It's interesting to me how controversial Say You Will is among fans all these years later. I actually think both Stevie's and Lindsey's tunes were better on Say You Will than anything they'd recorded with Fleetwood Mac since the 70s. My biggest qualm with the album was not the quality of either Stevie's or Lindsey's individual works- it was the fact that there was no bridge between the two; no common thread. And I do not place that on Lindsey. I think the missing component was Christine. I don't think I ever realized how vital Christine was to the fabric of the band until she was no longer there. Her pop finery linked Lindsey's esoteric musings with Stevie's mystical ramblings. She was the point of context.

Christine's return has brought on such mixed emotions from me, though. At first glance, it's everything I've been pining for for a dozen years. The way in which she has returned is somewhat demoralizing, though (through no fault of her own). There isn't an album, but instead another cash-grab oldies tour with exorbitantly priced tickets. A tour in which Stevie and Lindsey are clearly fighting onstage, yet again. Where Stevie is apparently not yet committing to the new album the other 4 members are so proud of. Stevie has been clamoring for Christine's return for over a decade- and this is how her against all odds return is greeted?

I think back in the 70s & 80s, the inter-band drama truly fueled creativity and even credence to the band. But it's so obvious now that same drama has eroded all of the good, and we're solely left with the bad. Add to the fact that these folks are all pensioner aged now, and it's become downright sad. It's no wonder the fans are all reacting so negatively. I think most of us are at our collective wits end.

As a preface, Stevie has always been my favorite member of the band- far and away. I've preferred her work in Fleetwood Mac to her solo career 100 to 1. However, it's reaching the point now where Stevie needs to sh*t or get off the pot. It's been nearly a dozen years since we've gotten a new Mac album. It's been nearly 30 since we've gotten one with the 5 fireflies. If Stevie is so desperately miserable and dissatisfied, she needs to simply part ways with the band. To say it was a good run is an understatement. But her blockading Fleetwood Mac's creativity is affecting the band's legacy. It's no wonder fans are reacting with righteous indignation.

FM is pretty much teetering on the brink of "I don't really give a ****" for me, a fan since the get-go. The cash grab jukebox tour of Rumours standards and the lack of anything new plus the public bickering .... not worth attention. I saw the 4-member band on tour in 2009 for Unleashed. I have my copies of the 4 or 5 albums. Will listen to them from time to time, I guess.

I agree that the reason they haven't put an album out in nearly 12 years is entirely on Stevie. How long is she going to put off doing a FM album? She literally has only contributed one 40 year old song to FM since 2003. One in which she doesn't even sing lead and do we even know if Mick and John played on the track? There's no indication that anything has changed in her attitude towards a FM album. Just people assuming that she's on board because why wouldn't she be. She'd be stupid not to be.Whatever her issues are she needs to get over them and take one for the team. Then she never has to do it again if she doesn't want to. But a final album with the full classic lineup needs to happen and they all want it very badly to happen except her.

I agree about SYW songs, I do like them. I just made a reference of other fans did not like Stevie's SYW songs and blame Lindsey. I agree that Christine is the glue that makes that band work with three very different songwriters.

So wouldn't you think Stevie may have mixed feelings about this too? After the last tour you know she would have taking a break, made her album and solo tour. Christine comes back and that went out the window. So she figures that she'll do the album and be free of the contract with WB and figure out later everything else. At same time, they (ALL OF THEM) decide to do a tour because Christine needed acclimatize to touring and all that. But if that's so and they REALLy wanted to do the album why extended the tour? And as many have said here, FM ALWAYS said that they wont do the album until 2015, so why is Stevie gets the sole blame of them not doing an album right now? In the end non of us know what's really going on until FM as band say what the heck is really happening. All we do here is assume what the issues are and don't agree is all on Stevie. And even if its because Stevie might be asking for another producer and don't think is an unreasonable request. May I remind all that Lindsey and Christine has said that after the tour Stevie will contribute to whats already done for the new album. BTW, the fighting between Stevie and Lindsey might be about not wanting to do the skit they used to do on tour. You know holding hands, hugging, that kind of stuff.

