Covergirl Nicks, on stands now!

[Nikolaj]

Interscope would have been better, it seems. Maybe. I recall being a new Ledge member and a female Warner Music Group employee taking me to task terribly for me suggesting that 'Say You Will' was dying on the vine and it was all fixable, and without me necessarily meaning to blame (Reprise) Warner Music Group, in a way i guess i did. She said the label WAS working the cd and with a great deal of effort, and perhaps she was right.
Perhaps, because promotion is also in a huge way the artists job, and 4 years after 'Say You Will' we see it again- Just this month, Stevie puts out a cd-dvd with good potential, considering it's a rehash, at least there's a DVD- the main selling point to get people into stores to buy it could have been 'Rock and Roll'---- so... Stevie does two tv shows, and sings Stand Back and Landslide. About 5 weeks prior, on the SuperBowl pre-show she did, Stand Back. At any of those times she sang on tv, it would have been critical for the success of the cd (and tour!) that LaNicks perform 'Rock and Roll' and get some buzz going. Everybody's heard 'Stand Back' to death on tv. No-one got to hear her do 'Rock and Roll' so hence there were no requests to radio to get it played. It was her best shot.
Back to 'Say You Will' - Mac went on the Today Show and sang 'Rhiannon, Go Your Own Way' and two weak new tracks, 'Peacekeeper' and 'Say You Will'...
That cd had two unrealized hits on it, and myself- and a few others- posted and emailed til we were blue in the face that 'Miranda' was the standout Buckingham potential hit, and 'Everybody Finds Out' was the most alive Nicks track in ages. Ignored by the band, ignored by management and record labels who were contacted, oh well.
Mac go onto Leno and Letterman and STILL push 'Peacekeeper' which CLEARLY was not selling the cd, wasn't gaining at radio, and only slowly climbing on what used to be called the easy listening stations. Just a dud.
Fans hopes for the tour get up high, when Stevie says there's a real potential now for Mac to be a Buckingham-Nicks Fleetwood Mac, and illusions of 'Frozen Love' opening the show excite some of us, to be followed later by Stevie's 'Thrown Down' and LB's "Miranda'' or ''Steal Your Heart Away'' which eventually goes to radio, way, way too late. So, they go on tour, and open with The Chain...
Lindsey tried, and was willing, to dig deeper into the cd and try new songs out live, when fans here pushed for 'Red Rover' he put it into the set. Nice little song. But not a hit. 'Miranda' would have been great for radio and worked swell live. Oh well, again.
In hindsight it seems ridiculous to think Nicks would consider stretching and making 'Finds Out' the showstopper on the 'Say You Will' tour it could have been. All she was willing to sing was the (i'm sorry) truly dreadful 'Goodbye Baby'- oh, and 'Say You Will' - which was a cute enough pop song, but it wasn't a 'Thrown Down' or 'Finds Out' or 'Running Thru The Garden'...
The only blame i think LB truly deserves for the entire 'Say You Will' cd is for producing such a hideous 'Smile At You' and ruining the song more than any Stevie Nicks demo anyone had ever heard in their lives, and for thinking "Peackeeper'' with its cheesy 'waht-wah-waht-wah's was worthy of being the lead song from the first NEW Fleetwood Mac cd with he & Stevie since (!) 'Tango In the Night'...
So how much are record labels to blame? This spring, I'm sure it had to have occured to someone, especially WADDY, or the A&R people that Stevie should sing 'Rock and Roll' on Ellen, The Superbowl and whatever other tv appearance she made. She didn't. Wouldn't. She could have had some airplay by now. Maybe not tons. Maybe quite a bit. Maybe the cd would still be in the Top 50. Sheesh.
So the promo "Rock and Roll'' single gets out of the hands of radio stations and into eBay buyer hands, and it never gets on radio because millions of tv viewers who would have seen, didnt know Stevie had covered 'Rock and Roll' and actually had somethin kind of new that rocked. Why even mention the 'Landslide' promo cd single.
Not that millions of people exposed to "Rock and Roll" would have requested it at radio, but even if it were a couple thousand moved by her rockin it out on tv, and that is a conservative estimate, the song woulda had a shot at airplay and it also would have sold the cd-dvd. It's so simple. The label tried. Stevie didn't.
And after a decent first week, a month later, the cd is sinking so fast, it's crazy. She did 2 shows at the Greek in LA last week. I am sure Jay Leno or Jimmy Kimmel would have had her on to sing 'Rock and Roll' (though the time was in the past month to do it) but Leno likely would've passed on another 'Stand Back' performance. And apparantly it didnt even occur to her to try to promote the cd or tour nationally while in the same city as several late night TV shows.
Yet it appears the record label is really going out of its way to get behind her by going to the co$t now to have a 7 track 'Stand Back' remix sent to radio, since its the one song for sure millions of tv viewers get exposed to regularly and it's the tour opener.
Now I almost feel sorry for the labels working with Stevie Nicks. Stevie doesn't know how to promote herself to the masses anymore- and it was true back when 'Say You Will' was released, too. So i can't say it was because of Christine not being there that 'Say You Will' didn't work. It could have. Should have. The "Live in Boston'' cd with its less than 100,000 copies sold- well...that was another case of 'all the same, all the same'....thats why that didn't work.