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Originally Posted by David
To varying degrees. I think Stevie's especially self-focused, self-obsessed, even. It's just her personality & her temperament. She would be temperamentally unable to get much of a bird's-eye view of the historical record if she were to write her own book. (Personally, I don't think she'll ever write any kind of standard narrative book about herself or Fleetwood Mac -- all she'd ever publish would be parts of her journals & her "prose poems.")
Think back to Stevie's speech to induct Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers into the Hall of Fame: she presented their accomplishments through a strangely self-obsessed filter. She can't really speak or think objectively or analytically -- at least not in any prolonged fashion. Imagine her trying to create an outline for a huge task of expository prose (like a book bio). It wouldn't fly; she couldn't.
Or go back even further to Jim Ladd's interview with her in '83: he asked her about Benmont Tench & all she really had to say was that Benmont helps HER & her "girls" out. Jim responded subtly that he is also known to have played a keyboard part or two in his lifetime. Sometimes little exchanges like this reveal a lot about Stevie's personality & temperament & thinking in general. She doesn't see these talented people around her in her professional life in an analytical sense as musicians -- they're just her friends, which is sweet but it does tend to diminish them in a way.
You can't expect prolonged analysis from Stevie, at least not typically. I think I've posted something like this before. It's a little bit like asking a 5-year-old about her renowned scientist father. "Yeah, but he reads me stories at night."
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I can't argue with anything you said. For one thing, there's no reason to. And for another, there's no arguing with the truth.
Stevie is pretty "child-like" in her views of those around her. Which is part of what I was saying in that I feel her autobiography would romanticize the players.
Quite honestly, I've always found that aspect of Stevie's personality refreshing... though I realize others find it exasperating.
But, really, you can find hundreds of performers who regard their musicians and session-men in a professional way, but how often do you find one who actually speaks about these guys (and gals) in terms of FRIENDSHIP?
We all know Benmont can play killer keyboards... I'm pretty sure Stevie knows that too, that's why she wants him around.
But Stevie talks not about what Benmont does within the songs, but what he does for her as a friend and as a fellow music-maker.
And while others might go on and on about Tom Petty's musical accomplishments, and all his multi-platinum albums, and the long string of Top 40 hits, and his various awards, Stevie goes on and on about Tom Petty, the man. The guy who's kind and sweet to her, and gives her a pep talk when she needs it, and whose music gets her toes a-tappin.'
I think that's pretty cool... and as a human-being, I'd find that more touching and flattering than just being praised for my musical abilities.
So, yeah, she's pretty doggone self-absorbed in that her viewpoints stem from how something makes HER feel ("Illume" is a shining example of that), but I think that also keeps her from being just another performer who keeps people... fans, studio musicians, peers... at arm's length.