I agree, and as they get older they get tired of that. At least some of them or maybe is a she who gets tired of that?;)

Yes I agree again! Stevie IS my favorite so I guess I love her ramblings:p. But righteous indignation? Why? None of us know whats REALLy is going on! And as I said I question that this is ALL Stevie's Fault.

Stevie is my favorite, and I want her to do whatever she wants to do, Fleetwood Mac be damned.

But - I would like another Fleetwood Mac album, *with* Stevie. I also feel that Lindsey and Christine should put out that they have when it's ready, under the Fleetwood Mac moniker, Stevie be damned. If she doesn't want to contribute, then let her have her little tantrum or whatever it is that is holding her back. She's on tour, and that should be enough to satisfy.

A Christine and Lindsey FM album would be must-have for me, just like the Stevie and Lindsey album was.

I'd buy a "Stevie-less" Fleetwood Mac album. Actually, would kind of PREFER it. "Lindsey-less" too, for that matter. AND, I'll go see 'em live in concert too.

Gimme a lineup of:

Mick, John, Christine, Rick Vito &...how about that girl who sings lead for Mick's Island Rumours band, Gretchen Rhodes.

For me, THAT would be closer to what "Fleetwood Mac" is all about than what we've gotten since 1997.

Fleetwood Mac is DEAD...



...Long Live Fleetwood Mac!

Well I think the fact that Stevie said she's with FM through the rest of the year pretty much means she's doing the Mac album with them. The conflict may have been that she wanted to promote 24 Karat Gold over the summer instead of working on a Mac album.

Yes it hurts the wallet big-time. I cut back very much this time around do the the inflated tix prices also I drop down to the cheap seats this time around and plus the timing of having a winter tour put a damper on traveling for me.I'm not fond of driving on ice and snow to the show and back.I hate winter tours .

I got one show in already for this year and one show on the next leg in February.So far thats 1 show a year compared to 4 or 5 plus.

If FM pulls a Garth Brooks and sell tix cheap like him or other band or artists. They would get more fans like us keep coming back every night to the shows.We wont see that happen.

Nevermind the price gouging concession stands.Freaking $8 bucks for a beer .$4 bucks for food.I never eat at the shows. I stop at Wendy's on the way home.

Walmart has the CD's the cheapest and sometime Bestbuy has sales on them.

Completely 100% agree. Can't even believe that I have seen Christine McVie live twice in the past month, and I think 24KG is a little piece of heaven.

It seems like there's so much speculation about this album when the root of the problem--if there is one--may be that FM doesn't have a contract. And considering that there seem to be some issues within the band right now, adding to the rumor mill by blaming Stevie for not being on board seems unfair. She has delayed touring in support of 24K Gold--and her album sales reflect that choice--to support FM and the return of Christine. Frankly, she's financially secure and doesn't need to tour at all but is on tour with them for an extra year so that should show her commitment to the band. I don't understand why everyone is criticizing her--especially when she had planned a solo tour this year--and changed her plans as soon as Christine returned.

When/if there is an album to shop to the labels, I would think it would be difficult to sell without Stevie being part of it, especially at WB. After 35+ years of loving this band, I'm hoping for a last release from the full line-up and don't understand why there's so much animosity being aimed at Stevie and suggestions that they should release the LP without her. Why don't we all take a chill pill and wait and see what happens after the band finishes the tour?

I know it sounds silly, but I haven't bought 24k Gold, because I have a bad taste in my mouth about Stevie and her unwillingness to at least mention an album. Just say you will(no pun intended) or won't!!!! She's hurting her legacy with me at least. Again, I know it's silly.

You are missing out on some great Stevie.

What is very LOUD and clear is Stevie never had any intention of doing another Fleetwood Mac album before Christine came back. Now she is really pressured to do it but the process of making 24k and the results of that album has added pressure to stay solo. She is in a bind. Going to go out on a limb and say she won't do the Fleetwood Mac album.

