Keith Olsen passed away

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Maybe Mick is mad at Keith for introducing him to Lindsey. The audacity of playing Frozen Love like that and, effectively, ruining Mick’s life.

It destroyed both parties. Because Buckingham/Nicks was going somewhere!!! That first album lit the world up!! They didn't need John, Christine or Mick!!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

It destroyed both parties. Because Buckingham/Nicks was going somewhere!!! That first album lit the world up!! They didn't need John, Christine or Mick!!

But Lindsey really does feel that way. No joke.

His concert will probably be postponed due to the current state of events. However, whenever he does return to the stage I hope he mentions Keith.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by michelej1

But Lindsey really does feel that way. No joke.

His concert will probably be postponed due to the current state of events. However, whenever he does return to the stage I hope he mentions Keith.

you took the words right out of my fingers.

The reality is, Lindsey (and Stevie) would have done better without Mick than vice versa. He should posthumously be kissing Keith's ass.

[mitzo]

FM has not commented on Keith's passing. Lindsey has not either.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by mitzo

FM has not commented on Keith's passing. Lindsey has not either.

shame on all.

[elle]

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/12/a...login-facebook

Keith Olsen, Rock Hitmaker With a Broad Résumé, Dies at 74

He worked on albums by the Grateful Dead, Santana, Pat Benatar and Whitesnake. He also brought Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham to Fleetwood Mac.


The record producer Keith Olsen in 1990. He worked with a roster of successful artists that ran rock’s gamut.
Credit...Niels van Iperen/Getty Images
Daniel E. Slotnik
By Daniel E. Slotnik
March 12, 2020

Keith Olsen, a record producer whose slew of hits included the first Fleetwood Mac album with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham, whom he helped bring into the band, died on Monday at his home in Genoa, Nev. He was 74.

His daughter Kelly Castady said the cause was cardiac arrest.

Mr. Olsen worked with a roster of successful artists that ran rock’s gamut, including the Grateful Dead, Santana, Pat Benatar, Whitesnake and Scorpions.

Early in his career he produced “Buckingham Nicks” (1973), a folk-rock album by the then little-known Ms. Nicks and Mr. Buckingham. The album, on which Ms. Nicks sang and Mr. Buckingham sang and played guitar, flopped, but, as many accounts have it, Mr. Olsen played one of the songs for Mick Fleetwood, Fleetwood Mac’s drummer.

Fleetwood Mac, which began in the late 1960s in England as a psychedelic blues-rock combo, had undergone many lineup changes in the years since their guitarist and frontman Peter Green left in 1970. After Bob Welch left the band in 1974, Mr. Fleetwood was looking for a new guitarist, and thought he might have found him after hearing “Buckingham Nicks.”

Soon after, Ms. Nicks told The Observer of London in 2011, “Mick Fleetwood had asked us to join Fleetwood Mac, sight unseen. Keith Olsen had played him ‘Buckingham Nicks,’ and told him Lindsey and I came as a pair.”

Mr. Olsen produced the first album with the new lineup (although the cover pictured only Mr. Fleetwood and John McVie, the group’s bassist). Called simply “Fleetwood Mac” (1975), it had a soft-rock sound that marked a departure from the group’s harder-edged blues roots.

ImageThe 1975 album “Fleetwood Mac,” which Mr. Olsen produced, reached No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and went platinum many times over.
The 1975 album “Fleetwood Mac,” which Mr. Olsen produced, reached No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and went platinum many times over.
In Dave Grohl’s documentary “Sound City” (2013), about the Los Angeles recording studio where that and many other seminal rock albums were recorded, Mr. Olsen said that Mr. McVie had been a bit reluctant to embrace their new sound.

“John McVie said to me, ‘You know we’re a blues band, this is really far away from the blues,’” Mr. Olsen recalled. “And I said, ‘I know, but it’s a lot closer to the bank.’”

“Fleetwood Mac,” which included the hits “Rhiannon,” “Say You Love Me” and “Landslide,” reached No. 1 on the Billboard album chart and went platinum many times over. The follow-up, “Rumours” (1977), was even more successful — it became one of the best-selling albums of all time — but the group and Mr. Olsen parted ways after “Fleetwood Mac.”

Mr. Olsen went on to produce or co-produce “Terrapin Station” (1977) for the Grateful Dead, “Marathon” (1979) for Santana, “Crimes of Passion” (1980) and “Precious Time” (1981) for Ms. Benatar, “Slide It In” (1984) and “Whitesnake” (1987) for Whitesnake, “Crazy World” (1990) for Scorpions and “No Rest for the Wicked” (1988) for Ozzy Osbourne, among many other albums.

