Christine: spring 2015 - UK leg & album release

[elle]

full interview: http://basca.org.uk/the-works-issue-40/


excerpts: http://www.fleetwoodmacnews.com/2014/06/ms-mac-is-back-interview-with-fleetwood.html?spref=fb

Tuesday, June 24, 2014
MS MAC IS BACK Interview with Fleetwood Mac's Christine McVie via BASCA The Works Magazine

It's here... Christine McVie's interview with The Works, the magazine of BASCA - British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors.

Interview by Darren Haynes

Check out the interview in The Works Magazine online at BASCA.org

Really great interview. Christine talks about her Lifetime Achievement Award she received... About songwriting, collaborating with Lindsey Buckingham. The new Fleetwood Mac album, co-writing with Stevie Nicks and Fleetwood Mac's World Tour. Here's one nugget of info for the UK:

"According to Christine McVie (with a caveat to stand corrected if she's wrong) the band is booked to add a European leg to their world tour. This will coincide with the release of the new album.

I think we're doing four nights at The O2 around Spring time next year, you know April around that kind of date. If I'm wrong on that, then I'm gonna get hung drawn and quartered".

Thank you to Darren Haynes and BASCA for including Fleetwoodmacnews.com in your interview piece.
Posted by Nickslive at Tuesday, June 24, 2014
Labels: Christine McVie, Fleetwood Mac 2014

[FuzzyPlum]

woooooooo hooooooooooooo

great stuff- so much to pick out...

'...a little bit of blues, a ballad, there's a country and western style song, there's funky stuff...' -brilliant to hear.

'...Stevie had to do some work on a contractural commitment' -that confirms it.

It's also so interesting to hear her discussing song writing with Stevie and her aim to 'give it another go', as well as her songwriting partnership with Lindsey.

so great to read this. I so hope they are able to fit in Glastonbury.

[jools]

Christine just seems so happy to be back with the MAC

i thought the interview was excellent

[jbrownsjr]

There was some great stuff in this interview. Thanks for posting!

[BLY]

Great stuff. Thanks for posting. I'm so looking forward to this new album.

[welcomechris]

Stevie called FM 6 months ago a wasteland LOL

[welcomechris]

Songbird will be in the set but they might move it

[BLY]

Songbird will be in the set but they might move it


Good call. If this tour is going to be pretty much the Dance tour 2 mix it up a bit.

[jbrownsjr]

Stevie called FM 6 months ago a wasteland LOL

I think she meant 6 years ago. 2008-9 ish..

[ViscountViktor]

This was so great! I just love seeing Christine talking about herself in the Mac again! Some interesting comments, especially about the set-list - and playing some obscure ones. Maybe the Mac have been reading the Ledge! :blob2:

[PenguinHead]

It's refreshing that she sees so open to explore options (I love that she expressed that Songbird doesn't have to be the closer!). Hopefully the entire set will more unpredictable than not. Sure, the bulk of songs will be the ones they always perform, but changing the sequence will bring new context to them.

Please, don't open with The Chain, followed by Dreams. It's so old and stale! Make The Chain one of the last songs in the set, place Dreams somewhere in the middle. Simple shifts like this would make a profound impact.

I nice to hear her talk about her love and respect for the band members. Breaking out of her sedate, lonely life in the English countryside has really invigorated her. Glad to hear that they are working on the new album. I hope that when Stevie wraps up recording her new album, she dedicates her time to Fleetwood Mac. Even if she doesn't write any new material, there are likely leftover vault songs she can contribute to the band.

I think fans will generally be very pissed off if she repeats the Tango debacle, and then later complain that she was not fully represented.

[Wdm6789]

I would actually like the final encore to be songbird. It would be very fitting.

I can't wait to see how they do The Chain, I hope they quit with the same old The Dance version and make it a little more symbolic since The Chain is back together again. When I saw them last year and I heard the intro to the Chain I though to myself "that sounds just like the dance one." I don't expect them to perform like they did in the 1982 The Chain (arguably their best recorded live performance) they're about 30 years older and not drunk and on cocaine.

[jbrownsjr]

I'm so glad to hear she enjoyed Los Angeles again. I think anytime you go through divorce and bad times, it can make the place you live look really bad. I love living here and I love the people.

[AliceLover]

Oh Daddy? Brown Eyes? C'MON MAN!

I'm still holding out for Isn't it Midnight or Over and Over.

[Tusky]

Thanks so much for posting elle! Very interesting about the 'contractual' part of the Stevie album (what contract I wonder?), her love for LA again and Songbird.

[Iamwilliame]

Give It Up For Christine Mcvie!!!!!' Wooooooh!!!! :]

[nicole21290]

And here's the entire thing typed out. For the sake of permanence.

Ms Mac is Back

It's 5pm on the eve of the Ivor Novello Awards and Christine McVie is sat in her London home, excited and contemplating the forthcoming ceremony and the prospect of accepting her Lifetime Achievement Award.

"I'm thrilled to bits. It's a huge honour and I'm overwhelmed, really."

No stranger to awards, Christine can count Grammy Awards, a BRIT Award, an honorary doctorate degree in music from the University of Greenwich and even one of BASCA's Gold Badge Awards among her many trophies. But, this Ivor Novello Award is different.

"For me, this is really special because it's for me as an individual writer. The others have always been connected with Fleetwood Mac."

