Milwaukee Journal Sentinel - June 24, 2003

[Les]

I think this article is a repeat of the Boston Globe interview a few weeks back, but this is in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel now (with the snarky, little discography added at the end):

Posted: June 24, 2003 on OnWisconsin.com

Going own ways brings Fleetwood Mac back
By STEVE MORSE
Boston Globe

For years, Fleetwood Mac starred in rock's longest-running soap opera.

Internal feuds and shifting love affairs among band members kept the gossip columnists humming. Drummer Mick Fleetwood blew the whistle in his autobiography, "Fleetwood: My Life and Adventures in Fleetwood Mac," when he admitted he had been romantically linked with singer Stevie Nicks after she had been romantically connected to co-singer Lindsey Buckingham. And let's not forget bassist John McVie and keyboardist Christine McVie were once married.

And so it went.

Today, however, there is an almost eerily peaceful camaraderie among the members of Fleetwood Mac, who headline Summerfest on Sunday with a sold-out show at the 23,000-seat Marcus Amphitheater.

The soap opera has given way to a mutual admiration society, and the music has not suffered.

The latest Fleetwood Mac album, "Say You Will," released earlier this year, is a sterling 18-song set of melodic, multilayered pop-rock that ranks with the group's best work.

Christine McVie is now gone - she has retired to a castle in England - but the rest of the band has carried on with fresh motivation.

"We appreciate each other more now. It has been profound and touching to find each other again as people," Buckingham says from his Los Angeles home. "And without Christine this time, we felt it wasn't so much a challenge as it was a new opportunity."

Stevie and Lindsey again

Indeed, McVie no longer writes one-third of the songs, allowing more room for Nicks and Buckingham.

They now have a 50-50 split, with each contributing nine tunes on the new disc.

"It's very surreal not having Christine," Nicks says, "but I always try to preface Christine's departure by saying: 'We made a great record without her.' It was her decision to go. She didn't want to go on the road anymore, so that's the reason she left.

"She lives in a castle 30 miles outside of London and has a bunch of dogs, and I'm sure she's going to have sheep and horses any day. She's also an incredible chef and gives dinner parties. She is totally enjoying her life, so bless her."

In her absence, Fleetwood Mac definitely didn't slip into writer's block.

The group even contemplated releasing a double CD after recording 23 songs but thought against it because of the nation's tight economy.

"Just in case this record is the last one we ever make, we want it to still be selling in Best Buy in five years," says Nicks, 54. "And double albums don't sell for very long."

A creative burst

The prolific output came as a surprise even to Fleetwood Mac.

"Twenty years ago, the idea of being 50 years old seemed like having one foot in the grave," says Buckingham, 55. "I can't say I would have predicted that I'd still be as in the thick of the creative process as I am." (Buckingham is in the thick of life in general these days; he is the father of two young children: a 4-year-old son and 2-year-old daughter.)

The album starts strongly with the Buckingham song "What's the World Coming To," a piece of social commentary about rampant materialism: "You can't plant no seeds where there's only greed," he sings. And Nicks adds a sensitive track, "Illume," that was inspired by her being in Manhattan during the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Nicks was staying at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel at the time and lighted incense in her room to kill the acrid smell that wafted across the city from the explosions.

On a solo tour to back her "Trouble in Shangri-La" album, she canceled a date at Radio City Music Hall and an appearance on the "Today Show."

"I was terrified and almost packed my bags and went home," Nicks says.

Traditional Nicks

Both Nicks and Buckingham are careful not to overdo the social commentary.

"We're too old not to be careful," says Nicks, who has been mortified by the recent abuse heaped upon her friends the Dixie Chicks for lead singer Natalie Maines' offhanded comment in London that the group was "ashamed" to be from the same state as President Bush.

"I'm sure they regret that remark," says Nicks, whose song "Landslide" was covered by the Dixie Chicks and became a top 40 hit for them.

The rest of the new Fleetwood Mac album finds Nicks in more traditional form, penning mystical songs such as "Running Through the Garden" (based on a Nathaniel Hawthorne story about a young girl whose father keeps her at home in a poisonous garden) and "Silver Girl," a semi-autobiographical tune about "being a silver girl lost in a high-tech world," with a further verse about how "shadows move across her face, and you cannot see her soul unless she lets you."

Long hours in studio

McVie's absence gave Nicks the chance to record two songs she had to leave off the band's bestselling "Rumours" album back in the '70s: the lullaby-ish "Goodbye Baby" and the space-rock track "Smile at You."

As for Buckingham, all of his songs are new and feature his multitracked guitar style.

His best tracks are the love songs "Steal Your Heart Away" and "Bleed to Love Her," as well as the acoustic "Say Goodbye," with fast-clipped acoustic guitar in the manner of Leo Kottke.