He also produced singles that stood out, like Rick Springfield’s 1981 No. 1 hit “Jessie’s Girl.” Mr. Springfield wrote on Twitter that Mr. Olsen, who produced “Working Class Dog” (1981), the album on which “Jessie’s Girl” appeared, immediately picked it as a hit out of 15 of Mr. Springfield’s songs.

“He could be a bit of a pistol in the studio but that was part of his talent,” Mr. Springfield wrote. “Sticking to his guns when some whiny artist (me) would say, ‘I don’t think that works.’ He didn’t produce all those hits for all those musicians for no reason."

Keith Alan Olsen was born on May 12, 1945, in Sioux Falls, S.D., to Kenneth and Lillian (Aune) Olsen. His father worked for Firestone Tire and Rubber, and his mother was a homemaker. He grew up in a suburb of Minneapolis and was fascinated with music of all kinds from a young age.

He studied music at the University of Minnesota but left to play bass in different bands and toured with the singer Gale Garnett before joining the Music Machine, a garage-rock group that had a Top 20 hit with “Talk Talk” in 1966.

Around the same time he started working with Curt Boettcher, best known for producing the Association’s No. 1 hit “Cherish.” In the late 1960s he moved to Los Angeles, where he learned more about record production from the Beach Boys’ Brian Wilson among others. In the early 1970s founded the production company Pogologo, named after his husky.

Mr. Olsen’s marriage to Wendy Bergdoll ended in divorce.

In addition to his daughter Kelly, he is survived by another daughter, Kristen Olsen; his partner, Janice Godshalk; a son, Nick Hormel; a sister, Carolyn Hoffman; and two grandchildren.

In 1997 Mr. Olsen told the magazine Studio Sound that even as production technology advanced, he stuck to one core principle: “Remember the source — where the music comes from.”

“All the gear in the world,” he continued, “cannot make a bad guitar player play great.”

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

The reality is, Lindsey (and Stevie) would have done better without Mick than vice versa.

Sure.

Fleetwood Mac had already sold 1.5-2 million albums and had just had a Top 40 album with HAHTF by Dec. 31, 1974. There’s a reason they weren’t dropped. There’s a reason they got a $250,000 advance (equivalent to $1.2 million today) to make the 1975 album. There’s a reason Bob Welch was offered a deal with Capitol Records with Paris before Fleetwood Mac were megastars. Fleetwood Mac never got dropped, Paris didn’t get dropped. Buckingham Nicks got dropped after one album. Fleetwood Mac without Buckingham Nicks was still viable. The opposite cannot be said. Stevie got that equation, Lindsey spent much of his initial time in the band railing against it.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Sure.

Fleetwood Mac had already sold 1.5-2 million albums and had just had a Top 40 album with HAHTF by Dec. 31, 1974. There’s a reason they weren’t dropped. There’s a reason they got a $250,000 advance (equivalent to $1.2 million today) to make the 1975 album. There’s a reason Bob Welch was offered a deal with Capitol Records with Paris before Fleetwood Mac were megastars. Fleetwood Mac never got dropped, Paris didn’t get dropped. Buckingham Nicks got dropped after one album. Fleetwood Mac without Buckingham Nicks was still viable. The opposite cannot be said. Stevie got that equation, Lindsey spent much of his initial time in the band railing against it.

I agree 100%. Stevie always has acknowledged that they most likely wouldn't have made it without Fleetwood Mac. It was very symbiotic. Shippers have the hardest time with that.

[lovethemac1]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

I agree 100%. Stevie always has acknowledged that they most likely wouldn't have made it without Fleetwood Mac. It was very symbiotic. Shippers have the hardest time with that.

You are good, I love this!!!!

[michelej1]

There’s no shame in being a shipper. I have been one and I am proud of it and don’t think my beliefs were invalid at the time. But love changes. Now I am standing here, roadside, with nothing to hold and a great deal of venom.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Sure.

Fleetwood Mac had already sold 1.5-2 million albums and had just had a Top 40 album with HAHTF by Dec. 31, 1974. There’s a reason they weren’t dropped. There’s a reason they got a $250,000 advance (equivalent to $1.2 million today) to make the 1975 album. There’s a reason Bob Welch was offered a deal with Capitol Records with Paris before Fleetwood Mac were megastars. Fleetwood Mac never got dropped, Paris didn’t get dropped. Buckingham Nicks got dropped after one album. Fleetwood Mac without Buckingham Nicks was still viable. The opposite cannot be said. Stevie got that equation, Lindsey spent much of his initial time in the band railing against it.

And Bob had just left.

They weren't ever going to get above their typical sales of 100k or so albums without someone to replace him. Would they even have sustained those numbers otherwise? Doubtful.