There's much more excitement on the horizon for Christine too, following her announcement that she is the rejoin the band.

It's been 15 years since she retired from Fleetwood Mac following the Dance Tour in 1998. She cited a fear of flying and wanting to move back to England where she'd bought a new property in Wickhamreaux, Kent as the public reasons for her departure.

"...and I wanted to just kind of get out of Los Angeles really. Although why I say that now after having just come back, I don't know, because I really enjoyed it out there."

She enjoyed her early retirement, for a while too...

"I really was fairly dormant for a few years. I just visualised myself as this, you know, retired lady in the country."

Overcoming her fear of flying was the first, albeit unconscious step in rejoining the very band that carries part of her former married - and stage surname.

"The guy that I'd gone to see regarding my flying problem said to me 'well, if you could go anywhere in the world, where would you want to go?' I said Hawaii, because Mick [Fleetwood] lives there and I have a lot of friends that live over there on an island called Maui. The psychotherapist said 'well... go and book a ticket, you don't have to get on the plane, just get yourself a ticket and see how it goes'.

Mick was coming in to London to promote the upcoming Fleetwood Mac tour and called, saying why don't we fly back to Maui together, so that's in essence what we did. It really was serendipity in the highest possible order."

Whilst on the island, Christine did a few gigs with Mick's little blues band and she started to get that Fleetwood Mac 'calling'.

"I just started to think, this is great and one thing led to another. I think I must've approached Mick at some point, saying, what do you think? How weird would it be? Do you think there's a possibility for me to come back into the band?"

Mick must've fallen off his drum riser with shock. Christine had been adamant that she'd served her time with the band.

"I said to Mick all those years ago, don't ever ask me to come back because you'll be upset by the answer and I was so convinced that I wouldn't."

While the fans might've felt the absence following her departure, someone else was missing her even more; her band mate, Stevie Nicks.

"She offered me five million dollars to come back and save her from 'this wasteland', I think she referred to it as. That was about six months ago."

"I said, what? Only five million? That's not very much."

Rejoining the band after so many years away, when they'd continued to enjoy massive success without her, could have reignited the Rumour-esque tensions and jealousies of old.

"Well, once the realisation was there that I would, in fact, come back, I was welcomed with such love and such open arms from the other band members that it was just an indisputable reality. It was a profound experience to go back into that relationship again. They are my musical friends. It was just a moment when I realised that I'd really turned my back on the thing that I most wanted in life and that was to be playing with them again.

I can't even tell you how wonderful it is, it's just fantastic. There's this chemistry.. there's this sort of enigma that surrounds the five of us and when we're all together, I don't know something happens, you know, it's a very, very profound thing."

New Fleetwood Mac material is coming along well and Christine is literally just back from Los Angeles where she spent ten weeks or so cutting new tracks.

"We've already cut about eight tracks. They truly are fresh as a daisy. They're just wonderful. They are a delicious taste, from hors d'ouvres to main course to pudding. It's a pot pourri of the stuff we've always been known for - a little bit of blues, a ballad, there's a country and western style song, there's funky stuff. I mean, it's incredibly diverse and the songs are just amazing."

Stevie has yet to contribute her songs to the new Mac album because she's currently working on her own solo album with Dave Stewart in Nashville.

"Stevie had to do some work on a contractual commitment so she wasn't able to be with us in the studio. I mean she and I have had some girls nights out and had a lot of fun."

Recording the new album continues from multiple locations.

"We can really in essence record anywhere as long as we've got the Pro-Tools, we can record in London, we can record it anywhere. We want to keep it fresh so it's not going to be sitting around for very long. Hopefully we'll get it all done and out by next Spring / early Summer."

For many years, Fleetwood Mac fans have wanted to hear a song co-written by Christine and Stevie or even a duet between the two grand dames. Unfortunately that wish may remain unfulfilled.

"Stevie and I have tried to co-write but I found it a difficult process with Stevie. Lindsey was always her interpreter in terms of the fact that he has obviously, you know, a very deep understanding of what her thoughts are in the songwriting department. I can't interpret her as well as he does. The truth of the matter is that we won't stop trying. I'm going to give it another go because she is such a great talent."

Their rock and roll lifestyle and regular touring schedules have not been conducive to having children of their own. Stevie often talks about her choice to sacrifice having a 'traditional family' for her art and refers to her songs as her 'children'. Christine has a similar maternal instinct toward her own songs.

"Yes, I'm very possessive about my songs. Occasionally, you get asked to write something for someone else and that causes 'events'. You end up writing something that you can't give away. Yeah... and whose baby is it really?"

The songwriting process is different for every songwriter. For some, it's a regimented 9 to 5 type job, for some it's a sporadic lighting bolt of inspiration and creativity.

"It's very hard to describe how to write a song. I mean everyone, I'm sure, says something different. And it changes over the course of time. I mean for me, it can be anything. I could just sit down with a pad and a pen and jot down ideas - even things that somebody might've said during the day. Sometimes you don't even know where this stuff is coming from and you tuck it away somewhere in a drawer and then you accumulate a whole bunch of ideas. They're not finished things at all, they're just ideas and then you might go to the piano one night and come up with a nice little hooky riffy kind of thing and link one with the another, then something starts to happen."

