Christine

[Phil]

Yes one may choose to ignore or bury the truth buy hey, I ain't buying it! Of course, it is the Stevie/Lindsey combo that I dig but to be honest with you, I do concede that Christine has made a significant contribution to both the Mac and music in general.

There is no denying that many of her songs are classics ('I'd Rather Go Blind"; virtually everything from 1971 to 1974; "Warm Ways"; "Over My Head"; "Songbird"; "You Make Lovin' Fun"; "Oh Daddy"; "Brown Eyes"; "Never Make Me Cry"; "Honey Hi") but alas, she just ain't been stokin' my fire for way too long!

What of substance has Christine offered forth in the last twenty years I ask you? There may have been a few passable toons along the way but nothing to compare with her best work. The most problematic aspect of her work, in my opinion, is that she insists on mining the cliched, unadventurous facets of pop and this eventually (if not immediately) disengages the listener.

I also recognise that Stevie has had her less than stellar moments along the way but when you consider the proliferation of her work as opposed to the dearth of new material from Christine and Lindsey during the last two decades, her strike rate is astoundingly low.

I should remind viewers that I did recently cop it from a number of fans for having the audacity to examine the "Street Angel" atrocity through a less than murky lens. To all of my detractors, I now quite agree that if you are prepared to close your eyes and ears, the album can offer a mildly enjoyable experience. How's that for a conciliatory approach?

Anyway, I do actually retain a soft spot for good ol' Christy McVie and should like to remember her fondly. However, achieving this necessitates erasing the last twenty odd years of her career - sad but true.

[jwd]

There's not too much I don't love about her or her songs. The only complaint I have is that they do become somewhat boring after a while. To listen to them back to back on a solo album is rather tiring. I guess you have to be in a certain mood to listen to her music...and just her music. It's definitely less noticeable when you listen to her songs within the context of a Fleetwood Mac album with Lindsey's and Stevie's songs to shake things up....well even Bob Welch's or Danny Kirwan's songs for that matter....or EVEN Billy Burnette's and Rick Vito's songs. She and her songs play better in a group environment than on their own. This same sentiment even applies to Christine when she's in concert. Have you seen the Christine McVie Video Album? Nuff said!


Joe

[BombaySapphire3]

I have to agree having seen her once on her 1984 solo tour that she is not exactly riveting by herself and her 1984 eponymous lp was except for a couple of Mirage retreads a pretty uninspired listen .As i have pointed out before she really needed Lindsey's more left leaning arrangements to put her over the top,hence her abrupt end of major hits after his departure.

[David]

How depressing.

I had absolutely no idea that so many Fleetwood Macheads thought Christine was boring.

To me, she's the Kit Cornell of pop music!

[Steve]

Christine is often so overlooked. Maybe it's because many of her songs after Rumours were very soft...light weight. But when she gave us her best, she created classic pop songs such as "Think About Me", "Hold Me", "Gotta Hold On Me", "Little Lies", "Everywhere", and "Temporary One", most the staple of FM classics. Honestly, when I first heard the title of her song on "The Dance" was going to be called "Temporary One", my first thought was, well, this is going to be another Christine slow..light love ballad. Boy, was I happily wrong/surprised. To me that was the best NEW song on the Dance.

She will be greatly missed on the new CD. I personally think her abscence will affect sales....oh, well. Christine was 1/5 of the classic FM sound. It won't be the same with out her. I will be surprised if it really is a true mega-hit.

What tempers the situation is the fact that she is coming out with a solo CD. I truly can't wait. And I can't blame her. What would most of us be doing at 60? I respect her decision.

[jwd]

She will be greatly missed on the new CD. I personally think her abscence will affect sales....oh, well. Christine was 1/5 of the classic FM sound. It won't be the same with out her. I will be surprised if it really is a true mega-hit.

I agree with that sentiment 100%. After hearing what's "supposed" to be the first two singles from the upcoming lp, albeit "Peacekeeper" is not the FM version, I'm having my doubts about the "new" FM sound without Christine. I think she'll be missed more than we realize. What she gets from the Lindsey/Stevie mix she equally gives back to it. I dunno, it's going to be an interesting year....."Strange Times" indeed!


