Heart of Stone

[Murrow]

One of my friends on the Facebook groups swears he can hear Stevie and Rick on Heart of Stone. I argue they can't be as they'd officially left by then and as with Love Shines only Chris, Billy and the rhythm section can be heard.

The fact that I can't check on the discographies here anymore with their plethora of detail doesn't help. Is this because the website needs contributions from us?

[bwboy]

I don’t know for sure, but I presume neither Rick or Stevie are on the song. I don’t hear them, anyway.

The timeline for Paper Doll, Heart of Stone, No Questions Asked, and Love Shines is always confusing for me. I believe Paper Doll and As Long As You Follow were recorded for their Greatest Hits, but then they recorded No Questions Asked and used it instead of Paper Doll. Then they recorded songs for Behind the Mask, after which Rick and Stevie left the band. Then Billy, Christine, John, and Mick recorded Love Shines and Heart of Stone, both produced by Patrick Leonard, and put those songs on the Chain box set; Paper Doll was given to Lindsey to tweak, and then he returned it to them, along with his solo song Make Me a Mask, also for the boxset. Then the Rumours 5 reunited for the presidential inauguration, followed within a week or two by Christine, John, Mick, Billy, and Rick performing at the Super Bowl pre-game.

It is confusing.

[The Chain]

I totally hear Stevie. Her harmony is very recognizable in the chorus, just listen for her on the last sung "stone", kind of lingers a millisecond longer than everyone else.

[aleuzzi]

Stevie is definitely on “Heart of Stone.” Not sure if Rick is. But neither Stevie or Rick appear to be on “Love Shines”—yet I believe the songs share the same producer (Patrick Leonard).

[FuzzyPlum]

I certainly hear Stevie on Heart of Stone. However, I don't know whether this could just be studio trickery. I swear I hear on Buckingham McVie too bur she obviously isn't. There's commercial reasons for making it sound like she is....so maybe that's the same as HOS.

[BLY]

Stevie is definitely singing on Heart of Stone.

[bombaysaffires]

I totally hear Stevie. Her harmony is very recognizable in the chorus, just listen for her on the last sung "stone", kind of lingers a millisecond longer than everyone else.

Stevie is definitely on “Heart of Stone.” Not sure if Rick is. But neither Stevie or Rick appear to be on “Love Shines”—yet I believe the songs share the same producer (Patrick Leonard).

I certainly hear Stevie on Heart of Stone. However, I don't know whether this could just be studio trickery. I swear I hear on Buckingham McVie too bur she obviously isn't. There's commercial reasons for making it sound like she is....so maybe that's the same as HOS.

Stevie is definitely singing on Heart of Stone.

she's totally on the chorus, doing a low harmony. She's not on the bridge. But is absolutely audible on the chorus.

[jbrownsjr]

I'm with everyone else. I can hear her. Stevie is on Heart of Stone.

[bwboy]

From Billy Burnette’s autobiography Crazy Like Me:

“Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine and I recorded two new songs, “Love Shines” and “Heart of Stone,” for the FM box set. Patrick Leonard, who produced Madonna at the time, produced them. They were a couple of my favorites that we did while I was with the band.”

Nothing conclusive, but it’s very telling to me that he doesn’t mention Stevie. He confirms the two songs were recorded at the same time, so it makes no sense that Stevie would have sang on one and not the other.

[Villavic]

I read this thread in my laptop and immediately looked for and played in youtube. My laptop sound has no great sound, but I would say I did hear Stevie.

Then I looked for info, there is not much. Fandom mention this, but I undestand it's a colaborative page:
Heart of Stone is a song written by Christine McVie and Eddy Quintela and recorded by McVie with Fleetwood Mac as one of four original tracks on their 1992 compilation 25 Years: The Chain. It has never been released anywhere else and is currently not available for download.

