mac's 'Rumours' Feeling Like Real Idiot After Passing Display For 35th Anniversary Edition

http://o.onionstatic.com/images/19/19633/original/700.jpg?2658

ENID, OK—Longtime Fleetwood Mac fan Michael Gastin reportedly felt like a complete moron this week after walking by a retail display for the 35th anniversary remastered CD box set of the band’s celebrated 1977 album Rumours, released less than a year after he purchased the Rumours 34th anniversary edition. “Goddamn it, I can’t believe I wasted my money on the 34th anniversary reissue when I could have just waited a little longer and gotten an awesome 35th anniversary re-release,” the embarrassed fan said after observing that the deluxe 35th anniversary edition of the album features an expanded booklet with photographs, essays, and interviews about the making of Rumours not included in the commemorative booklet packaged with the 34th anniversary deluxe box set. “And look at this thing—it’s huge! It’s like twice as big as the 32nd and 33rd anniversary editions combined.” At press time, Gastin had reportedly opted to purchase the album due to its inclusion of an early jam session that reportedly sheds light on the little-documented tensions between band members Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Such a lost gem:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yErUFrogXxE

i haven't heard that! think i need to.
in other news, i won tix to see fleetwood mac this summer. woo!

that is super nice. who is singing? is the rest of the album that good?

I'm seeing them tomorrow in Columbus! Rock!

the album is pretty much all over the place, but it definitely sounds Mac related. The singer is some guy, I think, though he sounds like Christine.

cool. i just read the ken caillat making rumours book...pretty good, if not an amazing piece of writing. caillat is sort of weirdly wide-eyed. a pretty girl walks in: "Gee!" he does a line of coke: "wow!" etc. but there's tons of fun stuff about the album, lots of details w/o being too technical.

^agree with this take. dude is a total nerd but appealingly so

yeah, kind of refreshing, you'd think a guy like that would be some jaded record industry d-bag.

good stories about scooter, the tusk cover dog, too.

Aw c'mon, share. Kennel-hopping? Worming tablets blown up his ass?

he's a frisky little dude, let's just say that

the memoir by Buck's girlfriend was an odd one.

^^oh maaan this book was heavy (and destroyed my perspective on buck)

yeah buckingham comes off the worst in caillat's book. kind of amazing they even worked together again, but i guess having a record that sells a bajillion copies makes a lot of water go under the bridge.

never gotten the sense that i would ever want to be in the same room as lindsay buckingham

rest of Fleetwood Mac circa the making of 'Tusk' to thread

hope caillat does a making tusk sequel! that's when shit gets real.

sadly it would miss out on all the stuff buckingham did at home on his own

yeah i guess a tusk oral history kinda thing would make more sense.

otoh Caillat and Buck Girlfriend's books makes me wish I hung out with Christine all day every day.

Harris' memoir was unconvincing at almost every level though; even the dialogue, presumably recollected in tranquility, was stilted enough to make "90210" sound like Wilde.

A lot of folks have called bullshit on her memoir, which may explain why it gained so little traction. At the least it sounds pretty par for the course for any relationship built around drugs.

Scooter the "Tusk"-dog stories pale compared to fellow Sound City vet Rick Springfield and his fellow cover star pet pit bull. The Sound City doc has Neil Giraldo claiming he did his take on "Jessie's Girl" with Springfield's iron-jawed dog poised right at his crotch.

just watched the rumours episode of classic albums for the first time on netflix. both mcvies come across as down-to-earth normal cool people. fleetwood too. buckingham comes across, unsurprisingly, as someone who is very very fond of himself. nicks comes across as someone who is very very fond of buckingham, too, and is still a little angry at him. the studio playbacks of their and christine's isolated harmonies are beyond fantastic.

TS:

http://i2.listal.com/image/1896949/600full-fleetwood-mac----tusk-%5Bvinyl%5D-cover.jpg

Vs.

https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcR6dGCYO1-X8rtkxBSw1W0Z9mg7gmrk9oiT7suqb6uvdXYJSglK

Buckingham should be fond of himself, because he was the glue keeping so much of "Rumours" on up together. Worth noting that Buckingham was never the raging drug or drink fiend that Nicks, Fleetwood or John McVie were. If he's smug it's perhaps because he carried those dudes for so long. "Tango" and "Say You Will" only came about when they begged him to return, and in the case of the former he was tasked with shaping something workable out of Nicks' erratic contributions.

I think Buckingham's rock bottom came in the '80s, but he was pretty isolated from his band (and everyone) at that time. I've seen him solo a few times, and he seemed both modest and extremely grateful for the help of friends shepherding him through his dark period. (He's more or less called "Big Love" autobiographical, and while the song is pretty sketchy, you can still tell he was going through some shit).

(I should stress that the contributions of the other Macs are awesome, it's just that they ultimately needed Buckingham more than he needed them. I get the feeling from at least "Tusk" onward he would have been more than happy just making his own weird records, though clearly the money proved too tempting, and we all benefitted in the end.)

i'm of the belief that they needed each other equally. take away that ridiculously inventive rhythm section and those godlike harmonies ad he's just a quirky singer-songwriter making, yeah, his own weird records, right from the start.

Yes, I saw Buckingham last August and while his 65-minute performance was intense and surprising I couldn't distinguish his humility from PR. Which he's earned! As you point out, he assembled TITN. According to Harris, the group still functioned as one on Mirage.

he probably could have (and maybe did) come up with half of tusk on his own. he couldn't have come up with a single song on rumors on his own. except maybe "never going back again."

(and yes I've seen him solo and loved it.)

btw much of Nicks' solo work through 1985 and intermittently thereafter doesn't need Buckingham, although we can credit him for strengthening self-confidence and songwriting chops.

"Rumours" was I think the only time the band was truly operating "as one." Ironically. But "Tusk" is basically half Lindsey on his own, half Lindsey arranging, polishing, deconstructing the others. Save Christine, who pretty much sounds like herself. (Is she the only band member who ever co-wrote with Lindsey?) "Mirage" really sounds like Lindsey let loose with proto digital tools, perhaps a concession to lure him back to the band. I imagine he had even more control on "Tango," when he really didn't want to be involved at all. Then "Say You Will" is pretty much the Lindsey show again. The other guys in the band are what make the records sound so great, of course, tempering his high strung tendencies.

Btw, I agree Nicks did not need Bucky in the '80s, which is also ironic, given she was such a mess.

The degree to which Buckingham deserves songwriting credit on Nicks' songs will never get resolved -- it's a tango in the night.