Apples to oranges where each was at in their respective careers. Fleetwood Mac had the history of huge fame from the Peter Green days to fall back on. There was a built in fan base from the better part of the previous decade. And multiple albums and hit singles. But most of those were in the rear-view mirror.

BuckNicks was new. They had ONE album to their credit at that point. However, they were slowly building a groundswell, and they had a collection of songs with great potential (that went on to push the FM white album). So in that respect Lindsey is right in his thought that the potential for those BN songs was high. Would they have fulfilled that potential? Given that those songs in the versions we all know and love were produced by Keith Olsen, who was already working with them, again the likelihood of fulfilling that potential seems high. Stevie and Lindsey were the charismatic front people that they became for FM. I love Chris, but she was never going to be the charismatic front person a band needs (nor did she want to be).

So sure, FM at that moment in time had a back catalogue and a dedicated fan base, but on their own as the 3 they weren't going to get any bigger unless/until they found new players. BN as a self-contained unit was on the precipice of breaking through.

Saying BN propelled FM to success they wouldn't otherwise have had makes someone a "shipper" is pretty laughable. Especially for those of us who get ripped by actual shippers. One can find Stevie's behavior lately reprehensible, and still see the value she and Lindsey brought to the mix.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

And Bob had just left.

And Christine was still there. You know, the person with most of the bands hits...

They weren't ever going to get above their typical sales of 100k or so albums without someone to replace him. Would they even have sustained those numbers otherwise? Doubtful

Apples to oranges where each was at in their respective careers. Fleetwood Mac had the history of huge fame from the Peter Green days to fall back on. There was a built in fan base from the better part of the previous decade. And multiple albums and hit singles. But most of those were in the rear-view mirror.

BuckNicks was new. They had ONE album to their credit at that point. However, they were slowly building a groundswell, and they had a collection of songs with great potential (that went on to push the FM white album). So in that respect Lindsey is right in his thought that the potential for those BN songs was high. Would they have fulfilled that potential? Given that those songs in the versions we all know and love were produced by Keith Olsen, who was already working with them, again the likelihood of fulfilling that potential seems high. Stevie and Lindsey were the charismatic front people that they became for FM. I love Chris, but she was never going to be the charismatic front person a band needs (nor did she want to be).

So sure, FM at that moment in time had a back catalogue and a dedicated fan base, but on their own as the 3 they weren't going to get any bigger unless/until they found new players. BN as a self-contained unit was on the precipice of breaking through.

Saying BN propelled FM to success they wouldn't otherwise have had makes someone a "shipper" is pretty laughable. Especially for those of us who get ripped by actual shippers. One can find Stevie's behavior lately reprehensible, and still see the value she and Lindsey brought to the mix.

I’m not a shipper. The only “ship” I care about is the Fleetwood-McVie-Perfect/McVie groove that’s been the defining part of the Fleetwood Mac sound since “Mr. Wonderful.” Those three together have something unique.

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers didn’t get dropped after their first album, the one they made prior to Clapton.

Chicken Shack didn’t get dropped.

Christine Perfect didn’t get dropped.

Fleetwood Mac didn’t get dropped.

Paris didn’t get dropped.

Buckingham Nicks got dropped. There was no demand for them outside of a few towns in the Deep South. They didn’t have a label that liked them, believed in them, or was willing to stand by them. Certainly not a label that was willing to advance them $250k.

I half suspect Keith Olsen specifically played a couple of Buckingham Nicks songs to Mick because he knew enough about Fleetwood Mac’s history to see a potential opportunity to recoup some money off the freeloaders (Stevie and Lindsey). Making great music is all well and good, but it doesn’t pay the bills unless someone buys it. Keith could have just as easily recommended Waddy, who may have been a more appropriate replacement for Bob Welch (weird looking, wears glasses, plays a Les Paul).

You imply that the band wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without Peter, Bob, or Stevie and Lindsey. I don’t disagree about Peter, but where were Bob or Buckingham Nicks before Fleetwood Mac? Christine had ten of the band’s eighteen Top-40 hit singles and Fleetwood Mac always had Top-40 albums when Mick was managing the band, including “Rumours.” At some point, aren’t they also responsible for the band’s success?

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Chicken Shack didn’t get dropped.

Christine Perfect didn’t get dropped.

Fleetwood Mac didn’t get dropped.

Paris didn’t get dropped.

Buckingham Nicks got dropped.

And who's to say if B/N didn't sign on that FM wouldn't have found another amazing singer or duo? Entirely speculative.

And... In my opinion it was completely symbiotic for both parties.
And let's not forget 2 of the singles on the white album were Christine's compositions.

Point is Keith knew what he had with the chocolate in the peanut butter and he hit a home run with it.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

And Christine was still there. You know, the person with most of the bands hits...