Personnel
Christine McVie - vocals, keyboards
Billy Burnette - guitar, backing vocals
John McVie - bass
Mick Fleetwood - drums

[bwboy]

To piggyback off what Villavic said, here’s another quote from Billy Burnette’s autobiography:

“There were three different incarnations of FM while I was with them. The first was Stevie, Christine, John, Rick, Mick, and me. After the Behind the Mask tour, we did some tracks for The Chain. That lineup was Christine and John McVie, Mick Fleetwood and me. The tracks were “Love Shines” and “Heart of Stone.” The last lineup I was in was Bekka Bramlett, Christine McVie, John McVie, Dave Mason, Mick Fleetwood and me.”

[bombaysaffires]

she's still audible on Heart of Stone.:shrug:

as the Queen recently said "recollections may vary"

[Villavic]

The last lineup I was in was Bekka Bramlett, Christine McVie, John McVie, Dave Mason, Mick Fleetwood and me.”

I read somewhere that Christine didn't get along with Mason. Did she actually record with him? I mean were they together in the studio?

[HomerMcvie]

I read somewhere that Christine didn't get along with Mason. Did she actually record with him? I mean were they together in the studio?
I believe that they HATED each other. If I knew the reason why, I've forgotten. I'll bet Steve MacD knows why, but he seems to have left the board...

I only remember ever seeing ONE pic of the full Time band.


*looks at pic* Man that Bekka was(IS) SMOKING! It's a damned shame they never gave this lineup a real shot!

[HomerMcvie]

And I found a second pic in my archives...

[FuzzyPlum]

From Billy Burnette’s autobiography Crazy Like Me:

“Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine and I recorded two new songs, “Love Shines” and “Heart of Stone,” for the FM box set. Patrick Leonard, who produced Madonna at the time, produced them. They were a couple of my favorites that we did while I was with the band.”

Nothing conclusive, but it’s very telling to me that he doesn’t mention Stevie. He confirms the two songs were recorded at the same time, so it makes no sense that Stevie would have sang on one and not the other.

The thing is, Billy's book is absolutely littered with mistakes. As good a read as it is, its filled with grammatical errors and factual inaccuracies. I wouldn't, therefore rely 100% on what he says.

I'm sure he did only record the song with Mick, John and Christine, but maybe Stevie was recorded at some later stage for overdubs or perhaps they even had a set of her vocals hanging around from a previous (redundant) recording session.

[jbrownsjr]

Or, you can just go listen to the track. She's on it.

[bwboy]

Or, you can just go listen to the track. She's on it.

I’ve heard people say they don’t think Stevie is on Magnet and Steel, so I defer to things like production notes before anything else. Because it’s insane to me that anyone would say they don’t think it’s Stevie on Magnet and Steel, and there’s objective evidence to back that up- she’s credited on the song. It’s not just an opinion.

I don’t hear Stevie on Heart of Stone, but she could be on it. But looking at the time frame, it seems very unlikely. She quit FM, then got into a tiff with Mick and they didn’t speak for 2 years. The tiff started in 1991, and the Chain box set was released in 1992, which was when Heart of Stone and Love Shines were recorded. I’m trying to imagine a scenario where Stevie would be angry enough with Mick that she wouldn’t speak to him, but then agree to return to sing backup vocals for one of Christine’s songs. And not even both songs, but just one. Mick couldn’t even get a new song from Stevie for the box set, even with the promise of a producer like Patrick Leonard, so they had to get Paper Doll off the shelf from 1988. It would be nice to think that Stevie would have reunited with FM for new songs in 1992, but does anyone see that as realistic?

[jbrownsjr]

I’ve heard people say they don’t think Stevie is on Magnet and Steel, so I defer to things like production notes before anything else. Because it’s insane to me that anyone would say they don’t think it’s Stevie on Magnet and Steel, and there’s objective evidence to back that up- she’s credited on the song. It’s not just an opinion.

