Great Mojo of CMcVie interview.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Interesting what she said about Mirage. "Strange record."

She's made comments like that in the past. Maybe not "strange" but she would say it was not the band's best work and drifted from focus and she was not sure what the band's sound was at the time. I am paraphrasing but stuff like that. She does not hate Mirage but was not thrilled about it like she was with Tango and some earlier albums. Its odd because Mirage contains her biggest hit. But then again the band clearly was not getting along and its the last album when all 5 of them used controlled substances heavily. She got clean after the Mirage tour. For the Hold Me video, they all took separate limos to the shoot and were late and John punched the director, etc. They were in an odd time then and I think they were all getting on eachother's nerves. Those MTV promos had some so wasted with Lindsey in sunglasses and Chris laughing and not making much sense. I think Chris felt Mirage was a very safe album and not very creative.

[Penguin Emeritus]

I love this interview...

...love how she kept pics of Mick and John on her walls.

...love how she tells the world there was no sex in her marriage in 1974 due to his drinking lol, women remember this crap!!

...love how she says *she* wrote the songs, not Ed. Indeed she did.

I think the painting of St Cecilia with the Angels was hers?? Could have sworn I read about her owning that piece in another article. She must have brought some of her own things to this rental.

also she's wrong about Mac coming back from Europe and John proposing....they came back from America and then he proposed. But considering that was like 50 years earlier, we can give her a pass for getting that detail wrong.

can't believe the one year anniversary is coming soon... ugh, i miss her.

--Lis

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

She's made comments like that in the past. Maybe not "strange" but she would say it was not the band's best work and drifted from focus and she was not sure what the band's sound was at the time. I am paraphrasing but stuff like that. She does not hate Mirage but was not thrilled about it like she was with Tango and some earlier albums. Its odd because Mirage contains her biggest hit. But then again the band clearly was not getting along and its the last album when all 5 of them used controlled substances heavily. She got clean after the Mirage tour. For the Hold Me video, they all took separate limos to the shoot and were late and John punched the director, etc. They were in an odd time then and I think they were all getting on eachother's nerves. Those MTV promos had some so wasted with Lindsey in sunglasses and Chris laughing and not making much sense. I think Chris felt Mirage was a very safe album and not very creative.

She didn't really get 'clean' after mirage...maybe somewhat clean from coke but definitely not done with alcohol...her marriage to Ed had tons of issues and that was one of them, because he wasn't a big drinker. and after the divorce it got worse with her isolation etc...she was in rehab in 2012 for alcohol and prob other crap as well. It was an ongoing battle for her.

--Lis

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by Penguin Emeritus

She didn't really get 'clean' after mirage...maybe somewhat clean from coke but definitely not done with alcohol...her marriage to Ed had tons of issues and that was one of them, because he wasn't a big drinker. and after the divorce it got worse with her isolation etc...she was in rehab in 2012 for alcohol and prob other crap as well. It was an ongoing battle for her.

--Lis

Yes I meant with the drugs. She said that several times and you could see it. She seemed so grown up in her 1984 interviews and tour. She also admitted a pain pill addiction which is what I think the rehab was for. She fell at her house and developed a dependency on pain pills. I must say you were right because I remember you posting here several months ago that Eddy was given credit on songs he never really helped to write.
These guys really upset her. She wont even talk about them yet wrote songs about them. Her history is always being treated wrong with men and she even put that in her songs. I think her isolation really made this worse. She was not living the crazed rock star life anymore and it hit harder compared to her Brian Wilson/John McVie days.

[John Run]

What a great read!
Two quotes jumped out to me.

--After your marriage to Eddy Quintela in ’86 you started writing songs together.

(Grimaces) "Yeah. That’s… not an area I want to talk about. Let’s just say that (laughs)… I wrote most of the songs. Little Lies was very much my song, and it’s not about me, and it’s not about Eddy. It’s just a song I wrote, lying out by my pool with a pad and paper and that’s what I came up with. Counter-vocals written across Lindsey’s tune and… I just kind of made it up."--

She basically is calling Little Lies a cowrite between her and Lindsey. Lindsey has often talked about the fine line between cowriting and his production style and there are several songs that could have garnered a cowrite credit should have he pushed for one. Her wording here makes it sound like she wrote the words (and likely the melody) over preexisting music and hooks that Lindsey wrote / created. If you listen to the Lindsey centric demos of Little Lies that are floating around the internet, it lends some credence to this thinking.