I can't wait for the definitive account of the Tango sessions, about which we know so little.

Well, I mean, she's only got three songs on there, and one was a co-write with Sandy Stewart, who wrote the music.

Huh, she (Sandy) recorded a duet with Nile Rodgers for the "White Nights" soundtrack! "This is Your Day."

Oh, you mean all her Mac songs? Yeah, well, talk about "he couldn't have come up with a single song on rumors on his own." Only apply it to all the Nicks Mac songs. But then, they wouldn't be what they are without her formative contributions, melodies, lyrics, etc.

and co-wrote "If Anyone Falls" and "Nightbird."

A lot of folks have called bullshit on her memoir, which may explain why it gained so little traction. At the least it sounds pretty par for the course for any relationship built around drugs.

Sorry if I'm being a broken record but I feel like we've been over this a few times now. This is like the second or third time you have posted a justification for the fact that Lindsey hit women -- drugs, the women were crazy, he's an artist who was in a "dark place," it was the 70s and 80s.

I like his music too, but I honestly don't think there's any doubting that the guy has a pattern of physically abusing women that was reprehensible.

What gives?

Josh can get Lindsay to change, you'll see

Hey, I'm trying my best!

If you read the Amazon comments, there's actually an exchange between Harris and Jeremy Spencer where he accuses her of making stuff up. So there's that. Really, though, I don't know about "a pattern of physically abusing women." Is that right? Has Anne Heche mentioned it? Has Stevie mentioned it? I don't recall seeing such an accusation anywhere but in Harris's salacious tell-all. Which doesn't make it not true! But there's are too many unfounded accusations and too much cocaine involved in this tangled tale to take anyone's sole voice as gospel.

jeremy spencer wouldn't be my first stop for reliable witnesses tbqh

Caillat talks about it in his book -- it may actually be Carol Ann. He was totally freaked out by it and basically realized Buck was a terrible person as a result.

There are other stories as well relating to Stevie.

If your point about coke is related to memory, then that doesn't really hold water because I don't think there's much doubt that hitting/choking women (and guys too IIRC) is a well-documented "thing" for him.

If its "hey, people do crazy things when they're fucked up" or "he just had an anger management problem" -- give me a break.

And if it's "not every woman he's been with has written a tell-all book about his physical abuse," then you obviously don't know much about it -- because the whole point is that women DON'T talk about it. Not enough anyway. They stick with abusive guys long after they should for a variety of reasons -- almost all really sad and really common.

Part of the reason I'm just not giving in here is that I spent today reading all these people justifying Mike Rice, the coach of Rutgers, berating his players and throwing balls at their heads as "old school" and "character building."

It's neither. There's nothing justifiable about abuse -- not the era where it was tolerated, nothing.

If Lindsey has gotten help and gotten this under control, great. But it doesn't make him any different than Ike Taylor or Chris Brown.

Picturing Taylor Swift throwing a b-ball at Ed Sheeran in a mixing desk rage. Thanking you.

I'm not trying to convince you. xpost There is no excuse to hit or abuse anyone, especially not your sig. other. I would not be surprised that Buckingham was an emotionally abusive person, prone to screaming, fits, maybe even violence. But so far the only source, anywhere - I read Caillat's book, and don't remember him going into this in much detail - that really goes into is the Harris book, which, again, does not make it untrue. But the difference between Buckingham and Rice, Brown, Ike et al. is that the violence of the latter crew has been well-documented. Buckingham is a massively public figure with massively public relationships, from a band famous above all else for its emotional distress and discussing it, at length, through song and interviews and, yes, tell-alls and docs. It would take a hundred people turning their backs or covering up for him to keep this physically abusive side of him a secret for decades, though I admit it's possible! It's a scummy business. I've read enough of these tell alls, from Motley Crue to Peter Criss to Zevon to whomever to believe they're likely all terrible people prone to far worse than what actually gets reported.

But so far the only source, anywhere - I read Caillat's book, and don't remember him going into this in much detail - that really goes into is the Harris book

Since I have the Caillat book on Kindle, allow me to refresh your memory:

Suddenly, Lindsey barged through the front door from the street and went directly into the studio. A few minutes later, Richard and Christina came in the back door, having parked behind the studio. They both walked past Lindsey without saying a word and went directly into the control room. Christina was white and trembling. There were no jokes coming from Richard, either. “I’ll go talk to him,” Richard said to Christina.

He walked out of the control room and closed the door. “What happened?” I asked Christina, who had begun to cry hysterically. “I don’t know. I think it’s over. And what’s worse is that Lindsey punched me in the face. Then he started yelling all this crazy stuff about how he couldn’t take it, and I had to leave.” Richard came in and told Christina that Lindsey was sorry, that he didn’t know what had happened, but he did want her to leave.

I called a cab for Christina, and that was it. She was gone. I really thought Christina and Lindsey had been great together. I’ll never forget how she trembled after Lindsey attacked her. Her face had red marks on it where he had hit her. Lindsey always seemed to be wound a little too tight, but I hadn’t expected that he would get physical with a woman. I felt sick, as if the magic had been destroyed.

Little did I know that I would also experience his physical rage in the near future. Richard was upset, too. He had been at the house at the time and had seen the whole thing. “What are you doing, Lindsey? Are you fucking crazy?” he demanded when we were alone with Lindsey. “You don’t do that to people!” “I know. You’re right,” Lindsey said. “I don’t know why she got me that mad.”

“Let’s get out of here,” Richard said. Lindsey and I agreed. It was Saturday, and we decided to take a break until Monday at noon.

...

The guys were getting along really well at this point, but I kept thinking about what Lindsey had done to Christina a couple days before. I was fighting a battle, admiring his musical genius and being disgusted by his personal behavior. I guess I should have been prepared for his violent streak against Christina by his actions in the past, but time would reveal the real Lindsey to me soon enough. I’d had the weekend to think about Lindsey’s attack against Christina. Talking to Cheryl had helped. She felt that it was good that Christina was gone, or it probably would have gotten worse. I wondered whether Lindsey had ever physically hurt Stevie.

I didn’t know if he had in the past, but I would see him kick her in the butt onstage during the Tusk tour three years later.

And I'm not even including the part where Lindsey chokes Caillat for erasing a track he asked him to tape over

Not a lot of shades of grey here, Josh.

Yeah, sounds like a dick, a massively enabled dick working in a world of fellow massively enabled and enabling dicks. It's just a shame that this stuff stays silent for decades until it's time for someone to write a book.

