Songbird - Lesley Ann Jones

[Villavic]

Are you sure? I got the digital book and made different searches with the words garden, hole, roses. I couldn't find it. And I didn't remember that episode, that's why I found it funny.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Are you sure? I got the digital book and made different searches with the words garden, hole, roses. I couldn't find it. And I didn't remember that episode, that's why I found it funny.

I read that book at least 50 times, back in the day. I'm sure.

[bombaysaffires]

there's a pic of Christine and Dennis in her back yard (I want to say sitting on the grass) with the heart-shaped "garden" behind them... I think it got half-planted with roses or whatever but never finished. I want to say I saw it in People magazine at the time.....

here's one: https://www.famousfix.com/post/chris...ilson-21217175

Still looking for the one I'm remembering....

maybe I was thinking of this: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...84999561560342

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

there's a pic of Christine and Dennis in her back yard (I want to say sitting on the grass) with the heart-shaped "garden" behind them... I think it got half-planted with roses or whatever but never finished. I want to say I saw it in People magazine at the time.....

here's one: https://www.famousfix.com/post/chris...ilson-21217175

Still looking for the one I'm remembering....

maybe I was thinking of this: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid...84999561560342

I think I still have that clipping, somewhere. I lost my Tusk tour book in a flood, but I think all my clippings survived.

[dougl]

Book Review – Songbird: An Intimate Biography of Christine McVie by Lesley-Ann Jones – Is ‘Songbird’ a Fitting Tribute to Christine McVie?
Patti AliventiDecember 9, 2024

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Books, and author Lesley-Ann Jones for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

When you have a situation where the subject of your book was a fairly private person and is now deceased, and her friends, relatives, and coworkers all refuse to talk to you, perhaps it’s time to rethink whether or not you should really be writing about them in the first place. Christine McVie was just such a person, and this is a book that probably shouldn’t have been written.

Christine McVie (born Christine Anne Perfect) was the keyboardist, vocalist, and one of the songwriters behind many of Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits. However, she was fine standing behind her keyboards while Stevie Nicks took center stage. She gave some interviews, but not many, and rarely talked badly about anyone, which means a lot of what went on in her life was not discussed in those interviews.

With Christine’s death in 2022, the only testimonies straight out of her mouth are those scant interviews left behind. The author also had a bit of a personal relationship with her, but even that seems to be one where Christine kept her at a distance, as she seemed to do with most people. There are many things about her the author doesn’t know, and many situations are described with words like “suggested” or “likely”. In other words, the author has no clue what actually happened and is taking an (educated?) guess.

To make matters worse, throughout a good part of the book, Jones uses feedback from a clinical psychologist who never worked with McVie to describe what things “must have been like” for her or how she “must have felt.” I found myself disgusted at these parts for two reasons. One is that he never talked with McVie so he is analyzing her without her consent or permission (nor that of her family) based on videos and interviews. I thought psychologists were prohibited from doing this. The other is that he assigns feelings to her that she may or may not have had based on statements she makes. For instance, her mother was thought to have been a medium and was also a ghost hunter in Christine’s younger days, at a time when that was not the subject of numerous television shows. Based on one line in an interview, the psychologist has decided that Christine resented her mother’s absence and just wanted a “normal” childhood. There’s no way to ask her what she meant by that line, but his interpretation is presented as the truth throughout the book.

Without conversations with McVie herself or any of the members of Fleetwood Mac or any of her family, what is left to write about? The author manages to fill 353 pages with a whole lot of filler. Pages and pages are filled with tangents that have nothing to do with McVie’s life, except having occurred while she was alive. I learned more about the British Blues scene in the 1960s and 1970s than I ever thought I wanted to know. However, seeing how the author came to conclusions about a lot of things in this book, I have to wonder how accurate it all is. Many of the people who did talk to her seemed to be self-serving, as in they think that the mention in this book might help their credibility in the music business, or what’s left of it.

Overall, Songbird was too much speculation and too much filler. Two stars almost seem too generous, but there was good information about the music business and the many incarnations of Fleetwood Mac. I still maintain that it was a book that probably shouldn’t have been written. If I weren’t reading it for a review, I probably would not have finished it.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by dougl

Book Review – Songbird: An Intimate Biography of Christine McVie by Lesley-Ann Jones – Is ‘Songbird’ a Fitting Tribute to Christine McVie?
Patti AliventiDecember 9, 2024

Note: Thank you to NetGalley, Hachette Books, and author Lesley-Ann Jones for the advanced reader copy of this book. This review will also be posted on NetGalley. What follows is my unbiased review of the book.

