Will Stevie make another solo album?

[Hippocampus]

Originally Posted by Kelly

What he did with Gypsy....a true masterpiece. Her piano demo is, if I am being kind, sparse and beyond simplistic. He "saw" what she was trying to find and he turned those random lyrics and sparse melody into something so fantastic.

Lindsey always gets way too much credit where Stevie's songs are concerned I think. First of all, he really had a lot more to work with for "Gypsy" than just the simple piano demo everyone always refers to. There are many piano demos and some are far more elaborate (to say the least) than the extra long version in which she repeats the same notes over and over. She was probably only exploring some ideas with a recorder turned on. But mostly, Stevie recorded a great "Gypsy" with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during the Bella Donna sessions and although it is "rougher" than the Fleetwood Mac version, I don't think they are that dissimilar. Lindsey refined "Gypsy" but he certainly didn't "make it".

[Johnny Stew]

Call me greedy, but I want new albums from Stevie and Fleetwood Mac. My hope would be that the two albums would follow each other in a relatively short amount of time (ie: 'Bella Donna' in 1981, and 'Mirage' in 1982), though I know that's a longshot.

One thing working in our favor though, is the fact that the entire band seems recommitted to working together. It no longer seems to be out of a sense of loyalty or duty... it's out of a desire to create. So I can't imagine them putting it off until the last possible minute anymore... I think Lindsey & Stevie will fulfill any solo obligations they have, and then will return to The Mac as soon as they can. (And to answer the contract question... yes, I'm pretty sure that Stevie is obligated to record/release at least two more albums for Warner Bros., though I can't find the Billboard clipping I have, to verify that.)

One other thing... I'd prefer Stevie work again with someone like John Shanks, rather than have Lindsey produce a solo album (which I highly doubt would ever happen anyway).
I love, love, love Lindsey's brilliant production touches, but I also love and adore the production on Stevie's solo albums... which, in my opinion, have always had a very unique sound to them. Obviously her solo music isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think it allows her to branch out in ways that she can't within Fleetwood Mac (horn sections, orchestras, etc.).

I also think more of Stevie's personality comes thru in her solo work, which is always a great thing in my eyes. And again, I realize that some people prefer her music when it's filtered thru Lindsey and/or Fleetwood Mac in general... but I enjoy both.

[darklinensuit]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Call me greedy, but I want new albums from Stevie and Fleetwood Mac. My hope would be that the two albums would follow each other in a relatively short amount of time (ie: 'Bella Donna' in 1981, and 'Mirage' in 1982), though I know that's a longshot.

One thing working in our favor though, is the fact that the entire band seems recommitted to working together. It no longer seems to be out of a sense of loyalty or duty... it's out of a desire to create. So I can't imagine them putting it off until the last possible minute anymore... I think Lindsey & Stevie will fulfill any solo obligations they have, and then will return to The Mac as soon as they can. (And to answer the contract question... yes, I'm pretty sure that Stevie is obligated to record/release at least two more albums for Warner Bros., though I can't find the Billboard clipping I have, to verify that.)

One other thing... I'd prefer Stevie work again with someone like John Shanks, rather than have Lindsey produce a solo album (which I highly doubt would ever happen anyway).
I love, love, love Lindsey's brilliant production touches, but I also love and adore the production on Stevie's solo albums... which, in my opinion, have always had a very unique sound to them. Obviously her solo music isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think it allows her to branch out in ways that she can't within Fleetwood Mac (horn sections, orchestras, etc.).

I also think more of Stevie's personality comes thru in her solo work, which is always a great thing in my eyes. And again, I realize that some people prefer her music when it's filtered thru Lindsey and/or Fleetwood Mac in general... but I enjoy both.

I agree.

- Jake

[Serrart]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

One other thing... I'd prefer Stevie work again with someone like John Shanks, rather than have Lindsey produce a solo album (which I highly doubt would ever happen anyway).
I love, love, love Lindsey's brilliant production touches, but I also love and adore the production on Stevie's solo albums... which, in my opinion, have always had a very unique sound to them. Obviously her solo music isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think it allows her to branch out in ways that she can't within Fleetwood Mac (horn sections, orchestras, etc.).

