Quote:
Originally Posted by David
I think Christine's effect on how the other two interacted was at least as big on tour & onstage as it was in in the studio. From Tusk to Tango, anyway, I tend to believe Stevie wasn't around often enough for Christine's buffer function to have worked much. And the bits of things we have of studio work from the old days indicate to me that Chris & Lindsey (& Lindsey & Mick) were the sympatico pair, not Stevie & Lindsey. In old footage, I don't see Stevie & Lindsey coming together on any level (including the fan-favorite Angel footage): musical, personal, even logistical. I think he mostly ignored her, believing probably that she had very little to contribute to his particular concerns in a recording studio.
All evidence supports this. In the Fleetwood Mac studio, Stevie was by accounts the little girl squirreling away in her fairy garden, with only occasional (& fruitless) attempts to command any attention. Chris & Lindsey, conversely, sound like co-writers & bandmates on a dozen or more tracks.
To me, that's a little bit like putting the cart before the horse. Fleetwood Mac changed the sound of Stevie's music -- in drastic ways. You would never have heard a Dreams or a Gold Dust Woman or an Angel or a Gypsy treatment on any of Stevie's work with friends or session players. Fleetwood Mac's Appalachianisms (& its English blues) were the chocolate into which Stevie dipped her banana.
(I had to work that banana in there again somehow.)
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This is a fascinating discussion.
But, what about Buckingham Nicks? By all practical purposes, the two did collaborate on those songs. Unless you believe that Stevie had no say whatsoever and handed her songs to Lindsey and that was that. Also, I can hear the same sort of quality in Stevie's BN tracks that would later emerge as the new FM sound. In that regard, LB's fingerprints left an indelible mark on her songs that certainly would never be matched by any cohorts to come.
Also, I can see your point about Christine, but given LB's history with Stevie (and given Christine's music expertise), one could argue Stevie pulled more rank with Lindsey prior to their joining FM. Then, Christine's pedigree threw Stevie's personal credibility out the window. (No wonder Nicks was peeved at
World Turning, her world
had indeed turned.)