Clive Davis: Fleetwood Mac almost signed with Arista Records

[wetcamelfood]

Yes, Mick did say in his book they visited Arista but didn't say how close to signing with them they were. Wow, could you imagine if they jumped ship after the '75 album and put Rumours out on Arista how WB would've felt?

John

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by wetcamelfood

Yes, Mick did say in his book they visited Arista but didn't say how close to signing with them they were. Wow, could you imagine if they jumped ship after the '75 album and put Rumours out on Arista how WB would've felt?

John

That's the thing, HAD they jumped to Arista, they STILL would've owed WB 2 albums. And, that would've just been like taking a cricket bat to a bee hive as far as pending litigation. WHEW! You think the Clifford Davies lawsuit took a toll on the band? THAT series of lawsuits would've just crushed 'em.

[wetcamelfood]

Originally Posted by chiliD

That's the thing, HAD they jumped to Arista, they STILL would've owed WB 2 albums. And, that would've just been like taking a cricket bat to a bee hive as far as pending litigation. WHEW! You think the Clifford Davies lawsuit took a toll on the band? THAT series of lawsuits would've just crushed 'em.

Ah, good point, never thought of that.

John

[WatchChain]

Had the Mac moved to Arista, and knowing the tight creative control that Clive Davis has over his Arista artists, I doubt we would have had "Tusk". Even after 20 million + sales of "Rumours", Clive Davis would have taken a test listen to "Tusk" and refused to release it. It would have been locked in a vault and Mr. Davis would have insisted that the band go back in the studio and cut "Rumours II".

[olive]

Originally Posted by WatchChain

Had the Mac moved to Arista, and knowing the tight creative control that Clive Davis has over his Arista artists, I doubt we would have had "Tusk". Even after 20 million + sales of "Rumours", Clive Davis would have taken a test listen to "Tusk" and refused to release it. It would have been locked in a vault and Mr. Davis would have insisted that the band go back in the studio and cut "Rumours II".

exactly things would have been different he may have not like rumours ,an he definitely would not want the blonde girl singer to make a solo record and break up the band

[Macfanforever]

Wow this is news to me. Its time to brush up on FM 101.

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by WatchChain

Had the Mac moved to Arista, and knowing the tight creative control that Clive Davis has over his Arista artists, I doubt we would have had "Tusk". Even after 20 million + sales of "Rumours", Clive Davis would have taken a test listen to "Tusk" and refused to release it. It would have been locked in a vault and Mr. Davis would have insisted that the band go back in the studio and cut "Rumours II".

If that were the case he probably would have told Lindsey to scrap most of his tunes and record more mellow sounding stuff and been happy with the contributions from the ladies.

[wetcamelfood]

Originally Posted by chiliD

That's the thing, HAD they jumped to Arista, they STILL would've owed WB 2 albums. And, that would've just been like taking a cricket bat to a bee hive as far as pending litigation. WHEW! You think the Clifford Davies lawsuit took a toll on the band? THAT series of lawsuits would've just crushed 'em.

Well I wonder if they would've got around that by releasing a live album (since we know the recordings existed) and an anthology as their 2 remaining WB albums?

This reminds me, does anyone know why Warners shifted FM from Reprise (who they had been with from when they signed in '69 starting with Then Play On) to their main label after the '75 album & before Rumours though Time then back to Reprise for the Dance onwards? Just curious, maybe the Reprise division couldn't handle the distribution needs the main label could for what is deemed to be their big selling artists (as they must then have seen FM as one of those with the white album's success)? What about someone like Gordon Lightfoot who stayed on Reprise through his most popular years? (though granted his success wasn't near FM's etc.)

John