Stevie as scapegoat

[dreamsunwind]

Originally Posted by Sugar Mouse

Actually ... no. A good producer doesn't control every single detail. They delegate to engineers and others. They don't kick the other band members into another room for hours at a time. Lindsey, good or bad, has been a control guy who controls every detail far more than most any producer does. I'm not saying that the band hasn't catered, at times, to Stevie but they absolutely have catered to Lindsey's very "unique" and exhausting producing style.

I’ll (again) state that my point here isn’t to point out who the band has catered to over the years. In the end, Lindsey has recorded a studio album for ‘Fleetwood Mac’ exactly once since 1987. And that album was 15 years ago. And we all know what were the problems with that album. Stevie thought it took too long, she didn’t like how her songs came out (and she’s had that happen in her solo career as well, where she’s admitted to just not liking how some of the songs came out), Lindsey wanted a double album but didn’t get it and was all bitter about it, etc. Everything that actually has happened over the past 15 years and a lot even before that has really all been catering to Stevie. She basically gets to decide what they do. If they even record at all, how it happens when they do (Lindsey bringing her to his home, making a nice and simple EP where she only had to fork over one old song and it got recorded almost exactly like her demo, giving her the nice and fuzzy environment she likes), when they go on tour, if they put out an album or not, etc. THAT is the stuff that really matters now. I don’t deny that the band has let Lindsey have his way a lot in the studio in the past. But considering that the last time that happened was 15 years ago, it’s just not really relevant in this situation. Unless you count the BM album, which by all accounts was a fairly smooth, drama-free recording that Lindsey and Christine both loved. And you know, at least when they've catered to Lindsey, he was actually DOING work for the band. When they cater to Stevie, it's usually letting her get away from doing work for the band.
But also what you said about Lindsey controlling “every single detail” of the recording isn’t true. I don’t know if you were exaggerating to make a point but that’s just not true. He certainly had a very heavy hand, obviously since he’s the band member that produces, but that he controlled everything and others weren't fairly involved isn't true. He probably wanted to at times, but people would reel him in. I don’t know if you’ve read Ken Caillait’s book or his interviews but I have and he talked extensively about what Lindsey was like in the studio-- and he criticizes him plenty-- but the most blunt thing he says is that basically Lindsey could just be really annoying, too serious and was borderline crazy, but he never once said Lindsey controlled everything. He describes the environment very well and others were plenty involved. According to him (and to others who have talked about it) Lindsey’s main ‘thing’ was that he would have some big vision for the sound and he try to convince the rest of the band to go along with it but he was very unsure so he would agonize over the songs for hours until he thought it was right. Here’s an interesting tidbit from his blog https://kencaillat.tumblr.com/post/1...instruments-on, note what he says at the end about Stevie and Chris’s songs. And there’s lots of other stories from Christine, Mick, Richard Dashut that are all very insightful and interesting. You should check them out!