Stevie question
 

Hi - was the last studio album she fully participated in (as in being in the studio, recording with the band full time) Tusk? Those leaked demos from Behind the Mask suggest she wasn't there for the full recording and Say You Will she wasn't there from the start (according to the doc)?

I was reading an interview with Christine and she stated BTM was a lot like Tango where Stevie was barely there.

But what about Mirage? I haven't read anything about she wasn't in Mirage sessions from the start. And since they were kind of isolated in France, I don't think she was absent very often (well, it's Stevie so she would want to shop daily at Champs Elysées, but still I don't think so).

Obviously since Stevie's solo career was then in full swing, she didn't want to do a long Fleetwood Mac road binge in the midst of becoming one of the biggest stars in the business, according to Mick's book, but that was the tour. I have not found any source about not collaborating enough in Mirage recording sessions, as I did about Tango sessions.

Yes. Stevie's Rockline interview in 1989 promoting OSOTM reveals that too. She loved the fact she could record both albums back and forth. The Mac would call her, she would show up, do her vocals and go back to her solo work. She started tour rehearsals in the summer of 1989 just when BTM was in full recording swing. I think she even said she intended to pop in the studio with the Mac while on tour. (Dont quote me on that, its from memory). Then she went to the UK and France for solo shows.

There was an interview in the summer of 1981 when she was on tour with Tom. This was months before her own solo dates. Stevie said in the summer of 1981 that the new Mac album was halfway done. So I imagine she did spend early time on it at least giving her songs for it to be half finished. She was busy jetting around with Tom, flying to France, back to the states for her solo dates then back to France.

BTW, I posted that interview here several months ago.

And there was that cover story called “Where’s Stevie” by David Gans, which ran in Record, an ancillary of Rolling Stone. The other members all told Gans that Stevie was hardly spending any time with them at Larrabee, where Mirage was mostly tracked and mixed. I think Stevie spent her time with Mac in France and then mostly ditched them when they came back to California to continue working.

So Tusk may very well be the last Mac album that Stevie devoted full time to. But even for that one, Lindsey made a strange little comment about that in the press after Stevie told US that working with Lindsey was like being held hostage by the Ayatollah. He said something like, “What is she even talking about? She was barely there.”

OMG.. I remember reading that last part in a magazine!! Wow, deja vu..

I thought everyone knew that Tusk was mostly Lindsey’s baby, and that he played most of the the instruments on his own songs, which pissed off John, and maybe Mick to a degree. Isn’t there video of Lindsey in his bathroom on his hands and knees screaming to the floor recording one of his songs because he liked the acoustics there? Maybe there just wasn’t enough room in the bathroom for Stevie, John, Christine, and Mick?

I would venture to say most of the band was absent while Lindsey recorded his own songs.

So in a nutshell, Rumours was the last album Stevie was present and had equal parts of involvement.

Straight Back is about her being forced to abandon her solo stint and rejoin the band. I am guessing it was a late inclusion for the album.

Oh wow yes, there was such an intense silence when she walked in the studio.