Christine has over 100 songs registered with the royal collection societies with almost two thirds of them being collaborations with the likes of ex-husband Eddy Quintela, former band mate Billy Burnette, Steve Winwood, nephew Dan Perfect and, of course, Lindsey Buckingham.

"For me, collaborating was difficult to begin with. Now I really, really, really love it. Co-writer for me these days is most likely Lindsey. He and I have struck up a massive musical bond which is just strikingly great and better than it's ever been."

The truth and sensitivity in her songwriting is due in no small part to her early love affair with the blues. There's simplicity and clarity in her songs but often behind these uplifting melodies lies a darker lyric.

She disagrees.

"A lot of people say that but I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who's listened to Fleetwood Mac, I do sing a lot about love. I sing a lot about unrequited love, I sing a lot about hope as well. I mean the Rumours album with all its despair and melodrama, practically all of the songs on that album of mine... 'Don't Stop', 'Songbird', 'You Making Loving Fun'... I mean there was nothing dirgy about those."

It's certainly true that her lyrics do not proffer the resentful or intentionally hurtful nature of Stevie's or Lindsey's words.

"Well, they have an issue, no question about it," she says. "They are each other's muses in my opinion and that's how they communicate. And it's a bizarre one and there is love and there is animosity at the same time."

During Christine's 'period of rest', Fleetwood Mac have released an album, 2003's Say You Will, a four-song digital download called 'Extended Play' and gone on three world tours.

Fans were treated - or teased - with what could be, when Christine briefly returned to the London stage in September 2013 to sing Don't Stop. The original Rumours line-up, together again and we were blown away.

According to Christine (with a caveat to stand corrected if she's wrong) the band is booked to add a European leg to their world tour. This will coincide with the release of the new album.

"I think we're doing four nights at The O2 around Spring time next years, you know, April, that kind of date. If I'm wrong on that, then I'm gonna get hung and quartered."

The setlist for the world tour is still under wraps ("because we don't know ourselves") but concert-goers should expect the major hits as well as a few of the deeper album cuts.

"I think that we're mostly going to concentrate on the obvious ones, on my major hits, sticking the odd left of centre one in now and again. It could be anything from 'Brown Eyes', it could be 'Oh Daddy', it could be even more obscure. I mean, never say never, there's going to be the odd songs that pops up and we say, oh, why don't we try that. We've got plenty of songs to choose from and so it's anyone's guess what we might pull out of the bag. I now have to get my skates on and practice the whole set including Stevie's songs and Lindsey's songs and my own."

Impossible to single out a favourite song, Christine diplomatically says that she loves "tonnes of Lindsey's. I love Stevie's songs. I love Sara, I love Silver Springs."

Will the classic McVie track and show-stopper 'Songbird' finish the set as in previous years? It's a favourite with Mick and John [McVie] who have both mentioned how they watch her sing 'Songbird' at the end of the gig and bawl like babies from the wings.

"I don't care about making them cry, that's OK. No, I'm kidding. Obviously Mick is looking at me saying you HAVE to do Songbird but we may move it to somewhere else in the set. We just want to have fun on this tour, you know, we really want to enjoy each other's music and each other. It really is a joyful reunion."

As our interview comes to a close, I ask a question submitted by a BASCA member: "If someone were to write a song about you, what would you want it to say or sound like?"

"That's curious... interesting question... I've never been asked that before. I want typical McVie style. I would want to know that I was loved and cherished and I would want it to have a groove."

And to quote one of her own song titles from the 1995 album 'Time', if she could do it 'All Over Again', would she?

"Well, I am - no holds barred, I've committed. I've committed lifetime commitment to Fleetwood Mac now. I've had 15 years hiatus and it's time to get back to work. No contracts needed, just eye balls and hugs."

[jbrownsjr]

Thanks Nicole.. I actually had to print it out as the mag was driving me crazy.

[aleuzzi]

This was a great interview. And yes, thanks for copying it out. The PDF was difficult to read.

Now, I am relieved to learn what is holding Stevie back is a contractual commitment. I was quite annoyed with her a month or so back when Lindsey and Christine's interview made it sound as if she was checking out of the process or deliberately delaying it. My question now is this: why couldn't Christine and Lindsey simply have told Rolling Stone and the other publications that it was a contractual obligation? Instead their language (or maybe the editing from the journalist) suggested otherwise.

On another note, I am intrigued by her description of the songs and their variety of styles. Can't wait to hear them--in a year.

[michelej1]

Oh Daddy is not an obscure song, Christine.

Glad she gave us a little direction about the European leg of the tour and its coinciding with the album release.

I hope she doesn't get hung and quartered:laugh:

Thanks so much for posting.

Michele

[Tusky]

Now, I am relieved to learn what is holding Stevie back is a contractual commitment.

Was this a five album contract (TISL, CV, Soundstage, IYD and now 24 Karat)? That would make sense I guess....:shrug:

[PenguinHead]

I really enjoy reading Christine's recent interviews. She seems so happy and invigorated to be back in the in the band and the spotlight again. It's great to hear that her and Lindsey have established a strong collaboration like never before. And it's nice to hear her expressing much respect for Stevie's talents. I recall an old interview where she described some of Stevie's writing as "rubbish." (But I can agree with that).

Maybe some of the vault songs Stevie has been revisiting will end up as Fleetwood Mac songs. But I hope she will offer some new songs too.

