'In the Meantime' Philly Inquirer Review

[dougl]

Record reviews

Pop

Christine McVie
In the Meantime
(Adventure Records/Koch **1/2)

As author of a handful of massive singles ("Don't Stop," "Everywhere") and a catalyst for the mellow Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie gets the music industry lifetime pass. She can count on finding an eager label anytime she has new music, no matter how ordinary and cloying it is.

McVie comes close to abusing that privilege with the tiresome In the Meantime. She's an exceedingly competent writer, a master of ambling beats and lullaby guitar strumming who lets wince-inducing expressions of devotion ruin otherwise sturdy frameworks. The first five songs are about love: Four find her deep in thrall and one, the faux-funk "Bad Journey," describes in painful, unimaginative detail a botched tour down the tunnel of love. A few cuts return McVie to the mystery that once made her solo efforts so unusual, but most are perfunctory love narratives delivered in prim packages. Her stabs at earthiness - see the blue moans of "Anything Is Possible" - are especially overwrought.

The sparkling moments here ("Calumny," "Friend") make it clear that McVie's trembling voice and confessional style work best as a spice, not a main course. She was vital to the Fleetwood Mac dynamic, a grounding presence whose songs thrived because of their earnestness, and the contrast they offered to the ethereal billows of Stevie Nicks and the snakebite venom of Lindsey Buckingham.

- Tom Moon

Sounds like Tom has been regurgitating the old archives. Check out this blurb from the All Music Guide regarding Christine's last solo outing in 1984:

The record simply suffers from a rather predictable fate -- it's a little too sweet and laid-back to be consumed in one sitting, and its best songs would have sounded even better if they were balanced by Lindsey Buckingham's insular, paranoid pop genius and Stevie Nicks' hippie-folk mysticism.

Wha-la--another review in the can...

[blinker12]

Yikes, another lackluster review. And this one was syndicated; it's appearing in a number of newspapers around the country.

[CFR]

Opinions are like.....blah blah blah.

If I had written the review for that paper it would have been a completely different scenerio.

You know, Christine wasn't out to make some masterpiece, I'm sure. She just wanted to make an album of some nice songs. Anybody who likes Fleetwood Mac or Stevie or Christine should not be shyed away by reviews like his.

Here's my review in a nutshell, if my copy of "In the Meantime" was vinyl it would have to be replaced already.
That's how much I like it. :blob1:

[tommer]

putting sympathy aside, i agree with this review 90%.

[jbrownsjr]

I read some horrible reviews of Say You Will (some were nasty) and never took it personally. Same goes here.

:sorry: but I know what I like and I like what I know......

[marc402]

i'm wondering if
a. this reviewer and i listened to the same album
b. if he was under gunpoint to write a bad review of a lovely album
or
c. he has the intelect of a 3 year old (no sorry that is way to insulting for any 3 year old out there :p )

[macfan 57]

I saw this review in the Philadelphia Inquirer about a week ago. I try not to take these sorts of reviews too seriously, although it's not always easy. By the way, the Inquirer's review of SYW last year wasn't much better. I don't know if it was this same reviewer or not but whoever it was complained that SYW was way, way too long. And, they gave Eric Clapton's latest blues album this year only 2 stars out of 4, which is ridiculous.

[jwd]

Oh man, I wish these guys would stop raining on our parade! And I really don't give a "****" what they think! :) In The Meantime is music to my ears and I'm not going to stop playing it because someone else doesn't like it. ABSURD. I don't think these people have EVER been too fond of Fleetwood Mac or its' members solo efforts. If I recall correctly, initial reviews of Rumours were not too kind either. :rolleyes: :wavey:

[blinker12]

A few cuts return McVie to the mystery that once made her solo efforts so unusual...

Did anyone else find this odd? For one thing, Christine never had much of a solo career, and the two albums she did release certainly weren't "mysterious"... They were both down-to-earth, bluesy rock albums.

[macfan 57]

Did anyone else find this odd? For one thing, Christine never had much of a solo career, and the two albums she did release certainly weren't "mysterious"... They were both down-to-earth, bluesy rock albums.

Yes, I agree. There's nothing mysterious or unusual about either of her other solo albums. The Christine Perfect album is a very low key, soft blues album while her 1984 album is more of a pop/soft rock album. In The Meantime is a more mellow pop/slightly bluesy/funky album. I'd be very surprised if this guy has even heard her first solo album since it's not all that easy to find. And, she never really had a solo career. She never wanted one.

[macfan 57]

I don't think these people have EVER been too fond of Fleetwood Mac or its' members solo efforts.

That I would agree with, especially the part about the solo albums. If you notice near the end of the review, he mentions the 3 writers in the band being so important together. It sounds like this guy likes Fleetwood Mac, but only with Buckingham/Nicks/McVie as the writers.

[David]

I don't think these people have EVER been too fond of Fleetwood Mac or its' members solo efforts. If I recall correctly, initial reviews of Rumours were not too kind either. :rolleyes:Fleetwood Mac used to be critics' pets. For a mainstream pop band, they were favored darlings in the U.S. press. Overall, "Rumours" got great reviews, as did "Tusk" (someone recently said that "Tusk" was a critical & commercial failure, but it was not a critical failure).

[David]

I saw this review in the Philadelphia Inquirer about a week ago. I try not to take these sorts of reviews too seriously, although it's not always easy. By the way, the Inquirer's review of SYW last year wasn't much better. I don't know if it was this same reviewer or not but whoever it was complained that SYW was way, way too long. And, they gave Eric Clapton's latest blues album this year only 2 stars out of 4, which is ridiculous.
The critic who used to cover the pop music beat at the Philadelphia Enquirer, Ken Tucker, is a BIG Fleetwood Mac fan. In fact, I got an e-mail from him just the other day about Lindsey Buckingham. For an example of his opinions, see his review of "Tusk" in the BLA.

[jbrownsjr]

I would rather someone that wasn't a FM fan review their albums (solo or not). Less bias the better.

I can just do without the nasty comments.

For example, "Stevie Nicks sounds like a smoking chipmunk." I think that **** is just rude and uncalled for.

[Wild_Heart03]

I totally disagree with everything that reviewer said. It seems to me that either their tastes stray towards really bad stuff like Celine Dion, or else they probably didn't listen to the album all the way through. :rolleyes:

[jwd]

Fleetwood Mac used to be critics' pets. For a mainstream pop band, they were favored darlings in the U.S. press. Overall, "Rumours" got great reviews, as did "Tusk" (someone recently said that "Tusk" was a critical & commercial failure, but it was not a critical failure).

Interesting. I just have this feeling that they did not get good critical acclaim. Perhaps it was my perception that FM was not exalted like other supergroups from that period, like Zeppelin and The Who. Or maybe it was the fact that I picked up on the Stevie criticisms imbedded within the reviews. I don't know. Your response has piqued my interest, and although I've checked one review(Rolling Stone's '77 review of Rumours, which was favorable), I'd like to dig a little deeper. Thanks. :)

[jwd]

I'd like to dig a little deeper.

Here's one that's not so flattering. Frankly, these were the kinds of things being written about FM that I remember reading. Ironically, Christine gets the thumbs up in this one. :)


http://bla.fleetwoodmac.net/index.php?page=index_v2&id=533&c=18

[macfan 57]

Now, that was an "interesting" review & Creem Magazine was a major music magazine in its day. I didn't think there were that many somewhat negative reviews of Tusk. But, this guy really liked Christine. He was even familiar with her real early 1971-1974 work. Something tells me this guy probably wouldn't care for SYW & probably would like In The Meantime.