--What was the trigger for leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1998? Did it have anything to do with the Mac albums that preceded it, Behind The Mask (1990) and Time (’95)?
"I don’t think anyone likes those albums. They’re terrible"--

I knew her disdain for Time, but she speaks in very specific plural language here. Those albums and they're terrible spell out pretty clearly its not just Time she despises, but with time (pun intended) she came to disown its predecessor, Behind the Mask as well.

[Mr Scarrott]

Originally Posted by John Run

--What was the trigger for leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1998? Did it have anything to do with the Mac albums that preceded it, Behind The Mask (1990) and Time (’95)?
"I don’t think anyone likes those albums. They’re terrible"--

I knew her disdain for Time, but she speaks in very specific plural language here. Those albums and they're terrible spell out pretty clearly its not just Time she despises, but with time (pun intended) she came to disown its predecessor, Behind the Mask as well.

I remember reading this a while back. I'm glad she recognised the weakness of BTM. The title track aside, I have a hard time listening to her contributions on that album (as well as the rest of it) as they are so derivative, uninspired and occasionally clunky in a way that her work on previous albums going back to Future Games only very, very, rarely was. She clearly missed Lindsey's inspiration and was happy to acknowledge his contribution to her work (whether or not he got a credit).

I think she's selling herself short for her most of her work on Time- the production is better, there are some wonderful moments, particularly on All Over Again and Sooner or Later and it seems that she froze Dave Mason out of playing on her tracks as Michael Thompson is credited for "guitars" in the main . In fact there are very few occasions on that album when Christine and Dave appear on the same track - Nothing Without You, where Lindsey is on backing vocals is an example.

[DownOnRodeo]

I was so overawed by (Stevie and Lindsey) as writers that I stepped my game up. I wanted to impress them.

Great quote.

No surprise at all re Lindsey's depth of involvement in Little Lies.
Tusk may have been Lindsey's album, but so was Tango.

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by DownOnRodeo

Tusk may have been Lindsey's album, but so was Tango.

I don’t think anyone doubts that. I’m willing to bet most of Lindsey’s songs on Tango don’t have Christine, John, or Mick on them. And Lindsey has always said he gave up his solo album to Tango.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by John Run

What a great read!
Two quotes jumped out to me.

--After your marriage to Eddy Quintela in ’86 you started writing songs together.

(Grimaces) "Yeah. That’s… not an area I want to talk about. Let’s just say that (laughs)… I wrote most of the songs. Little Lies was very much my song, and it’s not about me, and it’s not about Eddy. It’s just a song I wrote, lying out by my pool with a pad and paper and that’s what I came up with. Counter-vocals written across Lindsey’s tune and… I just kind of made it up."--

She basically is calling Little Lies a cowrite between her and Lindsey. Lindsey has often talked about the fine line between cowriting and his production style and there are several songs that could have garnered a cowrite credit should have he pushed for one. Her wording here makes it sound like she wrote the words (and likely the melody) over preexisting music and hooks that Lindsey wrote / created. If you listen to the Lindsey centric demos of Little Lies that are floating around the internet, it lends some credence to this thinking.


--What was the trigger for leaving Fleetwood Mac in 1998? Did it have anything to do with the Mac albums that preceded it, Behind The Mask (1990) and Time (’95)?
"I don’t think anyone likes those albums. They’re terrible"--

I knew her disdain for Time, but she speaks in very specific plural language here. Those albums and they're terrible spell out pretty clearly its not just Time she despises, but with time (pun intended) she came to disown its predecessor, Behind the Mask as well.

