SN: The Dogs Are Out (NY Daily News)

[michelej1]

[Who Let the Dogs Out?]

New York Daily News, 3/8/2009
http://www.newsday.com/entertainment...,3249411.story

'Fleetwood Mac: Unleashed' hits Nassau Coliseum BY GLENN GAMBOA

Fleetwood Mac is ready for something new.

Though the Rock and Roll Hall of Famers celebrated the 40th anniversary of their debut last year, their current tour, which kicked off last week in Pittsburgh, will be the first that won't introduce any new material.

"We really don't like the term 'greatest hits' tour," says Stevie Nicks, calling from her home in Santa Monica, Calif. "The tour is called 'Fleetwood Mac: Unleashed' - like the dogs are out or because we're back on the streets. This show will knock people's socks off because it is all those [versions] people love and a bunch of new ones that they love and don't have any idea that they're going to get to hear. All we have to worry about creatively is our stage set and what's going on behind us.

"We are back," Nicks says. "And we are back in a big way."

Of course, anything Fleetwood Mac does will be big. They've had nine platinum albums and eight Top 10 singles, and their album "Rumours" has sold more than 19 million copies in America alone, making it the ninth-biggest seller of all time. (That album will soon have a better chance to climb the rankings, as the band readies a new version of "Rumours" that will include previously unreleased demos and behind-the-scenes footage of its creation.)

But Lindsey Buckingham says something else is different this time around with the band - a quartet these days with drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie, as keyboardist-singer Christine McVie has retired from touring. "There's never been a time when there hasn't been a certain amount of angst or alienation or pain or something going on," says Buckingham, calling from his Los Angeles home. "You have to remember that even when Stevie and I first joined Fleetwood Mac, she and I were already in the process of breaking up on some level. John and Christine McVie were in the same place. ... That's all different. Every time we get together, it's like a new play, a new story, and I think there are still new chapters to be written about this band."

It was actually Buckingham's quest for things to feel different that delayed this tour. "When we got off the road in 2004, I told everyone, 'Just don't knock on my door for three years,'" says Buckingham, whose desire to work on a solo album intensified after songs from an earlier solo project got rolled into the last Fleetwood Mac album, "Say You Will." "I get most of the sense of growth and aspiring to be an artist, keeping the sense of religion about the work, from my solo work."

The rest of Fleetwood Mac was supportive of Buckingham's work, which became last year's "Gift of Screws." Nicks remembers the meeting clearly: "He was like, 'The years are ticking by here, and I need to work on my solo work - you, Stevie, have been working on your solo work since 1981. I need a couple years and I'm gonna do a couple of CDs and I'm going to tour behind them and then I'd be ready to do another Fleetwood Mac tour.' And we were all like, 'OK, cool.'

"We were happy for him to do that," Nicks adds. "Happy people are happy people in bands. ... He seems to be happy now."

Buckingham says he is happy these days, both personally and professionally. The success of "Gift of Screws," critically and commercially, helped him get rid of the feelings of professional frustration he had in recent years. Now, he is eager for that happiness to continue on a Fleetwood Mac tour and he is eager for fans to see the band truly having fun.

"You could make a case to say we're resting on our laurels, I guess," Buckingham says. "But at the same time, it does underscore the fact that we're out there as people enjoying each other. Doing that without an album, it almost makes it easier to go out and make 'the hang' the thing. I think people are going to enjoy seeing 'the hang' as they are going to enjoy hearing the material. Oddly enough, over the years, many people have invested in us as people and the mythology or however you want to look at that - the tabloidism."

One big, happy family

Both Buckingham and Nicks say they plan to show people that on this tour, despite all the breakups and the band turmoil, everything turned out fine. "Without the music, we are still really, really good friends," Nicks says. "We've spent more time with each other than we've spent with anybody else, even our real families. This family always took precedence over our real family."

After all, part of Fleetwood Mac's appeal was the fact that it seemed like a family, one that was, at times, as dysfunctional as any soap opera creation. Nicks says part of the success of "Rumours" was that fans related to the very public airings of the band's private relationships.

