[aleuzzi]

I can't wait for this Buckingham-McVie record to come out. I'm literally counting days. It reminds me of the excitement I felt right before ITM came out and we were all listening to those one-minute sound clips on her now-defunct website. Then the record came out and I played it endlessly for a year. I also love Lindsey's solo stuff and often prefer it to his band material. I'm so glad this project is surfacing as a duo!

That said, I DO still admire and adore Stevie. Am I disappointed and annoyed that she doesn't want to record new music with the band or write new material for her own records? Of course. Do I sense from her an anger and bitterness that suggests deeper issues than any of us could guess? Yes.

But I still credit her for the reason I came to the band in the first place. I must have watched the "Gypsy" video 4 billion times when it was released on MTV in 1982. I remember listening to every second of THE WILD HEART when it came out. I remember sensing a deterioration in her voice when I saw her live in 1985--and when I heard ROCK A LITTLE. I was no longer awed by her (by then I was totally into pre-BN FM stuff) but I admired her perseverance and was impressed with her vocal recovery by the time "Blue Denim" came out. She kicked butt on THE DANCE and contributed a number of great songs to SYW. Meanwhile TISL and especially IYD are, I think, pretty damn impressive solo albums. She's come a long way since 1985. She could have been a has been but is far from it. Her celebrity is arguably greater now than it ever was.

The deluxe remasters of BELLA DONNA and THE WILD HEART remind me of how powerful she was in her prime. That her vocal range and tone have changed is understandable, but she's singing as intelligently as she can now. I give her props. I could do without the selfies and the non-musical stuff, but...hey...I could do without the hairclip Christine wore when she first emerged from isolation back in 2013...or one of Lindsey's speeches before "Big Love."