I don’t hear Stevie on Heart of Stone, but she could be on it. But looking at the time frame, it seems very unlikely. She quit FM, then got into a tiff with Mick and they didn’t speak for 2 years. The tiff started in 1991, and the Chain box set was released in 1992, which was when Heart of Stone and Love Shines were recorded. I’m trying to imagine a scenario where Stevie would be angry enough with Mick that she wouldn’t speak to him, but then agree to return to sing backup vocals for one of Christine’s songs. And not even both songs, but just one. Mick couldn’t even get a new song from Stevie for the box set, even with the promise of a producer like Patrick Leonard, so they had to get Paper Doll off the shelf from 1988. It would be nice to think that Stevie would have reunited with FM for new songs in 1992, but does anyone see that as realistic?

I hear ya BWBOY... they could have had Lindsey come in later on and fake her voice. Or maybe she was on the demo and they used that track.
Christine was also a little clever faking that voice in the studio.
But if you listen to it, it sure sounds like her. I'd consider that it could be a fake Stevie or a used track. Email Billy. You might get an answer.

[xhector]

It's her. If you can't hear her during the song, listen to the fade out. At 4:12. It seems that they put her louder in the mix at that final chorus. "That you had a heart of STONE". It's her. Lindsey can't mimmick that, or nobody.

[jbrownsjr]

It's her. If you can't hear her during the song, listen to the fade out. At 4:12. It seems that they put her louder in the mix at that final chorus. "That you had a heart of STONE". It's her. Lindsey can't mimmick that, or nobody.

Agreed. I can clearly hear her, especially at the end.

[Stevieforever]

It's absolutely her! But l too have always been puzzled by when it was recorded. To me, it sounds like it was recorded at the exact same time as "As Long as You Follow." Listen to the last minute or so of both songs and you can hear Stevie singing exactly the same way on both. Is it possibly that like with Stevie's two songs she did for "Greatest Hits," with "Paper Doll" being held over for the box set, that Christine did two as well and "Heart of Stone" was a hold over from 1988 also? Any thoughts?

Regardless of when it was recorded, it is one of my absolute favorite Christine songs ever!! I was so happy to see a thread dedicated to it and just had to join in!

[Mr Scarrott]

It's absolutely her! But l too have always been puzzled by when it was recorded. To me, it sounds like it was recorded at the exact same time as "As Long as You Follow." Listen to the last minute or so of both songs and you can hear Stevie singing exactly the same way on both. Is it possibly that like with Stevie's two songs she did for "Greatest Hits," with "Paper Doll" being held over for the box set, that Christine did two as well and "Heart of Stone" was a hold over from 1988 also? Any thoughts?

But Rick Vito doesn't appear to be on HoS, per Billy's account... and "Heart of Stone" & "Love Shines" were both produced by Patrick Leonard after Vito left,unlike the 1988 stuff ("No Questions asked" "Paper Doll" and "As long as you follow" ) which were produced by Greg Ladanyi.

Stevie may have just done some overdubs after Chris, Billy, John & Mick recorded "Heart of Stone" as a favour after she had formally left.

[David]

I can tell it’s a B3 with most of the stops pushed in on the intro. That could be a clue.

[aleuzzi]

It's absolutely her! But l too have always been puzzled by when it was recorded. To me, it sounds like it was recorded at the exact same time as "As Long as You Follow." Listen to the last minute or so of both songs and you can hear Stevie singing exactly the same way on both. Is it possibly that like with Stevie's two songs she did for "Greatest Hits," with "Paper Doll" being held over for the box set, that Christine did two as well and "Heart of Stone" was a hold over from 1988 also? Any thoughts?

Regardless of when it was recorded, it is one of my absolute favorite Christine songs ever!! I was so happy to see a thread dedicated to it and just had to join in!

I can see the similarity in sonics but there’s no way the band would have let “Heart of Stone” languish for years while they cut MASK and tried to prove to the world they were still relevant sans Buckingham. The song is just too strong, too good. But the producer for it and “Love Shines” is one and the same. So for me the only mystery is why Stevie sang on one but not the other. I suspect it’s because they knew they were doing a promotional video for Shines and if she sang on it she’d have to be present for it—something Stevie at that time was not at all on board with doing. Or maybe the decision was purely aesthetic. Stone sounds better because she’s on it. Shines sounds better because she isn’t.

