Yep. Where's Mick?? He wants all the credit for "finding" S&L but Keith played a crucial role in that. And as others have said, then producing the white album which was the biggest album they'd had since Peter. And not a single tweet, when they have social media people??

I've always wondered what the story was behind them not continuing to work with Keith on the follow up to the white album. Was he not available to do Rumours or did they think Ken and Richard had some magic Keith didn't have??:shrug:

In Mick’s first book the last mention of Keith is “So in February 1975, we went over to Sound City to record, with Keith Olsen as engineer”.

Before that the first mention of Richard Dashut is where he is telling the Buckingham Nicks story: "Eventually one of the partners got a deal with Polydor Records, and that's how Stevie and Lindsey came to record their album, Buckingham Nicks, at Sound City, Keith Olsen's studio in the Valley.The assistant engineer on those recording sessions was Richard Dashut. Eventually he became Fleetwood Mac's esteemed coproducer and one of my dearest friends. He enters our tale here in his role as Lindsey's main conspirator in the studio".

It seems Richard introduced Ken to the band: "I wasn't sure I could handle it, so I brought in a friend, Ken Caillat from L.A., to help me, and we started coproducing. Mick gave me and Ken each an old Chinese I Ching coin and said, good luck."


Not enough info to fill the blanks, about Keith.

Without Keith Olsen, there would have been no Rumours lineup. It's that simple. He and his studio brokered the way for Buckingham Nicks to join them. He also happened to produce some of the most iconic FM songs in their entire catalog. "Rhiannon," "Say You Love Me," and "Over My Head all benefit greatly from the production, where the bass and drums are featured prominently in the mix, where less is more in every aspect of the arrangements.

this sadly was lost with each progressive album, to the point where you can hardly hear John in most mixes. A shocking (and welcome) exception to this finally was on the SYW version of Smile At You.

Bob Brunning:

'...the band had dispensed with the services of Keith Olsen, the producer responsible for Buckingham Nicks and Fleetwood Mac. Mick Fleetwood and John McVie favoured a rhythm section sound for the new album which emphasised their playing more than Keith liked, so they decided to use Richard Dashut and his colleague, Ken Caillat.'

I don't think there was any major falling out, though who knows, there might have been. Normally Mick likes keeping with what (and who) he knows.

I think Ken addresses Keith’s departure from the picture prior to Rumours in one of his books (I guess the book about Rumours), but damned if I can remember. Brunning’s explanation sounds legit. The decision boiled down to a preference for a certain kind of mix. Or maybe they wanted a producer-slash-engineer, someone to hang out with them for months.

I cannot get past this sickening display of disrespect and callousness. We know that they're all very old. Is it possible--PLEASE tell me it's possible--that none of the five have said anything because they think social media is the wrong forum for acknowledging the passing of a very special person; indeed, one of the most significant figures in their lives AND in the legend of the band. What other explanation can there be? It's sad and unconscionable.

I think it’s very personal and none of them need to make a “public” comment about their dear friends passing.

Why does every single thread have to contain hateful comments? This is why so many members no longer frequent the ledge. RIP Keith 😓

didn't stop them (Stevie) from commenting on Tom Petty's death. Or Prince's death. oh....wait....we could cash in on those and get attention for ourselves:nod: Or even Glen Frey's passing for that matter.

we just don't comment on anything to do with people below a certain level of fame. we are, after all, LEGENDS.

Exactly!

Sleazy Nicks only cares about what garners her media attention. #legend? #pos

I agree. The people in this band are old school and don't have active twitter accounts that post daily feelings like the generation of today.
Its crazy to judge someone because they did not post their feelings on twitter.

There is enough to attack this band on lately but this is not one of them.

I agree. Did I expect a public comment from the band (/members)? Yes. Are they obligated? No. Should they be judged for not posting on social networks? No. My opinion.

Further to some of the above, per his autobiography years later, on the passing of his former producer Jack Nitzsche (who co-produced his biggest-selling album Harvest), Neil Young issued no public statement but sent condolences and flowers privately.

We don't know what anyone has done privately and, in some sense, something private is more meaningful because there is no public credit as such to be gained from it.

I love how most posters after you ignored the facts that you so aptly reminded us of. Yes, band members publicly expressed how sad they were about Petty, Prince or Frey. Keith Olsen was a huge producer behind the scenes but doesn’t have the same level of fame so nothing to cash out for those sad humans in FM there.