New FM Article on SYW

[Johnny Stew]

I think it's very important to note that this article was only published yesterday, but it seems to have been conducted weeks ago.

The article makes it sounds as if they had only recently begun rehearsals, and WE know that they've been rehearsing since February 17th.

It's not uncommon for an interview to be conducted weeks (or even months) in advance... so let's not forget that.
The Rolling Stone 1997 cover story interview, for example, was conducted before the 'The Dance' had even aired on MTV, but wasn't published until October 30th.

So I think Stevie's upbeat mood and comments on the Mark & Brian Show a couple of weeks ago, are more reflective of her feelings now, than the article that was just published... and whatever issues she had seem to have been dealt with and moved on from.

Stevie, on the Mark & Brian Show, March 7th, 2003:

Up until December, we had 23 songs -- this was a double record. And then we decided maybe that in this age of how difficult it is... the music business, period... that maybe we would drop it down to a single album, which still entailed 18 songs. Which is a really long single record.
But, you know, that was tough. To cut out those other 6 songs was like ripping a bunch of chapters out of your book, and then all of a sudden there's all of these spaces.
But in the sequencing and the re-sequencing of it, it turned out to be great with 18.

[SmthngOfADreamr]

If she's miffed about these 6 songs, I don't see why they all couldn't be released on the special edition double album. As it is, there are only 4 extra tracks on it, right? There must be room for the others on it as well. I wonder why that wasn't considered.

[wetcamelfood]

There's suppossedly some video stuff on the limited edition disc so I guess this would be the "excuse" on this just as it was with apparently leaving space at the end of the enhanced disc of the VBOFM, maybe not though.

John

[ERigby818]

Cool article, strandinthewind. Thanks for posting it. Also thanks for that perspective, Johnny Stew. It really worried me when I saw Stevie so pouty on the aol interview and not responding to Lindsey's nudges.
But I agree, a little tension never hurt the Mac's music.
-Sonia

[CarneVaca]

Stevie's comments about road readiness are quite odd, to say the least. I can't imagine that Mick, John and Lindsey would have that hard of a time relearning Dreams, for crying out loud. If the Rolling Stones can pull really obscure rarities from their mammoth backlog for every single tour they've done in the past 12 years, I'm sure the Rumours lineup can hack its five or six albums.

If you ask me, this band is done. They'll do this tour and call it a day. And Stevie's comments seem to indicate that she's getting ready to pull out. Notice she has talked about going back to the studio solo, while Lindsey has mentioned wanting to do another Fleetwood Mac album. Maybe she'll be the one this time who doesn't want to tour after doing 40 dates.

I'm a bit mystified as to why she would even see fit to argue about running order or songs being left out. She can always go back in the studio and record on ther own. It seems to me Lindsey sacrificed way more than she did by going back in the studio with Fleetwood Mac. I know, I know, except for sales.

Or, and I'm going to be fair here, perhaps the three boys running the show gave off too much of a testosterone-infused vibe that made her feel as the "outsider."

[Alison]

I think you guys are reading far more into this than you should.
Fleetwood Mac has always been a band about drama and heart aches. You know the drama queen Stevie can be.
I don't think the band is over just yet. So don't be so quick to write them off.
Things always fall into place when they need to.
The last interview I heard Stevie do she was upbeat and very positive. I think she was just having a few bad days. After all they are working very hard to put this all together.
So relax people. Or are we all abunch of drama queens like Stevie.

[Les]

I would suspect that right now they're all feeling the weight of the pressure for this album to do well very strongly. In the past, I recall Lindsey saying something about the last few weeks before an album's release being the worst part becaue you're both excited to finally get the material out there, and nervous/scared/tense about how it will be received, and all you can do is sit and wait and speculate and psyche yourself out. In those situations, you do tend to focus on odd things and make mountains out of issues that aren't that big of a deal.

In the midst of that quote from Stevie about wondering if they're road ready, the writer mentions a grin spreading across her face. I don't get this hugely gloomy vibe from that description.

[SmthngOfADreamr]

I went back and reread the article again, and you have to admit- Steve REALLY sounds like she's got a major chip on her shoulder the entire time. Everything she says is kind of nasty. And Carne's right, how hard could it be for them to relearn a song like Dreams? I think it's a very bizarre comment indeed.