I don't know, but is there a distinction to be made between a person prone to violent outbursts and someone with a specific pattern of physically abusing women? He sounds like an abusive person, period.

I don't know, but is there a distinction to be made between a person prone to violent outbursts and someone with a specific pattern of physically abusing women? He sounds like an abusive person, period.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, April 4, 2013 3:27 PM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i don't know what incredibly fine hair you are trying to split here.

I'm not! But wife/girlfriend beater is the absolute bottom, as far as distinctions go. There are a host of horrible people in music and stuff who are not held in nearly as ill esteem as others who beat or otherwise abuse women.

I guess I'm just trying to gauge how irredeemable he is, or these belated revelations make him. The closest analogy I can think of is a pro athlete. If an athlete is caught doing drugs, that's one thing. If an athlete is caught using steroids, that's as bad as it gets, and that will be an asterisk that follows him around for the rest of his life.

does it matter whether he's irredeemable? I mean, he's an irredeemable asshole who made fantastic music.

It matters a little to me, yeah, especially since he seems to have made a conscious effort to chill out and make himself better. Operative word being "seems," I guess. As opposed to the usual unrepentant suspects.

I wondered whether Lindsey had ever physically hurt Stevie.

well there was this:

"I was crying when we took that picture. And Lindsey was mad at me. He said, 'You know, you're just being a child. This is art.' And I'm going, 'This is not *art*. This is me taking a nude photograph with you, and I don't dig it.'"

For a bunch of sixty-year olds they sure can put on a good show! I seriously feared Lindsey was gonna have a heart attack after "I'm So Afraid." They have a new song called "Sad Angel" and it's gonna be a huge hit. Stevie was singing like an angel, and they all looked like they were having the time of their lives up there. Rock!

I guess I'm just trying to gauge how irredeemable he is, or these belated revelations make him. The closest analogy I can think of is a pro athlete. If an athlete is caught doing drugs, that's one thing. If an athlete is caught using steroids, that's as bad as it gets, and that will be an asterisk that follows him around for the rest of his life.

― Josh in Chicago, Thursday, April 4, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

it's much more like when an athlete beats his wife.

xp that's nice to hear, Mr. Snrub. I 've got tix to see them soon, and am a tad nervous (first time seeing them ... emotionally invested in the music ... expectations yadda yadda...)

classic

http://www.bigozine2.com/TRKSB/FMcolumbus/FMcolumbus104.mp3
[live debut of that new song]

http://www.baltimoresun.com/entertainment/music/midnight-sun-blog/bal-fleetwood-mac-at-verizon-center-review,0,4842455.story
Nice review of the Baltimore gig from Lexie Mountain.

Technically, that's really the Baltimore Sun review of a show in Washington DC at the Verizon Center. Here's the W. Post freelancer's take:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/music/fleetwood-mac-relives-rumours-as-crowd-revels-in-hits-at-verizon-center/2013/04/10/118044a0-a1e5-11e2-9c03-6952ff305f35_story.html

This is such a weird, weirdly wrong graf:

The night wasn’t only about “Rumours.” Drummer Mick Fleetwood, 65, who lived in the D.C. area in the 1990s while running a nightclub named Fleetwood’s in Alexandria, got to shine during “Not That Funny” and “Tusk,” both cuts from a 1979 percussion-heavy double LP also called “Tusk” that served as a sort of musical equivalent of “Heaven’s Gate.” The band delivered the collection so over budget (it was labeled the costliest record ever made) that the album was considered a flop before it hit the bins. But, as Buckingham boasted while introducing the “Tusk” portion of the set, time has been kind. The record ended up selling in the multi-platinum range and has been embraced in more recent decades by scads of indie-rock bands, who have mined edginess from perhaps the most middle-of-the-road band in rock annals. Two examples: The Decemberists covered “Think About Me,” and Camper Van Beethoven covered the entire two-record set.

I had never heard the Peter Green stuff....it's awesome! What should I go for after Best Of...which is all I've heard? Thanks.

The Best Of actually does a pretty good job, imo. Though Green is a great player, so maybe some live stuff?

Mick Fleetwood, 65, who lived in the D.C. area in the 1990s while running a nightclub named Fleetwood’s in Alexandria

mad i didn't know this (but i guess i wasn't old enough to go at the time anyway)

Drove down from Boston to see FM at Mohegan Sun tonight. I have a lot of thoughts, but I'm quite tired so I'll keep it short:

They are really into it.

Mick Fleetwood, 65, who lived in the D.C. area in the 1990s while running a nightclub named Fleetwood’s in Alexandria

anyone know what this club was like?

i've never been there but i know it was awesome

So when is that new EP coming out?

has this been mentioned re: christine?

‘If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London,’ she says, gracing me with a rare interview, ‘just to do a little duet or something like that.’

:O http://metro.co.uk/2013/04/04/fleetwood-mac-the-resurgent-1970s-icons-head-out-on-a-new-world-tour-3581866/

So when is that new EP coming out?

― licorice oratorio (baaderonixx), Wednesday, April 24, 2013 Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

This week, possibly tomorrow, I heard.

Recent performance of one of the new songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CITTkWQyf4g

EP's out!

where? iTunes?

Yep. Two Buckingham, one Nicks.

Buckingham-Nicks musical collab is approx. 45 yrs old now. So is Fleetwood-McVie.

Just thought I'd point that out.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yzZCoe38_hM

That exchange may be the all-time greatest moment from Mighty Boosh

That and the 'Gary Numan vs. Jazz-Funk' exchange.

aaah i love that Tusk bit

A terrific recent Nicks interview. Has she ever sounded this perceptive and healthy? Note how she and a fan break down thinking of each other's moms.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tXg2kZV8-6s

Ooh, will watch asap

on record store day a woman picked up tusk and asked the guy she was with if it was good and he said, in an authoritative tone, "it's a late work, but i think some people consider it to be good." some people.

someone introduce lindsey to a graphic designer pls

"it's a late work, but i think some people consider it to be good."

BAAAARFF

as if there are "some people" for whom the song Sara means nothing.

idk, you overhear a lot of weird things on record store day

that's alllllll for everyoooonee

What makes think you're the one who can record store day without cryin?

"it's a late work, but i think some people consider it to be good."

why do people who don't have any opinions still feel the need to have and share an opinion?

yeah OMG i cant believe someone had an opinion on a record and responded to a direct question about said record with the opinion

it's not really an opinion, is it, though? it says nothing.

