Intelligencer Journal 2004

[michelej1]

[This wasn't online already]

Intelligencer Journal (Lancaster, PA), June 11, 2004

Finding a lineup that works - again
Ferguson, Jon

DETAILS Fleetood Mac, Sat. 8 p.m. Hersheypark Stadium, Hershey $37.50-$75, 534-3911.

With four members of its most famous lineup back together, Fleetwood Mac hits the road

Mick Fleetwood vows there will be no more personnel changes.

The current lineup of Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsay Buckingham and Stevie Nicks - will be its last.

Fleetwood swears it's true, but in the end can't help but give himself a little wiggle room.

"This is it," Fleetwood said during a telephone interview from his California home. "People do ask, 'Is Christine (McVie) ever coming back?' My sense is absolutely not.

"I suppose if Christine knocked on the door and said, 'One more tour, let's go out together and do it,' I think we would. But the reality is we're also in the process of going forward over the next five to seven years or so."

Stability has never been a quality associated with Fleetwood Mac, which will perform Saturday night at Hersheypark Stadium, as the band has endured a dizzying number of personnel changes right from the start of its long, storied history.

Most people associate Fleetwood Mac with that classic 1970s lineup of Buckingham, Nicks, the two McVies, who were once married, and Fleetwood. That lineup made one of biggest-selling albums in rock history, "Rumours," which it bookended with two equally fine records, "Fleetwood Mac" and "Tusk."

Many, many other musicians, however, have passed through the band's ranks, including Peter Green, Danny Kirwan, Bob Welch, Dave Mason, Billy Burnette, Rick Vito and Bekka Bramlett.

Buckingham, Nicks and Christine McVie have only been occasional members for the past 15 years or so.

"We have not run our affairs in a businesslike fashion because it's all dictated by emotions and whether something feels right, and that's it," Fleetwood said. "The good part is, when it happens it is for good reason, and that's where we're at now."

The band's constants have always been the rhythm section of Fleetwood and McVie.

"Me and John have never wavered," Fleetwood said. "We've always been part of a nucleus that has presented enough of a platform to make another start from. And enough of a platform for someone that's coming into the band to feel a musical security, if you like."

Fleetwood, the band's primary recruiter of talent, said he never considered calling it quits until the mid-1990s.

Buckingham and Nicks had already departed. When Christine McVie then decided to leave, Fleetwood rang up his old pal Dave Mason and hired singer Beeka Bramlett, the daughter of Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett. The reconstituted Fleetwood Mac released a long-forgotten album called "Time" that failed to chart.

"In truth, the album wasn't very strong," Fleetwood said. "There's a few good songs on it, but it didn't work as well as we had hoped. Then we went on the road. And the truth of the matter is, it was the beginning of the end. Me and John realized it was starting to not be a good thing and we stopped it. That's where we left off."

But like all things Fleetwood Mac, there were still more acts to be played out.

The "Rumours" lineup, likely for financial reasons as the solo careers of Nicks and Buckingham were flagging, reunited to record "The Dance," a live album that also included four new songs. The album's release dovetailed with a world tour - that lineup's first in 15 years.

Just last year, the band released "Say You Will," an album featuring nine songs by Nicks and nine by Buckingham. It was the first studio album Buckingham had done with Fleetwood Mac in 16 years and the first for Nicks in 14 years. Alas, Christine McVie chose not to participate, but Fleetwood said that doesn't bother him.

"We all get up there on stage and the magic happens," he said. "The reality is Stevie and Lindsay are doing what they did when they joined Fleetwood Mac. They're together and they are at the front of a rock 'n' roll band, just what they dreamed of doing."

Is this truly Fleetwood Mac's final lineup? Don't count on it.