Rare 1989 Atlantic Records interview

[Macfan4life]

I never heard this interview before. I love old interviews that I never heard before. This is from April 1989 just as Rooms on Fire was released. Not a whole lot of new stuff but we do get more detail on many things. She goes into more detail why she hired Rupert Hine. She interviewed other producers but picked him based on what he did with Doing The Best That I Can. That song clearly means so much to her that she picked a producer over it. She is still bitter about rehab and says she could have been yelling and screaming for Doing The Best That I can. She says it could have been so much angrier but decided to take it down a notch. It was not until Mick's book the following year was the first claim her rehab was "successful" and avoided all the drama. I always thought it was really something also calling the song Escape From Berlin. That tells the true story that was reported in 1986 that she ran and ditched rehab and turned her vengeance on everyone that forced her to go.
She also gets into a bit more detail about Long Way To Go. She never mentions Joe's name but she was so furious with him and she was crying on her way home. The phrase "Have fun tell the world" is pretty much a F*** YOU to Joe but she says she cant say those words.
She also talks about Kenny G. She was so captivated with Songbird while on the road with the Mac that she insisted he do her next record. She gave him complete control and told him insert your work wherever you want. No Fleetwood Mac talk but she does tell a bit more of the story and video of Rooms On Fire. She's pretty clear here and this was right before the lights were going to go out. Drugs always increase on the road and she was practically a zombie when I saw her in September 1989 which was about 6 months after this interview.
I am in the minority on this board but I always loved OSOTM. Half the songs are very good/excellent which is worth it IMHO. The other half is meh or ok but its leaps and bounds better than RAL.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z6KH...ndex=1&t=1211s

[cbBen]

I agree it's a big improvement over Rock A Little. But then I think Rock A Little sucks.

'Rooms On Fire" is a great song (first Stevie song I eveer heard; always loved it). "Whole Lotta Trouble" is strong too. But TBH the whole rationale for her solo career ("I write too many songs") was no longer operative after Wild Heart. You can't say you write so much you need a solo career to accomodate your output while at the same time asking people for songs.

I take Klonopin and some days have to take a lot of it. At a certain dosage it kills alertness and you can't do anything productive, and it takes a lot of caffeine to counterbalance its effects.

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by cbBen

I agree it's a big improvement over Rock A Little. But then I think Rock A Little sucks.

'Rooms On Fire" is a great song (first Stevie song I eveer heard; always loved it). "Whole Lotta Trouble" is strong too. But TBH the whole rationale for her solo career ("I write too many songs") was no longer operative after Wild Heart. You can't say you write so much you need a solo career to accomodate your output while at the same time asking people for songs.

I take Klonopin and some days have to take a lot of it. At a certain dosage it kills alertness to the point where you can't do anything productive, and it takes a lot of caffeine to counterbalance its effects.

Thank you, Macfan4life, for summarizing the interview. I just don’t have the interest to listen to her interviews, but I enjoy learning new to things about songs or albums, so your summation is helpful!

I agree that half of TOSOTM is great- fantastic, even; but the other half is bland or forgettable. That’s why I like RAL more- there are plenty of songs I skip on TOSOTM, but not on RAL, because even the weirder songs, like Sister Honey or the Nightmare, are listenable. Juliet and Whole Lotta Trouble not so much.

Rooms on Fire is a really good, strong song. I think it was underrated when it first came out. It’s a song that I think only Stevie could really do justice to. I’m stunned she said she liked what Rupert Hine did with Doing the Best I Can for two reasons; some of it is incredibly over the top, such as the piano right before the words “I was silent, I was locked away.” Second, if she liked the song so much, why didn’t she ever perform it live?” It amazes me that for her tour, she chose to perform Whole Lotta Trouble, Juliet, and Alice, but not Long Way to Go, Ooh My Love, or Doing the Best I Can. Even for her current tour, she should have chosen Doing the Best over I Sing For the Things. Maybe Doing the Best still hits to close to home for her, even now.

Cben, I wanted to add that while Stevie’s initial claim that she needed a solo career in order to release more material might have been more legit early on, remember that after Mirage, no one in FM was really clamoring for a reunion, so at that point, I could still understand her desire to continue her solo career.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by cbBen

I agree it's a big improvement over Rock A Little. But then I think Rock A Little sucks.

'Rooms On Fire" is a great song (first Stevie song I eveer heard; always loved it). "Whole Lotta Trouble" is strong too. But TBH the whole rationale for her solo career ("I write too many songs") was no longer operative after Wild Heart. You can't say you write so much you need a solo career to accomodate your output while at the same time asking people for songs.

I take Klonopin and some days have to take a lot of it. At a certain dosage it kills alertness to the point where you can't do anything productive, and it takes a lot of caffeine to counterbalance its effects.

