LB Says FM: With or Without Sheryl

[chiliD]

How about THIS idea...

...get Phil Spector to produce the new album.

Sure, he's a class "A", #1 whack job, but he's one helluva producer.

By the time they start working on the album, Phil's trial will be over...either he'll be wanting to recoup his "defense fund" if he gets off; or, if he's convicted, he could probably get in some work furlough program and get his sentence shortened for "good behavior".

We'd REALLY get a "wall of sound" version of a Stevie Nicks tune in that case.

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by Betsy

^^^

Interesting take -- maybe with his solo work, Lindsey has found satisfaction, control and an outlet for himself and wants to leave the producing of an FM project to a neutral party, thereby not having so much acrimony and stress.

which is very understandable, even for our controlfreak, and I'm sure he's mellowed since Tango. SYW was something else: his songs were ready for 7 years, Stevie wasn't there for the production of her old songs, dropped a tape and went off and then in a couple of months the thing was finished. AND it was LB's comeback, he wanted to make a statement. But now, hopefully after two soloalbums and tours, he wants to back off and enjoy the big audience again for legacy-sake. Fully understandable.

although I wished he'd go on with these solo's.

[gldstwmn]

Originally Posted by chiliD

How about THIS idea...

...get Phil Spector to produce the new album.

Sure. Just outfit the band in kevlar vests and helmets.

Originally Posted by chiliD

We'd REALLY get a "wall of sound" version of a Stevie Nicks tune in that case.

He would have been better suited to work with Fleetwood Mac during the excesses of the Tusk era when no one would have questioned the playing of 13 pianos at the same time on a given track.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by gldstwmn

He would have been better suited to work with Fleetwood Mac during the excesses of the Tusk era when no one would have questioned the playing of 13 pianos at the same time on a given track.

Hold Me has got to be right up his alley. Michele

[Betsy]

Originally Posted by chiliD

How about THIS idea...

...get Phil Spector to produce the new album.
Sure, he's a class "A", #1 whack job, but he's one helluva producer...

...We'd REALLY get a "wall of sound" version of a Stevie Nicks tune...

[Angel69]

Originally Posted by GoldDustOrphan

First choice: Rick Rubin, followed by Brian Eno, Linda Perry, Nigel Godrich, Scott Litt, Brendan O'Brien, Steve Lillywhite, Don Was and Ken Caillat, not because of nostalgia, but he did just produce a platinum album for his daughter Colbie Caillat, whose song "Bubbly" is a massive top 10 hit. Of course, Richard Dashut would have to be there.

Just for fun studio-hijinks, Swedish hitmaker Martin Karl "Max Martin" Sandberg who was also ASCAP's Songwriter of the Year for three years in a row, 1999 - 2001. He wrote & produced all the massive hits for Britney Spears (Hit Me Baby One More Time), Backstreet Boys (I Want it That Way) and N'SYNC (Tearing Up My Heart), before readjusting his sound to write & produce solid commercial pop rock smashes for Kelly Clarkson - Since You Been Gone & Behind These Hazel Eyes. The he salvaged Pink's last CD with two unexpected top ten hits, U+R Your Hand and Who Knew (a song I actually loved) and he co-wrote Daughtry's new hit single, Feels Like Tonight.



p.s. I do not want Sheryl Crow to touch a single knob on that soundboard. To be safe, I don't want her to each touch the doorknob to the studio. ..

Good choices. I dont even want Sheryl hanging out in the parking lot.

[John Run]

Even if the band uses an outside producer, this idea that Lindsey will just step to the background, does not fly with me. Look at Dashut's comments about Rumours "It was Lindsey who really took the point on Rumours, he has was the one who could craft songs and arrange them into pop-music." Same Thing on Tusk. Lindsey does not have an individual production credit, just a special thanks...Another person might come in and be of assistance in keeping the project focused and keep democracy flowing, but to think that each member of the band will just be idle members playing parts as assigned within someone else's arrangement of theirs songs is really quite naive.

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by John Run

Even if the band uses an outside producer, this idea that Lindsey will just step to the background, does not fly with me. Look at Dashut's comments about Rumours "It was Lindsey who really took the point on Rumours, he has was the one who could craft songs and arrange them into pop-music." Same Thing on Tusk. Lindsey does not have an individual production credit, just a special thanks...Another person might come in and be of assistance in keeping the project focused and keep democracy flowing, but to think that each member of the band will just be idle members playing parts as assigned within someone else's arrangement of theirs songs is really quite naive.

I think there are wildly different job descriptions for a "producer," which can vary depending on the artist and the project. There are producers who are musicians/composers who actually create the music, e.g., John Shanks, T-Bone Burnett, Lindsey, and then there are producers who are obsessive control room geeks, e.g., Phil Spector, Mitchell Froom, Lindsey, and then there are producers who are none of the above and act more like creative advisers/taskmasters, e.g., Jimmy Iovine, Don Was, Rick Rubin, Ken Caillat, etc. I think FM needs the adviser/taskmaster type of producer who can interpret the overall artistic direction of the project, provide recommendations, lend an objective ear and mediate conflicts. I think the problem with morphing a Lindsey solo project into an FM project is that Lindsey automatically assumes ownership of the project by default. I can see why Lindsey wouldn't want someone to come along and pi$$ all over something that he has labored over for months in isolation; he has too much skin in the game. At the same time I can see how the other members of the band would feel put-off by how much he is trying to control a band effort. I think starting from scratch on a level playing field with an objective third party will help to mitigate this lopsided sense of ownership and will ultimately allow the band to concentrate on the process of creating music rather than waging some petty power struggles.

