Fleetwood Mac – Just Giblets

January 1, 2023January 1, 2023

Remembering Christine McVie

As we all age, I knew we would be losing some of my favorite performers in the coming years. Earlier this summer, it was hard to hear about Olivia Newton John’s death, but the loss of Fleetwood Mac’s Christine McVie in November hit me hard. She was my keyboard idol since the 70’s. She was a master pop songwriter. She was a superstar who preferred to stand out of the spotlight and just be one of the band. It was a dichotomy that underscored her talent and made her even more special. Christine is right up there with Kate Bush when it comes to my musical pantheon.

I discovered Fleetwood Mac along with many of the folks my age, with the blockbuster self-titled album, commonly referred to as the “white” Fleetwood Mac album. My older siblings loved Fleetwood Mac, and for me, at the age of thirteen, they were the first “adult” rock & roll band to really capture my attention. Like many young, gay boys, Stevie Nicks fascinated me. Her song Rhiannon was steeped in mythology, and her mystical leanings were quite the draw, but the musician in me was really captured by the smooth, sultry voice and blues-rooted keyboard stylings of Ms. Christine McVie.

Her songs on that album were some of her best. Warm Ways, Over My Head, Say You Love Me and Sugar Daddy all made indelible impressions on me. I thrilled to her organ licks, and her rhythmic piano playing. The incredible harmonies that she spun with her bandmates, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham were intoxicating. Rumours followed and Fleetwood Mac became one of the biggest bands in the world, selling more copies of an album than anyone before them. I went back and bought all of Fleetwood Mac’s earlier albums that featured Christine, starting with 1971’s Future Games, and through 1972’s Bare Trees, 1973’s Mystery to Me, and Penguin, and 1974’s Heroes are Hard to Find. Then came the rest of the catalog including 1979’s Tusk, 1980’s Live, 1982’s Mirage, 1987’s Tango in the Night, 1990’s Behind the Mask, 1995’s Time, 1997’s The Dance, as well as three solo albums, 1970’s The Legendary Christine Perfect, 1984’s Christine McVie, 2004’s In the Meantime, and an album with her bandmate Lindsey Buckingham in 2017 simply titled Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie. That was to be her last recorded music.

Chris To honor Christine, I have compiled a ranked list of my favorite songs written by her. It was going to be a Top 40, but I couldn’t cut off there and ended up with my Top 46 Christine McVie songs. It’s not a comprehensive lists; there are many songs that didn’t make the cut, but it’s a great representation. Most are from her time with Fleetwood Mac, but her solo work is represented as well. Somewhat surprisingly, the top two songs were during Fleetwood Mac’s more obscure days, just before Lindsey and Stevie joined, helping to propel them into superstardom. In fact, both of the top two songs came from the Heroes Are Hard to Find album. Her first non-Fleetwood Mac song comes in at #15 from her self-titled solo album.

And here they are, my top 46 Christine McVie songs:

#1) Come a Little Bit Closer – Taken from the Heroes Are Hard to Find album, this track has everything you’d want from a Christine McVie song. A gorgeous piano introduction, her sweetly soaring vocals, and a sweeping string part played on her ARP String ensemble.

#2) Heroes Are Hard to Find – The title track from Fleetwood Mac’s 1974 album was a jaunty, upbeat number complete with a horn section! It’s one of Christine’s most playful song, and I would have given anything to hear this one performed live.

#3) Warm Ways – The instrumentation on this gorgeously, swoony lullaby shows off the best of Fleetwood Mac. The gently brilliant interplay between the electric piano and the organ, the subtly intricate guitar riffs, the gentle, rhythmic drumming, and the anchoring bass all serve to create the atmosphere for Christine’s warm, restless vocals to tell their tale.

#4) Think About Me – I’ve gotta give Lindsey Buckingham a little credit here because Tusk was his baby, and while this track is straight-forward, blues-powered Christine McVie, he applies a little punk-attitude with this hyper-distorted guitar and a little distortion on her Fender Rhodes to really pump it up. If Christine ever displayed a harder edge, it’s in this spunky, cutting pop song.

#5) Songbird – For many, this is Christine’s signature song, and there’s no denying the beauty of this concert closer and it’s message of love

#6) Sugar Daddy – This song from 1975’s Fleetwood Mac album doesn’t get a lot of love, but listen to Christine’s keyboard work. While the remastered version of the album track is first, and has a nice build, starting out being piano driven before the organ sweeps in, I’m going to include an early take that pumps up the organ right from the start. And that bass! It’s really a classic.

#7) Say You Love Me – The third single from the 1975 Fleetwood Mac album (following Over My Head and Rhiannon) this blues-fueled country-pop confection became their third top 20 hit from the album, peaking at #11. Nothing tops the three-part harmony of that chours.

