"I'd be totally lying if I said that record is what I wanted, because it isn't," she says. "I argued with Lindsey all the way through it, and he argued with me. It wasn't very much fun, and I wasn't that pleased with the music. I felt my demos were better, which of course is easy to say, but I did. And what can I say? It wasn't a lot of fun."
TrueFaith nailed it. SYW as a whole did not represent Stevie's sensibilities. She begrudgingly went along with the rest of the band's musical direction. Following Lindsey's lead, they set out to push the envelope and purposely try not to sound like Fleetwood Mac, which literally came straight from the horse's mouths in the Destiny Rules doc when Stevie 1st arrives at the studio.
Lindsey mentioning in one pre-release interview that Stevie had yet to thank him for his work on her 'SYW' songs. He stated that she was "still seeing this album through dark colors."
Stevie was very cagey, almost seeming depressed upon SYW's release. I recall it was odd and jarring, set against Lindsey's excitement and practically foaming at the mouth adoration over SYW, especially when it came to his material on the album. In hindsight, Stevie was obviously still bruising over all the fights involved in making the record. Over song choices (Come, especially springs to mind), over the double vs single album & who would mix the final recordings, over the final sequencing of songs etc.. Stevie lobbied for and lost, or better yet she acquiesced to appease Lindsey, compromising her convictions, but keeping the peace. Whether or not people/fans will admit it wholly. Stevie's instincts were pretty dead on. While on one hand, as a fan, I'm thankful to have this record with all the songs, I have to admit deep down that the following songs: "Come" , "Murrow Turning Over In His Grave" or "Red Rover" and "Running Through The Garden" and "Everybody Finds Out" sound like solo songs and would have been better served up on solo records.
"It was nightmare doing that record. It really was Lindsey’s vision, and it wasn’t very much about the other three of us. And of course it was also the first record we had ever attempted to do without Christine [McVie, who left the band in the late 1990s]. Right there, the whole thing was completely insane. She is the magic mediator in that band and always was. She’s the one who made light of everything and made everybody laugh and told us all that were full of ****. She was the person who made it all work. So when she wasn’t there, that sunk the boat. I don’t think that my friend Chris ever realized how important she was. Without her, it’s a boy’s club. The lack of Christine is a big, hollow hole in my heart."
Without a doubt, Stevie holds the cards and another FM record will only happen if Lindsey agrees with Stevie's vision next time out
. Primary on her short list is an outside producer/mediator, most likely Dave Stewart, or if anyone can magically get Christine to come out of retirement for one last record - which would be short of a miracle for that to happen. And secondly, if one more FM record is to be, Stevie clearly wants it to match her "sensibilities" next time around. Sounding more like the old Fleetwood Mac that she loves. I really hope it happens, but am not holding my breath.