I think she is referring to Lindsey's track but mostly for inspiration for the song Little Lies. He did not write the lyrics but many of the lyrics were about him. In 1987 she was asked, what are the little lies? She described the little lies as being Lindsey's. She said that everyone in the band realized he was going to leave the band but he would never come out and say it. He would drop little hints here and there as if leading on band members. They were sweet little lies. In some ways this song was a real premonition because he did leave. He also gave mixed signals aka "little lies" about touring with the band. I think its just a coincidence but its weird how he fades out and disappears in the video almost as a ghost.

Its also interesting that she reveals in this interview that Mick was concerned Lindsey was going to leave the band and that was the reason he gave him full control of Tusk.

You can see Lindsey's inspiration for the song and written coming from his view

Although I'm not making plans
I hope that you'll understand there's a reason why
Close your, close your, close your eyes
No more broken hearts
We're better off apart, let's give it a try
Tell me, tell me, tell me lies
We're better off apart, let's give it a try
Tell me, tell me, tell me lies
Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies
Tell me lies
Tell me, tell me lies
Oh no-no, you can't disguise

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Yes I meant with the drugs. She said that several times and you could see it. She seemed so grown up in her 1984 interviews and tour. She also admitted a pain pill addiction which is what I think the rehab was for. She fell at her house and developed a dependency on pain pills. I must say you were right because I remember you posting here several months ago that Eddy was given credit on songs he never really helped to write.
These guys really upset her. She wont even talk about them yet wrote songs about them. Her history is always being treated wrong with men and she even put that in her songs. I think her isolation really made this worse. She was not living the crazed rock star life anymore and it hit harder compared to her Brian Wilson/John McVie days.

Eddy was given far more credit than he deserved. He tinkered around and added little details to what she'd already created. It irritates me because her love blind generosity gave him the eventual financial freedom to basically do whatever he wanted , and there she was, still trying to save that train wreck of a marriage which should have ended years before it did. (To be fair, I think many women are guilty of holding on longer than we should. We close our eyes to what everyone else can see. )

The rehab was for alcohol and pain pills and who knows what else. She went more than once. I heard the reason she fell and developed the pain pill addiction was because she was drunk in the first place. While John is the band member who is always labeled 'alcoholic', Chris also was to a degree. Maybe her issues paled in comparison to what she dealt with in relationships with John and Dennis, but that doesn't mean she didn't also share those struggles. I agree she really went into a downward spiral after her 2004 relationship ended and she was in such isolation. I think that's why she seemed so joyous and free and thrilled to be back in her last decade, because she really had to claw her way out of that. I admire her tenacity.

--Lis

[Penguin Emeritus]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Yes I meant with the drugs. She said that several times and you could see it. She seemed so grown up in her 1984 interviews and tour. She also admitted a pain pill addiction which is what I think the rehab was for. She fell at her house and developed a dependency on pain pills. I must say you were right because I remember you posting here several months ago that Eddy was given credit on songs he never really helped to write.
These guys really upset her. She wont even talk about them yet wrote songs about them. Her history is always being treated wrong with men and she even put that in her songs. I think her isolation really made this worse. She was not living the crazed rock star life anymore and it hit harder compared to her Brian Wilson/John McVie days.

Eddy was given far more credit than he deserved. He tinkered around and added little details to what she'd already created. It irritates me because her love blind generosity gave him the eventual financial freedom to basically do whatever he wanted , and there she was, still trying to save that train wreck of a marriage which should have ended years before it did. (To be fair, I think many women are guilty of holding on longer than we should. We close our eyes to what everyone else can see. )

The rehab was for alcohol and pain pills and who knows what else. She went more than once. I heard the reason she fell and developed the pain pill addiction was because she was drunk in the first place. While John is the band member who is always labeled 'alcoholic', Chris also was to a degree. Maybe her issues paled in comparison to what she dealt with in relationships with John and Dennis, but that doesn't mean she didn't also share those struggles. I agree she really went into a downward spiral after her 2004 relationship ended and she was in such isolation. I think that's why she seemed so joyous and free and thrilled to be back in her last decade, because she really had to claw her way out of that. I admire her tenacity.

--Lis