I'm going to choose my words VERY carefully, so as not to start some goofy war.
But I honestly don't understand how someone could think that Stevie and Mick ruled the proceedings.
Lindsey pushed for a double-album... they eventually all conceded to his wishes.
Lindsey pushed for Mark Needham to mix the album... and despite Chris Lord-Alge being her preference, Stevie agreed to using Lindsey's choice after careful consideration.
Not to mention that Lindsey produced the album... most likely calling all the shots on arrangements, etc.
So, uhm, how did Mick and Stevie rule?
Not defending Mick here, but Mick explained his position... initially he was gung-ho about doing a double album, but as the reality of that began to sink in, he started to have doubts. I don't think he was trying to deceive Lindsey... he merely began having a change of heart. Which happens.
Stevie, for her part, was concerned that the album-buying public was not going to want to spend a lot of money to buy a double disc set from artists in their late-50s... but when the record company came back to them and said that they could keep the cost down, Stevie was then comfortable with the idea.
Just because Lindsey wants something, it doesn't mean the rest of the band should just nod their heads like mindless automatons. They
are allowed to have opinions contrary to Lindsey's, without having to be painted as "the bad guys."
And for what it's worth, Lindsey seems to have gotten just about everything he wanted... Mark Needham mixed the album, and his "gutsier" material dominates the track-listing for the first half of the disc.
And it should be said that it was
his decision to pare it back to a single disc after all, because he was afraid he wouldn't recoup his costs, if the band didn't tour for x amount of time, record another album, and then tour again.
From what I saw in the documentary, Mick & Stevie worked to make compromises that would keep Lindsey happy, while Lindsey didn't appear to make any compromises... even threatening to remove 3/4th's of his material from the equation if they didn't agree to doing it his way (material that was
already meant for a solo album, that he had made the decision to recast as a Fleetwood Mac album).
Yeah, I completely agree that Lindsey is good for Fleetwood Mac, in regards to keeping them from "playing it too safe," but he should also realize that if he wants to keep that expensive mansion, and to buy his wife expensive diamond rings, then he's going to have to be mindful of the "commercial"/business side of things, too.
Life's all about compromises.
