Matt's Fleetwood Mac Album Reviews

[The Tower]

Originally posted by chiliD
Hasn't anyone else noticed that Stevie changes her story interview to interview??

Yes, yes, yes.... Her stories always change. I don't know why, but they do. Maybe she's trying to romanticize things. It's kind of irritating.

On the other hand-

Nicks Fan, good effort showing what you like about FM's stuff. So there were inaccuracies, no big whoop.

I would have rated it like this:

White Album - three stars ***
Rumours - four stars ****
Tusk - five stars *****
Mirage - two 1/2 ** 1/2
Tango in the Night - two **
Behind the Mask - three ***
Time - one *
The Dance - three (but if not for Silver Springs it woulda been a two) ***

[chiliD]

I was at the Forum in Englewood on the last nigt of the BTM tour at the end of 1990

Me, too!! What a great show (for the most part, anyway)! The great opening of "In The Back Of My Mind" segueing into "The Chain"...Rick's smokin' version of "Stop Messin' Round". And, of course, Lindsey's appearance both DURING the set on "Landslide" (could Stevie's emotional crap at the end be anyMORE contrived? Lindsey seemed to act like "ok, the song's over lemme outta here") and for the finale of "Go Your Own Way" and then the first encore of "Tear It Up", was QUITE the surprise!

What was its position?

I was going off recall...I'll research the exact numbers for you...may take me a bit.

Was that in the US?

Yes.

[Vianna]

Are we talking the Behind the Mask tour? I saw this show in DC and it was a different setlist I would swear-it has been ten years, I admit and I wasn't as knowledgeable about the band then-but it seems to me they did mainly Rumours stuff and a couple of numbers from the Behind the Mask album..I remember being kinda disappointed they didn't play more new stuff..

[chiliD]

what about dany Kirwan he was an original member.

No, he wasn't. Danny joined right after "Mr Wonderful" & before "Pious Bird Of Good Omen" (their 2nd & 3rd albums)...he made an immediate impact, his "Jigsaw Puzzle Blues" was the b-side of the "Albatross" single.

You're right, Vianna, somewhere along in the BTM tour, they revamped a portion of the set list...the most obvious change was that they ditched "Say You Love Me" as the opener for Billy's "In The Back of My Mind". They played that, "Save Me", "Stand On The Rock", & "Love Is Dangerous", which is the same number of "new" songs they played on the Mirage tour ("Love In Store", "Hold Me", "Eyes Of The World", "Gypsy")...they only played THREE "new" songs on the Tango tour ("Isn't It Midnight", "Seven Wonders" & "Little Lies").

[Johnny Stew]

I'd like to add that, quite frankly the period in Fleetwood Mac's history between 1990 and 1997, is VERY confusing... and I don't know if any one of *US* can say with certainty what exactly happened.

To the absolute best of my recollection, Stevie's announcement about leaving the band in 1990, was in regards to touring.
She said in several TV and print interviews, as did Mick, that she would continue to record with the band.

Now... the following year when she was compiling 'Timespace' and her request to include "Silver Springs" was denied, THEN she announced that she would "never again" work with Fleetwood Mac.

Apparently her stance did soften however by the summer of 1992, when Lindsey mentioned in a Billboard interview with Timothy White, that he and Stevie had consented to work on some new songs for 'The Chain' boxed set.

After the band (Mick, John, Christine, Lindsey & Stevie) performed at the Clinton Inauguration, Stevie told USA Today that she no longer had any desire to work with the band without Lindsey.

Then several months later, Rolling Stone had a little blurb to the effect that "Now that Stevie Nicks' resignation from Fleetwood Mac has become official, Fleetwood Mac has hired Bekka Bramlett, daughter of Delaney & Bonnie Bramlett."

To add to this confusion, Rick also "officially" left in 1991, but performed with Fleetwood Mac (Mick, John, Christine & Billy) for their Super Bowl gig in 1992 (one week after the Clinton Inauguration).

Billy also left the band at some point, around 1992 i believe, but was back by the time they were recording 'Time,' and toured in support of it (both before and after its release).

One final matter that is also confusing, is the departure of Billy & Bekka.
Many sources stated that the pair left Fleetwood Mac to record their album (Mick has also said that it was then that he decided Fleetwood Mac was finally finished), but other sources state that their departure was never really official... well, not until Stevie & Lindsey rejoined in the spring of '97 anyway.


So.... basically what I'm trying to say is, everything that everyone has mentioned previously in this thread is correct... at least according to one source or another!
*lol*



Johnny Stew

[David]

On amf-m, we talked about some of these issues recently. I think the decision she made during the 1990 tour was not to tour with the group anymore, & Christine's decision, which preceded hers & was a result of her dad dying that summer, seems to have prodded her to it. The year after, Stevie & Mick got in a big fight, which I'm sure you've all heard about. Herewith some quotes:

In the July 14, 1991, Boston Sunday Globe, Stevie said, "I said [to
Mick] if you don't give me back my song, then I won't write two new songs for your new record. So that's where it stands right now ... He won't talk to me about it. I have no clue as to why he made that decision. It never stops, does it? Fleetwood Mac goes on like a miniseries. It's one of those 'Gone With the Wind' things that goes on & on; & I never really know what's going to happen. I never burn bridges, but right now I don't think I'll work with them."

