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Originally Posted by Johnny Stew
I guess it's never bothered me (the additional musicians & backing singers on stage) because the Buckingham & Nicks era studio albums were always so slickly produced. I don't mean "slick" in a bad way, of course, because I love "slick" as it's done by Fleetwood Mac.
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The differences are:
1. That the players on the albums are Christine McVie, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham & Mick Fleetwood, rather than (insert numerous names of hired sessionists here). The aforementioned four have a lot more personality & the stamp of personal style in their playing than do the sessionists, who are self-trained & paid to supply a mainstream instrumental cushion that rocks no boats rather than to express highly individual & idiosyncratic sonic textures.
2. That the neobaroque splendor & the dainty miniaturism of the Mac's production style find a complementary haven in the cleanly controlled environment of the studio & the dynamically sensitive medium of the CD--& not in the cavernous sports arenas & amphitheaters of the live show, where such details are almost always lost amid greatly diminished dynamics & reverberative sludge.
I think, for both these reasons, the band's earlier approach--clean & detailed in the studio but jagged & aggressive onstage--made far better aesthetic & physical sense.
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In the end, I just want something that sounds good to my ears... so I'm cool with it whether there are 12 people up on stage or five.
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Well, yeah, I do, too. But five on stage is exactly what happens to sound better!