[SteveMacD]

The biggest change that will directly impact the speed of this record is Lindsey’s change in attitude. In the past, Lindsey had a chip on his shoulder about having to put his solo aspirations aside to make another Fleetwood Mac record. This time around, it was actually Lindsey who was publicly lobbying to make another Fleetwood Mac record. In the past, Lindsey seemed to almost resent the others because he had to compromise his vision for the music (probably spending a lot of time letting them know it, too). Now he appreciates what the others bring to the table, and changed his thinking about how to contextualize his music around their talents. Finally, he’s a husband and a father, so the old tensions with Stevie aren’t anywhere near what they had been in the past, to the point where he actually expressed interest in taking a “Buckingham Nicks” approach to making an album (when Stevie was refusing to do another record).

The band being sober should also lower the amount of time it takes to make the record. Sure, cocaine can help you stay up for days on end. It can also make you become a raging lunatic who wastes four days because none of those pianos seem to be staying in tune or because the drums don’t sound right.

The band not going in cold will help. All but Christine were just on the road a few months ago, and Lindsey’s likely been working on arrangements for Christine’s songs. I imagine Mick and John have been learning those songs, too. With today’s technology, the demo phase, which is where they’ve been, goes much more quickly. The demo phase of the recording process likely took as long as the album proper. (I know this because the band I work for was on a big label years ago, and they made an album Ric Ocasek and another album with Rob Schapf. The process was described as tedious. They’d go into one studio and basically record the album, and then they’d rerecord it in another studio.) Add to that that there are five songs already done, and I really don’t see how it will take nearly as long as before.