I'm more excited for a new album than I am for the tour. Shows are fleeting pleasures, but albums are forever.

[Wdm6789]

Please do Hold Me!

[jbrownsjr]

Oh Daddy? Brown Eyes? C'MON MAN!

I'm still holding out for Isn't it Midnight or Over and Over.

Yes, your post just got me irritated. I'd much rather have IIM or Over and Over than her picks!!

[WatchChain]

Songbird will be in the set but they might move it

I'm all for making the set list fresh by switching up and adding new tunes, but The Mac MUST CLOSE with "Songbird". It has been the last song in the set since 1977 and it's such a heartfelt tradition! The CLOSING tune of "Songbird" has been the main thing MISSING since Chris' departure.

[James89]

'Isn't It Midnight' would be amazing with John's thundering bass and Stevie twirling around the stage. This would be a real asset to their setlist. :nod:

[Nicks Fan]

I'm all for making the set list fresh by switching up and adding new tunes, but The Mac MUST CLOSE with "Songbird". It has been the last song in the set since 1977 and it's such a heartfelt tradition! The CLOSING tune of "Songbird" has been the main thing MISSING since Chris' departure.

Songbird didn't close The Dance Tour as they ended with Farmer's Daughter.

[Wdm6789]

'Isn't It Midnight' would be amazing with John's thundering bass and Stevie twirling around the stage. This would be a real asset to their setlist. :nod:


It's so tough to decide which Tango song of Christine's I would want to see more. Everywhere, little lies or isn't it midnight. Also I really hope they do seven wonders.

[jbrownsjr]

Songbird didn't close The Dance Tour as they ended with Farmer's Daughter.

How easily they forget. I liked Farmer's Daughter treat at the end.

[James89]

It's so tough to decide which Tango song of Christine's I would want to see more. Everywhere, little lies or isn't it midnight. Also I really hope they do seven wonders.

I want to see all of these songs in their setlist!!! :laugh:

[elle]

wow - thanks so much Nicole! so much easier to discuss using this than that pdf (that so many stated they couldn't even read for some reason?)!

For many years, Fleetwood Mac fans have wanted to hear a song co-written by Christine and Stevie or even a duet between the two grand dames. Unfortunately that wish may remain unfulfilled.

"Stevie and I have tried to co-write but I found it a difficult process with Stevie. Lindsey was always her interpreter in terms of the fact that he has obviously, you know, a very deep understanding of what her thoughts are in the songwriting department. I can't interpret her as well as he does. The truth of the matter is that we won't stop trying. I'm going to give it another go because she is such a great talent."

this statement is interesting and somewhat puzzling, at least to me. Christine says she is having trouble co-writing with Stevie and goes on to describe how Lindsey never had trouble with that. what does this mean? as far as we know there are no Stevie/Lindsey co-written songs other than Frozen Love. he has only been mentioned as a producer and arranger, for both Stevie's and Christine's songs.

also, it sounds like SN and CM tried (recently?) to co-write a song, in one of the several ways: Stevie started a song, Christine tried to add on to it to make it a complete song, and either didn't see where to go with it, or if she did, Stevie didn't like the result.

[michelej1]

this statement is interesting and somewhat puzzling, at least to me. Christine says she is having trouble co-writing with Stevie and goes on to describe how Lindsey never had trouble with that. what does this mean? as far as we know there are no Stevie/Lindsey co-written songs other than Frozen Love. he has only been mentioned as a producer and arranger, for both Stevie's and Christine's songs.

also, it sounds like SN and CM tried (recently?) to co-write a song, in one of the several ways: Stevie started a song, Christine tried to add on to it to make it a complete song, and either didn't see where to go with it, or if she did, Stevie didn't like the result.

I doubt that Christine means that Lindsey actually co-wrote with Stevie. I think Christine is referring to collaborations, Gypsy, Dreams, etc. Those are co-writes in Christine's mind.

Michele

[louielouie2000]

I doubt that Christine means that Lindsey actually co-wrote with Stevie. I think Christine is referring to collaborations, Gypsy, Dreams, etc. Those are co-writes in Christine's mind.

How would you define the difference between a song that was a collaboration vs one that was cowritten? The distinction has baffled me ever since Stevie started touting Dave Stewart as the first person she'd ever written a song with. :confused:

[michelej1]

How would you define the difference between a song that was a collaboration vs one that was cowritten? The distinction has baffled me ever since Stevie started touting Dave Stewart as the first person she'd ever written a song with. :confused:

Well, Stevie never said to Lindsey, "here are some words, can you put music to them" or "here is a melody, can you give it some lyrics [not that she thinks Lindsey is capable of writing lyrics]." So, she hasn't written with Lindsey in that sense. She has given him demos with a melody and words and he has arranged underneath it.

As for Dave, I think Stevie never noodled together with anyone. Obviously, she has had co-writers, but she never sat down and sang a line and had the other person scratch his head, play with it a bit and come back with the rest of her line. I think she never experienced that before and that's what she means about Lennon/McCartney.

Michele

[bethelblues]

I want to see all of these songs in their setlist!!! :laugh:

Me too! Love her contributions to Tango in the Night. If both Isn't It Midnight and Little Lies are in the set, I'm there. Not that I wouldn't go anyway, but I would be so much more excited. For that matter, it'd be even more amazing if I were there and one (or more) of those songs came on and take me by surprise.

