Covergirl Nicks, on stands now!
 

Gosh, i read this forum every day, and haven't seen a thread about this, so i was very pleasantly surprised at Borders today to see that Stevie is on the cover of the June 2007 'Performing Songwriter' magazine (Volume 14, Issue 102).
Of course, this is the same magazine that she shared the cover with Lindsey after ' Say You Will' was released. (Volume 10, Issue 69, May 2003.)
Its a 6 page spread including the photos, and a good interview (though it leaves you wanting more)-- written by Chris Neal.
There's not quite as much typical Rumours-era rehash in the text, and Stevie, as ever, is quotable- most interesting to me is her assertion that she will not record with Fleetwood Mac again unless Christine re-joins, saying that "Absolutely not, not in this lifetime" will she make a new Fleetwood Mac cd without Christine. "Why? We already tried, and it did not work."
The Klonopin rehab gets an angrier than usual spin from Stevie with much more profanity from her in about 4 lines in the article than i may have heard from her, ever! She relays calling her psychiatrist 'you assh*le", a few words later recalls she told him 'You fu*k yourself, you bastard!"
So, it's a nice little read :)
Truly. She also relays a little info about what she thinks of the 'Rock A Little' and 'Other Side of The Mirror' cds now (favorable, mostly) and well, go pick it up, not every day Stevie Nicks makes a magazine cover. Gosh, i feel 17 again :)

Also should mention that the pic of Stevie on the cover is the nice side view photo of her in a white hat which is showing up in many newspaper ads for the current tour; there's a full page pic of her on page 54 (in a mauve or rust colored skirt and vest, with "bat wings" and then a handful of smaller pics throughout the article.. I'm pretty sure the 'mauve/rust' pic is used in the cd-dvd of 'Crystal Visions'- but it's down in my car so i can't be sure, but i think so :)

What does she say about OSOTM?!?!?!?!

Re: TOSOTM--
"Lucky me, I had written the songs for TOSOTM before the Klonopin kicked in. I was very happy with them and still am. I really love that record. Somewhere out on that tour the stuff kicked in and brought me to my knees."

I'm glad to hear she likes TOSOTM so much, because it may still be my favorite solo cd of hers overall. I recall playing it the first time on Memorial Day weekend, in 1989, at a beach party in Rohoboth Beach Delaware with friends and me saying "this is like her solo version of 'Rumours', the songs are so good, one after another!"
My "Rumours" comparison may have been youthful exuberance, but i still think there's a lot of brilliance on that cd (for me, mainly 'Long Way To Go,'
'Ghosts,'- 'Doing The Best That I Can' to name the ones that still stand out for me. And i do have to confess to the guilty pleasure of really loving 'Cry Wolf' even tho many fans have said they can't stand it. Just loved it....

That is awesome :cool:

Pardon any spelling errors from me about the Delaware resort, it was my first and only visit there . Maybe its Rahoboth? Rehoboth?
Who cares ...
with no offense meant to citizens of that wacky (fun!) beach community if any exist here on The Ledge.

Thats a breath of fresh air to me...thanks for posting.

She has said that consistently throughout the years, so I believe it. I'm glad she still enjoys it!

What did she say about a new album?

is she serious? i have news for you, stevie -- it's not because you were without christine that the album "didn't work." you had some of the worst promotion and publicity for that album and the label knew they could recoup a lot of the loss from album sales by having the band embark on a year long nostalgia tour of mostly your hits. both singles were buried on the radio and barely got any air time -- if it weren't from both shows on vh1, no one would have known you even recorded a new album -- they would just think you were doing another reunion tour.

hahahahahah WOW! my parents have a beach house in rehoboth beach and I just spent the weekend there. i was 9 when TOSOTM came out, but I'll bet I was listening to it that weekend, as well.

too funny!!

ok...the only Barners and Noble by me currently has the May issue on stands....i have to wait..AAARG!! THe may issue has Mandy Moore on the cover LOL

There's not quite as much typical Rumours-era rehash in the text, and Stevie, as ever, is quotable- most interesting to me is her assertion that she will not record with Fleetwood Mac again unless Christine re-joins, saying that "Absolutely not, not in this lifetime" will she make a new Fleetwood Mac cd without Christine. "Why? We already tried, and it did not work."

Okay, now this is getting a bit ridiculous for Stevie to be acting this way.
On one hand she gushes over being in a "big time fabulous rock and roll band" and on the other hand she won't record another CD without Christine?

Either A: FM is going to have to offer Christine a hell of a lot of money or some other incentive to get her back to record (which might happen considering she made her own CD), but not tour with FM or ...

B: FM just keeps on going without Stevie, but don't see that happening either, well they did once and we all know how that turned out. :rolleyes:

Maybe this is why Stevie is supposedly now focusing on a solo CD at the end of this year or maybe in 2008.