I know, I'll get around to it.:lol:
BTW FM finishing touring at the end of March and doesn't pick up again until the end of may. That leaves a two month break. I figure they have a two week vacation, and need a week to rehearse. (they know the set) So they have a good month to do some recording. Come on Stevie!!!!!!!

We really have no factual evidence of what's going on, -- just a lot of theories mulling around; most of them casting Stevie as the saboteur. On the surface, it is easy to conclude that. But we really don't know what's going on behind the scenes.

Despite the personal tension Stevie has with Lindsey, she has always been loyal to Fleetwood Mac, with the understanding they were the launching pad for her solo career. Given their long history of changing band configurations, it's plausible to suppose a Fleetwood Mac album sans Stevie. But, as I've stated before, Stevie has too much ego to not be a part of what could very be the last album they ever make.

Fleetwood Mac had ceased being a recording group 12 years ago. Christine rejoining the band at this late stage is amazing, but the timing was terrible, at a point when Stevie was just ramping up her solo output. I can understand her frustration, and why she might be a little pissed off. She could have easily refused to do this tour. But she signed on and showed her loyalty to her band.

The notion that she hates Lindsey or is acting in spite is a simplistic dramatization. I think their relationship is better shape than it's been in years.
The tension between them as always been "like a strand in the wind." In the web that is their own, they will begin again.

She is not a saboteur. Thanks to her smarts and social skills Fleetwood Mac has not been forgotten. Doing an album means another tour and she will not do that when she knows her time is about up. If she could do the album without a tour, she would do it I'm sure.

Stevie may be loyal but she's shown a strong resistance to studio work since Say You Will. On a few occasions the band has gotten together to try to start recording an album and Stevie has quashed that idea.

Uh..... I love Stevie as much as the next guy, but what? :shrug: Her efforts are not why Fleetwood Mac are still relevent, if anything it's mostly luck and other parties being involved. MTV, Glee, SNL, American Horror Story, the luck and press of Christine rejoining the band.... The actual members just sorta go with the flow of whatever, including Stevie (whom also, by the way, is definitely not known for her online social skills of which is helping keep the Mac relevant for the past decade). If anything, the Mac's relevance from The Dance to now is due to the parties that made The Dance happen, Lindsey's desire to make another Mac record, their desire to make $$$ by touring the same tired set and Christine's return. If she hadn't, I'm almost positive this band would've fizzled out in another decade by doing 2 or 3 'farewell tours' using the exact same set.

Any fan that actually desires Stevie abandon the band's plan for solo opportunities is, in my opinion, being a little selfish. It took major brass balls for Christine to rejoin her bandmates and because of it they are getting what has to be the most press and buzz since post-The Dance and pre-Say You Will. True, they have precious time left but Stevie (out of the individual members) has made it solo, she's left her mark on the industry as a single, solo act where the others really haven't hit that height. So I say why not make one big, final album and then go back to your 3-month demo ventures and churn them out like hot cakes and do small theater shows until you're bound to a wheelchair or bed. We all know she would (and rightly should). But Christine's return is too big an opportunity to miss and we all know who'll get the stink of it if it doesn't happen, the same way Lindsey got stink for years for leaving the band after Tango. Stevie surely doesn't want that and I don't think her ego (or any of the bands ego's for that matter) could handle it.

I think about the studio bickering on the SYW album .Who wants to put up with that.

I dont want a go to work and end up fighting with the co-workers everyday.I went through that crap myself.

What ever they do.Its up with them.Yes I love a new album and hope it happens.Give them time.I will be alittle older and greyer and it will be worth the wait.

Ummm Stevie got them on Glee and herself on American Horror Story. If you don't know that by now then you haven't been paying much attention. She has not "went with the flow" as u put it like other band members. She has written notes to stars, cajoled, slipped comments and kissed major booty(especially to get on Glee and maintaining that relationship got her on American Horror Story)
She is smart and doesn't live in the clouds like Lindsey. She knows what it takes. Having other stars sing their and her praises has helped them stay relevant.

