1973 Interview with Mick

[michelej1]

Fleetwood Mac: The Fleetwood Mac of Today

Barbara Charone
NME June 16, 1973

FLEETWOOD MAC have been through a lot of changes since the club days. What began as a straight blues band has progressed into new musical areas; a lot of metamorphoses have gone down and Mick Fleetwood has seen them all. You see a lot in seven years.

It's not that Fleetwood Mac don't like Britain – they just seem to spend more time playing in America where the records sell more and where the band is better appreciated. Yet the new album and British tour might once again make Fleetwood a household word over here.

"We're not a huge band in the States," says Mick Fleetwood, "but we're well known, respected. America was where we started working a lot, it's a place that has always meant growth for the band, and it's rewarding knowing that your albums are being heard and selling. People in the States are into our past albums as well. We have such a weird cacophony of old albums yet it's a nice flow.

"In England though, our albums stopped selling for a variety of reasons – one of which was countless personnel changes. We got so big in England that we literally couldn't get any bigger.

"It might appear like we've ignored Britain but the main thing is just that the albums don't sell here. We'll definitely work more in England, I'd love to. It's just a question of demand. Though I'm always a little bit paranoid about playing in England, because you know it's England. There's always that fear that the people might not like the music."

If you think Fleetwood Mac have had more personnel changes than albums released, you're probably right. Yet the new album, Penguin, featuring the new line-up, should set things straight. The record is a slight departure from past efforts, for Fleetwood now feature a lead singer, ex-Savoy Brown Dave Walker. American Bob Welch is on guitar, Christine McVie on keyboards. Bob Weston on guitar and John McVie on bass, with Mick Fleetwood bringing up the rear on drums, completes yet another edition of the Fleetwoods.

"This is the first album with the new line-up. Like our past albums lots of different things are on it. The record features a good deal of variety. It's not just an acoustic, heavy, or blues album, it's a collection of different styles, so no one track is typical.

"It was a new experience for the band to have a lead singer. In all the years we've been together, we've never had one. The band always had a vocalist who played an instrument as well. It's something we'll have to get accustomed to."

One thing Mick would like to improve is the band's vocals. They have three people who can sing and he'd like to make better use of their ranges. "On future albums we're going to try and come off more as a band rather than three separate entities vocally. Instead of Dave singing a song alone – and then Christine – we'd like to feature them together."

Yet it's taken the band time to adjust to having a lead singer. "Dave is a vocalist, he can't stand around all night doing nothing so we've got to use him. To a certain extent, though, we've found that a little bit difficult. We haven't quite furthered ourselves as much as we'd like to. In that way the material on the album is not as well integrated as we'd like."

Seven years playing takes a bit of the flash and glamour away from it all and puts the emphasis back into the music. Musical and personnel changes have been a positive force in Fleetwood Mac. "Variety is healthy," says Mick. "Lots of bands become known for one thing in a very short time and make money from it. Yet they often later regret it when they want to change the music and have no audience.

Typical for Fleetwood, the new album features a variety of musical idioms. The days of being known for the-blues-and-only-the-blues are over. There's even a few tracks with a steel band. This freedom to change, the opportunity for variety is something the band thrive on.

"The only time we've been known for one thing and one thing only was when we first started, seven years ago, as a blues band. About a year after reworking old blues tunes and writing new lyrics for them, people in the band began writing themselves. Eventually the writers got away from straight blues influences. From then on the band has always been able to do what they want.

"It's hard for a band like Led Zeppelin to change. Without a doubt they are known as the super-heavy band. Jimmy Page loves acoustic guitar but the fans are always waiting for 'Whole Lotta Love'. If they'd never been known for any particular thing, then the audience would accept anything, whatever the mood. We never want to be known as 'this' or 'that' particular thing."

"When Jeremy left and Pete played the American tour with us, it did us a lot of good. Pete didn't want to play any set numbers so we'd just jam. Pete would force us into whatever style he wanted to play and it jolted us out of our music. A whole set of jamming is quite difficult; with an audience there you've got to be entertaining and not simply self-indulgent.

"We've always been able to do what we want. We've been fortunate that the band has always had more than one songwriter. If a band has only one the writer tends to reflect just himself. With more than one writer, there's automatic variety. We're lucky.