It's not an opinion -- it's the floundering of a dude who steals his expertise from what he reads who can't remember what he read about the record in question.

Note how she and a fan break down thinking of each other's moms.

OK, haven't watched this yet, but I will when I get a chance. But the situation reminds me of this Nicks radio interview she did in the late 80s. They were taking phone calls from listeners and this young woman calls in like "my best friend is dying in the hospital and she's a huge Stevie Nicks fan, will you come out and visit her." And Nicks respectfully declined, but she was obviously totally shook up by the request. It made me think about all the weighty emotional stuff that people probably share with musicians or other celebrities and entertainers that they feel some sort of deep connection to. I know even smaller indoor artists get more of this kind of contact than they can stand sometimes, but I'd bet that Nicks might attract this line of outreach, even moreso than lots of other mega celebrities.

http://www.salon.com/2013/09/27/christine_mcvie_reunites_with_fleetwood_mac_to_play_dont_stop/

awww, Christine played "Don't Stop" with the Mac last nite

Ah, if it was "You Make Loving Fun" she sang then I would have really kicked myself for not going.

She was on again tonight. Wiped away a tear thinking it might be the last time ever.

how were they overall? two weeks till i see em in paris, just gone with some mac-esque decadence and booked my 36 quid megabus return.

omigod McVie's voice is just about intact, i.e. still able to project the emotions of those songs

I love how Stevie keeps looking at Christine as if to reignite their harmonic chemistry.

I don't think this is fake; they all look genuinely happy to see her.

that was great

They were fantastic. It's rare that I come away from a gig feeling satisfied but they managed it. Was a long gig at more than two-and-a-half hours. There was a five-song Tusk section including a bitchin' title track and Sisters Of The Moon (first time since 1980 says Stevie). Some acoustic numbers - Lindsay doing Big Love was astounding. There was nothing pre-classic-line-up except one pretty lost Buckingham Nicks tune, which felt like a treat. Only regret is they didn't break out Honey Hi or Never Forget, but in the circumstances...

I even got a recognisable snap of them:

http://img594.imageshack.us/img594/3796/6fcy.jpg

Paris show was superb, even though they're playing massive hit after massive hit they don't feel at all like a nostalgia act, still so dynamic and intense at all times. Sara and Landslide particularly lovely and moving, and that epic Gold Dust Woman jam into I'm So Afraid was so heavy and raw, parts of it could've been Bardo Pond or something.

Also even though I bought the second cheapest tier of ticket my seat was really good, no farther back than I would've been at the back of Brixton Academy or somewhere like that. Though disappointingly my section never got around to standing up. (I'd also been wondering what the demographic of a Paris Mac show would be, and the answer was the most boring one possible - middle-aged English people...)

Here is the one photie I took:

http://oi39.tinypic.com/119vt5i.jpg

lol. But at least they get to go to Paris. And better seats too by the looks. I'd been to the O2 once before for Prince, but was up in the gods and view and sound were a bit terrible. Both were better in the lower tier, but there's no getting around that it's a vast venue and you can still be really far away.

I'm So Afraid is so dark and heavy... The version on the 1980 live album is just insane. Really wish I'd been able to make one of these shows, but I just don't have the cash, or the contacts to blag.

Bummer: http://music-mix.ew.com/2013/10/27/fleetwood-mac-john-mcvie-cancer/

Christine McVie's back: http://pitchfork.com/news/53561-christine-mcvie-rejoining-fleetwood-mac/

not a fan of the pre-buckingham/nicks fleetwood mac's sound, but then i remind myself the old mac recorded this

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IJrLjcRAcho

Bare Trees is a wonderful album!

hm! it's kind of a weird mid-period mac album, no? (post-peter green, pre-buckingham/nicks)

if it leans poppier, like sentimental lady, i'm gonna investigate.

Bare Trees is the best!! Bob Welch era is my fav...Future Games rules too

his hair the worst though

His solo album covers are worse than the worst

ummm guys CHRISTINE FUCKING MCVIE IS BACK !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fleetwood Mac between Peter Green and Buckingham/Nicks

yeah that might be the period of mac that i relate to the most. mystery to me, bare trees and future games are all fantastic

kiln house is good too

i need to hear mystery to me

they just did a box set with all this era stuff on vinyl

http://www.amazon.com/Fleetwood-Mac-1969-1972-4xLP-7-22/dp/B00DB624CC

One of the things I love most about Fleetwood Mac is all these previous iterations of the group, each different from the last though many showcasing some of the same qualities that would stick around for decades. And best of all, bar a song or two, at most, pre-Buckingham/Nicks Mac is never in any danger of over-exposure, which leaves it packed with surprises to discover and explore.

i don't have data to back this up, but fleetwood mac must be the second most ubiquitous band next to the beatles these days. i hear them everywhere i go. more ubiquitous than pizza.

don't make me choose between FM and pizza

Rock on Gold Crust Woman...

sell me pies, sell me sweet little pies...

Save Me A Slice

Dough Your Own Way

stop this at once.

The Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Fork)

i don't have data to back this up, but fleetwood mac must be the second most ubiquitous band next to the beatles these days. i hear them everywhere i go. more ubiquitous than pizza.

And it's all from three or four records, right? And even then mostly S/T and "Rumours."

Anyway, depends what station you listen to, I guess. Fleetwood Mac is a deep well from which to draw, but stuff from the first Boston and Cars records, in terms of sheer density, I hear even more than the Mac. I actually don't hear that much Beatles on the radio these days. I hear the Aerosmith cover of "Come Together" as much as the real thing. Hey, look, three bands from Boston, dominating classic rock radio.

Formally reunited with Christine. Tour dates announced for this fall 33 cities. They're calling it the "On With The Show" tour.
https://scontent-a-ord.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/t1.0-9/59578_10152304274679138_521480061_n.jpg

goota say, this is one of the first time LB seems to start showing his age

oh sheeeit

So I guess John McVie came through the cancer okay then?

omg they're playing in Sac

psyched! man i might shell out for this

mick lookin fly as hell

John looks sad. Glad he's well enough to tour though.

John always looks sad. Ever seen the Fleetwood Mac episode of Rock Family Trees? He's like a glum sealion wearing UGGs.