I called Oh Daddy. I figured Christine would want to do it based on another interview. It'll be in the setlist. So then with YMLF, SYLM, Songbird, Don't Stop, and Brown Eyes...maybe Over My Head. I hope there's room for at least one from Tango plus Hold Me or Love In Store. Unfortunately, I'm thinking Think About Me is out, as is the chance of doing oldie Why.

[elle]

How would you define the difference between a song that was a collaboration vs one that was cowritten? The distinction has baffled me ever since Stevie started touting Dave Stewart as the first person she'd ever written a song with. :confused:
right? and if a collaboration, would all collaborators receive songwriting credits?
for example, look at the list of songs that Zep recorded and who all is credited http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_songs_recorded_by_Led_Zeppelin - co-writing credits seem to run the gamut, for them.

she never sat down and sang a line and had the other person scratch his head, play with it a bit and come back with the rest of her line.
is that really the case? because watching Lindsey and Stevie working on Angel in the Tusk doc, and judging by their conversation, it seems that it was not a completely uncommon occurrence that she would bring in a song, and then they would noodle together and change the melody and fashion it in a final song, probably also adjusting some lyrics (as LB tried again for Thrown Down but by that time she would not take his suggestions anymore).

also, didn't they describe somewhere that LB would usually cut some lyrics or verses out of SN songs (since he considered them too long for pop songs), and also mash together her lyrics from several different poems to make it into one song that would fit the music? i think SN said how he used to do that and how she appreciated that DS would just take her whole poems and make them into songs, no matter how long.

[nicole21290]

As for Dave, I think Stevie never noodled together with anyone. Obviously, she has had co-writers, but she never sat down and sang a line and had the other person scratch his head, play with it a bit and come back with the rest of her line. I think she never experienced that before and that's what she means about Lennon/McCartney.

Michele

The below quote? Change the pronouns to masculine ones and change the song name and it's identical to her 2011 quotes. But it's from 1983. The Lennon McCartney comparison, though, never fails to amuse me. So far off, Ms Nicks. :D

SN: And we actually wrote it in the living room together as opposed to writing it like a track. She didn't send me a track. We wrote it from scratch, me pacing and her playing her little synthesiser on the floor in the living room.

JL: Is that unusual for you?

SN: Yeah, it's the first time I've ever actually done that. And I was desperate to write this song.... Because she was very compassionate to me, especially at that time, just rode with me until I was just able to start singing something and she just started playing the right thing. And Nightbird was written real quickly and it was like, I thought 'Well, you can write in the same room as somebody else if neither of you have an ego and you both need it each other, it works'.

[bombaysaffires]

The below quote? Change the pronouns to masculine ones and change the song name and it's identical to her 2011 quotes. But it's from 1983. The Lennon McCartney comparison, though, never fails to amuse me. So far off, Ms Nicks. :D

SN: And we actually wrote it in the living room together as opposed to writing it like a track. She didn't send me a track. We wrote it from scratch, me pacing and her playing her little synthesiser on the floor in the living room.

JL: Is that unusual for you?

SN: Yeah, it's the first time I've ever actually done that. And I was desperate to write this song.... Because she was very compassionate to me, especially at that time, just rode with me until I was just able to start singing something and she just started playing the right thing. And Nightbird was written real quickly and it was like, I thought 'Well, you can write in the same room as somebody else if neither of you have an ego and you both need it each other, it works'.

what, you don't think Lennon and McCartney would write
"Eye makeup dark, and it's careless
same circles around my eyes
sometimes the real color of my skin
my eyes without any shadow" :laugh:??

[jbrownsjr]

what, you don't think Lennon and McCartney would write
"Eye makeup dark, and it's careless
same circles around my eyes
sometimes the real color of my skin
my eyes without any shadow" :laugh:??

OMG I just spilled my coffee!!! lolololol

[michelej1]

also, didn't they describe somewhere that LB would usually cut some lyrics or verses out of SN songs (since he considered them too long for pop songs), and also mash together her lyrics from several different poems to make it into one song that would fit the music?

No. Lindsey didn't mash together lyrics from several different Stevie songs, unless you count him taking the lyrics he wanted from her song to make The Chain.

We all know there's a longer version of Sara, but no I don't think Lindsey generally cut lyrics or verses out of Stevie songs, although I'm sure he WANTED to. She put her foot down.

Michele

[michelej1]

mash together her lyrics from several different poems to make it into one song that would fit the music?

Maybe that's what he did with Deep Dense. Maybe that's why you like it so much. I'm still waiting for her to sue him for that.

Michele

[elle]

Maybe that's what he did with Deep Dense. Maybe that's why you like it so much. I'm still waiting for her to sue him for that.