Its funny because if you listen to this interview she says she could have given Rupert 200 songs. She gave him far less but from the supposed giant stash, he sorted it down to 27. From there he selected the ones for the album.
But here is the kicker. There are no old songs from Stevie except for Ooh My Love. They are fairly recently written or they are someone else's songs. This tells me she must of handled him some crappy demos.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by bwboy

Thank you, Macfan4life, for summarizing the interview. I just don’t have the interest to listen to her interviews, but I enjoy learning new to things about songs or albums, so your summation is helpful!

I agree that half of TOSOTM is great- fantastic, even; but the other half is bland or forgettable. That’s why I like RAL more- there are plenty of songs I skip on TOSOTM, but not on RAL, because even the weirder songs, like Sister Honey or the Nightmare, are listenable. Juliet and Whole Lotta Trouble not so much.

Rooms on Fire is a really good, strong song. I think it was underrated when it first came out. It’s a song that I think only Stevie could really do justice to. I’m stunned she said she liked what Rupert Hine did with Doing the Best I Can for two reasons; some of it is incredibly over the top, such as the piano right before the words “I was silent, I was locked away.” Second, if she liked the song so much, why didn’t she ever perform it live?” It amazes me that for her tour, she chose to perform Whole Lotta Trouble, Juliet, and Alice, but not Long Way to Go, Ooh My Love, or Doing the Best I Can. Even for her current tour, she should have chosen Doing the Best over I Sing For the Things. Maybe Doing the Best still hits to close to home for her, even now.

Cben, I wanted to add that while Stevie’s initial claim that she needed a solo career in order to release more material might have been more legit early on, remember that after Mirage, no one in FM was really clamoring for a reunion, so at that point, I could still understand her desire to continue her solo career.

I think Rupert did an excellent job on Doing The Best That I can. Its not really a pop song and is basically a poem about her dreaded escape from rehab. The song is almost hypnotic and entrancing. He hit the nail on the head with developing the proper mood of the song. I love that she performed it live once at a piano. I think she played it on the piano for Rupert when they first met. There is an audio of her and Sharon singing it and practicing it for the Street Angel tour. But just like Ooh My Love, she practiced it but never performed it.
My favorite songs from the album are:
Rooms on Fire
Long Way To Go - the way she weaves dumping a guy and being addicted to drugs together in this song is nothing short of fantastic. This is one of my all time favorites
Ghosts - autobiographical and haunting.
Ooh My Love - her band nailed this one. Could have been a single
Doing The Best That I can - brilliant

Fire Burning, Alice, and Juliet, Whole Lotta Trouble are meh

Ok here it goes ***bracing myself **** I like Two Kinds Of Love. Its Stevie's sexual song about lust. Very autobiographical staying up all night for days at parties. I suppose its about Joe too.

Cry Wolf and I still miss someone as covers was not needed. Was her catalog this weak that she needed to be brought songs to sing like RAL? I would have loved to have heard what Rupert could have done with Planets of the Universe.

I will say of all the Stevie demos I have heard, the demos from the OSOTM sessions are the worst ever. Songs like Dial The Number make you want to throw yourself out a window they are that bad. Considering what he had to work with, I think the album turned out fine. Its a very personal and open album. I think her tranquilized self let her reveal so much about herself in literal terms. OSOTM is better than Street Angel, or TISRL or anything else she released as solo album since. Another thing she said this interview that did not happen was adding a second guitar on her 1989 tour. She was already practicing with several musicians to go on the road.

[cbBen]

Originally Posted by bwboy

Cben, I wanted to add that while Stevie’s initial claim that she needed a solo career in order to release more material might have been more legit early on, remember that after Mirage, no one in FM was really clamoring for a reunion, so at that point, I could still understand her desire to continue her solo career.

Had Stevie after Wild Heart said "Okay I've got the solo thing out of my system. Let's all now prioritize and focus on Fleetwood Mac," the other four would have done exactly that, either immiediately or after Lindsey finished Go Insane.

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by cbBen

Had Stevie after Wild Heart said "Okay I've got the solo thing out of my system. Let's all now prioritize and focus on Fleetwood Mac," the other four would have done exactly that, either immiediately or after Lindsey finished Go Insane.

Possibly. I know Lindsey, Christine, Mick, and even John had side solo projects released after Mirage, and as I recall, the only reason Tango even came about was because Christine was working on a solo remake of Can’t Help Falling in Love for a soundtrack, and she asked Lindsey for some help, who later asked John and Mick to play on it, or something like that. It was only after that went well that they decided to record together again as FM, and supposedly Lindsey had to gut his own solo album he’d been working on to do so, which suggested that the decision to record Tango came about pretty suddenly and unexpectedly. Maybe someone else can weigh on this with more substantial info.