"The last two personnel changes have been the most noticeable as far as writing material. We're more of a band now – which pleases me. Danny Kirwan was a very strict writer. As his songs were so set, there was only one way to play them, which isn't as rewarding for the other members in the band. Now it's more rewarding for those that don't write because there's room to do things with arrangements.

"Sometimes all the changes get a bit much. You reach a saturation point where you just want to say, please, no more changes. But the band is happy now. It we can just project ourselves as a unit it will help the band more."

Seven years is a long time. What with personnel changes it seems easy to simply want to give up. Yet there's always been a Fleetwood Mac and Mick reckons there will be one for a long time to come.

While the band enjoy a new-found stability, there have been times of despair. There was Peter Green's much felt departure and the strange disappearance of Jeremy Spencer on an American tour.

Enough to make a band pack it all in?

"I've never thought of giving up but there have been a few times when we've been floundering. When Peter first left the band, Jeremy had to front on stage and it was a shaky period. All these changes have always been felt more in England where everyone knew the people – and knew who had left."

[MacShadowsBall]

Originally Posted by michelej1

One thing Mick would like to improve is the band's vocals. They have three people who can sing and he'd like to make better use of their ranges. "On future albums we're going to try and come off more as a band rather than three separate entities vocally. Instead of Dave singing a song alone – and then Christine – we'd like to feature them together."

Yet it's taken the band time to adjust to having a lead singer. "Dave is a vocalist, he can't stand around all night doing nothing so we've got to use him. To a certain extent, though, we've found that a little bit difficult. We haven't quite furthered ourselves as much as we'd like to. In that way the material on the album is not as well integrated as we'd like."

"The only time we've been known for one thing and one thing only was when we first started, seven years ago, as a blues band. About a year after reworking old blues tunes and writing new lyrics for them, people in the band began writing themselves. Eventually the writers got away from straight blues influences. From then on the band has always been able to do what they want.

"We never want to be known as 'this' or 'that' particular thing."

"We've always been able to do what we want. We've been fortunate that the band has always had more than one songwriter. If a band has only one the writer tends to reflect just himself.With more than one writer, there's automatic variety. We're lucky.

These are the reasons why I just love Fleetwood Mac!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by MacShadowsBall

These are the reasons why I just love Fleetwood Mac!

Isn't it foreshadowing? He wanted them to sing together and the Rumours line up became known for its harmonies. He wanted to always have multiple songwriters and, of course . . .

Michele

[aleuzzi]

This is an interesting article, one I'd never read before. It's rare to find any member of the band speaking on its behalf during the Penguin era. I would have liked him to speak more directly to the actual material on the record, particular songs that were exciting to play because they called for more participation from those who didn't write them. But over all, interesting.

[MacShadowsBall]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Isn't it foreshadowing? He wanted them to sing together and the Rumours line up became known for its harmonies. He wanted to always have multiple songwriters and, of course . . .

Michele

Yeah it really is. I wish that Danny had stayed longer as I feel, vocally/harmony wise, that Danny, Welch, and Christine could have been as good as Stevie/Lindsey/Christine - if not better!

~ One of the reasons why I love "Station Man" and "Sentimental Lady"

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by MacShadowsBall

Yeah it really is. I wish that Danny had stayed longer as I feel, vocally/harmony wise, that Danny, Welch, and Christine could have been as good as Stevie/Lindsey/Christine ...

They had a lot of opportunities that they passed up. Future Games is filled with songs where more vocal interplay and participation would have been welcome. Imagine the potential for harmonies on "Woman of a Thousand Years." Danny duets himself there, but Christine and Bob appear to be absent--or at best mixed down. Same goes for "Sands of Time" and "Sometimes." All of these songs would have sparkled even more than they already do if there were prominent harmonies on them. And the recent clip of FM performing "Lay it All Down" live on British television shows that there were opportunities for vocal interplay that didn't get noticed on the record.

On Bare Trees, there are, again, many songs that would have benefitted from harmonies. The title track, "Child of Mine," "The Ghost," "Dust"... It's not often mentioned but the brief tenure of Dave Walker DID bring vocal harmonies to the forefront in ways that were not evident before. Consider the three-part harmony on the chorus in "Remember Me," or Walker's falsetto on "Bright Fire." The block harmonies on "Night Watch" are remarkable. Walker is very present on these songs.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Isn't it foreshadowing? He wanted them to sing together and the Rumours line up became known for its harmonies. He wanted to always have multiple songwriters and, of course . . .

Michele

I remember Mick saying once that Christine brought harmony to FM.