Michele

nope, i didn't mean him taking some of her lyrics and then mash them with some of the other writers' like he did in the chain. or taking her chorus and changing it somewhat (can't remember what were her original lyrics - was it "deep tense funny kind of love" and he changed it to deep dense funny kind of love?), and adding his own verses to that.

what is stuck in my mind was that he would take several of her poems (emphasis being that all the lyrics were Stevie's, not his or Christine's) and maybe pluck a verse from one and chorus from another and maybe bridge lyrics from the 3rd one. and that would be a part of his work on Stevie's FM songs. if you don't remember that then who knows, maybe i was dreaming one of them saying it.

with Deep Dense, i just love the whole thing - how the lyrics fit with the melody and the speed (is it the fast or the slow version i love? i have no idea), and that slow rolling of the music and the arrangement in the background, like he's doing some pointless job over and over again, and the way he pronounces and half sings half says the words in the verses... just sounds so good and strikes a chord with me. is it that good because she wrote the foundation / start of the song? maybe... he always said it's easier for him to start from someone else's seed and then build a song around it.

but yeah, because it's a co-write i keep thinking he won't ever release it as solo, but maybe as FM... or he just will never release it officially. but if he does, however he releases it, and as you know, i don't want him to re-record it and do to it what he did with She Smiled Sweetly... something just got lost there.

[elle]

was it "deep tense funny kind of love" and he changed it to deep dense funny kind of love?

ok, looked it up. in Javier Pacheco's Q&A sessions (http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/fwm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=131&Itemid=151) he quotes some of the lyrics:

In fact, one song in particular I have sung over and over again for the past thirty years--country and simple, but right on the mark. The lyrics go thusly: "Well there's a deep sense of a funny kind of love, ...when you look back on the way it really was. Kind of like a marriage after it has broken up; Well, there's a deep sense of a funny, ...kind of love." She was speaking of the coming downfall of FRITZ.

also (so i guess there were verses originally to funny kind of love, for some reason i was under the impression it was incomplete http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/fwm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=132&Itemid=152):

The two songs she wrote we performed with a minimum of changes or adulterations. ("Were Was I" and "Funny Kind of Love")

there was also a part which i can't find right now where he was discussing what he liked and didn't like about Lindsey's version of the song.

EDIT: the quote i remember was not in the penguin q&a, it was a comment on BN site http://www.buckinghamnicks.net/lb/unreleased/deepdense.html:

"FRITZ BANDMEMBER JAVIER PACHECO speculates:

I finally listened to the song in question, Deep Dense. It is unmistakably a take-off on Stevie's song. The chords are also very similar. I have to think he wrote this to imply he was referring to his relationship with Stevie, I can think of no other reason for taking her song and altering it in this way.

I like what he does on guitar here. MY only problem with the song is that it doesn't seem to go to a climax. Dynamic-wise, it seems very flat to me. The industrial noises he adds to the grind of this piece seem (to me) to symbolize a kind of routine or mechanical repetition in his expression, like the grinding wheels that don't stop, like looking at a relationship you can't shake off. But I guess I get lost in some of Lindsey's ambiguities. The Stevie song "Funny Kind of Love" has no ambiguities, its very clear in what it is saying, very much to the point. IT is a country song but I kinda like it better than this newer version which to me, seems more controlled and almost cloaked in mystery."

[michelej1]

what is stuck in my mind was that he would take several of her poems (emphasis being that all the lyrics were Stevie's, not his or Christine's) and maybe pluck a verse from one and chorus from another and maybe bridge lyrics from the 3rd one. and that would be a part of his work on Stevie's FM songs.

We would also have to distinguish between eras. Lindsey's work on Stevie's songs and the intimacy he had with them, crafting and re-crafting, was different before they joined FM than after. Michele

[shackin'up]

Come on elle, why are you mentioning a UK leg, when she talks about a European leg? Europe is slightly bigger than the UK, Thank god.

[jbrownsjr]

Come on elle, why are you mentioning a UK leg, when she talks about a European leg? Europe is slightly bigger than the UK, Thank god.

Let's put Elle in the Iron Maiden as punishment.

[aleuzzi]

How would you define the difference between a song that was a collaboration vs one that was cowritten? The distinction has baffled me ever since Stevie started touting Dave Stewart as the first person she'd ever written a song with. :confused:

It's a great question. In terms of copyright law, authoring a song has to do with the chords and melody, as well as the lyrics. It's whatever you might see on a sheet of music in a fake book, sans arrangement.

But even according to this definition of authorship, Stevie has skirted that line a number of times. Technically, the demos of "Dreams" and "Gypsy" were brought to the group with full lyrics, basic chord changes, and a melody. But a MASSIVE amount of arranging happened in there.

Christine's collaborations with Lindsey are probably a tad more organic, where she allows changes to melody and structure. I think of "Little Lies," a song she basically co-wrote with Eddy. I'm assuming some of the voicings are Lindsey's as well as the now-famous opening tag. Stevie would have kept her name on the song as sole songwriter. Christine, in the spirit of generosity, put it on. In some late 80s interview, she even said she wanted to credit Lindsey for helping on her songs because of his generous input.

[jbrownsjr]

It's a great question. In terms of copyright law, authoring a song has to do with the chords and melody, as well as the lyrics. It's whatever you might see on a sheet of music in a fake book, sans arrangement.

But even according to this definition of authorship, Stevie has skirted that line a number of times. Technically, the demos of "Dreams" and "Gypsy" were brought to the group with full lyrics, basic chord changes, and a melody. But a MASSIVE amount of arranging happened in there.

Christine's collaborations with Lindsey are probably a tad more organic, where she allows changes to melody and structure. I think of "Little Lies," a song she basically co-wrote with Eddy. I'm assuming some of the voicings are Lindsey's as well as the now-famous opening tag. Stevie would have kept her name on the song as sole songwriter. Christine, in the spirit of generosity, put it on. In some late 80s interview, she even said she wanted to credit Lindsey for helping on her songs because of his generous input.