Which got me thinking. Whenever you read an article, you have to take into consideration from what point of view the author is writing, and if there is bias involved. Whoever wrote this article seemed to really play up the fact that turmoil drives this band, that they've always been fighting and sleeping together. There was even those quotes by Lindsey that seemed strange to me when he was talking about unresolved issues of his and Stevie's relationship. I thought that was odd, and maybe even taken out of context.

So I guess my point is that yes, we have these quotes from the band that makes it seem as if tension still abounds. But who knows what else was said to this guy. The point of view of the article was clearly that heartache and fighting sparked the best music from Fleetwood Mac, and it's almost as if he's trying to convince us that all of these raw emotions are still present, and are making this album and tour great. And in doing that he may have purposefully left out any sense of harmony amongst the members just to prove his point.

Either that, or they really are fighting about rediculous things and they had better start taking some mood-enhancing hormones because I don't want this to be FM's last album! But like I said, I'd rather see the quotes that DID NOT make the article before I decide if they're really fighting or not.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally posted by CarneVaca
I'm a bit mystified as to why she would even see fit to argue about running order or songs being left out. She can always go back in the studio and record on ther own.

I think it all comes back to Stevie's comments about "ripping chapters out of your book."
Perhaps there were some songs she felt very strongly about including, because she felt they provided a counterpoint to other songs on the album (such as the old "Go Your Own Way" & "Silver Springs" thing).
So in that regard, I imagine it wouldn't really matter to her that she can just use them on her next solo album... not if she felt strongly that they belonged on *this* album.

At any rate, and like I said above, based on her radio interview with Mark & Brian, and the one with Ryan Seacrest, she seems to be over whatever it was that was bugging her.


I do agree that her comments about the band not being ready to play some of the older material, *was* odd though.
I'll bet they could play some of these songs in their sleep.

Stevie was probably just suffering from a severe case of the jitters, over the impending album release, and the upcoming TV appearances and tour.

[CarneVaca]

Regardless of whether she was grinning or scowling when she made the comments, questioning whether the band could play those songs sounds like a slap in the face. If I'm John, Mick or Lindsey and I read that, I might be a little pissed.

[strandinthewind]

Well, the article does say:

"We just literally finished this record, and now we're trying to quickly flip over from recording mode into touring mode in a very compressed period of time," sighs Nicks, explaining that even some of the most renowned Fleetwood Mac tunes need to be relearned for the tour. "Not for me, because I never stopped doing a song like Dreams over the last 2,500 years," she grins, "but Fleetwood Mac hasn't done Dreams since 1997, and that was only briefly for three months on "The Dance" tour.

"Most of these songs I've done on every single one of my tours since I started my solo career in 1982. I've never stopped touring, whereas Lindsey and everyone else haven't played in front of audiences since 1997 . . . I think they're much more nervous about the old stuff than I am."

I think Stevie's point was meant to be a light hearted ("she grins") take on the frustration experienced by anyone trying anything for the first time in many years, etc. So, I do not find it insulting. I think she makes a very valid point. For example, whereas she has sung her songs live roughly every two years since they were released, LB essentially only played her old songs for only three months six or so years ago. Moreover, to my knowledge, he did not play them after the Mirage tour (1982 ?), which was about 15 years before 1997 and over 20 years (Yipes!) before now. So, while I am sure it did not take LB too long to get it, he may have been understandably a little rusty on Stevie's songs (three months out of 20 years). I would be The same can essentially be said for John and Mick, although they have played them much more than LB (TITN, BTM, Time (?), The Dance).

On a separate point, this reaffirms my suspicion that they cut Space Needle!!!!!!!!

How dare they

[dissention]

Cut Stevie a break. She's at THAT AGE ::wink-wink:: and she was probably feeling HOT and tired of all the FLASHing lights a tour would bring.

[WelshWitchPMD]

Originally posted by dissention
Cut Stevie a break. She's at THAT AGE ::wink-wink:: and she was probably feeling HOT and tired of all the FLASHing lights a tour would bring.

Oh Dissention you know thats what I was thinking myself. She is in that phase/stage of her life.