Crap. I never thought of that being a possibility. :(


As for the "lazy" argument, 1 person called Stevie lazy in this thread, it's not a lynch mob for God's sake. :rolleyes: Nobody called her a worhtless piece of sh*t or anything. We're all fans here. People have the right to their opinion. And I believe the poster was commenting on the fact that she hasn't put out any new solo material in 8 years. Seems that they were saying that Stevie is lazy about releasing new music. :shrug: Nobody said anything about her charity work or repeated "best of" tours the past few years.

Now, is she: lazy? out of ideas/inspiration? satisfied with her body of work as it stands? scared that new material wouldn't sell as well as in the past? Who knows? But we can discuss it. That's the point of the board.

I don't know if lazy is the word. I think Stevie is uninspired, and also probably afraid to release anything new. I think for Stevie it's all about being popular and a commercial success. I don't think she believes she can do better than TISL, the album she calls her "masterpiece", and the thought of releasing something that can't live up to that scares her. I understand that and could accept it more if she would only try other creative endeavors rather than just talk about them constantly. At the very least it would be nice to get a new song on a soundtrack now and then.

Don't forget all the phone calls she's going to be making investigating ticket prices! It's probably going to be like The Pelican Brief and Stevie's tireless search for the truth will reveal a shocking link between scalpers and a plot to assassinate Supreme Court justices. NOT!!

Hardly. There have been some periods where she struggled to maintain that balance (e.g. arriving late for the Mirage sessions due to working on Bella Donna) but currently, in her own words, "When I am in one relationship, I am not in another one". There is no juggling or balancing anymore.

I'm sick of the lies. Stevie says she's working on an album inspired by the Mabinogion. Stevie says she wants to do an album of standards. Will finally complete her Rhiannon project. Said the band was going into the studio in October of last year. Yeah, maybe she changed her mind every single time. Or maybe she's just a dolt.

Instead, Stevie is "one of those artists" who releases compilation albums like Timespace, Crystal Visions, Enchanted... :rolleyes:

Here is Stevie's U.S. track record:

-Studio Album
-Studio Album
-Studio Album
-Studio Album
-Greatest Hits
-Studio Album
-Greatest Hits
-Studio Album
-Greatest Hits
-Live Album

And when you consider that her first four studio albums were released within the first 8 years of a 28-year solo career (which also included 2 Fleetwood Mac studio albums), the track record looks even worse. Let's face it- Mama's been mostly on creative autopilot for the past twenty years.

Regarding the demand for a new Stevie solo album, given the state of the music business these days, I think the labels are desperate for any new product they can put on the market- the only way they can make up for lost volume is by increasing the number of titles. Surely Stevie is not likely to sell multi-platinum numbers ever again, but selling in the low-to-mid six figures is definitely realistic and is more than respectable for someone of her age and genre. And it's not like she needs to feel intimidated by her most direct competition- Lindsey and Christine- whose latest solo albums have sold practically nada. Even her pal Sheryl Crow's last album didn't even go gold. Sure, she has the right to work at her own pace, but she also owes us fans some kind of a realistic assessment of where we stand. I would have more respect for her if she said, in no uncertain terms, that she has retired from recording and will focus exclusively on live performance and other creative endeavors.

I was just reading through this thread, and I was going to stay mum, but I have a few things I'd like to say.

I hope fans haven't completely forgotten the solid seventeen years that Stevie worked virtually non-stop. Spending ten of those years bouncing back and forth between her solo career and Fleetwood Mac.

To expand HejiraNYC's assessment of her track record, let's look at it this way:

1975 - Fleetwood Mac album & tour
1976 - touring & recording
1977 - FM album & tour
1978 - touring & recording
1979 - FM album & tour
1980 - recording solo
1981 - solo album & tour
1982 - FM album & tour
1983 - solo album & tour
1984 - recording & some one-off live appearances
1985 - more recording & solo album release
1986 - touring (and time in rehab)
1987 - Mac album & tour
1988 - Mac European tour & solo recording
1989 - solo album & tour
1990 - Mac album & tour
1991 - solo tour (and some recording)

No one else in Fleetwood Mac ever kept up that pace or for that length of time.

Sure, the recording has become far more sporadic in the years since. And, yes, she's definitely coasting over the past four years with the hits tours. But, good grief, she's earned the right to coast.