"Lindsey is so good in the studio," Nicks says effusively. "He would get there at 9 in the morning and many nights stay until 10. . . . I'd get there at 2 in the afternoon and leave at 7. But because Lindsey did all those incredible guitar parts, that's why he also had to mix the record, since the rest of us didn't even know all those guitar parts were there. It's his little wall of sound, and it was done painstakingly by Lindsey."

(The band's touring lineup includes two additional guitarists to help re-create those arrangements.)

Throughout the years, Buckingham and Nicks have learned that mutual respect means leaving each other's lyrics alone.

"I never tell Lindsey that you can't use this word or that sentence, and he doesn't dare say to me that you have to change this second verse or whatever," Nicks says. "We tried that 30 years ago, and it never went over.

"So we say, 'This is the song, and if you don't like it, we won't do it.' But neither of us has ever been open to changing our work. That was established so long ago that it's not a problem now."

Buckingham doesn't mind, however, if Nicks refers to him in a song, as happens on the new track "Thrown Down," with the verse "You're not like other people/You do what you want to do."

"That line sums Lindsey up," says Nicks, with a laugh. "But he loves it. He loves the fact that I write about him. It makes him happy."

-------------
Fleetwood Mac

"Fleetwood Mac" Reprise, 1975
This is the birth of the modern Mac lineup, blending a supple rhythm section (drummer Mick Fleetwood, bassist John McVie) with Christine McVie's voice and piano, Lindsey Buckingham's sparkling folk-rock guitar, Stevie Nicks' witchy woman persona and spotless lite-rock songwriting.

For fans of: Crafted pop, Wiccans, the sun-dappled myth of Los Angeles.

"Rumours" Reprise, 1977
Fleetwood Mac made 'em rich, but this inhuman smash made them legends, going on to sell more than 19 million copies. Made as the couples in the band were going to pieces, "Rumours" is one of the greatest break-up albums of all time, a bright and sordid collection of denial, passive aggression and glossy L.A. pop.

For fans of: Divorce, psychodramas as hit singles, amazing Afros on white guys.

"Tusk" Reprise, 1979
"What Makes You Think You're the One" and "The Ledge" are among Buckingham's most whacked compositions, but luminous ballads like "Over and Over" and "Sara" try to balance things out. To no avail - this double album is bizarro California pop at its most "huh?"

For fans of: The USC Trojans marching band, recording vocals while lying down, Pavement.

"Live" Reprise, 1980
Disturbingly listless in spots, this double LP captured Mac sounding disconnected and numb. Features a mighty unsettling cover of the Beach Boys' "Farmer's Daughter."

For fans of: Leaden performances, dicey sound, self-destruction.

"Mirage" Reprise, 1982
Burned by "Tusk's" mixed reception, this is a return to straight-ahead songwriting. Except everyone sounds sick of one another.

For fans of: The well running dry.

"Tango in the Night" Reprise, 1987
"Tango's" overly slick tunes are nowhere near the band's giddy peak. Also, the last studio album with all five key members.

For fans of: Top 40 radio circa the Iran Contra affair.

"Behind the Mask" Reprise, 1990
A Mac album made after 1975 without Buckingham. 'Nuff said.

For fans of: Exceptionally bad ideas.

"The Dance" Reprise, 1997
Post-reunion live album shows they still know how to play the hits. Includes "Silver Springs," a Nicks-penned B-side from '77 so elegant you wonder why it didn't make it onto "Rumours."

For fans of: Unlikely reunions, lost B-sides.

"Say You Will" Reprise, 2003
Solid if overlong studio reunion without Christine McVie, who's missed. It sounds loads like 1973's "Buckingham-Nicks," the long out-of-print album those two cut before joining Mac.

For fans of: Slightly dull, adult pop played by seasoned pros.

[strandinthewind]

Originally posted by Les
I think this article is a repeat of the Boston Globe interview a few weeks back, but this is in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel now (with the snarky, little discography added at the end):

Posted: June 24, 2003 on OnWisconsin.com

Going own ways brings Fleetwood Mac back
By STEVE MORSE
Boston Globe

"Lindsey is so good in the studio," Nicks says effusively. "He would get there at 9 in the morning and many nights stay until 10. . . . I'd get there at 2 in the afternoon and leave at 7. But because Lindsey did all those incredible guitar parts, that's why he also had to mix the record, since the rest of us didn't even know all those guitar parts were there. It's his little wall of sound, and it was done painstakingly by Lindsey."

I do not remember this paragraph in the earlier article. I am too lazy to look it up. Was the "wall of sound" comment in there?

P.S. I love the word "snarky!"