Quote:
Originally Posted by SteveMacD
The problem with that is that they never toured in support of the album. I’m guessing she was under the assumption that the album would get more promotion once they hit the road. In any case, she only wrote half of one song and modified a lyric on another, which means very little royalty money, so I doubt potential album sales drove her decision. She was counting on the gig money.
The red flag should have been Hell Freezes Over, followed by the reconnection with Lindsey. That was the writing on the wall.
After what happened with Traffic, I’m blown away Dave Mason didn’t see the writing on the wall.
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First of all I am cracking up over the comment about buying a house based on the Time album. Agreed 100%
I think there were a few red flags. They didn't tour behind Time, and the tour they did do in 1994-95 wasn't exactly a big success. It's not like if they actually toured after Time was released (again without Chris, Lindsey, or Stevie) that suddenly a new wave of fans would have discovered this new version of Fleetwood Mac and they would have continued.
The Eagles comparison is obvious - while they were touring the World with HFO, Mick and John were playing on double/triple bills on the county fair circuit. The money sitting on the table for a Rumours reunion was way too much. It was going to happen and there was no way that Bekka, Billy, and Dave were going to be preferred over a Chris/Stevie/Lindsey lineup.
Mick and Lindsey working together. Stevie and Lindsey doing Twisted. If anyone in that mid-90's Fleetwood Mac didn't see what was obviously going to happen, they were being purposefully clueless.
We talk about how today, over 25 years later, the band is really defined in the public as the Rumours era. That's what is putting a$$es in seats. It was already the same thing then. Just taking a quick look at a 1995 setlist (as far as setlist.fm is correct anyway) and they were playing SEVEN songs off Rumours and two off the White album. More than half of their set was made up of Lindsey/Chris/Stevie songs, and none of them were even in the band. To me that was the biggest red flag, just like it is now, that the potential always exists that the Rumours era lineup is the one that always looms as a possibility.