Lindsey interview in Guitar World

bombaysaffires · #1 06-23-2017, 06:15 PM

Lindsey's on the cover of Guitar World Aug 2017 edition. There's a fair bit of technical guitar stuff in the article but some interesting bits about the band etc. We get the usual karmic, circular thing about Christine, and that blasted burning all her bridges nonsense.

I will try and post pics of it tonight or tomorrow when I'm home but some quotes I found interesting:

He talks about working on Chris's songs:

"I did the same kind of thing with Stevie's songs as well. But the thing about Stevie is she's not a musician per se. She's a singer and someone who will write lyrics on a page. And she doesn't have much to do with it beyond that, in terms of the process of evolving it into a record. Christine, on the other hand, is so grounded in her musicianship, and the sensibilities that go along with that, that she and I were really able to share the whole evolution af any particular song. She appreciated and wanted to be a part of that process, and would often have things to add. So I think that's a lot of what we have in common. It definitely helps to establish and maintain a camaraderie. It was always there, but it was never tapped into in this context."

About this possibly being a FM album:

" We probably had a few conversations about getting Stevie involved. But I think that kept getting countermanded by the feeling that this really wanted to be a duet album. I don't think anyone seriously considered calling it a Fleetwood Mac album with only four out of the five band members on it. That just didn't seem right."

Asked if he and Christine share the same musical interests:

"I don't know if there really is any, in terms of what's out there on the radio. All the songs I would listen to and talk about, I don't think she'd have heard. She wouldn't know who Vampire Weekend was. Anything at all that's sort of young and current. Not to say she wouldn't enjoy it. But she hasn't pursued that."

About Feel About You:

"She'd written a second song on the album, Feel About You, as very much a standard Fleetwood Mac-y kind of ting. And I was trying to retool it and make it feel a little more modern in a way she couldn't wrap her head around at first. But then people would come in and really love it, and she started to understand".

Where does this record fall in the big machine--small machine continuum?

"That's a very good question. Where does it fall? It's certainly not as experimental as what I would be doing on my own. Because John and Mick are also on it, it has a Fleetwood Mac kind of feel. So I guess pitfalls more toward the big machine in that sense. But I think songs like Sleeping Around the Corner and Love Is Here to Stay are probably a bit more off to the side. They probably make it a little 'smaller'. I think there's really something to be said for there being two authors as well. It changed the whole equation of what it adds up to. I'm not sure I can be too objective about what it is. But it allows a little more of each of our ranges to come into play in a way I think is really healthy. So maybe it's the medium machine."

Frankenstein · #2 06-23-2017, 08:02 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

About this possibly being a FM album:

" We probably had a few conversations about getting Stevie involved. But I think that kept getting countermanded by the feeling that this really wanted to be a duet album. I don't think anyone seriously considered calling it a Fleetwood Mac album with only four out of the five band members on it. That just didn't seem right."

I'm sure everyone did... except Stevie's lawyers...

bombaysaffires · #3 06-23-2017, 08:51 PM

I think Stevie would take great exception to his comments that she doesn't get involved in the production of her songs. That was the whole reason she did the documentary film with Dave Stewart, to show that she DOES get involved-- she always said that the FM films always just portray her as sitting on the couch or whatever while he does the work. He's not been especially welcoming of her input for many years in FM. She was absolutely involved in the musical arrangement of her material on IYD and other solo work.

I would like to hear Feel About You the way Chris wrote it before he messed with it and make my own mind up about which is better.

BombaySapphire3 · #4 06-23-2017, 09:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

About Feel About You:

"She'd written a second song on the album, Feel About You, as very much a standard Fleetwood Mac-y kind of ting. And I was trying to retool it and make it feel a little more modern in a way she couldn't wrap her head around at first. But then people would come in and really love it, and she started to understand"."

I knew he had really tampered with this one ..He should have left it alone and let Christine be Christine.

secondhandchain · #5 06-23-2017, 10:07 PM

I disagree. That's all we would've been very very boring without any interesting production.

BLY · #6 06-24-2017, 09:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I knew he had really tampered with this one ..He should have left it alone and let Christine be Christine.

No! Then it would have been a Christine "solo" track. Her songs are so amazing with Lindsey's involvement. Christine is and has been the first to admit that.