Oh, the DRAMA of it all. :rolleyes: But I guess that is what makes this band (FM) so interesting.

^^

You have some good points there. I think that's why Lindsey is doing the same by continuing to tour with UTS and then doing a follow-up album for 2008, because he must know that Stevie feels this way. They are both doing their own stuff now, and i say, good for them!

Yep. They should have gone with Interscope.

And a double album.

I wouldn't necessarily blame it all on marketing... 218,000 people obviously new an album was coming out and wanted it and bought it the first week. At this stage in the game in an industry in the shape it's in - and with their visibility as an ongoing active band - I think that's pretty good. And there was plenty of press... They won an American Music Award which has a lot of visibility... And I don't think radio picking up on the tracks issued as singles would have made much of a difference on sales as radio play would have come from AC stations and AC isn't known for producing much in the terms of sales - because of the number of listeners... Top 40 reaches a ton of people, but they aren't where radio is today. The marketing actually started the year before with the release of the Very Best Of... Enough people bought that and knew the album and tour were coming... So either they've lost a huge portion of their fanbase, or the cd wasn't considered very good, or people just don't care if they produce new music and just want to hold onto the old... I don't know... I like the cd.. I like that it has lots of tracks... What sort of sticks out is that it does come off as two solo albums put together... So maybe Christine would have made a difference...

Maybe she's making reference to the whole recording process of the project and the stuggles they had there with disagreements about whether it's a double or a single... and the sequencing of it we heard about - sounded like it almost put an end to the whole thing... So maybe that's what she's talking about?

Then play some goddamn OSOTM songs on your CV tour!!!!!!!

Interscope would have been better, it seems. Maybe. I recall being a new Ledge member and a female Warner Music Group employee taking me to task terribly for me suggesting that 'Say You Will' was dying on the vine and it was all fixable, and without me necessarily meaning to blame (Reprise) Warner Music Group, in a way i guess i did. She said the label WAS working the cd and with a great deal of effort, and perhaps she was right.
Perhaps, because promotion is also in a huge way the artists job, and 4 years after 'Say You Will' we see it again- Just this month, Stevie puts out a cd-dvd with good potential, considering it's a rehash, at least there's a DVD- the main selling point to get people into stores to buy it could have been 'Rock and Roll'---- so... Stevie does two tv shows, and sings Stand Back and Landslide. About 5 weeks prior, on the SuperBowl pre-show she did, Stand Back. At any of those times she sang on tv, it would have been critical for the success of the cd (and tour!) that LaNicks perform 'Rock and Roll' and get some buzz going. Everybody's heard 'Stand Back' to death on tv. No-one got to hear her do 'Rock and Roll' so hence there were no requests to radio to get it played. It was her best shot.
Back to 'Say You Will' - Mac went on the Today Show and sang 'Rhiannon, Go Your Own Way' and two weak new tracks, 'Peacekeeper' and 'Say You Will'...
That cd had two unrealized hits on it, and myself- and a few others- posted and emailed til we were blue in the face that 'Miranda' was the standout Buckingham potential hit, and 'Everybody Finds Out' was the most alive Nicks track in ages. Ignored by the band, ignored by management and record labels who were contacted, oh well.
Mac go onto Leno and Letterman and STILL push 'Peacekeeper' which CLEARLY was not selling the cd, wasn't gaining at radio, and only slowly climbing on what used to be called the easy listening stations. Just a dud.
Fans hopes for the tour get up high, when Stevie says there's a real potential now for Mac to be a Buckingham-Nicks Fleetwood Mac, and illusions of 'Frozen Love' opening the show excite some of us, to be followed later by Stevie's 'Thrown Down' and LB's "Miranda'' or ''Steal Your Heart Away'' which eventually goes to radio, way, way too late. So, they go on tour, and open with The Chain...
Lindsey tried, and was willing, to dig deeper into the cd and try new songs out live, when fans here pushed for 'Red Rover' he put it into the set. Nice little song. But not a hit. 'Miranda' would have been great for radio and worked swell live. Oh well, again.
In hindsight it seems ridiculous to think Nicks would consider stretching and making 'Finds Out' the showstopper on the 'Say You Will' tour it could have been. All she was willing to sing was the (i'm sorry) truly dreadful 'Goodbye Baby'- oh, and 'Say You Will' - which was a cute enough pop song, but it wasn't a 'Thrown Down' or 'Finds Out' or 'Running Thru The Garden'...
The only blame i think LB truly deserves for the entire 'Say You Will' cd is for producing such a hideous 'Smile At You' and ruining the song more than any Stevie Nicks demo anyone had ever heard in their lives, and for thinking "Peackeeper'' with its cheesy 'waht-wah-waht-wah's was worthy of being the lead song from the first NEW Fleetwood Mac cd with he & Stevie since (!) 'Tango In the Night'...
So how much are record labels to blame? This spring, I'm sure it had to have occured to someone, especially WADDY, or the A&R people that Stevie should sing 'Rock and Roll' on Ellen, The Superbowl and whatever other tv appearance she made. She didn't. Wouldn't. She could have had some airplay by now. Maybe not tons. Maybe quite a bit. Maybe the cd would still be in the Top 50. Sheesh.
So the promo "Rock and Roll'' single gets out of the hands of radio stations and into eBay buyer hands, and it never gets on radio because millions of tv viewers who would have seen, didnt know Stevie had covered 'Rock and Roll' and actually had somethin kind of new that rocked. Why even mention the 'Landslide' promo cd single.
Not that millions of people exposed to "Rock and Roll" would have requested it at radio, but even if it were a couple thousand moved by her rockin it out on tv, and that is a conservative estimate, the song woulda had a shot at airplay and it also would have sold the cd-dvd. It's so simple. The label tried. Stevie didn't.
And after a decent first week, a month later, the cd is sinking so fast, it's crazy. She did 2 shows at the Greek in LA last week. I am sure Jay Leno or Jimmy Kimmel would have had her on to sing 'Rock and Roll' (though the time was in the past month to do it) but Leno likely would've passed on another 'Stand Back' performance. And apparantly it didnt even occur to her to try to promote the cd or tour nationally while in the same city as several late night TV shows.
Yet it appears the record label is really going out of its way to get behind her by going to the co$t now to have a 7 track 'Stand Back' remix sent to radio, since its the one song for sure millions of tv viewers get exposed to regularly and it's the tour opener.
Now I almost feel sorry for the labels working with Stevie Nicks. Stevie doesn't know how to promote herself to the masses anymore- and it was true back when 'Say You Will' was released, too. So i can't say it was because of Christine not being there that 'Say You Will' didn't work. It could have. Should have. The "Live in Boston'' cd with its less than 100,000 copies sold- well...that was another case of 'all the same, all the same'....thats why that didn't work.