Clearly you don't know how Glee works. As a fan of the show, I know for a fact they come up with the song choices WAY before the season begins to get them cleared as there have been atleast over two dozen songs they've had to write off the show and not use because they were never cleared. they've never once been approached by any artist who wanted them to use their music, they use what fits the story they want to tell over the course of the season and even mentioned wanting to do a Rumours tribute at a Paley event way before they even wrote the script and finalized it. The only thing Stevie did in association with Glee was show up on set to show support and give her okay for the songs being cleared. The artists don't just show up on the FOX front door step begging for their songs to be played and if they did, that'd come off as mighty desperate. You're honestly giving Stevie too much credit. She is smart and she knows the game but you're giving her props for things she, and the other members of the band, had little involvement with.

They came up with song choice of Landslide and Stevie visited the set and gave gushing interviews about how much she loved Glee. On her last day on Earth, Stevie said she will think of Glee... Oh brother... She really poured on the charm.

Anyway, after that visit they decided to do an episode devoted to Fleetwood Macs Rumours.

Stevie is extremely smart. Glee was selling records at the time and getting your music on that show is prestigious.

April 2016

Euro leg of tour in spring 2015, a short trip to Aussie land in summer 2015, few weeks off, then a shorter fall tour final leg in the US in 2015. Break for the holidays, then studio time mid january through early March. Album drops in April.

15-16 tracks..single album (5 or 6 for Chris, 6 for LB, SN)

And this will be our last album from the group....even though after they release they will make quasi promises of another "After the next tour we plan to get back in the sudio" LB then will quickly release two solo albums in 2017 and 2018 with the huge amount of material he's been sitting on since 2010.

With the likely the last FM tour starting in Summer 2016 through mid to late 2017.

Word has it 2016 is solo. Whatever they are going to do album-wise will have to be done in 2015 (summer?).
Short Aussie tour.
Album comes out.
Return to US for album push late 2015.
The End.

Fact is, Stevie was the only one in FM with a active ongoing record contract. After SYW, Stevie still owed a Warners THREE albums! Why would Stevie record with FM while not only did they NOT have any active contract (and still do not) on top of the fact she didn't entirely enjoy working w/ Lindsey in the studio during SYW after Lindsey acted like his usual bratty self.

You can look at SYW two ways, as there are 2 sides to every story.
It's enlightening to look back today at SYW with this perspective & knowing more of the facts and see how Lindsey did sorta sabotage & poisoned that project for Stevie by not compromising enough. Obviously Stevie finally had it! Stevie had compromised & conceeded with FM her entire career, even before going solo. The difference was that she was no longer in the position to have to anymore after SYW.

Besides, after SYW, Lindsey got his solo ya-yas out, releasing 3 solo records w/o ANY band interference. Surely realizing that commercial, or chart success would always be elusive, he needed the "big machine", even lobbyied for it! Stevie on the other hand didn't. And it's clear for many reasons why she didn't want that. First and foremost she needed to fulfill her record contract. So, obviously Stevie was going to set onward solo with Dave Stewart and her posse in 2010. And while doing so she had such a huge "ah ha" moment of not only enlightenment, but appreaciation -- creating music WITHOUT struggle and conflict. All the while, reinvigorating her creative spark and legacy by releasing another top-notch record with "In Your Dreams."

So, Lindsey & Chris (along w/Mick & John??) went into the studio for a few weeks last Spring and worked out @8 songs which "they" say are great. But who knows if they really are? What I do believe, however, is that if Stevie is not on-board with a new FM record, those songs will be either be released as a EP under Lindsey and/or Christines names, or perhaps a couple of them may be included on a career spanning FM compilation in the future. But they wont be released on an new album under the Fleetwood Mac name. Not as long as Stevie is still a member of FM, and not retired from the band. I don't believe Stevie will ever officially quit FM. She'll just let it sail into the sunset.

