What did Stevie really think?
 

I remember during the SYW tour, there was a lot of talk here about how Stevie appeared to be happily giving Lindsey a chance to shine, that she was staying out of the spotlight during his solos, and looked genuinely proud of him. But based on the comment below by Lindsey... I wonder...?

Also - re the second bolded section: if you didn't think all the interplay between them was staged before... :shocked:

Discuss....


http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cg...DTL&type=music

Although his previous solo album came out 14 years ago, Lindsey Buckingham didn't spend all the intervening time working on his latest record, "Under the Skin." The Fleetwood Mac guitarist started this album some time ago, with bassist John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood from the big Mac on rhythm, almost 10 years ago.

"I guess the three of us being in the studio became an interest of somebody's, and we ended up shelving that material for the live album," Buckingham says. "Then, when I got back in another year, whatever, working on it, there was this interest in doing a Fleetwood Mac album. So all of that material would have been a solo album, but it got diverted into a Fleetwood Mac album."

Buckingham, 57, is conducting phone interviews in his suite at the Ritz-Carlton on a sunny day in New York. He played a sold-out show two nights earlier at Town Hall, the historic downtown theater rich with memories of the Weavers and the live album the folk group recorded there for Buckingham. On Monday, he brings his current solo tour to the Palace of Fine Arts in San Francisco.

His new record is a quiet, intricate affair, almost entirely acoustic, with little drums or bass. Buckingham recorded the songs in the past couple of years while touring with Fleetwood Mac, carrying a 16-track Korg digital recorder with him and holding sessions in hotel rooms on days off. He finished the record at home and mixed it himself.

"I thought, 'Screw it -- this is what it is. I don't care if it's correct or not. Let them fix it in the mastering,' " the notoriously fussy recording artist says.

Of course, Buckingham's idea of low-fi is clean, crisp, sonically scrubbed and processed recordings with each and every sound on the track dialed in to his exact specifications. He claimed the mastering engineer complained about sibilance in the vocals. But Buckingham, who has produced most of the Fleetwood Mac albums on which he played, is noted for spending endless hours tweaking recordings in the studio. The all-acoustic tracks may have only encouraged those tendencies.

"There was more space to put the production on, so you could get aggressive with your use of delays and stuff on the vocals," he says.

Born in Palo Alto and raised in Atherton, Buckingham and his high school girlfriend, Stevie Nicks, went to Los Angeles to record their 1973 album, "Buckingham Nicks," which producer Keith Olsen brought to the attention of Fleetwood, the bandleader of Fleetwood Mac, when he was looking for a new singer-songwriter. Their first album with the group was Mac's first million-seller. Their second album with the band was "Rumours," the landmark 1977 album that sold more than 15 million copies and was one of the most popular albums of its era.

Buckingham has quit the band and returned a number of times since the 1987 album "Tango in the Night," which featured the brilliant Buckingham production of "Big Love." In 1997, he returned to the fold to supervise the band's new live album, "The Dance," and tour the world again. In 2003, without Christine McVie, the group recorded "Say You Will" under Buckingham's supervision and hit the road again.

"On 'Say You Will,' I had the best time I think I ever had with Fleetwood Mac," he says. "I think the reason, as much as we all missed Christine, was there was a space left for me onstage to be a guy. A lot of testosterone going on up there, and I was having a ball. Stevie, on the other hand, I don't know how she felt about it. I think at the end of the day maybe she wasn't too happy with that."

"Under the Skin" is also filled with songs celebrating Buckingham's newfound joy in family life. He and his wife, the former Kristen Messner, whom he married in 2000, have three children: Will, 8; Leelee, 6; and Stella, 2 ("The 2-year-old will be graduating from college and, if I'm even still here, I'll have the drool cup for sure.").

"So many of the people I know who were parents back in days past," he says, "were not really there for their kids. They had to make tough choices about where to be or how to be. But everybody was sort of conducting their lives the way they thought they had to, and the children suffered. It was something I never even contemplated during those years. I had such a nice upbringing and I never wanted to dishonor my parents and the way they brought me up by doing a crappy job as a dad, or as a husband, really. So once all of that passed and it seemed possible, it didn't seem very probable. I was lucky enough to meet someone, and now I have three kids. And, yeah, it's great."

Fleetwood Mac is still very much alive, just sleeping. Nicks recently called and asked Buckingham to come over. Fleetwood was there, too.

"Mick will usually be in cahoots with whatever is going on with Stevie," Buckingham says. "It's not about anything other than wanting to grease the machinery. They were saying next time we tour, we're going to move the mikes closer together and you're going to look in Stevie's eyes. I didn't say anything. Other than we did this play, I suppose we can do that play, too.

"A couple of months ago I went over there and she hands me a set list of what we're going to do a year and a half from now. So that's what going on now -- everyone wants to get out there at some point. The question is under what terms, or are there any terms. There seems to be a certain amount of political agendas to sort out. But, you know, whatever."

Buckingham is taking "Under the Skin" on the road with three sidemen from the past Fleetwood Mac tours: guitarists Neal Haywood and Brett Tuggle (who will double on keyboards) and percussionist Taku Hirano. He says he is partway through recording his next solo album, planned for release next year, but Buckingham has a history of letting these projects stretch out.

In a phone interview 25 years ago, when punkhood was in full flower and Fleetwood Mac was riding the top of the charts but oh-so square, Buckingham, in a defensive moment, told me he would rather be in the Clash.

"Did I say that once?" he says. "Funny thing is that Fleetwood Mac is probably way more hip than the Clash now. No, I don't want to be in the Clash. I was a guy who wanted to rock and wanted to do certain things. It was always a lesson in adaptation for me. Tearing certain things down and doing what was appropriate for what already existed as the band. That's probably one of the reasons I had so much fun on the road a couple of years ago. It was just more unleashed. No, I want to do exactly what I'm doing now."