Damn. Can't argue with much of that.

Excellent post.

Word. Good post nikolaj.

I wonder where this Christine stuff came from all of a sudden. Before it was all 'oh, we can do this without her' blah blah, and now it almost seems as if she needs a reason/excuse why she doesn't want to do another Fleetwood Mac album again. Whatever, Stevie.

Doesn't this seem like a pattern. The Mac does an album....they have reunited and all is great...this is the best thing we've ever done...blah, blah blah....and then a few years later it was the worse experience in the world, they weren't really getting along or happy about the situation for one reason or another, and then another couple of years go by they make up and make something else which is at the time so good and feels great, but a couple of years later will be deemed a miserable experience or not worthy to mention. I see this as very predictable and knew as that Say You Will tour continued on she would have negative comments later on as she did mention missing having Christine with her even while the tour was going on. I enjoy the music but can be spared the drama! Just my honest opinion and thoughts.

She seems to just not want to record period. She is probably using the Christine thing as her excuse for why she doesn't want to record a Mac album. She didn't say here she wouldn't tour with FM, just record. (she said the door was always open, in that other interview)

She does address a solo album in this article but as usual, she is vague. (where as in the past, she always talked up her future releases..we heard about TISL for four years before it came out. She sounded excited and hyped about it. Plus we knew she was working on it, as news of producers leaked out, etc)

I chalk SYW's less-than-stellar reception (personally, I think it performed respectably) up to a lack of public interest. I think the hardcore fans purchased it, and that's pretty much all who were going to buy it anyway. :shrug: It's not like they're going to reach the MTV audience, who makes the bulk of music purchases. The "casual" fans are more likely to attend a show so they can hear Rumours performed for the billionth time than to buy an album of new material.

As for Stevie, I agree she doesn't seem to want to record in any form. This Christine thing is just bizarre, because she's been gone since 1998. :shrug:

I think Stevie's been very clear that she didn't like SYW. She's found a new reason.

I have always said that the album feels like Stevie and Lindsey solo albums slapped together. I agree with her, it didn't work. There are many songs I enjoy a great deal individually, but I feel nothing from it as a whole. I think it suffers greatly from Christine's absence, as did the tour.

Fleetwood Mac is clearly done, except possibly for one more cash-cow nostalgia tour.

I have to say I disagree as well. Warner promoted the hell out of that record. I mean MTV/VH-1 do not just give hour long slots to just anyone much less for the making of a record. Then, the TV spots (GMA, LENO, etc. ) . Then the AOL first listen. Then the placing of songs on very popular t.v. shows. Then, all the radio station press and interviews.

