[Les]

Originally posted by strandinthewind
I think that if LB was a true idealist, he would have released GOS on the net and never subjected himself to FM.

I guess I missed the memo on what a "true" idealist is.

But he did not do that. He made that choice to go to the very commerical FM. Given their history, which has been beaten and rehashed to death over the last 15 years - hence my feeling that he plays it up a bit, LB certainly did not go into the FM sessions with blinders on.

Blinders? No. But he clearly thought he went with FM with what he thought was buy in from Mick to do a double album. That means he thought he was going to be able to get more his music to a broader audience, which I think is quite important to him. It also means he thought that the bigger artistic statement that he saw the double ablum as being, wasn't something he was going to have to battle for so hard this time around.

So, while I think LB (and FM and SN for that matter) really does want to make every thing as good as he thinks it should be, LB clearly wants commercial success and all the things that come with it.

Your assumption is that he wants to reach a broader audience because he wants more money/luxuries. That's not an equation that I make.

I think people think I am being unfair to LB by saying this. I am not. I like LB. I think he is brilliant.

I don't think you're unfair. It just appears to me that you don't take him particularly seriously. You said something about how "at least Stevie is being honest about wanting to make money." That's fine if you feel that way. But just because Lindsey is willing to make less money in service of a different sort of artistic statement doesn't make him less honest. He's just got different priorities.

You seem to feel that his talking about being an artist first, with everything else about the business being secondary to that is all a put on and has always been a put on. I think that's a remarkably cynical view to take of him. That's all.

I am just saying LB has a 25 year history of sort of appearing like he is so anti-establishment, anti-commerical, etc., but in the end he craves commercial viablity and always likes to appear like he is "selling out" to get it.

I disagree. I think he loathes the idea that one would think he's selling out.

I think after all of these years that feeling cannot be genuine - rather, I think it appears contrived after all of these years.

So, I guess I'm trying to understand. Do you think everything he said in the documentary was all for show and really it was an elaborate ruse to make sure that nobody would think he was really just dying to roll around in mounds of cash? Wouldn't simply going with an easy single album, and skipping all of the money talk in front of the cameras have been a slightly more straightforward and simple way to do that?

I mean why else would he go back to the very commerical FM every time he needs commercial viability

He's said hundreds of times by now, I dare say, that he's far more able to appreciate the chemistry of the band now and feels it's very special that they can all still come back together and still feel the spark of doing something special. He's also said it's a lot easier to get material released under the name of Fleetwood Mac because labels open the door for Fleetwood where they close the door to Buckingham.

As an aside and just a general comment, I think it is so interesting people in general seem to think commercial viability is a bad thing. I mean its not like every song of the radio is horrible

Well, by the same token, I guess I think it's odd that some are seemingly offended by the notion that making the most money he can possibly make on every project isn't his main motivator.