#8) Hold Me – The first single from Mirage was a big step into the glossy, 80’s pop world. It’s also the first of several duets with Lindsey that Christine wrote and are featured on this list. From that great piano break to that offbeat chorus, this one is a special one for me.

#9) Just Crazy Love – This track from 1973’s Mystery to Me album is just so much fun. Christine lets her hair down and just let’s this boppy number take her all over the place. the free-wheeling vocals and that hammering guitar just put a smile on my face. She and guitarist Bob Welch worked well together.

#10) Over My Head – The lead single from the Fleetwood Mac album, and the band’s first song to crack the Billboard Top 20 is vintage Christine. It’s unique too because I think it was the first song I ever heard with a fade-in. I also include the live version which had a great little mini-duet with Stevie Nicks in the middle.

https://youtu.be/SXveFeQFyuU

And the rest…

#11 – You Make Loving Fun – A Rumours classic

#12) The Skies the Limit – Best thing from the post-Lindsey era.

#13) Honey Hi – Such a gorgeous song from Tusk

#14) Why – Such a unique song from Christine form Mystery to Me. Live version with Stevie & Lindsey is so cool

#15) Gotta Hold On Me – Christine never really wanted to be a solo artist, but her second solo album spawned this terrific pop hit.

#16) Love in Store – Another hit single and album opener from the Mirage album

#17) Never Forget – Lovely pop gem from the Tusk album

#18) Morning Rain – Amazing, bluesey number from 1971’s Future Games spotlighting her powerful vocals and fantastic piano playing.

#19) Don’t Stop – One of Fleetwood Mac’s biggest hits, and enduring songs.

#20) Over and Over – This is the exquisite song that opened the Tusk album.

#21) Oh Daddy – Often overlooked track from Rumours. The darker side of Christine McVie. A bit of a musical companion piece to Stevie’s Gold Dust Woman.

#22) Believe Me – Nice blues-rockers from Mystery to Me. This clip from Midnight Special has a great guitar-intro from Bob Weston.

#23) The Way I Feel – Gorgeous, gentle ballad from 1973’s Mystery to Me.

#24) Little Lies – Another huge hit, this one firmly in the 80’s from Tango in the Night.

#25) Spare Me a Little – Here’s the first song from 1972’s Bare Trees to appear here, but this is a live recording from 1975 featuring Stevie & Lindsey.

#26) Red Sun – From the Buckingham/McVie album in 2017. She still has those pop song-writing chops. What a great song.

#27) World Turning – Her first song-writing collaboration with Lindsey Buckingham. When I first heard this I couldn’t tell who was singing what; their voices were in the same range!

#28) Only Over You – Great vocals from Christine on this track from Mirage

#29) Wish You Were Here – And a heartfelt ballad from Mirage. Bonus lovely live version from the Buckingham Mcvie tour just 5-years ago at age 74.

#30) Feel About You – Another track from the Buckingham/McVie album — this is pure pop confection.

#31) Never Make Me Cry – Another absolutely gorgeous ballad, this time from the Tusk album. This demo version I found is exquisite. It’s less produced than the album version, but I think I like it even better!

#32) Remember Me – Here’s a great song from the Penguin album. Great piano, organ, vocal arrangements…

#32) Temporary One – Fleetwood Mac performed this for The Dance concert and it was included on the companion album.

#34) Prove Your Love – Nice mid-tempo number from Heroes Are Hard to Find featuring Christine’s soaring vocals.

#35) Show Me a Smile – This lovely, gentle song from Future Games just reinforces the positivity that Christine infuses in so many of her songs.

#36) As Long As You Follow – The one new song from Fleetwood Mac’s 1988 Greatest Hits album. A cheesy video, but a gorgeous song from Christine, with a killer chorus.

#37) Who’s Dreaming This Dream? – A second cut from Christine’s 1984 solo album, this features a lovely harmony vocal from Lindsey Buckingham.

#38) Dissatisfied – Another great, rollicking, blues-influenced number from the Penguin album.

#39) Everywhere – Her last BillboardTop 20 hit with Fleetwood Mac, although it was #1 Adult Contemporary, this glittering pop confection is from Tango in the Night.

#40) Sweet Revenge – Even Christine likes to say that her 2004 solo album, In the Meantime, wasn’t her best effort, but there are some gems on there. Here’s one of them.

#41) I Do – Here’s a surprise. Fleetwood Mac’s 16th album, released in 1995 was called Time. Stevie and Lindsey had both left the band, and Christine wasn’t going to tour. So they brought in some new members, and Christine contributed 5 new songs, with this one being the sole single — although it only charted in Canada.

#42) Save Me – The only single from their 1990 album, Behind the Mask, and the last Top 40 song from Fleetwood Mac, this Christine McVie penned and sung number hit #33 on Billboard’s Hot 100. It’s a very solid pop song (although I have no idea why the second single, McVie’s The Skies the Limit – #12 above – wasn’t a massive hit.)

