View on a New Album 5 Years Ago

[michelej1]

[In another thread someone was interested in old interviews about the prospect of a new album back when SYW came out. Here are a few quotes about that possibility and I threw in a couple on other subjects, just for fun. The whole interviews can be found here:

http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v1&c=9

Acoustic Guitar, October 2003


Do you foresee this as the first of many new Fleetwood Mac albums?

Buckingham: I hope so. When I started making solo albums it was because I had done Tusk. Tusk was a reaction to some of the more questionable aspects of the kind of success that Rumours brought. A lot of people wanted us to do Rumours II. And there was a real need to break that mold right away, so we didn't fall into that trap, and that's what Tusk was about. Unfortunately, when we didn't sell 60 million albums, the band said, "We're not going to do that anymore. You're not going to go back to your house and work on stuff by yourself." And that's when I started making solo albums. That dilemma doesn't exist anymore. The Tusk process, for lack of a better term, is so present in what we're doing now, that my need to work outside of the band doesn't seem that pressing.

If you look at what I dealt with when I tried to deliver the solo album, it's scary how the same group of songs will suddenly be embraced and thought of as being wonderful when it's called Fleetwood Mac. When it's Lindsey Buckingham, it's not so easy. I'm 53. I try to strike a balance between my family life and my work. I feel I'm at the height of my creative powers. But I don't want to fight that fight anymore than I have to. I don't want to have to deal with a corporate world that is more or less insensitive to what I'm doing. I will go out and make solo albums if we can't hold Fleetwood Mac together for political reasons, or for personal reasons. As long as I have a deal. Even if they only sell that 300,000 or 400,000, which is what I was selling before. But if not, why not share the whole thing with everybody?
This is a group of people that I love dearly, and maybe for the first time in years we can acknowledge that. It's one of the greatest rhythm sections in the world. But it's a volatile group of people. We've all got large egos. All I can do is try not to make the mistakes I've made before with the band members.

I'm very proud of this album. I feel this is the best work I've ever done. And I think Stevie's songs enrich that. The whole subtext of sweetness is what the album is about. It's about a circular karma. We wouldn't be doing this if there wasn't something drawing the four of us together, in a kind of a love and a destiny. This is a very special time for us. Let's just hope I don't blow it.

Rolling Stone, April 25, 2003:

The new album ends with two farewells: your "Say Goodbye" and Stevie's "Goodbye Baby." Are we to gather this is Fleetwood Mac's swan song?

I hope not. There have been times when I have had my doubts. Near the end of the recording there were arguments, and it got a little tense. We had been looking at this as a long-term plan -- touring a lot and doing another record - and maybe it looked like that wasn't going to happen. If I had to guess, I would say that we will do another album.


July 2004, Rocky Mountain News

"Without another album, I think this is as much touring as the band should be doing. We're probably bordering on it right now . . . it starts to look like you're really just going out for the money, and indeed there are many people around the FM situation who value that far, far, far and away above anything else.

Once this is done, unless the band would somehow miraculously want to get in the studio sometime in late fall, I don't think it would be a good idea to contemplate touring next summer."

He also says of Come: "Stevie did not want that on the album for whatever reason. I guess the lyric was offensive to her, a little explicit. I did have that reaction from my sister-in-law. She's saying, 'What am I going to tell my 13-year-old?' Then the same thing -- it was a fight to get it into the set."

Going Back Again, 2003

Look, I hope that everyone feels this way, and I guess it would depend on how the politics and the chemistry and everything goes on the road, but I would like to think that this is just the first of at least a few more FM albums. It's kind of profound, if you think about it: A group that already has such a body of work and that's taken quite a long time to come back, has redefined itself in a way not just by resting on it's laurels, or by doing something predictable. Plus, we're all in our fifties so that's quite possibly uncharted territory."

SMH. Com. AU February 18, 2004

While I'm pawing through old stuff, here's an SMH.Com.au interview in which he talks about not having "complete regard for Rumours as a work. What's wrong with it?