Working on a new album:

"This has kind of been a project in slow motion, that's the only way I can put it," Buckingham tells Billboard. "We got in the studio not knowing what to expect, and the chemistry was just unbelievable... We got eight tracks very far along, like, 75 percent done. It just played out really organically in a way that seemed appropriate." Buckingham says the new songs came from ideas McVie brought into the band, and coupled with material he worked on previously with Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, the group has "about 14 or 15 things, and some other things we want to get to down the line" even before Nicks begins making contributions.

"We're all very excited about it. Knowing me, I'm going to be pushing for a double album," Buckingham says with a laugh.

Describing the new songs -- which include "Carnival Begin," "Red Sun" and "Too Far Gone" -- McVie says, "There's a wide variety, starting from sort of blues-based songs to very commercial songs. It's very, very exciting. We get chills when we hear them. They sound really fresh. There's an element, I guess, that hasn't really existed so much in the past although it has been there in the fact Lindsey and I have been collaborating more. We've been working very closely together, so there is a freshness and obviously there are parts for Stevie to sing on all of these songs, which she will do eventually."

I do hope someone (Stevie?) steps in and challenges Lindsey's desire for a double lp. Say You Will is too long (and Tusk is too, tbh).

SYW felt long because it lacked McVie's connective tissue, but there are few duds; it's got some of Buck and Nicks' very best material.

i can't think of any songs on tusk i would cut

i mean being big and sprawling and overblown is kind of the whole thing of tusk

at the risk of losing my FM fan card, I agree Tusk is too long. Fleetwood Mac tend to succumb to the White Album syndrome really hard, with each member just doing their own thing and using the others as a back-up band.

I'd cut:

Buckingham: That's Enough For Me
McVie: Honey Hi
Nicks: Angel

But the band itself was at the peak of its powers, so it's hard to fault them as songs. Plus, Haim's "Honey and I" has warmed me to "Honey Hi."

Wouldn't cut a sneeze from "Tusk." Alfred OTM re: Say You Will, it just feels long - well, I mean, it is long - without McVie, but the material is pretty great.

FM should just release two albums, several months apart.

McVie: Honey Hi

blasphemy

"Honey Hi" is beyond essential.

i understand the feeling behind "this album is too long" but yeah, damn, i can't think of a single song i'd get rid of.

"Honey Hi" is beyond essential.

― Tim F, Wednesday, May 7, 2014

totally.

i don't think i'd particularly cut anything from say you will either. in fact i'd make it a third longer (mcvie songs natch)

being big and sprawling and overblown is kind of the whole thing of tusk

otm.

i don't particularly like "that's enough for me" either. and yet i think the album would be worse, not better, without it.

maybe tusk is like the white album in that lots of people think it could stand to lose a bunch of songs, but no one can agree on what those songs are.

and "Think About Me" is its "Savoy Truffle."

at the risk of losing my FM fan card, I agree Tusk is too long. Fleetwood Mac tend to succumb to the White Album syndrome really hard, with each member just doing their own thing and using the others as a back-up band.

― Dominique, Wednesday, May 7, 2014 4:18 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

I don't usually stan for late Beatles, but the White Album is good enough that I don't really think it makes sense to ascribe to it a "syndrome," unless the primary symptom of that syndrome is "makes a pretty damn good double album in which even some of the filler engages"

Being big and sprawling and overblown in kind of the whole thing of double albums in general IMO. The sprawl, the oddball bits and pieces and curios that would never make the cut on a single album. Stuff that would ordinarily be relegated to outtakes that emerge 15 years later on a bootleg.

"not that funny" and the title track are the only ones I sometimes skip but they're also both p good and funny and I'm glad they're on there

and I've spent afternoons listening to only "honey hi"!

here this willl change your mind:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbrCeJdyPqE.

flamingcrystal
5 years ago

Very sexual song. Gotta love it!

btw whatever else about Mirage the tour looks amazing: the older material was professionalized enough to be flawless yet allow the flourishes seen in that clip.

It's...er, amusing how "Not That Funny" became such a jamming vehicle for them live (the '80 live album version is of similar length).

Haha that is one of the most ridiculous live clips I've seen (meant as a compliment)

Just....everything...the hat/vest combo is nuts

I don't think of Tusk as big and sprawling at all. I think of it more in the "Exile" loose and shambling mode. As much as LB-era FB can be loose and shambling. Its nervous, anxious lack of focus is it's focus. And frankly, the album runs 74 minutes, which is not long at all. The most recent Beyonce album, for example, is almost 67 minutes, as are, like, tons of albums these days. Tusk is nothing.

Tusk is everything

I'd cut:

Buckingham: That's Enough For Me
McVie: Honey Hi
Nicks: Angel

But the band itself was at the peak of its powers, so it's hard to fault them as songs. Plus, Haim's "Honey and I" has warmed me to "Honey Hi."

― guess that bunt gettin eaten (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Wednesday, May 7, 2014 5:31 PM (6 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

are you MAD?????? ANGEL????????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

good god!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

SN's best song imo

That Mirage concert was the first FM I ever saw. I was a little kid, and the fire between Lindsey and Stevie on The Chain was electrifying.

And that 1980 live album, as I've probably said several times on ilx, is my favourite thing they've ever done. http://thefoghatprinciple.wordpress.com/fleetwood-mac-live-warner-bros-1980/

First few posts in this thread are such faint praise. "Rumours, Mirage, Tusk etc are worth the charity shop 50p." Yeah I reckon so.

The consensus that Lindsey/Stevie-era Mac were A Good Thing is still pretty recent. I remember writing an NME 'buried treasure' thing on the 1980 album when I started there, in 1999, and the next week's letters page was brimming with ire that this music had been taken seriously (though Swells was editing the letters page that week, so it may have all been his invention).

That rascal Big Jim Swells

they got lumped in with the eagles, who remain shit

Yeah, my mom actually hates them (though her younger siblings like them well enough). Fleetwood Mac were so big at the time, it's easy to see why people would hate them (just like it's easy to see why people would hate ABBA). Pretty, rich, lots of drugs -- they were celebrities making pop music, and if you were of the mind that "real" music meant big messages, or politically correct ideology, they could very easily seem superficial, egotistical, the glamorous cousins to the Eagles' faux-rootsy, but equally "vapid" LA pop.

I feel like this band got its re-appraisal once the kids who didn't have to live through their initial fame could look back and just listen to the music, or see pics and not be offended at the disconnect between FM's fame/fortune, and their own lives/ideals.