"While we were breaking up, everybody else was breaking up, too," she says. "We were in our 20s and everyone else - from 16 to 65 - was having their boyfriend-girlfriend, husband-wife problems. I think that it really resonated in the relationships of everybody. If you were hearing 'Go Your Own Way' from Lindsey to Stevie, you were also hearing it from you to your ex-wife. If you were hearing 'Dreams' from Stevie - I was trying to put it in a nicer way, like the Indians say, 'When the rain washes you clean, you'll know' - I was saying that we will make it through this and hopefully we will still be friends on the other end. And that's how it turned out."

However, just because fans will know all the songs they hear on the "Unleashed" tour doesn't mean the band doesn't have some surprises up its sleeves.

"I suggested that we give 'Storms' a try - bring everybody down to the center of the stage and bring Mick in off the drums and do it in the original Brazilian samba way that it was written," Nicks says. "We actually bring back some of the songs that we never got to do."

The spirit of Christine McVie

They also are planning to work Christine McVie's songs into the set, with Buckingham and Nicks handling the vocals for the first time. "We're going to make sure the spirit of Christine McVie is there," Nicks says. "If she could do it, she would be there, but she just hates the travel. She can't do the airplane thing. She can't do a different city every night. She was having panic attacks, and she never told us. She's a tough Englishwoman and she never said a word."

Buckingham says the idea that Sheryl Crow was going to join the band to handle McVie's songs was "only a hypothetical" and never got off the ground. "You're much better off to do them from the center out," Buckingham says. "Otherwise, you've just brought someone in to basically cover her songs and it strikes me as a bit loungey, so that's not going to happen."

One thing that's sure to happen is a new Fleetwood Mac record, though the timing of it hasn't been worked out, since it depends on how long the current tour goes. "We will have time to hang and maybe throw some new material around, whether it's after 46 dates or after we do some playing in Europe and some other places," Buckingham says. "Eventually, we will get down to making an album, but it will be after we've had time to be not only close as people but sharp as musicians, too."

And Nicks says she is just as determined.

"I think the world should have one more kick-ass Fleetwood Mac record," she says. "We're going to do it so the world can have it."

[michelej1]

GOS was a success commercially?? That's news.

Never mind, from the recent sound of things, I think Lindsey being nice to that gal has gotten us a new album. That's great, but I believe he still owes me one dame. If I got that, I'd die happy.

Excuse me, I'm not up on my slang. Can you tell me what "the hang" is? It sounds dirty.

At any rate, Lindsey's got European dates on the radar, you guys.

Michele

[GoS]

Originally Posted by michelej1

"When we got off the road in 2004, I told everyone, 'Just don't knock on my door for three years,'" says Buckingham, whose desire to work on a solo album intensified after songs from an earlier solo project got rolled into the last Fleetwood Mac album, "Say You Will." "I get most of the sense of growth and aspiring to be an artist, keeping the sense of religion about the work, from my solo work."

The rest of Fleetwood Mac was supportive of Buckingham's work, which became last year's "Gift of Screws." Nicks remembers the meeting clearly: "He was like, 'The years are ticking by here, and I need to work on my solo work - you, Stevie, have been working on your solo work since 1981. I need a couple years and I'm gonna do a couple of CDs and I'm going to tour behind them and then I'd be ready to do another Fleetwood Mac tour.' And we were all like, 'OK, cool.'

Two things. One, I guess that conversation actually happened. I thought that was just Lindsey making things up, stretching the truth, telling a tall tale. But I guess that wasn't figurative and actually happened.

Two, I love how they talk about Say You Will and Gift of Screws as if they're different, or at least, the solo albums side of it. (For me, there are three Gift of screws. GoS I [Demos] GoS II [SYW] & GoS III [The Released version]).

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by GoS

Two things. One, I guess that conversation actually happened. I thought that was just Lindsey making things up, stretching the truth, telling a tall tale. But I guess that wasn't figurative and actually happened.