[louielouie2000]

^^^
That's precisely what I'm trying to say, you just articulated it much better and with much less rambling lol. It seems to me at this point in Lindsey's career that he cares more about making music than he ever has before. He just wants his music out there; be it in Fleetwood Mac, solo, soundtracks, whatever. Between SYW, UTS, this coming solo album, and likely coming FM album, he's putting out more material than he ever has. Lindsey knows he is a boutique product in solo form, and that FM music will be heard by more ears (although not as many as in the past mind you). He knows he can put out his solo albums and do whatever he wants with those, flexing his creative control muscles as much as he wants. At this point he has to really WANT to work with FM to be persuing it still. He's made plenty of money in his lifetime through FM and real estate ventures (!), and if control is all he really wants, he can have that with his solo endeavors. I think he genuinely wants to work within FM, and he realizes that he will have to comprimise to do so at this point. He's a stubborn guy folks, if he didn't want to do this he wouldn't do it. Even though he and Stevie fought a lot during and after SYW, it is for her that he's doing all this comprimising for... looking at outside producers, another female bandmember/muse, etc. The Lindsey of 1987 wouldn't have done that.

[Sarah]

You guys make some good points. I just hope that if Lindsey brings some more would-be solo material to the "group effort", he doesn't let Stevie screw it up with crappy vocals. Again. They sure did a fine job watering down and muddling up Peacekeeper!

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by Sarah

You guys make some good points. I just hope that if Lindsey brings some more would-be solo material to the "group effort", he doesn't let Stevie screw it up with crappy vocals. Again. They sure did a fine job watering down and muddling up Peacekeeper!

Ouch! Dems fightin' words 'round here, Mary!

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

. . . I think he genuinely wants to work within FM, and he realizes that he will have to comprimise to do so at this point . . . it is for her that he's doing all this comprimising for... looking at outside producers, another female bandmember/muse, etc. The Lindsey of 1987 wouldn't have done that.

I think the assumption that LB in compromising at all is a large one. For all we know, he may like and even be intrigued by the idea of Crow. Clearly, he would not go back to FM if he hated her, considered her and her work inferior, etc. To the contrary, he has worked with her before both on SYW and in the TISL sessions and made no disparaging remarks about her; she glowed about him and his work - I believe she called it pretty much as close to perfect as she had ever seen. So, I think that the apparently automatic assumption that any collaboration with Crow is made with LB's begrudging compromise is not supported by the comments made in interviews. Rather, I think LB's comments suggest he views it as an opportunity rather than caving in to the demands of the infidels.

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Ouch! Dems fightin' words 'round here, Mary!

Especially considering he is so vocally spot on in a live performance and/or that his live singing in any way sounds like what is on the record

To me, the thing about him is the playing, not the voice. Maybe if he took some lessons, he could be better or at least stay in one key.

As for La Nicks, her voice is not what it used to be and she has had some truly awful vocals, esp. around the time of TISL, but not really as much since, but she has always been a better and more intuitive singer.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by Sarah

Well, we know Lindsey started out his solo career to appease his experimental tendencies. He's finished up 2 solo albums (UTS and the new one) in what is, for him, rapid succession. And SYW's experiments weren't that long ago, either.

One man's "rapid succession" is another man's horrific dry spell:

Here's what Robert Pollard has done just from 2006. (All are full length projects, except where noted.)

2008
Psycho And The Birds: We've Moved
The Takeovers: Little Green Onion Man EP
Robert Pollard: Superman Was A Rocker

2007
Robert Pollard: Coast To Coast Carpet Of Love
Robert Pollard: Standard Gargoyle Decisions
Circus Devils: Sgt. Disco [Double album]
The Takeovers: Bad Football
Various Artists: Crickets: Best Of The Fading Captain Series 1999-2007 Retrospective Bob's side-projects
Guided By Voices: Live From Austin, TX [Live]
Robert Pollard: Silverfish Trivia EP
Acid Ranch: The Great Houdini Wasn't So Great (Old demos from the 1980s)
Robert Pollard: Meet The King: Asshole 2 [Live recordings of Bob's stage banter.]

2006
Robert Pollard: Normal Happiness
Robert Pollard: Moon [Live]
Psycho And The Birds: Check Your Zoo EP
Psycho And The Birds: All That Is Holy
Keene Brothers: Blues And Boogie Shoes
The Takeovers: Turn To Red
Robert Pollard: From A Compound Eye [Double album]

And, he's released four magazines of his collage art.

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by strandinthewind

I think the assumption that LB in compromising at all is a large one. For all we know, he may like and even be intrigued by the idea of Crow. Clearly, he would not go back to FM if he hated her, considered her and her work inferior, etc. To the contrary, he has worked with her before both on SYW and in the TISL sessions and made no disparaging remarks about her; she glowed about him and his work - I believe she called it pretty much as close to perfect as she had ever seen. So, I think that the apparently automatic assumption that any collaboration with Crow is made with LB's begrudging compromise is not supported by the comments made in interviews. Rather, I think LB's comments suggest he views it as an opportunity rather than caving in to the demands of the infidels.

I think you're totally right! We know Lindsey doesn't do what he doesn't want to do... so he really has to want to do this... and we all know he really wants to put out music right now, and he feels he's at his peak creatively, etc. Perhaps adding Sheryl is a new form of experimentation for him musically. I don't think he's doing anything begrudgingly nowadays... Stevie seems to have taken over that post .

I guess like everyone keeps saying, what I hope for most of all is this. If they indeed make a new studio album, I just hope they all start from scratch with it, no plug and play solo albums only needing backing vocals (and I do agree with what Sarah said, Stevie's reedy vocals RUINED Peacekeeper). I truly think they have one more great Mac album within them, if only they can just work closely together on the same playing field at the same pace.