Also Cben, I meant to say thank you for sharing your thoughts/experience with Klonopin. In my field, it’s not all that unusual to see folks prescribed Klonopin, and like a lot of things, it can be very helpful to many folks, but also dangerous to other people. Having a good doctor is what makes the difference with psychotropic medication.

[cbBen]

Originally Posted by bwboy

Cben, I meant to say thank you for sharing your thoughts/experience with Klonopin. In my field, it’s not all that unusual to see folks prescribed Klonopin, and like a lot of things, it can be very helpful to many folks, but also dangerous to other people. Having a good doctor is what makes the difference with psychotropic medication.

I have an extremely non-addictive personality/disposition.

If I don't need it, I don't even think of touching it – somnetimes for days or even weeks on end. But for what I have, when I need it I really need it; and sometimes need a lot of it.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by bwboy

Possibly. I know Lindsey, Christine, Mick, and even John had side solo projects released after Mirage, and as I recall, the only reason Tango even came about was because Christine was working on a solo remake of Can’t Help Falling in Love for a soundtrack, and she asked Lindsey for some help, who later asked John and Mick to play on it, or something like that. It was only after that went well that they decided to record together again as FM, and supposedly Lindsey had to gut his own solo album he’d been working on to do so, which suggested that the decision to record Tango came about pretty suddenly and unexpectedly. Maybe someone else can weigh on this with more substantial info.
.

Yes, that's correct. According to Mick's book She called in Richard Dashut to produce, who in turn said that Lindsey was a real Elvis fan and might like to get involved. Then John Courage called me and John McVie, and in August 1985 four-fifths of Fleetwood Mac found themselves in the studio, cutting this record. This was fun, and the seed that eventually grew into Tango in the Night.

But I wouldn't say it was the only reason. According to Mick again, they wanted to help him because in june 1984 he had just been forced to file for bankruptcy (The newspapers were saying that I had lost eight million dollars and that much of it had gone up my nose).

I'm not sure if Mick hadn't been in trouble, Lindsey would have agreed to make the album. Probably the other three would have accepted, but not Lindsey. And Stevie, with drug problems or not, was focused on her solo career.

[cbBen]

Had grunge and its effects (among which were significant damage to Stevie and Lindsey's solo careers) come five years earlier, all the members of FM would have realized they needed each other and would have priotitized the band.

It took the commercial failures of Street Angel and Out Of The Cradle for Stevie and Lindsey to realize they needed FM, but in the second half of the eighties they didn't see what was coming and thought they could maintain viable solo careers without it.

[On Ice]

I caught the OSOtM show in August in Toronto and thought it was fabulous- she sounded clear and consistent, did I think about 5 songs from the album and she looked great. The album was in retrospect a glass half full and the initial momentum and especially success in the UK, came courteous of the outstanding single Rooms on Fire, which to this day, is in at least her top 5 solo songs. Side one gets off to a great start with a string of strong songs, still don't understand why Ooh My Love was not a follow up single, it would have done at least as well as Rooms on that kind of momentum. Except for Doing the Best I Can though, Side Two is mostly forgettable, where she brings in two horrible covers and drones through Alice and Juliet where Rupert seemingly forgot about his good production on side one. Planets and All the Beautiful Worlds may both have been a great fit for her "Magic" album. The aforementioned two strong tracks are the only two I pull out and listen to nowadays though.

[soul_drifter333]

I saw her in Atlanta in '89. It seems like I remember her wearing a cast on her leg so she didn't move around much. The only other thing I remember is she had the huge shoulder pads that were popular then. There was a radio concert from Texas on this tour that was really good.

I bought an album of this interview back in the day. It was a special promo released by Modern Records. The main thing I liked about it was the cover.

https://www.discogs.com/release/6395...U6MTYwMzE0MjE=

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InEbE3HVGeY

Originally Posted by On Ice

I caught the OSOtM show in August in Toronto and thought it was fabulous- she sounded clear and consistent, did I think about 5 songs from the album and she looked great. The album was in retrospect a glass half full and the initial momentum and especially success in the UK, came courteous of the outstanding single Rooms on Fire, which to this day, is in at least her top 5 solo songs. Side one gets off to a great start with a string of strong songs, still don't understand why Ooh My Love was not a follow up single, it would have done at least as well as Rooms on that kind of momentum. Except for Doing the Best I Can though, Side Two is mostly forgettable, where she brings in two horrible covers and drones through Alice and Juliet where Rupert seemingly forgot about his good production on side one. Planets and All the Beautiful Worlds may both have been a great fit for her "Magic" album. The aforementioned two strong tracks are the only two I pull out and listen to nowadays though.