"The femaleness of it. The lightness of it. You might say it's overly poppy in parts. It's ironic that the truthfulness of what we were saying in the songs was represented in a very glossy way."


Sacramento Bee. July 4, 2003

Mick is asked about a new album. "Everyone's up for the possibility of that happening. I only preface it by saying that we're 18 months away from the end of touring and one of us might turn around and say, 'I'm just totally burned out and the thought of starting a new album might be too much for me.' But right now, it's definitely being spoken about."

Mick told Newsobserver.com, May 21, 2004

"I hope we make another album where they would write and execute songs together. That would be very cool, because they sing together in a way no one else can."

Mick also said, "Lindsey's third child is being born, he's gloriously happy, Stevie loves his children. But all these years later, there's still this private world they have, an umbilical creative thing. Making this album and doing nearly two years of roadwork together, it's testimony to what they still have affter all the bits and pieces are gone. Some of it is good and a lot of it is bad. But they have a real respect for what they ended with."

Interview Magazine June 2003.

Lindsey: Years on, Christine and John still have a deep love for each other, as do Stevie and I -- we've been working together since I was 17. Our chemistry is what made us a great band to begin with. That it's still potent after 16 years apart is pretty amazing.

The Plain Dealer, May 2003:

If Buckingham had his druthers FM will return to the studio soon to record another group effort. "I'm not going to jinx anything and say anything is definitely happening.," he said.

Discoveries October 2004.

When asked if there will be another album Mick says:

"I know Lindsey wants to do it. I think Stevie has some trepidation as to whether she wants to spend a year or so in he studio, then do the touring. But we'll see. I think if we could get it done quickly, but we don't trust ourselves. I'd love to think we could do an album in eight months, but it's always a year and a half. I see this band being active for at least another five years, maybe more."

Also, Mick said:

"Lindsey seems huge amounts of vision with unrelenting focus. He'll stick on something until he gets an answer about how we'll do something. It's sometimes awkward, and it's sometimes tiring, you can't believe someone's that intense. The payoff in the ranks of FM is that we have someone like that. He doesn't win all the battles, but he'll fight for something he believes in. And when you look back, you thank the Lory he actually did."

The Guardian, April 2003:

Mick: The lifestyle and the trimmings became unattractive to Lindsey. He thought I was going to force him to sit in a corner and drink a bottle of wine with me. I was a crazy guy for a long time. Lindsey's very private, and he will never be otherwise. When Lindsey left in 1987, I was so pissed off. I thought, 'How could he do that?' He was having a breakdown -- or at least thinking, 'I can't do this any more.' But all those things are so long ago."

[michelej1]

What is the deal with Jeff's wife? It sounds like Lindsey's sister-in-law is always ragging him about something. First she wondered what she was going to tell her 13 year old about Come. Then she complained about the Gift of Screws title.

He's been in rock and roll so long, I'd have thought she'd be used to the risque by now.

Actually, I'm glad that he has people around him who question what he does and give him a dissenting viewpoint.

Michele

[vivfox]

Thank you Michele for all those interesting quotes. Though I doubt any of Lindsey's solo albums topped or even came near the one hundred thousand mark.

[Musicman408]

Thank you for the quotes! Interesting read!

[GoldDustOrphan]

he talks about not having "complete regard for Rumours as a work. What's wrong with it?

"The femaleness of it. The lightness of it. You might say it's overly poppy in parts. It's ironic that the truthfulness of what we were saying in the songs was represented in a very glossy way."

Let's do that math again. Femaleness = light = overly poppy. He defines "overly poppy" as a negative. So what's the answer? Christine's fist in his stomach.

[michelej1]

Femaleness can never lead to anything good.

Michele

[The Chain]

Thank you!

when I asked about interviews like these in the new album thread, I was expecting you'd post a little quote or two, but these whole segments are fantastic! Thanks for taking the time

[David]

Originally Posted by vivfox

Thank you Michele for all those interesting quotes. Though I doubt any of Lindsey's solo albums topped or even came near the one hundred thousand mark.

His first album engages the brain cells, tens of millions.

His later work engages neither the brain cells nor the record buyers.