I'm really okay with them calling themselves Buckingham McVie, although I think it would have been cool if they had actually used the "BuckVie" shorthand that we all seem to like.

If they had called the album and tour "Fleetwood Mac" they would be dealing with angry concert-goers yelling for Stevie. So, the choice of the Buckingham McVie name may have simply been a way to avoid that sort of unpleasantness.

When the Lindsey-Stevie-Mick-John quartet made 'Say You Will,' Christine wasn't in the band, so she had no claim on the Fleetwood Mac name.

When the Lindsey-Chris-Mick-John quartet made 'BuckVie,' Stevie was still in the band, so she has a claim on the name, at least equally with the other four.

The only problem with this is the 'Then Play On' precedent, in which a current member of the band (Jeremy) did not participate in recording the album, but the Fleetwood Mac name was still used. But that's a long time ago and everything was much different, so I think it's rather pedantic to use this as an argument for calling the current album "Fleetwood Mac."

I like that they called it Buckingham/McVie. It's never been done before, so it was quite brave.

Rather than a name combo, if they could have found a nice peripheral name, that would have been fine. Almost Perfect, Tango Two, or Anne Adams, anything really. Shorter and more melodic than Buckingham McVie.

Michele

Jeremy did appear on Oh Well, albeit briefly, although that track wasn't on the original pressing of the album. It's hard to imagine Jeremy's style meshing well with Danny and Peter on that album, somehow.

A better precedent is actually the Jeremy Spencer album released around the time of TPO. Was that a Fleetwood album? Danny, Mick and John were his backing band on that album and Peter also appeared on String-a-long which did find its way onto the Chain 4 disc boxset.

So, if Stevie had appeared on one track of Buckingham McVie, would that have made it a Fleetwood Mac song (or album)? On which philosophical conundrum, I will say Good Night...

To paraphrase Lindsey; 'Its a Fleetwood Mac album if we call it a Fleetwood Mac album'

I like the name Buckingham McVie or Buckingham/McVie which is quite cool.
What is annoying is they officially use the full names of Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie.

My ranking of the songs hasn't changed much since I first got the album. I really enjoy every song except the first one.

I listen to these the most:
Carnival Begin
Red Sun
On With the Show
Lay Down for Free
Game of Pretend

Then these:
Feel About You
In My World
Too Far Gone
Love is Here to Stay

Hardly ever this:
Sleeping Round the Corner

I gave the album a rest for a few days and listened again this morning, and now I can order the songs according to how much I like them.

Carnival Begin
Game of Pretend
On With the Show
Too Far Gone
Red Sun
In My World
Love is Here to Stay
Sleeping Round the Corner
Feel About You
Lay Down for Free

Naturally, the list reflects my Christine preference. I have always liked her songs the best. But Lindsey has some very strong songwriting on this record, too.

"Carnival Begin" is the best song on the album, by far. Great music, great singing, lyrics that tell the story of Christine's return to music. It's a shame this is one of the two they are skipping in the live shows.

For a long time I would have put "On With the Show" as my second favorite song, but "Game of Pretend" has wheedled its lovely way strongly into my consciousness. I think about the song a lot, even when not listening. It has everything I love about Christine's music: beautiful singing, gorgeous piano, heartfelt, simply expressed emotion, a positive outlook on life.

"On With the Show" has its own brand of emotion, Lindsey-style, and I just love it. A song about loyalty and persistence.

"Too Far Gone" shows they can still rock with the best of them. I would love to hear the song live with Mick Fleetwood on those amazing drums.

"Red Sun" is utterly Fleetwood Mac-y, with its jaunty melody, its fun music, and the sadness of the lyrics all forming a package that hearkens back to the classic FM approach of the last forty-five years.

"In My World" -- I don't know if this is directed toward the (ahem) missing FM member, but if it is, it is done with gentleness. I actually think that although there may be Stevie imagery in the song, it's really another song about loyalty and persistence.

The bottom four songs on my list are all good. There is no filler on this record. But I don't think they stand out as wonderfully as the top six. So I put them in a more or less random order to finish the list.