They wanted to do Landslide and at the same time already had the idea of doing a Rumours tribute episode so they asked for the rights to the entire Mac catalogue, which was then cleared. Stevie visiting the set came a few months later as they write and clear these episodes months in advance. By the time Stevie visited the set, it was well established in the Glee fandom that a Mac tribute episode was being prepped as spoilers leak for that show like you wouldn't believe. Again, she had nothing to do with the decision other than saying yes. Just because she's a major ass kisser is not the reason a tribute episode was created. I'm assuming you've never watched Glee other than those two episodes (or one) because every guest they have does those gushing, ass-kissing bts interviews. It's nothing new, even Britney Spears did it.

As I said, Glee goes to the stars for permission, not the other way around.

Oh Lordy, you keep saying I don't know how Glee works, clearly. you have no clue how our very smart Stevie works.

Of which I already said that may be the case with other factors, but not a TV show. The choices have to be run by FOX, then get cleared, then they're used. Stevie just can't show up and say "Hey, use my songs, won't you?" That's not the way a scripted show like Glee works. The plan was already plotted before she even showed up on set. The spoilers about the Rumours episode leaked in January of that year, Stevie didn't visit the set until February (which was well documented because of all the actors tweeting about it). I know because by then I'd already been following the show and reading spoiler leaks for some time.

If you wanna give her props for it, then fine. But she had nothing to do with any of it other than giving her blessing. That's it. Hardly fit for a pat on the back.

Don't forgot the cash registers are cha chinging away for FM royalties from TV/Radio commercials like this Bud commercial as a example.



What kills me .How they are going to promote the new album this late in the game.Atlease they could of thrown in a new Lindsey/Chris tune or two in the setlist of this current tour to get the fans a taste of the new music on the album.

A couple of TV show appearances in 2015 is not going to sell albums like promoting it with a full tour.

If Stevie promotes her 24K in 2016 with a tour.The album will be 2 years old by that time. Will it help her to sell a 2 year old album.:shrug:

My current thinking is Stevie will give them several songs probably after this tour is over, then she'll spend another couple months making another volume of Songs from the Vault, do a small, short tour for both volumes 1 & 2 while Lindsey does another small indie tour, get a month or two break and then the Mac come summer 2016 will release an album and tour through the winter into 2017.

Atleast that is my hopes anyway.

This is my feeling as well. :nod:

THANK YOU!!! I've been saying this for the last year. There are only 5 PEOPLE who know the real story of how things are planned to go down. And NONE of those 5 people are on this message board.

I have a strong feeling that Stevie is TOTALLY on board with making a record, just that there's nothing set in stone yet as far as studio time/dates and a new record contract...so that's why things are still up in the air. Just my opinion. Either it will happen or it won't, but I really think it WILL. It's just a matter of when.

And if it doesn't happen, the variables that will make it as such will NOT boil down to placing the blame on solely ONE band member. :cool:

I think the current tour isn't as much of a "money grab" as some think. Yeah, they're making bank....but I think the point of the tour is partially to reignite excitement from the fans *as a prep for the new album* and also to give fans what they want: Half the people want a new album, half the people want to see the band live.

My guess is its been something like this:

Nicks: I need to get this contract with WB done. Voila 24 Karat Gold.

Mac: Tour to make money, and for the fans, and to stoke excitement and interest prior to an album coming out.

Nicks: I want to tour behind 24KG.

Mac: We want to get the album done, put it out, then tour behind it.

(negotiation, negotiation, negotiation)

2015: Finish Mac album, do a Fall tour.

2016: Nicks tours IYD/24KG...possibly does Songs From The Vault II.

I don't know if this is the case but what might have been a middle ground would be for Mac to let Nicks perform "Lady" in their set (with McVie on keyboards), and sell 24KG with the t-shirts. Then in return agree to fully participate in a double Mac album and commit to the band through the year.

I'll preface this by saying I'm not at all savvy about the ways of the music business. Does having Stevie free from her WB contract somehow put Fleetwood Mac in a better position to negotiate a record deal? Otherwise, why all the talk of WB being owed one last record? I mean, it's not as if she had been rushing through her contract all along. Why was 2014 so important for giving WB their last record?

Why do they have tour behind album?

:thumbsup: i have the same question.

I would love to see them go indy label but they loose the mass distribution WB has.They been married to WB for 40 plus years.