Quote:
Originally Posted by David
These bits reminded me of a theory I’ve had for a long time, which is counterintuitive. I think it’s Lindsey’s Fleetwood Mac fame that kept him from having a solid, self-sustaining solo artist career. I think if he had not been in Fleetwood Mac (or been in for only a few years), he may have created an indie career with enough buoyancy to last for decades, like Stereolab or Thomas Dolby or Elliott Smith. But he was always worrying about success at the Fleetwood level, and that sunk him over and over again. Somehow, too, many listeners who might have been in his camp in the 80s and 90s just kept comparing him with Fleetwood — “He should have been more this or more that.” But every single solo record he puts out is contraindicated by the gargantua Fleetwood Mac. He is always an extension of them (as are Stevie, Christine, Mick, and John). He cannot cut that tie; all his solo work is an analogy (this is like that or unlike that).
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Part of the reason Stevie was able to have the self-sustaining solo career was doing all of the duets with the likes of Kenny Loggins, Tom Petty, and Don Henley, which allowed her to be seen as something outside of the context of Fleetwood Mac. The music she made as a solo artists sounded different from Fleetwood Mac. She also toured and kept her name out there.
While Christine wasn't especially interested in being a solo artist, she was still able to deliver something a little different from her Fleetwood Mac work by working with other musicians.
Lindsey had done so much on his own within the context of Fleetwood Mac that it was much harder to delineate his Fleetwood Mac work from his solo work. There were truly no compelling reasons to consider his solo work on its own merits. It didn't shed any new light on Lindsey, it only spoke more to his own eccentricities. That he only made three studio albums (two solo, one Fleetwood Mac) and played about 80 tour dates in 21 years (OOTC tour and The Dance) further compounded the problem.