More GH album thoughts........

nodmod · #1 06-28-2002, 07:22 PM

I have just had a few thoughts where some e-mails that have been sent to me recently have made a lot more sense.

1) E-Mail from Ken Calliet

Thank you for the kind words. I don't know what warners has in mind for other fleestwood mac album. I heard they were thinking of releasing Fleetwood Mac's greatest hits. You should contact davd may at Warner Records of Robin Hurley at Rhino Records and tell them what you'd like to hear.
regards,
Ken Caillat

Could this be the Greatest Hits album that is now being referred to? Is 5:1 entertainment remastering a DVD-A version of the 1988 Greatest Album?

2) E-Mail from the site owner of Pause and Play

believe me, i'm just as frustrated as you are ... i've been waiting 10 years for lindsey to follow-up one of my favorite LPs of the '90s, "Out of the Cradle." anyway, i have a very reliable inside source at Warner (which distributes Reprise) who's given me info about "Gift of Screws." he's told me that the album may be delayed even more because lindsey's tenure at Reprise is tenuous. fleetwood mac may be leaving Warner soon, and lindsey may follow suit. it's really unfortunate because my source says that "Gift of Screws" is so good that he thinks it could be a candidate for Grammy album of the year. sadly, we'll all have to wait even longer. keep visiting Pause & Play, though, because you never know when we'll have more info.

Now could this mean that Fleetwood Mac are obligated to one more album at Warners then being able to shop around for a new label. So this could explain the Greatest Hits package as finishing off their contract with Warners.

Any thoughts?

seteca · #2 06-28-2002, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by nodmod
.....i have a very reliable inside source at Warner (which distributes Reprise) who's given me info about "Gift of Screws." he's told me that the album may be delayed even more because lindsey's tenure at Reprise is tenuous. fleetwood mac may be leaving Warner soon, and lindsey may follow suit. it's really unfortunate because my source says that "Gift of Screws" is so good that he thinks it could be a candidate for Grammy album of the year. sadly, we'll all have to wait even longer.......

Wo!!!!!! So Gift of Screws as a Lindsey solo album is still a possibility???!! That is incredibly cool!! And brilliant news to hear! I had totally lost all hope that it would ever be released!! Even if it literally comes out in 2005 I will be happy!! Those tracks do deserve Grammy album of the year!!! Let's keep our fingers crossed!!

Thank you SO much for chasing this up Neil !!

wondergirl9847 · #3 06-28-2002, 09:16 PM

He deserved a dang Grammy for OOTC!! I PRAY TO GOD HE GETS ONE!!!!!

Thanks for posting that info Neil!!

Mike B · #4 06-28-2002, 09:18 PM

Thanks for posting this news, Neil! (You're becoming the best news-breaker about this band!)

As for the GH being a remastered DVD-Audio disc - since the original article was so vague in reference to this, you could be on to something. That would, given all other possibilities, make the most sense, I suppose. (Although I did read an article somewhere in the past couple of weeks about how DVD-Audio has not caught on as anticipated.)

Also interesting that GOS might still be released in some form. I guess the tracks not used on the next FM album would be the final listing.

It really does suck that we fans have to piece together snippets of articles, comments by half-informed DJs, unsubstantiated rumors, and plain conjecture to figure out what is going on with this band.

I guess we can all just toss these pieces of information onto the floor and see where they fit in the puzzle that is Fleetwood Mac.

Mike B.

Jo and Jensen · #5 06-29-2002, 05:50 PM

Very interesting.

If FM is obligated to do one more album...they CAN shop around after the GH is done, but what about Lindsey? Is he obligated to do so many more albums for Reprise? If so, the news of a Gift of Screws still being released is not good. Especially if GOS is THAT GREAT NOW. What is Reprise/WB waiting for?

What do you all think?

CarneVaca · #6 06-29-2002, 07:18 PM

"Now could this mean that Fleetwood Mac are obligated to one more album at Warners then being able to shop around for a new label. So this could explain the Greatest Hits package as finishing off their contract with Warners."