I also think more of Stevie's personality comes thru in her solo work, which is always a great thing in my eyes. And again, I realize that some people prefer her music when it's filtered thru Lindsey and/or Fleetwood Mac in general... but I enjoy both.

ITA. Even if I really love what comes out from Lindsey & Stevie collaborations (they're magic together ), I'd prefer as a producer for her next solo, John Shanks again or someone like him, to see Stevie having also a creative space where she can be as personal as she wants and try different approachs to her music, like on TISL.

Romy

[highpriestess53]

Originally Posted by earthdreamer

Or is she just going to stick with her gig with Fleetwood Mac? I wonder if FM will be making another cd?

Stevie I believe has three records deal with Reprise.... of which TISL was one.....

[face of glass]

Originally Posted by Hippocampus

But mostly, Stevie recorded a great "Gypsy" with Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers during the Bella Donna sessions and although it is "rougher" than the Fleetwood Mac version, I don't think they are that dissimilar. Lindsey refined "Gypsy" but he certainly didn't "make it".

The Heartbreakers' "Gypsy" is more closer to the American mainstream than anything Buckingham has recorded with Nicks. And the FM version of "Gypsy" uses "Dreams" as its launchpad while going through some Tusk treatments as well. Buckingham's work on that song is comparable to what Bacharach and Wilson did in their prime, if people choose not to focus on that as much as they do on Nicks' songwriting and performance then that's their right. But my belief is that there's no way "Gypsy" would be a classic for the ages and had been a chart hit as well if not for Buckingham's work.

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I love, love, love Lindsey's brilliant production touches, but I also love and adore the production on Stevie's solo albums... which, in my opinion, have always had a very unique sound to them. Obviously her solo music isn't everyone's cup of tea, but I think it allows her to branch out in ways that she can't within Fleetwood Mac (horn sections, orchestras, etc.).

A horn section she hasn't had on a solo tune for a long time and the orchestra she last had on "Beauty And The Beast" (and I most certainly am not counting "At Last" here). She most certainly had the guts to be gloriously self-indulgent in her epics before ("Bella Donna", "The Wild Heart", "BATB", even "The Nightmare") but as of now she doesn't have it and her solo work doesn't offer an obvious alternative to that of Fleetwood Mac, not at least to these ears.
I understand how the albums might sound unique to some who has been a fan for a long time but for me the sound of Bella Donna is the sound of Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers and the sound of TISL is the sound of a Buckingham wannabe combined with the sound of Sheryl Crow. Whatever arguments you had over "Silver Girl" and "Say You Will" not having been changed much from the tape that Stevie brought to FM in early 2002 aren't effective to me; for me it sounds like she worked on those with Sheryl quite a lot and wanted to have some of that sound on SYW too. And as you probably noticed, "Destiny Rules" is missing that all-important harmonic arrangement; Buckingham's work. The important point here is that very few fell in love with Stevie Nicks because of "Silver Girl" and "Say You Will", most people fell in love with her through "Rhiannon" and "Dreams" which are Buckingham production works; the sound of which goes through "Gypsy" and is retained on "Destiny Rules" and "Thrown Down".
So in my mind I think she was "never gonna make it baby". Everything she does "has been done". With Buckingham she did the most lasting pieces of work, both artistically and in public imagination. Nowhere do I get Stevie as intimate as on Tusk and that's because the band was ready to fall down to that state of mind with her. Stevie Nicks may have given Fleetwood Mac a lot of star power but it was the band that made her; she most certainly didn't make the band. She developed her image first within the band and that was definitely influenced by the music the band was playing. Like it or not, without Buckingham her career would most likely have been the typical singer-songwriter one.

I also think more of Stevie's personality comes thru in her solo work, which is always a great thing in my eyes. And again, I realize that some people prefer her music when it's filtered thru Lindsey and/or Fleetwood Mac in general... but I enjoy both.