"On 'Say You Will,' I had the best time I think I ever had with Fleetwood Mac," he says. "I think the reason, as much as we all missed Christine, was there was a space left for me onstage to be a guy. A lot of testosterone going on up there, and I was having a ball. Stevie, on the other hand, I don't know how she felt about it. I think at the end of the day maybe she wasn't too happy with that."

The above sounds like Lindsey trying to push Stevie's buttons again, but what do I know.

"A couple of months ago I went over there and she hands me a set list of what we're going to do a year and a half from now. So that's what going on now -- everyone wants to get out there at some point. The question is under what terms, or are there any terms. There seems to be a certain amount of political agendas to sort out. But, you know, whatever."

This sounds like Lindsey maybe being a little jealous (still) of Stevie's career, and her being able to do 4100 seat venues vs. his 600 seat venues. Political agendas? :shrug:
Sometimes it seems Lindsey forgets that it's the "Fleetwood Mac Machine" that enables him to buy these homes and have a great life in the first place. However, I do believe all the talk about having their mics closer together, looking at each other, etc., but that's just all part of the schtick that the average FM fan LOVES to see when they go to a show. It seems Lindsey is just taking it too seriously.

"A couple of months ago I went over there and she hands me a set list of what we're going to do a year and a half from now."

I can only imagine the look on that man's face when she handed him her idea of a tentative set list. I'm glad Nicks is being Girl Scoutly prepared, but it better not be the same, mundane set. Hey, a girl can dream...

Stevie did tell me that she wanted to add Christine songs to the set-list, so maybe thats what this is :shrug:

I just think the visual of Stevie handing Lindsey a set list is so funny. Thats just so random, "OK Lindsey here's the songs we're gonna do next year, start practicing. What would be even funnier is if all the songs were hers.

Oh what the fukc ever -- He ate that shiitte up on SYW and so did she. They play out the game and have readily admitted it like 1,000 times. It does not mean that they do not love each other, which they both have admitted equally as many times.

Me thinks LB does protest too much!

My sentiments exactly. :nod:

He is STILL playing out that on stage "act" :rolleyes:

God damn, I can't stand reading this guy's words sometimes.

I guess it was time for one of those comments again. :rolleyes:

I remember Stevie saying at the beginning of the whole round of SYW interviews, that she DID miss having Christine because now she was the only woman in a band of men, and that the dynamic was definitely different.
(thats a response to the first bold part)

as for the second bold part, apparently Lindsey is agreeable to the idea, he certainly could have said no but he didnt :shrug: I agree with Jason's comments.

You know, I like Lindsey's music but it wouldnt bother me if he did'nt do anymore interviews. For supposedly being happy as a clam with his cheesehead wife he really comes off as bitchy and miserable.

Those evil two women in the band that for years didn't allow him enough space to be a guy onstage and show all his testosterone.... What a pleasure must be for an independent woman to work ( or live) with this gentleman :rolleyes:


How classy for Mr Buckingham to badmouth his bandmates even before the next tour is started. I'm starting to hope it won't happen anytime soon. Stevie doesn't need it and I'm sure Mick and Lindsey can't find other ways to pay their bills. Can't Stevie tour only with John.... and Christine :thumbsup: ?

Romy

Stevie: "Lindsey..I am NOT making another record. It's not happening, you know. Lindsey... I wanna do these songs for our 2008 tour! I want what's best and most creative for my band"


The Chain
Dreams
Second Hand News
Eyes of the World
I know I'm Not Wrong
Say You Will
Peacekeeper
Miranda
Rhiannon
Go Insane
Big Love
Landslide
Never Going Back Again
Red Rover
Whats the world coming to
Tusk
Stand Back
I'm so afraid
Go Your Own Way
World Turning
Goodbye Baby


Lindsey: Stevie.. I was thinking w...

Stevie: NO, we are NOT adding more songs. "Sisters of the moon" is NOT happening, Lindsey.

Lindsey: Could we atleast make a final album, for the kids! Just a few songs. 10 tracks?

Stevie: No. Karen tell Lindsey that we can't!!!!


:rolleyes:

Well, the thing that made the band famous from the very beginning was their relationships. I mean, Rumors was all about the various breakups within the bands and the audience loved it. And it was obvious that Say You Will was supposed to be geared towards that from Stevie's perspective. Songs like Thrown Down, Destiny Rules, and Goodbye Baby were all about her and Lindsey. And I'm sure one part of that is giving an audience what they want, and another part is taking a thing that used to be very strong with you and writing about it. So when they are on stage it may be a bit of an act but it's hard not to get drawn up in these feelings. Think about a song that reminds you of a person or an event, does that feeling about the event not return to you every time you hear that song? Now imagine singing that song, especially if the feeling is about a person, and that person is standing next to you and you are able to sing it right at them. No matter how many years later it is, that feeling can still be there. I'm sure they play it up for dramatic purposes, but at the same time, at least for someone like Stevie (not that I know her or anything, LOL), I'm sure there some powerful stuff going on.

Of course, if you had a wife and kids at home and you were hanging around your ex and the two of you were singing songs about the love you guys had and the pain the breakup caused and all that, and you looked into each other's eyes during the songs about your reconcile, don't you think you'd be telling your wife that it's all just an act? Think about it, any public interview you give it probably going to be seen by a lot of people close to you, so you don't want to say "yeah, it's magic when we're on stage, it's just like the old days, it's like being in love again" or anything like that. No matter what you are feeling you're still gonna be, "oh, it's work, it's just a job".

Just my two or three cents. :blob2: