Was Nights in Estoril an outtake from the 80s?

[SteveMacD]

I still think Christine’s songs were from the Spring, 1993 demo sessions, before Bekka and Dave were in the band.

Bands on big labels basically record an album twice. They’ll record demos in a smaller (but totally professional) studio to work out arrangements, harmonies, etc. Then, they’ll redo everything in a bigger studio.

That’s why Billy’s on “I Do.” He was still in the band for the early demo sessions. Michael Thompson was hired for the sessions because Fleetwood Mac didn’t have a lead guitarist at that time.

Christine pulled out at some point, but she’s on Billy’s songs and one or two of Bekka’s. So, maybe she showed up on the days they weren’t working on Dave’s stuff and procrastinated letting them work on her songs, before pulling out of the sessions altogether.

The band submitted a version of the album without her, but the label rejected it. However, since she was basically done, they just used the demos. She may have come back to layer on some harmonies and keyboards to the other songs, but I doubt she spent weeks with them.

However, throughout that era, Christine was always mentioned as being a member of the band in interviews and Bekka’s Rolling Stone interview makes it clear that Christine was in communication with the band on some level throughout. And, IIRC, Christine expressed annoyance with how long it took to make the album because of all the touring the others had been doing in that AOL session. Finally, John Courage was the one organizing the recording sessions, and I doubt he would continue to be involved if his client wasn’t part of the sessions, but who knows?