So, the record failed because people essentially had no interest in new material from them and/or the material was not radio friendly enough for that pick up.

I'm not sure Christine's prescence on the album would have significantly increased the sales but maybe it would have made the experience more pleasurable for Stevie.

Perhaps she just needed her big sister there to protect her from all that testosterone.


Gail

I think that is exactly what La Nicks is talking about.

On some levels, I agree with her. It didn't really have the "classic" Fleetwood Mac sound that most people wanted, at least not enough of it. It was Lindsey's grand opus solo project, not Tusk, materialized.

And, his work was really good. His work on her stuff, though and IMO, was lacking.

In the end, I could care a less if FM got back together. But, if they do, they better hurry :shrug:

Nor could I. Unless we had the miracle of Christine's return.

With the mindset that they are both in now, no thank you, I wouldn't want a new FM album either. Their bitching and moaning is going to overrule my enjoyment, I'm afraid. Wait, let me rephrase: it would be all roses and sunshine at first, the bitching and moaning will come afterwards, after it's clear the album didn't sell well.

Selfishly, I would like another tour, if only so I can get one last chance to see them. But if that's not going to happen either, I won't lose any sleep over it.

I'm not really interested in a new Mac album either. New Stevie solo album and catalog reissues are on my wish list.

I would like FM to reform because I've never seen them in concert.
Before the Dance, Stevie said she wouldn't do it unless Lindsey was definitely involved and he signed up. So maybe she's just putting out her cosmic wish list for Christine now!
Oh, and I love Say you Will and sales weren't that awful for a band at their stage.

while i completely understand and respect your opinion and am well aware that anyone who thinks fleetwood mac will be the commercial success of yore is ten kinds of crazy, you simply cannot expect an album in the current music industry climate to sell without a significant amount of radio airplay and market saturation – and frankly, i agree with krista – i don’t think it was nearly as terrible as stevie makes it out to be but i think more could have been done to insure that it would sell more units. peacekeeper and say you will were not viable as choices for album singles. plain and simple, they were boring. it’s not up to the artist to select the single, it’s up to the label and as far as i’m concerned, they did a complete injustice by allowing those two songs to be the sole representation of the album from a band who hadn’t released new material in years. yes, fleetwood mac was on gma, leno, etc. but what were they performing? either the hits or say you will and peacekeeper. snoozefest. you can’t expect to rope in the casual listener without giving them something that is more ear-friendly and for that, the label is to blame.

i would like to see them tour once more and then pack it in. i thoroughly enjoyed the say you will tour -- but i fear if they tour again, it will be the same exact setlist.

You see, it can be interpreted both ways. While I do believe that Stevie didn't find the whole SYW enjoyable because of the overabundance of testosterone (something not only she has said before, but Lindsey as well), I think that in this particular interview she wants us to believe she meant commercially. I don't think she's aware that we are aware that she didn't find that an enjoyable experience (though I believe that's highly exaggerated), but she does know that most people are aware SYW didn't sell a few million copies. What she surely must realize is that the presence of Christine would not have affected sales at all (unless she thinks Christine still has the ability to whip out the hits like she did in the 70s and 80s, something which no one in the band can still do at this point and that is not because of lack of talent or craftsmanship).

Yes. Well, with the SYW songs taken out and replaced with more Rumours songs.

Ultimately, I think they will shoot themselves in the foot if they decide to tour without a new album. You can't rely on the casual 'appreciaters' to keep digging deep into their wallets and fork over the 100 bucks tickets to see Dreams and Go Your Own Way. Look at what happened with Stevie's new tour (and same old setlist)... the diehards would rather spend their money buying **** than watching her on stage. Fleetwood Mac is still a bigger business name than Stevie Nicks, but I doubt they could pull off 135 shows again.

I totally agree. Without a new album I won't go and see another FM tour (unless by some miracle Christine decides to tour again and that is so not going to happen) seventy five quid for what?

It would be more of the same (start with The Chain etc etc zzzzzzzzzzzz)

I'd rather have a new album with Christine (if Stevie can persuade her) and no tour. BUT I think that's highly unlikely - I don't think Mick and John would be too happy.

Gail

oh, absolutely. i don't need to hear say you will, peacekeeper, red rover, etc.

and i never thought i'd say this, but if they wait two more years to tour, people will pay those kinds of ticket prices -- especially if they call it a farewell tour. the baby boomers will be all over it.

I don't think Christine's presence would have made a huge difference to sales but she just might have come up with the hit single which would have made a difference. I agree thought that there's no way they will ever shift loads of albums again.

I think Stevie wanted her there to stand up to Lindsey (musically) which she is well capable of doing.

Gail