[SteveMacD]

Frankly, I'm bored to tears with it all. I'm really not a fan of the solo albums. I find I can only take so much of a particular singer's shtick.

Lindsey Buckingham: A few artsy-Lindsey songs go a long way (which is good, considering how often he releases material), but after a while, it comes off as self-absorbed, self-indulgent arrogance. The fact that he’s the guy who penned “Go Your Own Way” automatically eliminates him from being Joni Mitchell with a penis, so quit trying to shove that routine down our throats already!

Stevie Nicks: Okay, the ethereal thing was killer back in 1977, when we had “Star Wars” scenes airbrushed on our vans. And, much like those vans, it seems pretty pathetic 30 years later. Whenever I see a mystical song on a new Stevie Nicks album, it makes me appreciate Grace Slick’s decision to bow out gracefully (or at least until she went bat **** crazy, but that’s another discussion). Plus, Stevie’s limited vocal range and limited abilities as a songwriter (specifically in terms of chording) can make for an album that gets boring after about twenty minutes. In short, a twenty something space cadet is downright cute. A sixty something space cadet is utterly sad. A Bob Dylan with a vagina you are not, Miss Stevie!

Christine McVie: As much as I love her voice, her lyrics are trite and often laced in cliché. That tends to wear on me after a while, and bores me to tears.

This is why I think they were great together (at least until “Tusk”). There really wasn’t time to get bored with any particular member, and they were all bringing their best material to the band. They were very different, but the harmonies and Fleetwood-McVie rhythm section tied it all nicely together.


I could also write about the other members of Fleetwood Mac, but I’ll keep it to just the “Rumours” singer/songwriters. All I will say is that my favorite recent solo album is Jeremy Spencer’s. He sings classic Robert Johnson/Elmore James songs and then throws in songs with heavy political and religious messages. While I might not agree completely, I love how ballsy and honest that is. He didn’t care what anybody thought and did not play to a specific audience. He played the classics he loved AND spoke his mind, and that’s completely refreshing and certainly worthy of respect.

Still, as expressed by others, my enthusiasm has nose-dived in recent years, mainly because I’ve listened to everything so much that it’s really lost its point. The new stuff is okay, but lacks a lot of the spark that kept my interest going for so long. Oh, I'll see them when they come to town, but I'm not sure I'll make an effort to go on a road trip. I could have met Lindsey this past fall, but figured it was pointless. Plus, I’ve been following hockey pretty closely the last few years, which has taken a huge chunk out of my music time. When I do listen to music, I tend to go indie and/or alt.country (and, classic country, for that matter) these days.