While I enjoy both too I enjoy the other significantly less than the "real thing". And that is simply because she chooses to make the sound uniform and the studio players are there playing routine parts so that they wouldn't overshadow Stevie. I love the woman but she doesn't seem to have the same kind of confidence as a solo act which she has when she's working with Buckingham. I always take Buckingham's playing and arrangements to the same level as Stevie's work in her own songs and if that's chauvinistic and obnoxious to some then so be it, I don't have to prove anything to them. When Lindsey is out there willing to support Stevie so that he exposes his own vulnerability through his playing then that will always beat the lacklustre studio musicianship to me.

As for the new solo album; I'm all ready for that especially if Lindsey can't get his head out of his rear end for a long time. But then again we all must understand the possibility that it certainly can't equal past works and if the general consensus is that it does then that's most likely just in the mind of the fans. Even on TISL the songs that were used for its promotion weren't her recent writing; "Every Day" came from John Shanks, "Sorcerer" and "Planets Of The Universe" from the distant past. I do not know why they chose those songs; maybe certain people do not trust in Stevie's writing that much anymore. Her writing most certainly hasn't captured the public imagination for a long time. Choosing "Say You Will" as a single from the latest FM album didn't really promote the album any better than any other track would have.

So maybe she did go up the alley of artistic esotericness just like the other people in FM did. The material they've been doing recently isn't going to leave any significant stamp to the world of music and maybe that's because they've lost the connection to the audiences. We fans may think of them as "never having lost it" but we might as well all be wrong; there is no proof of the current material reaching the public hearts.

So in that way I don't think Stevie is in any better position than any other members, past or present, of Fleetwood Mac. Like it or not, her tour setlists still rely mainly on nostalgic selections and that's what the majority of the audience is there for. The online community may have plenty of young people involved but even that is because younger people are the ones who use the Internet the most. So in spite of selling more albums than other members of Fleetwood Mac and in spite of still being a big concert draw I do not think she is artistically in any better position than the other members.

Some of the same accusations can be thrown at Lindsey too but us Buckheads can always resort to the fact that the man has always been generally underappreciated, whether we're speaking of his own songs or his production work. Stevie has had a lot more to lose.

(Note that most of this post is not directly related to the topic but is rather just about letting out steam on some of the discussions we've been having on this matter. And hopefully this will be my final word on the subject but that depends on me more than on the others.)

[strandinthewind]

If she asked me for my unlearned opinion, which she won't , I would say "Stevie, I wish you would stop the big production aspect of your records and do a piano and/or guitar only kind of thing and sing with some sand. You can do it - I mean look at "At Last" - your pipes shine on that one." She then would probably hit me over the head with her tambourine - but at least I would have had the chance to tell her

[strandinthewind]

Originally Posted by trackaghost

Ooo I agree. I wish she would listen to you more often Jason
Why doesn't she, eh?

Well, i would have to get her attention first!!!!! HEY STEVIE - OVER HERE!!!!!!

Then, the two security guards haul me away while I am screaming "GO UNPLUGGED!!!!!!!!!!!"

[face of glass]

Hey, I'd be open for a stripped down performance album too. Limited amount of musicians, one or two takes and a good atmosphere. Most likely it won't happen, given the people she's chosen to surround herself with and given the fact that she rose to prominence through other measures.

But nah, Sharon, she won't be going to O'Rourke, Corgan or White. Maybe not even Rubin. Although if she did I'm sure we'd have a Stevie solo album that even the indie types could accept.

[Serrart]

Originally Posted by face of glass

Hey, I'd be open for a stripped down performance album too. Limited amount of musicians, one or two takes and a good atmosphere. Most likely it won't happen, given the people she's chosen to surround herself with and given the fact that she rose to prominence through other measures.

Maybe I'm too optimist but I don't see it too unlikely to happen.

Originally Posted by face of glass

But nah, Sharon, she won't be going to O'Rourke, Corgan or White. Maybe not even Rubin. Although if she did I'm sure we'd have a Stevie solo album that even the indie types could accept.

Well, I've always thought to be an "indie type" (not intended as some kind of superior quality, just a fact) for my tastes in music and cinema... but I loved TISL as well, and became a huge Stevie fan for it. I see much more complexity and talent where you see "not the real thing", but it's just a matter of opinions.
By the way, I also consider Lindsey an underappreciated genious as a musician and producer, and I'm looking forward to his solo too.