I totally did not believe Lindsey. I rolled my eyes every time he said he told FM not to come knocking. I was saying, "Oh you wish someone would come knocking on your door, you psycho. There you are looking out the window begging for someone to come up the sidewalk and knock!" Guess I misjudged him.

Michele

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by michelej1

The rest of Fleetwood Mac was supportive of Buckingham's work, which became last year's "Gift of Screws." Nicks remembers the meeting clearly: "He was like, 'The years are ticking by here, and I need to work on my solo work - you, Stevie, have been working on your solo work since 1981. I need a couple years and I'm gonna do a couple of CDs and I'm going to tour behind them and then I'd be ready to do another Fleetwood Mac tour.' And we were all like, 'OK, cool.'

I really can't feel sympathetic on this one. Ummm, Lindsey, when did Law And Order come out? In fact, in the decade you were out of the band, you released a grand total of ONE solo album. While I'm anything but a huge Stevie fan, I will give her credit that she seemed to find a way to balance the two careers.

[TrueFaith77]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I totally did not believe Lindsey. I rolled my eyes every time he said he told FM not to come knocking. I was saying, "Oh you wish someone would come knocking on your door, you psycho. There you are looking out the window begging for someone to come up the sidewalk and knock!" Guess I misjudged him.

Michele

He even wrote a song about it!

[StreetAngel86]

Originally Posted by GoS

Two, I love how they talk about Say You Will and Gift of Screws as if they're different, or at least, the solo albums side of it. (For me, there are three Gift of screws. GoS I [Demos] GoS II [SYW] & GoS III [The Released version]).

me too
and i was never that big of a lindsey-solo fan
but i love the demos and class that entirely separate of the other 2
SYW is like the prequel to GoS only SYW came out first

Originally Posted by michelej1

GOS was a success commercially?? That's news.

really?
i thought it did better than UTS
tour wise and review wise
didnt it?
it's like it got more publicity
or a bigger deal was made about it coz *it* was finally coming out
wotever incarnation it ended up as

i like GoS better than UTS anyway
but i dont know how y'all defining 'successful' ...

Never mind, from the recent sound of things, I think Lindsey being nice to that gal has gotten us a new album.

did he buy her flowers
with a delicate white ribbon card ...
he must be being reeeeeeeeeeeally nice for this change of mood

[vermicious knid]

Originally Posted by michelej1

"We are back," Nicks says. "And we are back in a big way."

Shades of Michael Jackson.

[kathy1]

thanks for the article. i loved reading it.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by StreetAngel86

i thought it did better than UTS
tour wise and review wise
didnt it?

No, it did worse than UTS tour wise. Review wise -- not sure. They may be equal. Rolling Stone named UTS one of the Top 50 albums of the year. Of course, I don't care how it did commercially. It's always going to be a platinum best seller in my house, car, office.

I just think it's an odd thing to read in a newspaper article.

I like GOS better than UTS as well, but I'm glad they came out in that order, because I loved UTS at the time. But if I'd gotten GOS first and then UTS was released later, I might have been a little disappointed and that would have been very unfair to UTS. As his first album and tour in years, I gave UTS all of the attention it deserved and am glad I did not have the opportunity to shortchange it.

Michele

[MikeVielhaber]

I agree. I enjoyed UTS a lot when it came out, but GoS is clearly better in my opinion and it's best that they came out in the order that they did.

[BTFLCHLD]

are all of these 'writers' writing off the same damn press release/interviews?

[GoS]

Yes.


I am glad that the albums cam out in the order that they did, but for a different reason. I love UtS on a level that I cannot describe with words. That was my first exposure to the wonderful world of LB solo, and that album help grow my musical tastes,but it also helped me through a rough patch. Gift of Screws is good, (It is my username after all), but I think that UtS is one of the most beautiful albums ever. It just shows his talent at everything (but singing). I can see why some people don't like it, but will always be #1 to me.
JMO