After she started her tour that summer, she said, "Right now I'm not very happy with Mick, & it's over a pretty serious thing. He won't give in & I feel it's unfair, & since he's not considering my feelings & I've always considered his, for the first time in my life I can actually say, 'No, I'm not going to tour with them or work with them on this record.' Not them, but himm, because he's done something that is unforgivable."

Then she told Datebook: "I can't believe he's stupid enough to break this band up for a song he dumped in the garbage can. I fought like a dog to keep this band together for 15 years. I didn't have to because I had my own solo career. I have always loved Mick, & I have always done everything I could to keep him going. It's a pretty sad way to end Fleetwood Mac. This is going to be a shock to the rest of the band when they see the stupidity of Mick's decision. It has nothing to do with all the other things we could have broken up over. I didn't even get mad at him about his book. Last December, as we were wrapping up the tour, when I introduced the band, I would say 'the fabulous Mick
Fleetwood, drummer extraordinaire & best-selling author!' I was trying to help him sell the damn book!"

Somewhere else around that time, she said, "Right now, I'm in the middle of a very big fight with Mick. This is all so underhanded. I called him on a Friday & said, 'If I don't have that tape of 'Silver Springs' by Monday, I'm out.' He had three days & didn't deliver. What did I ever do to him that he would do this to me & my mother?"

On VH1-to-1, the interviewer asked Stevie where her relationship with Fleetwood Mac stood at that point. "It does not stand," she said. "It [recording with the band] is not going to happen. Because the story's already all over, so there's no reason for me to really go into it. It all stems down to an argument between me & Mr. Fleetwood. And that's down to the fact that he would not return to me a song that he dumped in the can 14 years ago, slapped on the back of a single & was never heard from again. And I wanted to put it on 'Timespace' because it belongs to my mom, & he said, 'Over my dead body.' And I said, 'Well then, you
just broke the camel's back.' So I won't be involved anymore."

On the 1991 BBC radio interview I mentioned way up top, Stevie said, "I told Dennis [Dunstan, Mick's manager] what I wanted. I said, 'I want Silver Springs because it belongs to my mother.' ... When 'Timespace' came around, it didn't occur to me that they wouldn't let me have it back. Switching back quickly to the night I called Mick a couple of months ago, & he didn't want to return my call, I talked to his manager & said: 'Well, you find Mick, & you tell him that if I don't get those tapes by Monday, I am no longer a member of Fleetwood Mac.' And he said, 'Ok, give me until 10:30. I'll find Mick. Don't do anything yet.' And I said, 'Ok.' And at about 10:15 Dennis called back & said that he had finally tracked Mick down. And Mick had said, 'Over my dead body will I ever give that song back.' And now he has ruined Fleetwood Mac's future."

In a 1991 interview for E! channel, Stevie said about her & Mick:
"Mick & I are having an intense argument. We're not speaking. We haven't spoken since the 7th of December of last year, which was our last gig at the Forum. He & I have come to a crossroads. And so, I don't know if Mick can pull this one out of the bag. He may be able to, because Mick's very magic sometimes, & he may be able to talk me out of it, but I don't think so. Not this time."

She went on to say: "I would definitely have worked on the next record that they're gonna do, which is gonna be a big, BIG, like,
conglomeration of songs from, you know, 30 years ago all the way up until now, & some new ones. And I said, 'Of course I'll do that. Whatever.' Because I'm a very soft touch. They all know it ... And when I say 'they' that's not very fair, because they have nothing to do with it. It has everything to do with me & Mick. WE are having the argument, not Fleetwood Mac & I. ... How he's gonna get out of this, I don't know. Because, obviously, 'Timespace' is already out, & 'Silver Springs' isn't on it."

Then she told Jim Ladd backstage at the Whiskey in 1991: "I'm gonna record it on the next solo album. That's a promise."

In a 1992 issue of Vox, Stevie hints that the reason Sara left Mick in 1992 was due to the Silver Springs brouhaha: "She's singing with me now; she's a very good friend. She's divorcing Mick after being with him for 13 years; they are completely separated. She doesn't understand." I didn't read that Vox, but Mike Bise says that the reason Rick Vito left Fleetwood Mac was that he sided with Stevie during this mess, & that she says so in the article.

After the FM box set came out with the old "Silver Springs," Mick
said, "At one point, Stevie wanted to put the song on her solo album but it was a Fleetwood Mac track & we wouldn't let her -- which made her unhappy for a time."

[Sorcerer386]

It never stops, does it? Fleetwood Mac goes on like a miniseries. It's one of those 'Gone With the Wind' things that goes on & on

There's a favorite Stevie quote thread over on the Stevie forum, and this just became my new favorite Stevie quote! That's hilarious.

[Robert]

Another funny quote of Stevie's prompted by the "Silver Springs " incident was "I am no longer a part of that particular Shakesperian drama'

[Nicks Fan]

I always did wonder why Mick cut the song off of the album. It was such a good song. One thing though that always seems apparant is that no matter how bad things get Mick always finds a way to get some form of the band together to record a new album and to tour even if the album or tour is not successful.
It is too bad that Chris won't tour with them because it would be fun.