That would explain a lot. Now, if the band has more than 50 songs, they could give 10 or 11 to Reprise to release a real album. I would like that better. But, hmm, it doesn't seem to be up to me though.

wetcamelfood · #7 06-30-2002, 07:14 AM

I preface my thought here to be clear. Since I/we don't know whose possible "decision" this is, I once again am only using the term(s) "they/them" in this statement so it could relate to the label and/or the band.

It would be great to know how many albums the Mac (& LB) contract was/is for but if there is/has been only one left on the FM one and "they" have opted to "finish things off" with WB/Reprise with this GH thing, I wonder why it has taken "them" 5/6 years to come to this "decision"? Surely "they" could've thought of this idea sooner. I understand there is the thought that the label may have wanted to wait until a time of year they felt as though it would "sell more" or whatever, but it doesn't/didn't have to be Christmas THIS year, it could've been Christmas a few years ago (or whenever is "sell-able"). Also, I know that "they" would've wanted a few new songs on there and the idea may have been "there's nothing ready yet" etc. but I'm sure "they" could've come up with one or two to cover that part of it whatever year it was it "could've" been released since we know "they" have been coy about how many unreleased songs there are that exist already in the WB/Reprise vaults. Oh well!

Also, even if we go under the assumption that LB has only one record left with his WB/Reprise solo contract and if GOS is apparently "done" and all that then there is still the question of... "Why the wait?" It would be highly unlikely that the label would want to put out a "Best of LB" solo compilation (though I suppose anything is possible!) to "end off" his solo contract and if LB does want to "get away from" WB/Reprsie then he still would have to give the label SOMETHING to "fininsh things off" with WB/Reprise so he could've ended things with the label a long time ago as well IF all of this is the case.

As I say though, it's simply speculating that BOTH contracts do only have one album remaining on each contract and I guess we won't know that until we see a release for ourselves at our local retailers that is on a different label than WB/Reprise by either artist. Here's hoping we get some concrete news of some kind soon on this topic anyways!

John

CarneVaca · #8 06-30-2002, 10:30 AM

Wetcamelfood:

As we've discussed in other treads already, the band simply doesn't seem to care enough. The band members have too many other interests now to dedicate more than a fraction of their time to Fleetwood Mac.

David · #9 06-30-2002, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by wetcamelfood
It would be great to know how many albums the Mac (& LB) contract was/is for but if there is/has been only one left on the FM one and "they" have opted to "finish things off" with WB/Reprise with this GH thing, I wonder why it has taken "them" 5/6 years to come to this "decision"? Surely "they" could've thought of this idea sooner.

I still can't help thinking that the foot-dragging is at least partially due to the huge "reorganization" at the Warner label with the AOL merger (just after Lindsey talked to the L.A. Times about plans for his solo album).

Howie Klein was Fleetwood Mac-friendly. But he & his old cohorts were ousted only just over a year ago, & I think the fallout of that is still playing out at the label, including with Fleetwood Mac's plans. Even David Kahne left the label after Tom Whalley took over. The whole Wilco flap at Reprise was pretty indicative of the situation at the time, except that Wilco did the wise thing: they cut all ties with Reprise immediately & headed straight for another label.

Fleetwood Mac was definitely shopping for a label last winter. I broke the news on the newsgroup & it was no rumor. But I don't have any idea how the situation has played out since that time. Here's what I posted in February:

GO YOUR OWN WAY: Fleetwood Mac, whose last album sold north of 5 million, are said to be taking their next album to a non-WMG label for $8-10 million. What about Stevie Nicks, who's still tied to Warner? Will the deal end up back inside WMG, or could the Mac go Nickless?

Here's an eye-opening paragraph from Grammy magazine last month:

Mo Ostin and Lenny Waronker ran the company for decades and set the tone by hiring people who love music, because they wanted a bigger view than 'Is this a hit?'" says [Howie] Klein. "We would determine that a band could go all the way, and we would support them financially and emotionally until they did. But sometimes it would take four or five albums for a band like that to make it, and we'd get constant pressure from above to drop them — 'They're losing money, put your resources somewhere else.' But in those days it was easy for the talent people to force the corporate guys to back down. It's a lot less easy to do that now in the record industry. The corporate hand is so much stronger now, there is no comparison."