[slipkid]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

On Bare Trees, there are, again, many songs that would have benefitted from harmonies. The title track, "Child of Mine," "The Ghost," "Dust".

Yet Bob Welch took "Sentimental Lady" from "Bare Trees", and double tracked his voice a few years later for "French Kiss" in 1977. Yet the "Bare Trees" version has a great subdued Christine McVie vocal in the background for the chorus, and it's still my favorite version.

When Fleetwood Mac played live or @the BBC while Peter Green, and Jeremy Spencer were in the band with Danny Kirwan; Green and Kirwan sang two-part harmonies for Spencer's "50's rock and roll songs", and they did it very well. Just listen to Spencer's version of Conway Twitty's "Heavenly" from the BBC sessions.

The best vocal example of FM with PG, DK, and JS, is Jeremy Spencer's "Teenage Darling" from Boston 2/70. Jeremy Spencer wrote this song as an "ode" to doo-wop, and yet be original at the same time with a nimble guitarist. It's absolutely brilliant!!!


The fact that Led Zeppelin, The Who, and Deep Purple, used "staples" from the 1950's to end their concerts in the early 70's goes back to Fleetwood Mac (with Peter Green).

[aleuzzi]

I prefer the Bare Trees version of Sentimental Lady. But the lyric counterpoint there is the exception rather than the rule. Yeah, Spencer and Kirwan did a lot of two-part harmonies on Kiln House and BBC sessions. But not until 1975 onward did FM become known as a band with prominent vocal harmonies.

[MacShadowsBall]

Originally Posted by slipkid

Yet Bob Welch took "Sentimental Lady" from "Bare Trees", and double tracked his voice a few years later for "French Kiss" in 1977. Yet the "Bare Trees" version has a great subdued Christine McVie vocal in the background for the chorus, and it's still my favorite version.

When Fleetwood Mac played live or @the BBC while Peter Green, and Jeremy Spencer were in the band with Danny Kirwan; Green and Kirwan sang two-part harmonies for Spencer's "50's rock and roll songs", and they did it very well. Just listen to Spencer's version of Conway Twitty's "Heavenly" from the BBC sessions.

The best vocal example of FM with PG, DK, and JS, is Jeremy Spencer's "Teenage Darling" from Boston 2/70. Jeremy Spencer wrote this song as an "ode" to doo-wop, and yet be original at the same time with a nimble guitarist. It's absolutely brilliant!!!

So did the use of harmony disappear when Welch and Christine came members?

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by MacShadowsBall

So did the use of harmony disappear when Welch and Christine came members?

Christine has said she had trouble harmonizing and that singing with the other person threw her off prior to the Rumours era. So, maybe that's why the harmonizing diminished.

Michele

[MacShadowsBall]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Christine has said she had trouble harmonizing and that singing with the other person threw her off prior to the Rumours era.

Michele

So it was perhaps easier for Christine to harmonize with another girl and guy instead of two guys?

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by MacShadowsBall

So it was perhaps easier for Christine to harmonize with another girl and guy instead of two guys?

She has said Lindsey helped her out a lot. And gave her tips on how to stay on key for live shows.

But there were also a lot of vocal harmonies on Mystery to Me, especially on Emerald Eyes, Believe Me, Hypnotized, Just Crazy Love, Forever, Miles Away, Somebody, and Why. Heroes shows some subtle harmonizing on "Angel" and "Bermuda Triangle" more prominent harmonies on "She's Changing Me," and all of Christine's songs--especially where she duets herself.

Still, I imagine it was a lot easier to sing with Lindsey than Bob because Christine and Lindsey have very similar vocal timbre. When they exchange verses on songs like Don't Stop, World Turning or Think About Me it's hard to tell which one is singing sometimes.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by MacShadowsBall

So it was perhaps easier for Christine to harmonize with another girl and guy instead of two guys?

That's a good question. I'm not sure if gender helped, if it aided in defining three very distinct tones or not, so that it was easier to know part to sing. I'm inclined to think it probably had more to do with personality and instinct. As she talked about them just automatically chiming in the first time they heard SYLM, I think it was just kind of , well excuse me for using a cliche, the "chemisty" of that trio, male or female.

Michele

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Christine has said she had trouble harmonizing and that singing with the other person threw her off prior to the Rumours era. So, maybe that's why the harmonizing diminished.

Michele

When did she say this? This is something I don't remember reading.