Romy

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by face of glass

The important point here is that very few fell in love with Stevie Nicks because of "Silver Girl" and "Say You Will", most people fell in love with her through "Rhiannon" and "Dreams" which are Buckingham production works.

Well, technically "Rhiannon" might be a Buckingham arrangement, but it's a Keith Olsen production. As is "Landslide."

Also, I've been wondering something... "Rhiannon," as it's performed in that Buckingham Nicks concert that recently started circulating... is VERY fast, and omits the long "dreams unwind" ending.
Stevie's piano demos (even the earliest we can find) always include that part.

I wonder if LB's contribution to the arrangement was to make it faster... and, back in 1974, shorter, too.

Originally Posted by face of glass

While I enjoy both too I enjoy the other significantly less than the "real thing". And that is simply because she chooses to make the sound uniform and the studio players are there playing routine parts so that they wouldn't overshadow Stevie.

And again, I really disagree with the notion that Stevie's studio albums are lackluster because the "studio musicians are only there to back her."
Stevie is not a musician, and has never purported to be. She's a singer/songwriter.
The production should always be there to enhance her songs... not to overpower them.

With Fleetwood Mac, it's a little different because it's a band setting. There's room for all the members to shine, and there should be.
But I'm not buying a Stevie Nicks solo album for Waddy Wachtel's guitar-playing, or Benmont Tench's piano & keyboards. Or even Jimmy Iovine's production.

They are there to enhance... not to overshadow.

And again, I was what you can consider a relatively new fan in 1985/86, because even though I loved all of the singles that I heard on the radio, I never really knew WHO Fleetwood Mac and Stevie Nicks were.
But when I started buying all of the albums in '86, I most definitely could hear a difference between Stevie's solo work and her music with Fleetwood Mac. And that was probably due to the fact that I wasn't so familiar with the music already. It didn't all meld together in my mind.
Stevie's solo stuff, to me, was a little more "rock and roll"... in that it was a little more "out there" and eccentric, and a little less perfect.

While Fleetwood Mac's stuff sounded glossier, more refined, and more "perfect"... more homogenized overall.

Now, don't get me wrong... I love that sound. I'm not saying it's a bad thing... just that I hear the difference. And I think Lindsey is a brilliant producer. Granted, I do think he has made a few missteps here and there... but I also think Stevie has made a few missteps of her own.
It's bound to happen when you're recording albums for 30 years.

I honestly believe the solo career allows her to branch out more, in ways that she wasn't able to in Fleetwood Mac... at least prior to her and Lindsey becoming the sole songwriters in FM. And you're right... there aren't horn sections on every song or album, and she really only used an orchestra on "Beauty And The Beast"... but, the ability to do that is there, if and when she wants it.

Anyway, those are some of the various reasons why, in my opinion, her solo music stands apart from her Mac music. For me, neither is "better than" the other... they're separate entities in many ways, which are then made consistent by Stevie's writing and voice.
I can enjoy both equally.

I also wanted to add that I don't think she's more self-expressive than Lindsey, artistically speaking... simply that I believe they're both equally self-expressive, in their own individual way. I also don't think Lindsey's solo albums have a lock on the "artistic" label.
Whereas Lindsey's artistic nature is expressed mostly thru his production (because up to 'Out Of The Cradle,' I would venture to say his guitar playing almost took a backseat to his production, in terms of which was the bigger vehicle for his expression, and the same can be said of his lyrics*), Stevie's is expressed thru her songwriting and voice.

They're different means to the same ends. Two sides of the same coin, if you will.
Which is probably why, together, they can make an even bigger statement than they ever can when they're apart.
But, wow... they're still pretty doggone amazing on their own!

(* I think Lindsey's lyrics still take a "backseat" to his production in many ways, however I think he's writing amazing songs now lyrically, and his level of expression via those lyrics has definitely increased in a major way. Though, IMHO, none of his 'SYW' songs are as introspective as the 'OotC' songs, outside of "Say Goodbye," which was written 15/16 years ago. But he has taken on the role of observer, with great aplomb.)