Still think Stevie is going to do the FM album?

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by jkmaletic

It's unfortunate, because I am pretty positive she'd be much happier if she were resuming her solo career.

Jamie

I'm not so sure that would really be a valid option for her anymore. Her most recent solo outings show her status as a concert draw has greatly waned. She has only been able to half fill amphitheaters in recent years. Her latest solo albums have had top 10 debuts, but have sharply fallen off the charts after their debut week and failed to even make Gold status. She hasn't gotten radio or TV airplay for new songs since the Say You Will era.

Point being, Stevie can't really continue being a solo artist in the fashion she's used to. Could her ego handle having to perform in smaller venues & theaters? Would she be willing to ditch the private tour jet? She's getting to the point where her lavish touring and recording expenses can no longer be justified by her handlers.

Sure, she's financially stable enough to walk away from FM and live out the rest of her days in sublime comfort. But her solo career does not offer her the trappings FM does: sold out arena tours, massive media attention, and unfettered rock star perks. More than any FM member, this sort of stuff matters to Stevie.

[jkmaletic]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I'm not so sure that would really be a valid option for her anymore. Her most recent solo outings show her status as a concert draw has greatly waned. She has only been able to half fill amphitheaters in recent years. Her latest solo albums have had top 10 debuts, but have sharply fallen off the charts after their debut week and failed to even make Gold status. She hasn't gotten radio or TV airplay for new songs since the Say You Will era.

Point being, Stevie can't really continue being a solo artist in the fashion she's used to. Could her ego handle having to perform in smaller venues & theaters? Would she be willing to ditch the private tour jet? She's getting to the point where her lavish touring and recording expenses can no longer be justified by her handlers.

Sure, she's financially stable enough to walk away from FM and live out the rest of her days in sublime comfort. But her solo career does not offer her the trappings FM does: sold out arena tours, massive media attention, and unfettered rock star perks. More than any FM member, this sort of stuff matters to Stevie.

Good point. She does seem to love the lavish life and attention she gets that touring with FM provides. But I think we would both agree that it's a double-edged sword for her. Like you said, if she were to go back to her solo career, that would mean smaller venues and lack of personal aircraft, among other things. She would obviously have to weigh the pros and cons of this, but I would guess that if given the choice, she'd probably still opt for the solo career. I've seen her several times at smaller venues and I've never seen her happier on stage than she is at those shows.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by jkmaletic

Good point. She does seem to love the lavish life and attention she gets that touring with FM provides. But I think we would both agree that it's a double-edged sword for her. Like you said, if she were to go back to her solo career, that would mean smaller venues and lack of personal aircraft, among other things. She would obviously have to weigh the pros and cons of this, but I would guess that if given the choice, she'd probably still opt for the solo career. I've seen her several times at smaller venues and I've never seen her happier on stage than she is at those shows.

Same here with when I saw her at South By Southwest promoting the In Your Dreams and Sound City projects. She seemed genuinely happy and utterly relaxed- two emotions she never seems to exhibit concurrently within the confines of Fleetwood Mac. I think such intimate venues and projects do make Stevie happy as a reprieve from the politics and emotional stress FM carries. However, would she be totally fine with permanently walking away from all of the glamor that goes along with Fleetwood Mac? I think she'd initially breathe a sigh of relief, but get restless after a few years. Like she says, she's a Gemini- she's gotta have both sides of every coin to be content.

So wrapping all of this around to the initial question at hand- will Stevie record this final Mac album? Of course! She wouldn't miss it for the world. Will it be an immediate thing? I wouldn't count on it. Stevie will most likely insist on a break from the band when this tour finally wraps. I wouldn't want to speculate on a date an album would emerge, but I wouldn't expect it before later in 2016. She will want some time off after 3 consecutive years touring with FM. Then she'll likely want to do some sort of promotion for 24k Gold- maybe some small theater shows in hand picked cities? Next she'll want to take some time to get the prose & poetry into song form that she most certainly wrote during the past few years with FM. Then she'll want to put those songs into demo form so she can have something to bring into FM.

So my point with all of this being- maybe she really is putting the brakes on committing herself to the FM album for legit reasons- she realizes it will probably be the last FM studio album, and wants to bring fresh, relevant material to the table. And to accomplish that, she doesn't want to commit to what she feels are arbitrary time tables.