[bombaysaffires]

One of my friends on the Facebook groups swears he can hear Stevie and Rick on Heart of Stone. I argue they can't be as they'd officially left by then and as with Love Shines only Chris, Billy and the rhythm section can be heard.

The fact that I can't check on the discographies here anymore with their plethora of detail doesn't help. Is this because the website needs contributions from us?

I've always heard Stevie on this, but someone posted this to youtube and you can def hear her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcNuztXibe4&list=RDYcNuztXibe4&start_radio=1

And Christine is exquisite.

[aleuzzi]

I've always heard Stevie on this, but someone posted this to youtube and you can def hear her:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcNuztXibe4&list=RDYcNuztXibe4&start_radio=1

And Christine is exquisite.

And the harmonies are even more miraculous when heard a cappella: thanks to Gothic Trunk:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=z1QLTS2ZPXo

[Villavic]

I'm listening HoS vocals only, and I could say I can hear Stevie at times on the chorus. Especially when they say "Stone" at ~0:48 and later. But I'm not completely sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1QLTS2ZPXo

[aleuzzi]

I'm listening HoS vocals only, and I could say I can hear Stevie at times on the chorus. Especially when they say "Stone" at ~0:48 and later. But I'm not completely sure.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1QLTS2ZPXo

She sings on the entire chorus, a low part, not terribly prominent but audible in the mix. She’s not at all on Love Shines.

[jbrownsjr]

She sings on the entire chorus, a low part, not terribly prominent but audible in the mix. She’s not at all on Love Shines.

I love this!!! "never too late....." wow!!

[aleuzzi]

I love this!!! "never too late....." wow!!

Isn’t it? It’s one of the best things I’ve heard. The harmonies on this remind me of the devastating harmonies on “Rhiannon” and “Gold Dust Woman”— and in both cases, Christine is the key ingredient, providing the vocal texture that makes the difference.

On “Heart of Stone” she appears to have duetted herself, alongside Billy, a very low, almost talk-singing Stevie, and possibly someone else.


I see bwboy posted that some people question whether or not Stevie sang on “Magnet and Steel.” I can’t understand why that would ever be called into question. She is definitely singing on it and one of the most prominent voices in the mix. There is an acapella version floating around on iTunes. You can clearly hear her. And she was at the peak of her harmonizing powers then.

[HomerMcvie]

Isn’t it? It’s one of the best things I’ve heard. The harmonies on this remind me of the devastating harmonies on “Rhiannon” and “Gold Dust Woman”— and in both cases, Christine is the key ingredient, providing the vocal texture that makes the difference.

On “Heart of Stone” she appears to have duetted herself, alongside Billy, a very low, almost talk-singing Stevie, and possibly someone else.


I see bwboy posted that some people question whether or not Stevie sang on “Magnet and Steel.” I can’t understand why that would ever be called into question. She is definitely singing on it and one of the most prominent voices in the mix. There is an acapella version floating around on iTunes. You can clearly hear her. And she was at the peak of her harmonizing powers then.

Oh sheeeeit, she's all over Magnet and Steel. Like stink on a dog poo.:p

[BLY]

She is definitely singing on it and one of the most prominent voices in the mix. There is an acapella version floating around on iTunes. You can clearly hear her. And she was at the peak of her harmonizing powers then.


Yes! The acappella version was included on Walter Egan “Hi-FI & The Last Stroll” cd release a few years back.

[Mr Scarrott]

"Heart of Stone" is definitely the best of the four "new" songs on "the Chain" box set. It's constructed much better than "Love Shines" which meanders a bit on occasion. It's also better than anything on "Behind the Mask" and "Time" for that matter, in my humble opinion. The only odd thing bout it is the sound of squeaky frets I can sometimes hear on it. I reckon only "As long as you follow" from that strange 1988-1995 era is better. There's an idea for a poll, there.Not sure that's been done.