I’m not a shipper. The only “ship” I care about is the Fleetwood-McVie-Perfect/McVie groove that’s been the defining part of the Fleetwood Mac sound since “Mr. Wonderful.” Those three together have something unique.

John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers didn’t get dropped after their first album, the one they made prior to Clapton.

Chicken Shack didn’t get dropped.

Christine Perfect didn’t get dropped.

Fleetwood Mac didn’t get dropped.

Paris didn’t get dropped.

Buckingham Nicks got dropped. There was no demand for them outside of a few towns in the Deep South. They didn’t have a label that liked them, believed in them, or was willing to stand by them. Certainly not a label that was willing to advance them $250k.

I half suspect Keith Olsen specifically played a couple of Buckingham Nicks songs to Mick because he knew enough about Fleetwood Mac’s history to see a potential opportunity to recoup some money off the freeloaders (Stevie and Lindsey). Making great music is all well and good, but it doesn’t pay the bills unless someone buys it. Keith could have just as easily recommended Waddy, who may have been a more appropriate replacement for Bob Welch (weird looking, wears glasses, plays a Les Paul).

You imply that the band wouldn’t have gotten anywhere without Peter, Bob, or Stevie and Lindsey. I don’t disagree about Peter, but where were Bob or Buckingham Nicks before Fleetwood Mac? Christine had ten of the band’s eighteen Top-40 hit singles and Fleetwood Mac always had Top-40 albums when Mick was managing the band, including “Rumours.” At some point, aren’t they also responsible for the band’s success?

First off the shipper comment was not about or towards you it was in response to someone else who commented after you.

If you didn't cherry pick my comments you'd see that I acknowledged Chris.

However, those 18 top 40 hits of hers that you mention-- tell me, were those before or after they hooked up with BN-- those magical 3-part harmonies and LB and his production?? (Indeed Chris said on Johnny Walker right before returning that when she heard the material L&S had she thought 'right, I need to up my game here' with regards to her songwriting).

I agree that she was the only one of the Mick/Chris/John trio to have had individual success. She writes and sings, so that makes sense. What would Mick or John be doing without a singer songwriter? Maybe they'd have ended up doing session work if they hadn't found new frontpeople. Thing is, while Chris is fabulous, she is not really a "front person" -- by her own words. Nor does she want to be one -- by her own words. So again, having Chris is great, but it wouldn't have gotten them the crowds and recognition having a more charismatic person up front would have (Bob, Peter, etc). With BN they got TWO.

You seem to want to argue that the Brits in the band without adding anyone new could have gone on to be as big as they were minus BN. Preposterous. With someone new upfront other than BN, possibly. But it wouldn't clearly have ended up with the same batch of songs that they still all cash in on to this day. (Rumours reissue volume 12, anyone?) There is (was ) a unique chemistry to the mix of those 5 that I personally doubt they would ever have had with anyone else.

As for Keith, no one doubts he knew the mix of the two BN/FM had the potential to make it big. That's his stock in trade. I don't see how that negates anything. If neither side had anything to bring to the equation why would he have bothered to bring them together? After all he's the guy who saw Fritz and said the band wasn't that special but those two kids out front, now they had something and he'd be interested in them. And again, Rhiannon, Landslide, I'm So Afraid along with half of Stevie's eventual solo material were already written when they were working on BN2. Waddy is a great player, he might even be technically more sophisticated than LB, but would he have been a great front person? Would he have the charisma to pull FM out of its cult status, getting them to sell more than the same 100k albums? I'd vote no.

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

The reality is, Lindsey (and Stevie) would have done better without Mick than vice versa. He should posthumously be kissing Keith's ass.

Richard Dashut: "I had moved out to a one-bedroom apartment near Fairfax. After Buckingham Nicks bombed, Stevie and Lindsey ran out of money, so they moved in with me. Back went the four-track, the cables, the stoned musicians sprawled on the floor, and we worked on demos for the next Buckingham Nicks album 'So Afraid,' 'Monday Morning,' and 'Rhiannon.'" They were lean, lean times for our lads. While Lindsey and Richard worked on the group's demos, Stevie worked, cleaning houses and waitressing at Bob's Big Boy to keep food on the table. "I was cleaning the house of our producer, Keith Olsen, for fifty dollars a week,"she remembers. "I used to come home with my big Hoover vacuum cleaner, my Ajax, my toilet brush, my cleaning shoes on.

Were Chris, Mick, John and Bob in a similar situation after the Heroes album?

Ok, all artits have ups and downs. Tina Turner used to clean houses after she left Ike, or so I read. Yes, Stevie and Lindsey could have been huge stars in their next album, but that's just a possibility. I wouldn't affirm it as a reality.