Joe

[Steve]

Even though I have once again began posting on The Ledge recently, I have watched over the years. It's interesting how much attention is NOT paid to Christine(me included). She was and still is much overlooked. There will be no "Say You Love Me", "You Make Loving Fun", "Brown Eyes", 'Little Lies", "Temporary One"....how sad.

[macfan 57]

Originally posted by jwd
I think she'll be missed more than we realize. What she gets from the Lindsey/Stevie mix she equally gives back to it.


Joe

I completely agree with this. Very often, you don't miss something until it's gone. To me, without her it's just another band. Since I'm primarily a Christine fan, I'll probably get the new album, certainly if she's on it even if only on one song.

As for Christine being boring solo. I love that 1984 video. I actually saw her live that year and loved her show. And it was in a much smaller venue than Fleetwood Mac always played in, which made it even better. I definitely got my money's worth.

I agree with Steve about her leaving the band. She is nearly 60 and obviously doesn't need the money. She made the right decision. In the meantime, I can't wait for her solo album, hopefully this fall.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally posted by macfan 57
To me, without [Christine], it's just another band.

Which is exactly the way a large number of fans felt about Fleetwood Mac after Stevie left.

I always felt bad that Bekka Bramlett had to suffer the unfair and unwarranted comparisons to Stevie. Both women brought completely different vibes to Fleetwood Mac.
Bekka is a great singer, who gave her all... she just had the unenviable task of following in Stevie's platformed footsteps.

So I was really glad that they didn't try to replace Christine for this new album.
She's been gracing Fleetwood Mac with her unique "calm inside the storm" contributions for decades, and anyone who would have been brought into the band to "replace" her would have most likely been crucified.

At this point in the game, there's no way anyone (except maybe chiliD!) would accept someone new joining the band, to fill in for Christine.
Whether they'd have been male or female, already famous or completely unknown, the cries of "_________ is NO Christine McVie," would have been deafening.

I think the choice they made of remaining a quartet, was the wisest one of all.

Christine will be missed in Fleetwood Mac, but she has more music on its way... and that's definitely a good thing.
And I have complete faith that the band has created music that will be just as strong and engaging as anything they've done in the past, with or without Christine.



Johnny Stew

[Skylark]

Christine will be sorely missed by fans who loved her fine musical
blend with the band! Chris and Lindsey appreciated each others musical harmony and liked to blend their melodic voices!I agree with Stfan 100%; their songs together were just wonderful!!!
He admired her as a trained musician to play songs with and
their looks to each other during Bleed To Love Her said a lot!!!
She was the calming force in a deluge of personality issues!Sky

ps...About the Album...single or double...
PUT IT OUT!Please!!!

[wetcamelfood]

Originally posted by Johnny Stew
At this point in the game, there's no way anyone (except maybe chiliD!) would accept someone new joining the band, to fill in for Christine.
Whether they'd have been male or female, already famous or completely unknown, the cries of "_________ is NO Christine McVie," would have been deafening.

I do agree with all you said Johnny Stew but I would have to say that I would probably be with ChiliD and I would also greet a "replacement" (for lack of a better word) for Christine with open arms.

Naturally, no one would EVER REPLACE CM, and he probabaly never would have joined anways but I sure would have liked to have seen what Peter Bardens would've brought to the FM sound as a... well, let's just say a "keyboard player for the vacant stool" but of course it is not possible now anyways (RIP Pete).

Of course I can't speak for ChiliD but I rememeber talking about the "new" FM with him and he is very happy about the new FM "lineup" as am I and with the added plus of this upcoming CM solo album, it sure works out as more CD's for us which is the main thing we (or certainly "I") care about and I'm glad we agree about this with you and many other here too.

John

[seteca]

Originally posted by wetcamelfood
...it sure works out as more CD's for us which is the main thing we (or certainly "I") care about and I'm glad we agree about this with you and many other here too...

Totally agree with you there. I don't want to sound pessimistic but I really do think that this is going to be the last Fleetwood Mac studio album, and therefore by the end of this year I hope to have as much material from these 5 amazing musicians as possible. Ideally, we would have the entire GOS collection, plus all new LB and SN songs on the new album, plus an entire CM solo album. Now obviously a compromise has been made between LB's GOS (as well as, it seems, some TISL demos) and the new album, which is understandable, especially given that GoS would never have been released anyway. However, the idea of entire album's worth of CM material is absolutely fantastic!