(note, none of this really pertains to the pre-Nicks/Buckingham era)

that sounds about right.

as an analogy, i find it pretty impossible to listen to radiohead just because (a) they were so overplayed and overdiscussed for a while in the 1990s/early 2000s, (b) the worst sort of rockist discourse circulates around them such that they seemed to become hidebound "classic rock" just 10 years into their career.

but i'm sure they made great albums that i've ignored.

the eagles, who remain shit

― i also enjoy in line skateing (spazzmatazz), Thursday, May 8, 2014

HOW CAN YOU SAY THIS IT IS UN-AMERICAN

Well, yeah.

My friend, who grew up in the AM radio era, has emphasized to me just how ubiquitous Fleetwood Mac was in the '70s, just as unescapable as the Eagles (who he hates), and overexposed enough that he never heard anything after Rumours, because he had had enough listening stuck in the back seat on long road trips. But I made him a copy of Tusk a while back and he loves it.

you really shouldn't compare fleetwood mac to the eagles.

there was a peculiar smug, self-satisfied, superficial, artificial, supercilious vibe to the eagles that even a coked-out, arrogant fleetwood mac can't approach (and i might be imagining those criticisms of fleetwood mac).

I would never compare the two, beyond the superficial, but I bet it's really hard to like something when you are limited to the radio and they're playing the same songs, again and again, anywhere you go. Basically like now, but x10.

over and over

was listening to the radio and somebody called in with a request for go your own way. Like they needed to waste a request to get that.

I'm 43: a bunch of friends, 10 years older than me and roughly or precisely affiliated with the Norton Records/Maxwell's/late 70s-early 80s CBGB's milieu will never, EVER, forgive Fleetwood Mac. They are dead-enders who sneer that the Rolling Stones were finished in 1971, nothing after the Flamin' Groovies and the Ramones or Andre williams will do, etc etc.

then there's a pal who's ten years younger than me. Loves (and is involved in booking) the War on drugs and the 30something, post-shins, post-Wilco indie-rock diaspora afoot these days that indeed does seem to be indebted to the El Lay cocaine cowboy paradigm. He loves Tusk with uncommon fervor, but when I suggested that he check out "rattlesnake shake" or "Green manalishi" or "Oh well," he sneered, "why the fuck would I want to listen to that?" He also startled me when he said he hadn't heard Raw Power and wasn't interested.

i like all of these things!

this is why I don't have friends

FWIW in the 70s mainstream radio was WAY less repetitive than it was now, not that this negates any of your arguments. i wouldn't argue that the mac weren't ubiquitous once upon a time, i should know i was around then.

i can't believe it's been over a decade since "say you will"

OK, but it is fundamental that many self-identified and often asshole music people will always insist that the present era fucking sucks and cannot go any lower. if you wuz in yr 20s-30s and say was into Pere Ubu or teenage jesus and the jerks, you'd believe with every fiber of yr being that 70s mainstream top 40 radio was the nadir of humanity.

It wasn't just 70s mainstream, it was 70s AM radio, which both dominated and reached everywhere.

OK, but it is fundamental that many self-identified and often asshole music people will always insist that the present era fucking sucks and cannot go any lower. if you wuz in yr 20s-30s and say was into Pere Ubu or teenage jesus and the jerks, you'd believe with every fiber of yr being that 70s mainstream top 40 radio was the nadir of humanity.

― veronica moser, Thursday, May 8, 2014 6:09 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i wasn't arguing w/ you btw, i am wholly in agreement. just pointing out that the 1970s ubiquity of fleetwood mac probably doesn't approach the contemporary ubiquity of, say, katy perry.

FWIW in the 70s mainstream radio was WAY less repetitive than it was now

this is not true.

and fleetwood mac was every bit as ubiquitious on mainstream radio as katy perry is today. as were the bee gees. and the eagles. and the no-longer-existent beatles. and a few others.

but they were not as ubiquitous in other corners of pop culture. they didn't constantly show up on tv and on page 6 and on the not-yet-existent internet. THAT is a big difference. but it has nothing to do with radio.

Saturation was defined differently then. In the Marc Eliot Eagles book, he mentions one of the problems Don Henley faced when he finally launched his solo career is that he was a guy who'd sold millions upon millions of records to a public who knew what his voice sounded like, but more often than not couldn't link that voice to his face or name because The Eagles didn't do a lot of press, generally kept their photos off album covers, and their heyday ended right before the beginning of the video era.

is that book any good?

It's pretty good, mainly due to the access Eliot got to Geffen, Azoff, and Henley--probably, prior to the documentary, the most lengthy discussion they gave to anybody about this stuff. It's pretty obvious that in return for that access (and also his admitted Eagles fandom), Eliot pulled some punches re: dirt, and at times the fact-checking is laughable and/or ridiculously vague, while the narrative is a little too jumpy in places (For example, he'll seize on Frey for several pages, covering his personal life up past the breakup etc, before going on "Anyway, the On The Border album...").

It's worth picking up the Da Capo edition for the exclusive afterword, which details Eliot's ordeals dealing with the Donster when the book was finally published, which provides a nice dark cherry on top of what came previously.

Dark cherry? Take it away, Don 'n' Glenn...

Taking sides: "Oh Well" Vs. "Well, Yeah."

http://076dd0a50e0c1255009e-bd4b8aabaca29897bc751dfaf75b290c.r40.cf1.rackcdn.com/images/files/000/003/249/original/original.jpg

BEEEEP-bombom... chk. chka chk-aaaahh

this is not true.

well, you ARE fact-checking cuz, after all.

i had been under the impression that current hit radio formats repeated songs more often than in any time in American radio history. obviously that's just one measure of ubiquity, of course. but i could very well be wrong -- was AM hit radio in the late 1970s more repetitive than its equivalent now?

Buckingham's solo albums including the last three are worth seeking out. His guitar playing has reached new levels of virtuosity and he remains in great voice.

I saw him play to maybe 200-300 people in Bethlehem, PA and my wife where I were the youngest people in the crowd. That being said it's the only show I've ever seen where people sat down during each song and then rose to applaud Buckingham afterwards. 14 mini standing ovations.

i've seen that at other shows by boomer faves, i find it annoying actually. although i tend to find applause annoying, in general.

(claps)

Usually the older fans don't even get up. I credit the power of Bucks for conjuring them from their seats.

DON: The rise of Fleetwood Mac came as a surprise to say the least. And that they did it with the help of two talented, if still at the time obscure singer-songwriters was all the more perplexing. But they did it, and suddenly we weren't the only ball game in LA. Like Hotel California, Rumours was a smash success because it didn't just tell our stories, it told EVERYONE'S story--and they did it with a guy singer and two female songstresses.

