Quote:
Originally Posted by vivfox
S
The wonder of Fleetwood Mac’s chemistry is that the casting of these two less-than-major talents in pop music’s answer to Gone with the Wind elevates them to the stature of stormy rock & roll heroines—one compelled to reach for the stars, the other condemned to wander the earth. Within the context of the group, we not only accept these women’s excesses and limitations, we cherish them as indispensable ingredients of their characters.
http://beatpatrol.wordpress.com/2008...mac-tusk-1979/ |
This assessment of McVie and Nicks has remained pretty consistent with most rock journalists since then.
For the White Album and Rumors, McVie was hailed as the band's front woman who, in the words of one reviewer, was "one of the most compelling woman in rock." Nicks often had a problem with critics back then.
It was from Tusk onward that Buckingham was hailed as the band's resident genius. The brutal critical beatings McVie has suffered from both of her solo albums, along with the repeated bashings on the loopiness of Nicks's records, contrasts sharply with the "pure genius" assessments of Buckingham's solo output. Time, however, has been kind to Nicks. She's endured/suffered critical savagery and risen above it, while most non Mac fans ask "Lindsey who?" McVie appears unruffled or unaffected by the persistent bashing of critics who say her fixation on love songs is tiresome, probably because anytime she participates on a Mac recording, those very "liabilities" are celebrated as virtues.
Another common critical thread: that McVie and Buckingham make an ideal partnership because he gives her an edge and she smoothes out his edges. Given the two's work on Mirage and Tango, I'd agree with this.