I co-wrote a song with a guitar player. He had the A section which I didn't change one bit. He needed a B section and an outro. So I wrote the B section and outro. Hence, I got co-writer credit.

Now if the arranger changes a bits and pieces of the melody or chords.. it's not really a co-write. The arranger's job is to make it come off the page. I think LB should get arranging credits a lot more than he does.

Lindsey walks a fine line as writer and arranger. He oversteps (and thank the lord that he does) by changing lyrics or melodies and even riffs etc.

[pwyll]

ok, looked it up. in Javier Pacheco's Q&A sessions (http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/fwm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=131&Itemid=151) he quotes some of the lyrics:

In fact, one song in particular I have sung over and over again for the past thirty years--country and simple, but right on the mark. The lyrics go thusly: "Well there's a deep sense of a funny kind of love, ...when you look back on the way it really was. Kind of like a marriage after it has broken up; Well, there's a deep sense of a funny, ...kind of love." She was speaking of the coming downfall of FRITZ.

also (so i guess there were verses originally to funny kind of love, for some reason i was under the impression it was incomplete http://www.fleetwoodmac.net/fwm/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=132&Itemid=152):

The two songs she wrote we performed with a minimum of changes or adulterations. ("Were Was I" and "Funny Kind of Love")

there was also a part which i can't find right now where he was discussing what he liked and didn't like about Lindsey's version of the song.

EDIT: the quote i remember was not in the penguin q&a, it was a comment on BN site http://www.buckinghamnicks.net/lb/unreleased/deepdense.html:

"FRITZ BANDMEMBER JAVIER PACHECO speculates:

I finally listened to the song in question, Deep Dense. It is unmistakably a take-off on Stevie's song. The chords are also very similar. I have to think he wrote this to imply he was referring to his relationship with Stevie, I can think of no other reason for taking her song and altering it in this way.

I like what he does on guitar here. MY only problem with the song is that it doesn't seem to go to a climax. Dynamic-wise, it seems very flat to me. The industrial noises he adds to the grind of this piece seem (to me) to symbolize a kind of routine or mechanical repetition in his expression, like the grinding wheels that don't stop, like looking at a relationship you can't shake off. But I guess I get lost in some of Lindsey's ambiguities. The Stevie song "Funny Kind of Love" has no ambiguities, its very clear in what it is saying, very much to the point. IT is a country song but I kinda like it better than this newer version which to me, seems more controlled and almost cloaked in mystery."


Is Stevie's "Funny Kind of Love" floating around anywhere? or perhaps just retitled?

[elle]

Is Stevie's "Funny Kind of Love" floating around anywhere? or perhaps just retitled?

good question. maybe you all get it on that unreleased oldies album Stevie is putting out in october. wouldn't that be something? Lindsey fans trying to get Deep Dense released for ages, and Stevie releases her original version instead?

[michelej1]

good question. maybe you all get it on that unreleased oldies album Stevie is putting out in october. wouldn't that be something? Lindsey fans trying to get Deep Dense released for ages, and Stevie releases her original version instead?

I would like to hear her medley. Lindsey's music to it is hypnotic. It's the way it's syncopated, so to me it's almost a chant rhythm, rather than a song. That draws me in and I think it matches the words of mechanically being pulled back again, almost against your will.

Michele

[jwd]

full interview: http://basca.org.uk/the-works-issue-40/

Great interview, thanks for posting!!

I found this statement to be particularly sweet.

"We just want to have fun on this tour, you know, we really want to enjoy each other's music and each other. It really is a joyful reunion."

[Spikey]

jwd: As long as that doesn't mean they play Rumours songs only annd anything else is a 'deep cut' :)

Also:
Oh Daddy? Brown Eyes? C'MON MAN!

I'm still holding out for Isn't it Midnight or Over and Over.
AliceLover, I think I love you :)
But yeah, Tango and Tusk Christine songs need to come out, not rehashed oldies. Not that I wouldn't enjoy Brown Eyes if they sing it properly, though..

I would add Never Forget and Think About Me. They play the latter all the time on Sirius radio, time they played it live again.. if only there was more than 1.5 verses.

[James89]

The UK leg of this tour will be the first time since 1980 that they've toured there as the original five (rumours line up). They didn't go to the UK on the 'Mirage' tour or 'The Dance' tour.

[PenguinHead]

I would actually like the final encore to be songbird. It would be very fitting.



Fitting, but so predictable. If they are going to rehash all their well-worn standards, changing it up will at least make it seem fresher. If they close the set with Christine song, how about a surprise cut such as Why? Why not?

[PenguinHead]

good question. maybe you all get it on that unreleased oldies album Stevie is putting out in october. wouldn't that be something? Lindsey fans trying to get Deep Dense released for ages, and Stevie releases her original version instead?

I wouldn't refer to it as an oldies album. If those demos were not circulated and unheard, they would be new to us.

[Bandon]

Funny how Richard Dashut isn't mentioned. .......

[PenguinHead]

I doubt that Christine means that Lindsey actually co-wrote with Stevie. I think Christine is referring to collaborations, Gypsy, Dreams, etc. Those are co-writes in Christine's mind.