GLENN: I myself--and I think Don would agree with me--prefer to do it with one guy and two women...or two women solo and we just watch 'em!

DON: Well, yeah.

ommfg the eagles are so contemptible.

But yet also so Peaceful and Easy...

Anyway, FLEETWOOD MAC...I guess it's too late in the physical media game to expect deluxe-y reissues of the remaining Buckingham-era albums?

well, they have been release in lossless "HD Tunes" format

do the existing CDs sound that bad? i believe all of 'em were digitally recorded

DON: The rise of Fleetwood Mac came as a surprise to say the least. And that they did it with the help of two talented, if still at the time obscure singer-songwriters was all the more perplexing. But they did it, and suddenly we weren't the only ball game in LA. Like Hotel California, Rumours was a smash success because it didn't just tell our stories, it told EVERYONE'S story--and they did it with a guy singer and two female songstresses.

GLENN: I myself--and I think Don would agree with me--prefer to do it with one guy and two women...or two women solo and we just watch 'em!

DON: Well, yeah.

― Damnit Janet Weiss & The Riot Grrriel (C. Grisso/McCai

*applause*

anyone have the TUSK outtakes disc? not on iTunes :(

omgod gonna see them this month for first time ever O_O + christine mcvie is touring w/ them!

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/live-reviews/fleetwood-mac-reunite-with-christine-mcvie-at-golden-minneapolis-show-20141001

i'm sure the set won't be long enough for them to play all the songs i want to hear

They opened the show with "The Chain".

I would have lost my goddamned mind and been a vegetable for the rest of the night.

They played "Seven Wonders"!

The show needed "Over and Over" as opener.

Fleetmac Wood Turn Your Parents Rock Classics Into House & Disco Anthems

Fleetmac Wood are not a tribute band, they’re a DJ / party collective who put on nights around the UK and America. There’s no dress code, line-up or headliner and their nights have only one rule – they will only play Fleetwood Mac remixes or originals.

Wasn't able to go tonight or tomorrow, but man, the first show's setlist:

Fleetwood Mac @ Target Center - 9/30/14 Setlist: (via)
The Chain
You Make Loving Fun (First time live since 1997)
Dreams
Second Hand News
Rhiannon
Everywhere (First time live since 1997)
I Know I'm Not Wrong
Tusk
Sisters of the Moon
Say You Love Me
Seven Wonders (First time live since 1988)
Big Love
Landslide
Never Going Back Again
Over My Head (First time live since 1997)
Gypsy
Little Lies (First time live since 1990)
Gold Dust Woman
I'm So Afraid
Go Your Own Way
Encore:
World Turning
Don't Stop
Silver Springs
Encore 2:
Songbird (First time live since 1997)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jTrJ-9hW9Zg

fuqq

i should've just gone for it and bought tickets for msg :\

oh never mind i guess tickets are still available and still prohibitively expensive

my god she sounds great

wow that's one hell of a setlist

She sounds great and I'm not even a huge fan of her stuff (I really like Buckingham and don't care that much about the rest of the stuff)

went to this in boston over the weekend, they're super good and fun right now. my take is that mick and lindsey give too much of a fuck for them to ever be bad onstage. christine being back makes a world of difference tho, her songs are so rad.

nice.

Christine's voice sounds wobbly and often slightly off-key to my ears on almost all the live footage I've seen :/

Recent live footage, I should say.

I got misty eyed during landslide when Stevie sang 'I'm getting older too' and gestured to herself. Lindsay absolutely stole the show numerous times and he obv has this band on his back. All in all wonderful I thought.

speaking of world turning, do they perform "World Turning"?

yes world turning + mick was insane on it. really only song they were missing imo was sara wtf what an omission :/

yeah the lack of sara was uncool

they played it last year in Denver. I saw the show w/ my real estate agent.

Yeah, I thought the performances were generally really good, although I got bored during the drum solo and during the monologues. I was a little disappointed that LB slowed "Never Going Back Again" down so much and played it so loosely. The song needs to be tight and quick for it to click imo. I knew there was basically zero chance of it but I think it would be amazing if they pulled out some Peter Green-era songs, at least just "Black Magic Woman". Generally, a really nice show, though.

They did Oh Well on the 1980 Fleetwood Mac Live LP.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mBHhaDofLJg

and during the '87-88 world tour

I saw the show w/ my real estate agent.

feel like there should be a good story behind this

haha, that's pretty much the whole story unfortunately -- i won tix and the person i was going w/ backed out at the last minute. i asked on facebook if anyone wanted to go and to my surprise this guy (who i hadn't seen in 4-5 years) took me up on it. hoped we would be doing lines in the bathroom or something, but i think he's actually pretty religious.

I knew there was basically zero chance of it but I think it would be amazing if they pulled out some Peter Green-era songs, at least just "Black Magic Woman"

a Bob Welch song would be a nice touch, too

love the real estate agent story
you haven't seen him in five years but now you have seen him cry while pumping his fist to don't stop

XP During the Say You Will era, I heard a DJ preface an airing of "Hypnotized" by saying the band had revived it for the tour. Can anybody confirm?

DON: It's a pleasure to see our old friend Christine McVie rejoin Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood Mac was, of course, the only band whose sales matched ours. We saw them as the competition. The friendly competition.

GLENN: Christine! Say you love ME!

DON: Well, yeah.

Trying to think who'd be the worse boyfriend (circa '79): Glenn or Dennis Wilson?

Glenn is a shitheel but he ain't never drowning, not even in a tub full o' Budweiser.

therefore, dennis wilson is probably a better boyfriend.

Coming to Europe!

went and saw them last night and they played 'think about me'! also sara <3 (but thats more common)

whoa! didnt even know they were on tour. thats awesome

Even though the saga of this band is well-documented, it still bowls me over just how much shit Fleetwood Mac survived through. It's always tempting, whenever news comes through of a band splitting up due to personal differences, to imagine Mick Fleetwood sitting there, scratching his head, and wondering what the fuss is about. "Oh, they split up because of that, did they? Lightweights!"

A friend of mine was rooting about in old hard drives and has dug out the original unedited version of the Classic Albums Rumours documentary, apparently they went back and took out a lot of the band kvetching about each other.

Here 'tis

https://vimeo.com/191221519

I'd never seen this!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UIQrfFu5uTg

buckingham mcvie

!!!!!