Given the 130+ songs she's released over the years (and the countless others that were also recorded), I'd say she's already proven that she's a "true" artist and that she wasn't "just in it for the money," even if she's not currently creating new music.

Trust me, I want new songs as badly as everyone else does. I've never been interested in the year long tours. I'd rather have eight more albums to listen to. And, no, I don't think it's wrong to discuss any of this -- I just think we should check the sense of entitlement at the door.

I don't think that we, as fans, are entitled to output (whether it be creative or touring) from Stevie. That's not the issue- at least not for me.

Its always been about how consistently offensively clueless Stevie has been in her words and actions ("we wish we could play for free", "things cost a gazillion times more", "why bother recording when people are going to steal it", "Fleetwood Mac is like being in the army", "I didn't know the SYW tour was going to be soooo long" etc.). Said words and actions are entirely in line with someone who currently *is* "only in it for the money" and/or completely out of touch with reality.

I totally agree. Reality check...We're not the spoiled children who get to have whatever we want in this situation.

Well, I like Stevie & I cringe a little to see this criticism.

I have serious reservations about Stevie as a songwriter. But I think she is a wonderful person who is very ethical.

Point taken! I don't begrudge her impressive body of work at all. And I think she did an incredible amount of work in the 1980's (drugs are good for something! :p) And I don't think Stevie has anything to prove artistically- everything from now on would just be icing on the cake. My frustration with Stevie is that she clearly loves every aspect of music except for actually making it. She is constantly bragging about her fertile creativity, but she has yet to produce anything new (except for a surreal, rambling poem about MLK) since the release of SYW, which actually contained mostly songs written decades earlier. She keeps talking about creating all of these wonderful poems (the hard part of the process), yet somehow she lacks the motivation to put them to music (the easy part). What's stopping her? Hmmm... fear of failure? Writer's block? Um... laziness? And it's not like this is a recent phenomenon... she has been mining the vaults ever since her Klonopin days. It's just so frustrating that this abundant waterfall of creativity has fallen off to a mere trickle.

Maybe we should sponsor some kind of a competition to put Stevie's latest poem (about MLK) to music, and the winning entry would be sent to John Kinney and he would decide whether or not to pass it along (we all know that any tapes sent directly to Stevie are destroyed per SOP). If it's any good (or if it sounds like Rihanna, Maroon 5 or Justin Timberlake), perhaps she will be inspired to record it.

How about a third option? She's neither "only in it for the money" or completely out of touch with reality -- she's a drama-queen who glamorizes, romanticizes and/or amplifies whatever she's talking about.

Even though it can be maddening at times, it's all part of her charm.

I wish she would take over piano and keyboards for Christine...

I would pay anything to see that!!!! Cringes and all.. :angel:

My personal suspicion is that it's a fear of failure.

For example, Lindsey's validation is the critical acclaim with which each and every one of his albums is met. He may not sell a lot of physical copies, but he can open up a newspaper or music magazine and see that his songs are indeed reaching people.

Stevie's never been a critical darling -- her validation comes from the amount of folks who buy her albums and attend her concerts. That's the tangible way she sees that her music is reaching people.

So as the album-buying audience dwindles, it very well may lead her to believe (rightly or wrongly) that people just aren't interested in hearing something new from her anymore and they only want to hear "Stand Back," et al.

I'm sure that, for an insecure person like Stevie (and I'm certain that Lindsey and Stevie are both extremely insecure people), it must create an endless amount of self-doubt and confliction -- which, I'm sure, has also lead to the many and numerous reasons and excuses she's been giving for not recording a new album.

Good points.

Now, you've made me suspicious of Ginsburg's cancer. Michele

My feelings exactly! Joni and many other legendary artists (and many not so legendary) put manage to put out albums with fair consistency...without a requisite need for huge attention and sales. They do it for their artistic expression and for their fans.

I think there is a mindset among the Fleetwood Mac/Stevie camp that the heyday of the seventies is still in play -- i.e. spend a year or more and millions of dollars making an album and hope for massive, world-wide success. And if those exceptations aren't met, then deem it a failure. So why record anything at all?

At least Lindsey ( and to some extent Mick) has bucked that trend. He knows his albums will never sell at massive levels, but he's content to do his art and accept that the music industry isn't nothing like it used to be. I wish Stevie (and her management) could be a little more like Lindsey in that regard...a little less extravagant, a little more accepting of how things are now....."Come down here for a minute, sweet girl!"