BombaySapphire3 · #7 06-24-2017, 11:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLY

No! Then it would have been a Christine "solo" track. Her songs are so amazing with Lindsey's involvement. Christine is and has been the first to admit that.

she is a more accomplished pop songwriter than he.It sounds like she was unhappy with the result but went along with it. She was correct .It is does not work as a song and is the only one that I always skip on the album.

bombaysaffires · #8 06-24-2017, 12:11 PM

BLY · #10 06-24-2017, 09:32 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

she is a more accomplished pop songwriter than he.It sounds like she was unhappy with the result but went along with it. She was correct .It is does not work as a song and is the only one that I always skip on the album.

I agree she is a fantastic pop songwriter....but have you read or watched any of these interviews? She likes what Lindsey does with her songs.

BombaySapphire3 · #11 06-24-2017, 10:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BLY

I agree she is a fantastic pop songwriter....but have you read or watched any of these interviews? She likes what Lindsey does with her songs.

Yeah I did read Lindsey's quote regarding Feel About You. She seemed unsure about him dressing the song up to sound like modern pop much of which is tuneless with no discernible melody IMHO.

blinker12 · #12 06-25-2017, 06:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BombaySapphire3

I knew he had really tampered with this one ..He should have left it alone and let Christine be Christine.

LOL at the word "tamper" - that's perfect.

I appreciate Lindsey and love many of his songs on the album, but this interview reveals what can make him so obnoxious. He talks like he's God's gift to Mac's women songwriters who don't really know what they're doing (though Christine's a little better because she plays an instrument). On the contrary, I think he massively overproduced both "Feel About You" and "Game of Pretend" (those chorus backing vocals, shudder). They, and some of Stevie's songs on SYW, would've been better off without him.

AncientQueen · #13 06-25-2017, 07:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinker12

LOL at the word "tamper" - that's perfect.

I appreciate Lindsey and love many of his songs on the album, but this interview reveals what can make him so obnoxious. He talks like he's God's gift to Mac's women songwriters who don't really know what they're doing (though Christine's a little better because she plays an instrument). On the contrary, I think he massively overproduced both "Feel About You" and "Game of Pretend" (those chorus backing vocals, shudder). They, and some of Stevie's songs on SYW, would've been better off without him.

AMEN!
Interviews like this makes me more understanding for Stevies position towards going into the studio with FM.

Phil · #14 06-25-2017, 08:05 AM

The reality is that Stevie has been co-producing her solo work for quite some time, despite the horde of big-name producers credited over the years. I believe she has consistently sought guidance in order to realise her ambitions but as she has remarked many times, her original visions didn't always come to fruition. I think she's always had a keen idea of how she wanted her songs to sound but rarely had the focus or confidence to do it without assistance in the past.
Despite the Trouble In Shangri-La album having multiple producers listed, I think it was around that time she began to have a lot more control in terms of how the songs were shaped and overall quality control. It is quite apparent that the In Your Dreams and 24KG albums have her stamp all over them, albeit with Dave Stewart's obvious influence and assistance.
The point I'm making here is that Stevie no longer wants to be at the mercy of Lindsey as a producer. It is clear she harbours resentment towards him for all sorts of reasons but she simply didn't care for the way her songs turned out on the Say You Will album. Of course, not all the blame can be attributed to Lindsey - Stevie was absent for much of the recording and when she was present, she seems to have taken a passive stance (ie she did what she's always done and bitches after the fact). However, I think she's determined that this can not happen again so has chosen to refrain from any future involvement in Mac recordings. (Consider the Extended Play tentative involvement - which may have been an experiment on her part - that did not translate to anything of artistic merit or commercial success. The less than desirable results would have served to fortify her beliefs that Lindsey is not the producer for her these days.)
Stevie also must realise that Lindsey and Christine have a far more intuitive musical connection than she could ever achieve with either of them these days so it's perhaps in everyone's interests to remain apart, creatively speaking. This saddens me because I think they could still make one last great album together and I sense Stevie's absence throughout the LB/CM album, which essentially is a Mac album sans Stevie and a clear vision/focus (in my opinion, the album is both over and under produced, with lyrical and stylistic references to Stevie throughout).

GypsySorcerer · #15 06-25-2017, 09:33 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by blinker12

I appreciate Lindsey and love many of his songs on the album, but this interview reveals what can make him so obnoxious. He talks like he's God's gift to Mac's women songwriters who don't really know what they're doing (though Christine's a little better because she plays an instrument). On the contrary, I think he massively overproduced both "Feel About You" and "Game of Pretend" (those chorus backing vocals, shudder). They, and some of Stevie's songs on SYW, would've been better off without him.

I love Lindsey to death (and really enjoy the Buckingham/McVie album), but he is a pompous ass. And this interview was one of the worst. If I were Christine, I'd be chucking another glass of wine in his face.