Now that is something I did not predict.

omfg YES

i sorta predicted this bc the most recent updates in the "new fleetwood mac album" section of their wikipedia page suggest stevie's total indifference lol

I see no reason why this shouldn't come out under the name of Fleetwood Mac, tbh.

a whole album of "Isn't It Midnight" and "World Turning," please

turrican otm

Man some days I think nobody harmonizes together better than Lindsey and Christine. Mirage is comfortably my favourite these days

some days i'm not entirely sure which voice is lindsey's and which is christine's.

^ exactly

JEEZE WHAT A DAY

lmao wtf

Who did he hit this time?

Lindsay is out - Neil Finn and Mike Campbell are in! Tour upcoming.

It's amazing these geriatric musicians still have such fragile egos

What--is that true about Finn & Campbell?

Time for these 70 year old children to pack it in

this is a terrible idea, wtf. glad I saw them a few years ago.

unless they're just going to tour like, future games and bare trees stuff.

Neil Finn and Mike Campbell

the housebreakers!

lolll

"fired over a disagreement about the upcoming tour"

Well, they're both good guitarists *shrug*

I'd rather see Mike Campbell and Neil Finn, sans Fleetwood Mac. Or Neil, Mike and Christine.

At this rate, maybe you will.

Neil Finn and Mike Campbell

the housebreakers!

^^^ A+. I'm an old dude who got on board with the band circa Future Games, and couldn't really picture what they were going to do without Robert Welch at the time, so this is like deja vu all over again. (I totally ignored the Burnette/Vito years.)

I love Neil Finn. I love Fleetwood Mac. This is a terrible idea.

Like, Lindsay just finished an album with Christine. Why can't they make this work??

just a hunch but $$$$

Buckingham hates touring, always has. Remember he left in 1987 over touring?

then why did he agree in the first place?

also, unlike other members, he's more or less been at it all along, and judging by what I've seen hasn't lost a step

anyway, silver lining is that this news saves me like $200

this sounds kinda great imo

He must REALLY hate touring with Stevie

I mean, isn't she the reason the supposed forthcoming FM album became a Lindsay And Christine album?

This is like the last tour they'd ever do, too, surely? Hasn't John only just returned from death's door?

He must REALLY hate touring with Stevie

― Lou Grant, the Iranian cinema of late '70s TV (stevie), Monday, April 9, 2018 5:49 PM (nine minutes ago)

sorry dude

Fleetwood clarifying things here:

We jammed with Mike and Neil and the chemistry really worked and let the band realize that this is the right combination to go forward with in Fleetwood Mac style. We know we have something new, yet it’s got the unmistakable Mac sound."

It confirms what I long suspected: Neil Finn is this quiet legend beloved of American bizzers despite the middling sales at best.

sorry dude

Hey, I know I'm high maintenance.

I personally refuse to blow coke up your ads, sorry

Ass, lol

"I mean, isn't she the reason the supposed forthcoming FM album became a Lindsay And Christine album?" Stevie has sai she doesn't want to record anymore because there is no money in it. So partly yeah.

xxposts to alfred: neil sings a beautiful harmony & plays a pretty nice guitar i mean it’s not like he’s not talented

I adore him. I've written often about him.

sorry, the middling sales tag sounded like a diss

Fleetwood Mac guys clearly know Mike Campbell, but I wonder where the Neil Finn connection came from?

Oh, wait, Mitchell Froom produced the Buckingham/McVie album, there's the one degree.

Froom & Finn haven't worked together since three tracks for a best-of 23 years ago. It's not impossible that a bunch of still-working musicians from the '70s know another still-working musician from the '70s by reputation or in passing.

Also, Mick Fleetwood played with Liam Finn in NZ two years ago yesterday.

i have no idea what the business officially thinks of neil finn, but i've long been under the impression that musicians universally adore him.

It confirms what I long suspected: Neil Finn is this quiet legend beloved of American bizzers despite the middling sales at best.

Hey now! He-y-y now.

It helps that's he's pretty popular and beloved everywhere else. One of those acts (like the PSB) who made it big in America at the start, then got bigger everywhere else even as their fame faded here.

Crowded House frontman Neil Finn's surprise appearance in Fleetwood Mac's touring lineup seemed to come out of left field, but it really didn't. In fact, Finn has been close with Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac's co-founding drummer, for years.

Fleetwood called Finn a "new music friend" in 2016, and both took part in the recent Concert for Our Lives, which followed the student-organized March for Our Lives, in Maui. Fleetwood sat in with Finn on a cover of Crowded House's "Don't Dream It's Over," according to Setlist.fm, while Fleetwood also earlier teamed with Neil's son Liam Finn for a rendition of the Little Willie John classic "Need Your Love So Bad," from Fleetwood Mac's early repertoire.

"Two weeks ago, I received a wonderful invitation to be a part of a truly great band," Finn said in a statement. "A few days later, I was standing in a room playing music with Fleetwood Mac. It felt fresh and exciting, so many great songs, a spectacular rhythm section and two of the greatest voices ever. Best of all, we sounded good together. It was a natural fit. I can’t wait to play."

I know this makes no sense

But I’ve been hearing the rest of Fleetwood Mac singing 🎶 I think we’re in troublllllllllle 🎶 followed by an absence of guitar solo

Somebody mentioned Lindsey doesn't love touring. Unless he absolutely has to for money he has been on the road an awful lot in the last decade for a guy who hates touring. Also I love Mike Campbell and I dread him having to play a Heartbreakers tune with Stevie butchering the vocals.

I don't think he dislikes touring. I think he doesn't like touring with Fleetwood Mac. When he does his solo tours, of which I have seen many, he always refers to it as the little machine to Fleetwood Mac's big machine, and I get where he's coming from. Fleetwood Mac, not only does the band have a manager, every member of the band has their own manager as well. Factor in 5 egos and ridiculous amounts of money, and it's probably not the most relaxing experience. Five star hotels and private jets aside.

This is kinda cool imo, I'd love to hear Finn and McVie write together, and Campbell and Nicks... Fleetwood Mac changing lineups is nothing new

Could be interesting, I think it's funny that people are freaking out about this as if a) the Rumours era band was going to do some classic album at this stage and b) as if Buckingham has some ownership over this band, it existed before him and now will exist after

Yep.

Also: Nicks has already co-written material with Campbell:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhOSBfPCyjM

Ah of course law of averages I should have known they'd have worked together before

Like what is being lost here? Another nostalgia tour in baseball arenas with the same lineup?

still lolling at 'the housebreakers' btw

Sorry basketball arenas