Christine

[Cristian]

Needless to say, she's my favorite Fleetwood Mac member... of all the incarnations (see avatar there <--). I have to coincide with you, though, about "Only Over You" being an absolute "down" in her carrer.

Sometimes she just delivers some incredible words joined by impressive music, and then the arrangements convert the thing into a terrific song... I don't think she had too many "downs", though. She kept her style throughout the years and, turning herself from a blues songwriter, she became a very important pop referent. In the first era she kept ballancing the material from Danny Kirwan and Bob Welch with songs filled with sweetness ("Show Me A Smile") and even with tunes more close to blues or rock and roll ("Homeward Bound"). Then she and Bob Welch formed a songwriting team that apparently never existed according to Mick Fleetwood's site (he he) and, in at least two fantastic albums (Mystery To Me and Heroes Are Hard To Find), she composed some of her finest songs. "Why", my favorite of hers, comes from MTM, for instance. In the Rumours lineup she kept her ballancing work, dominating the White Album with her sweet pop/rock melodies ("Say You Love Me", "Over My Head") and in Rumours again she became the "sweet" part in an album filled with angry/acrimonious references from the other composers. "Brown Eyes" is my favorite song from Tusk... so sexy, so sweet, so powerful. Then you have "Hold Me", which is one of the most fantastic pop songs ever written; and in Tango there are two of the most remembered songs of the 80's: "Little Lies" and "Everywhere", with very interesting harmonies, arrangements and textures. In Behind The Mask she wrote the amazingly underrated title track, which I like very much; plus her collaboration with Billy Burnette ("Do You Know") is a very interesting ballad; and still, in Time, she delivered her swan song to the band: the sweet "All Over Again".

I think she has highlights in every incarnation of the band. She mantained herself with a permanent level of artistic integrity in spite of the huge changes of styles and musical influences, and delivered her songs all the same. I don't have a favorite Christine era, then. They are all my favorites.


Song Of The Moment - I'm So Afraid (Live, Sydney 1980)