When you have a situation where the subject of your book was a fairly private person and is now deceased, and her friends, relatives, and coworkers all refuse to talk to you, perhaps it’s time to rethink whether or not you should really be writing about them in the first place. Christine McVie was just such a person, and this is a book that probably shouldn’t have been written.

Christine McVie (born Christine Anne Perfect) was the keyboardist, vocalist, and one of the songwriters behind many of Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits. However, she was fine standing behind her keyboards while Stevie Nicks took center stage. She gave some interviews, but not many, and rarely talked badly about anyone, which means a lot of what went on in her life was not discussed in those interviews.

With Christine’s death in 2022, the only testimonies straight out of her mouth are those scant interviews left behind. The author also had a bit of a personal relationship with her, but even that seems to be one where Christine kept her at a distance, as she seemed to do with most people. There are many things about her the author doesn’t know, and many situations are described with words like “suggested” or “likely”. In other words, the author has no clue what actually happened and is taking an (educated?) guess.

To make matters worse, throughout a good part of the book, Jones uses feedback from a clinical psychologist who never worked with McVie to describe what things “must have been like” for her or how she “must have felt.” I found myself disgusted at these parts for two reasons. One is that he never talked with McVie so he is analyzing her without her consent or permission (nor that of her family) based on videos and interviews. I thought psychologists were prohibited from doing this. The other is that he assigns feelings to her that she may or may not have had based on statements she makes. For instance, her mother was thought to have been a medium and was also a ghost hunter in Christine’s younger days, at a time when that was not the subject of numerous television shows. Based on one line in an interview, the psychologist has decided that Christine resented her mother’s absence and just wanted a “normal” childhood. There’s no way to ask her what she meant by that line, but his interpretation is presented as the truth throughout the book.

Without conversations with McVie herself or any of the members of Fleetwood Mac or any of her family, what is left to write about? The author manages to fill 353 pages with a whole lot of filler. Pages and pages are filled with tangents that have nothing to do with McVie’s life, except having occurred while she was alive. I learned more about the British Blues scene in the 1960s and 1970s than I ever thought I wanted to know. However, seeing how the author came to conclusions about a lot of things in this book, I have to wonder how accurate it all is. Many of the people who did talk to her seemed to be self-serving, as in they think that the mention in this book might help their credibility in the music business, or what’s left of it.

Overall, Songbird was too much speculation and too much filler. Two stars almost seem too generous, but there was good information about the music business and the many incarnations of Fleetwood Mac. I still maintain that it was a book that probably shouldn’t have been written. If I weren’t reading it for a review, I probably would not have finished it.

Nearly all these books are like this. SPECULATIONS of the author.

Still probably more accurate that anything Stevie pretends to remembers...

[Penguin Emeritus]

Yep. I have to agree with that review and I'm only a few chapters in. It's sooo much filler and speculation and BS from this psychiatrist or whatever. and she makes some assertions that to me come across as somewhat disrespectful. the whole thing about how chris resented her mother, how she maybe was made to feel less than because she had no psychic ability or true academic prowess. The way she continually presents dennis as 'the love of her life' and 'the one' with really nothing to back that up. The way she says -- just after a quote from chris on how she and john were in love when they got married-- she asks, 'But were they?' I mean wtf?? and then goes on to say that it was *really* peter green that chris adored. 'she'd had a crush on him for as long as she could remember'-- what, a few months?? They barely knew each other! and how J and C felt they had to get married because of societal pressure or some BS like that.... ugh i can go on and on and that's only up to like chapter seven but I agree that Jones really didn't seem to know chris at all .... she just took the few chats she'd had with her as well as some well known interviews and wrote the book around that, padding it with tons of useless info and guesses and filler.

also pissed me off that she mentioned that john had a sister who died, and the only place in the world to my knowledge where he EVER mentioned that would be one of his Q&As here at this website!! so a credit might have been nice, Ms. Jones lol.

OH--and another part where chris apparently told Lesley that she was in her marriage to john "for the duration," and that she thought he was also, which IMO was a lovely sentiment of their feelings and commitment-- but then Jones has this bit from Dave Ambrose on how he tried to sort of make a move on chris while she was married (but it depended how drunk he was if he found her attractive because she had a fruity nose that didn't do her face any favors??) and that he didn't see what chris ever saw in john.

To me it's like this author was trying to paint dennis as being far more than he was, while minimizing/showing her marriage and feelings for john in a dismissive/negative light. It really rubs me the wrong way. I really hope he never opens this book. I'm sure he won't, to be honest. I doubt her family will, either.

let me shut up. I think the BBC special presented a more accurate picture of her life.

--Lis