Since the merger with AOL, Warner has laid off hundreds of people, & the ax is still falling this year. Bands that weren't performing financially up to snuff were targeted, no matter how established they once were. A list was put together last year of 30 bands that were destined for the chopping block. One exec said, "They were downsizing the company & bands & bodies had to go."

Maybe if the members of Fleetwood Mac had the kind of fresh & realistic thinking skills that the guys in Wilco had, we'd have had our Mac album -- maybe even our Buckingham album -- by now on some label like Nonesuch or Dreamworks, some label that would be willing to market the damn thing.

DownOnRodeo · #10 07-01-2002, 04:30 AM

Thanks Neil, for being such an active inquirer on our behalf!

I like the idea that they simply remaster the '88 GH or something in order to release the next FM album under less autonomous conditions.

ControVersa... I mean, sorry, CarneVaca

:
Maybe we are being naiive to think the members all have the same passion for the integrity of the group and its music beyond other aspects of their life.... but maybe it's similarly naiive to think they ever did. A case of 'the good ol days'? (Oh no, another can of worms opened, no doubt)

BTW CarneVaca I see your auction on ebay has closed. Have you sold it? Otherwise, have you had any success trying to get in contact with me via email for arrangements?

CarneVaca · #11 07-01-2002, 09:53 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by DownOnRodeo
ControVersa... I mean, sorry, CarneVaca :
Maybe we are being naiive to think the members all have the same passion for the integrity of the group and its music beyond other aspects of their life.... but maybe it's similarly naiive to think they ever did. A case of 'the good ol days'? (Oh no, another can of worms opened, no doubt)

Hey, are you implying I'm old? Hmmm, you know, ControVersa wouldn't be a bad handle at all...

You raise a good point, though. Did they ever have that passion? When you really think about it, Lindsey and Stevie joined the band out of expediency. Right? They couldn't make it as a duo, so when they got the offer, they pretty much jumped on it. Yet, I believe the band members surely had a true dedication right up to let's say the aftermath of Rumours. I can just imagine that when they went back to the studio, most of them were probably dreading it, considering what had happened during the recording of Rumours. Lindsey ended up recording a lot of stuff on his own, then bringing it to the studio. And we know how happy Mick was when Lindsey replaced him with a cardboard box for at least one track! If I had to guess, I would say that in 1978-79, the dedication to the band by at least a couple of members started to wane. I don't begrudge the band's having other interests now, especially their families, but I am rather annoyed that they have so many songs supposedly ready, and we still have to wait another year for them, regardless of whose fault it is.

[/B]BTW CarneVaca I see your auction on ebay has closed. Have you sold it? Otherwise, have you had any success trying to get in contact with me via email for arrangements? [/B][/QUOTE]

I have not been able to e-mail you. Perhaps your mailbox has exceeded capacity? Check it out. If you want it, we can work out some kind of deal. It did not sell.

ShangriLaTroubl · #12 07-01-2002, 10:56 AM

I don't know how much of this is true, but there were some people at a radio station a few months ago saying that Fleetwood Mac's album delay was due to the fact they are working out a deal with DREAMWORKS, the label that brought Alien Ant Farm (they redid "Smooth Criminal") to the top. So the "Rumours" are definetely flying about this one..

marc402 · #13 07-15-2002, 05:14 PM

Whoo!!
The Mac And Dreamworks , that would be the ultimate mariage for me.
I'm A huge mac fan and also a Huge spielbergfan.
But then again fleetwood mac and Reprise go way back.
Well if they release a greatest hits this year (as mick said) i hope it is not the 88 one. I mean i love a remastered version of it but not now i mean we still have a badly done Tusk (sara edit) and mirage (poor sound quality).
I hope we get some songs on here that didn't make the 88 one ,like isn't it midnight and sisters of the moon and one two of my favorite post 88 songs save me and love shines.