Michele

I think what Christine meant is that Lindsey knows how to interpret, develop and render Stevie's songs, especially since he's also a producer. Christine has never had that role.

[bethelblues]

Fitting, but so predictable. If they are going to rehash all their well-worn standards, changing it up will at least make it seem fresher. If they close the set with Christine song, how about a surprise cut such as Why? Why not?

I'm obsessed with Why and have been listening to it over the past few days (including it in my most recent setlist brainstorming)! I think it is a fantastic song that has been forgotten in the known history of Fleetwood Mac. I believe that bands have a duty to remind fans, critics, and the public of their oeuvre when it is not endlessly studied/returned to and FM is doing a serious disservice to a period of outstanding music that can really boost their significance even more in conversations of greatest bands of all time. I was so mad when I saw publications, including the usually knowledgable (and upper brow) Village Voice, listing top Christine songs upon her return to the band and passing over everything pre-1975 as well as her best deep-cuts (Oh Daddy, Isn't It Midnight, Over and Over). When I hear Why I think of how it serves as a wonderful synthesis of genres: blues, rock ballad, gospel even (I can hear an Aretha + choir version in my head). Christine really is one of the all-time great singer-songwriters, when there really are so few female rock stars out there who can actually write with something meaningful to say. So many of them attach themselves to songs to reap the royalties when they played almost no role in the writing or arranging process. I'd love to hear Why live to see that the band honors its past before Stevie and Lindsey. Christine did say that Mystery to Me was in her top two favorite FM albums. And if it does get played, I'd love to read reviews that pick up on that lost blues era of FM.

[Mr Scarrott]

The UK leg of this tour will be the first time since 1980 that they've toured there as the original five (rumours line up). They didn't go to the UK on the 'Mirage' tour or 'The Dance' tour.

This line-up of the band have only ever played 15 concerts in the UK (7 in 1977, 8 in 1980 in addition to the Brits performance in 1998 and the O2 renditions of Don't Stop in 2014.

It's about ******* time!

[nicepace]

For just a moment, let these five individuals pretend it's 1975 and they are just starting out as a combo. Let them choose from Christine's prior recorded material. If it is a return to 1975, they will choose "Get Like You Used To Be," "Spare Me a Little," and "Why." Or maybe "Just Crazy Love" -- a song Chris herself likes well enough to have included it in her solo shows in 1984.

It does seem very unlikely that the carefully choreographed machine that Fleetwood Mac has become would perform one of these songs.

But ... Mac fandom believed it was impossible that Christine would ever return to the band. Now that the impossible has occurred, why shouldn't the very unlikely occur?

[jbrownsjr]

For just a moment, let these five individuals pretend it's 1975 and they are just starting out as a combo. Let them choose from Christine's prior recorded material. If it is a return to 1975, they will choose "Get Like You Used To Be," "Spare Me a Little," and "Why." Or maybe "Just Crazy Love" -- a song Chris herself likes well enough to have included it in her solo shows in 1984.

It does seem very unlikely that the carefully choreographed machine that Fleetwood Mac has become would perform one of these songs.

But ... Mac fandom believed it was impossible that Christine would ever return to the band. Now that the impossible has occurred, why shouldn't the very unlikely occur?

I'm getting the 1975 vibe, too! I'm thinking they'll look at their set lists from that era. It was the beginning of the era for them.

[AnthonyMI]

This line-up of the band have only ever played 15 concerts in the UK (7 in 1977, 8 in 1980 in addition to the Brits performance in 1998 and the O2 renditions of Don't Stop in 2014.

It's about ******* time!

ha! And that brits awards was totally lip synced!

[FuzzyPlum]

For just a moment, let these five individuals pretend it's 1975 and they are just starting out as a combo.

As a rule I'm not a fan of covers. However its been a long time since Fleetwood Mac have recorded or played a good cover (Farmers Daughter?). The more I think about it the more I think it would be quite refreshing to see them include a new (Fleetwood Maccy) take on a contemporary hit somewhere among the set list. I appreciate it would take one space away from the old standards and is therefore pretty unlikely. But its the sort of thing new young exciting bands do. Perhaps a Fleetwood Macced-up 'Get Lucky' or something...I just think it would give the audience something a bit different.

...I always imagined 'Somebody That I Used to Know' by Gotye as a FM song- that would be interesting.

[DESTINYRU!ES]

Her mention of having to get out her skates and practice triggered my memory of being 17 and rollerblading with a Walkman listening to temporary one on the radio and the radio personality came on at the end and announced that Christine was retiring and done with the Mac. I was crushed. I just discovered them and now it was over. So now her talking about the skates brought that up and healed it. She's back and yes lindsey this does reaffirm my faith in cycles. So happy for all of them and good for us. It's been a long hiatus.

[DESTINYRU!ES]

I might have to get out the rollers for old time sake. Though it hasn't been that long.

[Dragonfly]

The UK leg of this tour will be the first time since 1980 that they've toured there as the original five (rumours line up). They didn't go to the UK on the 'Mirage' tour or 'The Dance' tour.

I've always wondered why they didn't? I know they had solo projects going on too but seems odd that they ignored Europe being such a huge band.

I think this tour will sell like hot cakes, am hoping they do two Manchester shows this time like they did in 2003:nod: