Mick's book- the "Time" Band

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by wetcamelfood

One thing I just thought of regarding Mick's comments on this time in the new book is that he basically says due to the fighting with Mason/Bekka etc. he couldn't keep this going. So how come fighting was tolerated for Rumours etc. but not this?

1. Mick, John, and Christine were still dealing with the lawsuit over who owned the name Fleetwood Mac during Rumours.

2. The band had finally broken through and were touring behind a hit album when the personal relationships fell apart. They were able to use that as creative inspiration.

3. There's a big difference between couples breaking up and two people who don't like each other. Neither is pleasant, but the couples were able to maintain professional relationships.

4. Lindsey Buckingham was back in the picture by that point. A Buckingham-Fleetwood tour would have been more respectable than a Fleetwood Mac tour that didn't feature any of the Rumours singers while still relying heavily on that material.

Originally Posted by Mr Scarrott

I think it came down to money (or rather the lack of it) and artistic failure, don't you?

Probably. The fact is they never toured in support of that album, so we'll never really know what potential it had, if any. Given the weak sales numbers of the solo albums by Stevie and Lindsey, I doubt it would have done a lot better.

I just wish that Rick had stayed and Billy had left permanently instead. No Mason/Bramlett incarnation, but maybe, just maybe we could have had a Rick/Chris/John/Mick blues combo touring smaller venues for a couple of years or so. That would really have worked, and people would have bought into the idea.

The problem with that is Christine had retired from touring by that point. I wish Rick and Billy had both stayed and the band still brought Bekka on board.

The problem with the whole era, starting with the Tango tour, is that they were too subservient to the Rumours legacy, which was understandable, but not something that they had done during the previous personnel changes. They didn't do any Peter Green songs on the Kiln House tour, for example. As a result, the new members were allowed to develop their own identities within the context of Fleetwood Mac.