#43) Liar – Another strong song from McVie’s 2004 solo album, In the Meantime.

#44) I’m the One – Another great song from McVie’s second solo album fro 1984.

#45) The Challenge – A jaunty number in the early 80’s McVie style from her 1984 self-titled solo album.

#46) Easy Come, Easy Go – And rounding things out, one more song from her 2004 solo album, with a great hook in the chorus.

Thanks for the music, Christine. It will live on forever and I will treasure it for the rest of my life. I’m glad I found my hero.

January 5, 2022

Michael’s Top Books Read in 2021, #’s 8 & 9

#9 Making Rumours: The Inside Story of the Classic Fleetwood Mac Album by Ken Caillat and Steven Steifeld (2012) – As we move into the Top 10, we’ve got a pair of musical books making the list. At #9, I continue my journey reading about the excessive hijinks of one of my favorite bands, Fleetwood Mac. Last year, my #3 book of the year was Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac’s Most Anticipated Album. This year I stepped back to their previous album, the mega-successful Rumours and read, by recording engineer and producer, Ken Caillat, who worked on four of Fleetwood Mac’s albums, starting with the massive international hit, Rumours. Perhaps reading the two books out of order did this book a bit of a disservice, because as was revealed in Get Tusked working with the band on the Rumours follow-up was an out and out shitshow of manic, drug-induced, self-obsessed, egomaniacal personalities that made the recording sessions for Rumours seem positively tame by comparison. Yes, it was during the recording of this album that all the band members’ romantic relationships just fell apart, but in fact, according to Caillat’s account, there was actually not all that much drama. Sure, there was excessive drugs and drinking, and the occasional spat. Or the time Lindsey Buckingham tried to choke the life out of the author… but other than that…

What I loved about both of these books is the insane details of how each of the songs on the album were put together. It’s a fascinating account, right down to the timestamp of when you can hear different moments that make the songs so incredibly special to someone like me who listens to music which such effort. It really makes me appreciate the pristine recording of this amazing album when I listen to it now. The only other drawback taking away from that last star in the rating was Caillat’s insistence on commenting on every woman’s appearance, and how hot they were. I understand it was the 70’s, and a very different time, but all these “girls” hanging around the fringes of the industry, and these guys just chasing them around with their tongues hanging out of their mouths gets a little tired after a while. The book is far more interesting when diving into the craft of creating the sound and beauty of each song, or detailing the quirks of each band member, but i was not here to read about Ken’s attempts to find a girlfriend (or two).

#10 The Healing Power of Singing: Raise Your Voice, Change Your Life by Emm Gryner (2021) – I’m not one for self-help books, nor did I think to myself, I need to read a book to help me with my singing voice, but I am an admirer of Emm Gryner the musician, so I thought it might be interesting to read her first book. It was more than interesting, it was entertaining, and illuminating, and has even gotten me singing again. Mainly around the house, but I’m ready for my next performance at the Chlotrudis Awards — an event that finds me singing with some other movie geeks every few years.

What Emm does that is so captivating, is she includes stories about her fascinating musical career, signed to a major label at 19, dropped shortly after her first album came out due to a restructuring with the company, touring worldwide as part of David Bowie’s band in her early to mid-20’s, becoming a successful independent artist, producing the first song sung in orbit around the earth, and so much more, while giving tips about how anyone can sing. She also talks about how she rediscovered her true self to be the best that she can be, and dang it, it’s inspiring.

You might read Emm’s book to get an insider’s look at touring with a rock god… or perhaps you want to learn how to sing? At any rate, hopefully, after you’ve finished, you’ll want to go check out Emm’s music. You won’t be sorry.

January 10, 2021June 17, 2022

Michael’s Top Books Read in 2020, #4 & 3

My #4 book of the year, hasn’t technically even been released yet. I got an advanced reader’s copy of it from Random House, and it should be released in early March of 2019. I devoured my #3 book in a few days… just the type of book to feed my fandom, bringing my love of books and geekiness about music together. Technically not as well written as many of the other books around it, but for sheer enjoyment, it earns its slot.

#4 – How Beautiful We Were by Imbolo Mbue

Imbolo Mbue follows up her magnificent debut, Behold the Dreamers (#12 on my list of Best Books Read in 2016) with a hard-hitting tale of corporate destruction and governmental greed from the perspective of the community in a small African Village whose way of life faces destruction. When an American corporation begins drilling for oil under the fictional village of Kosawa, the effects are felt for generations to come. Crops shrivel, water becomes tainted, and children begin to die. Over the course of three generations, various attempts are made to stop the destruction of their way of life, from pleading with the corporate interests, to violence, to radical organizing, uncovering layers of opposition.

Mbue follows one family in particular, which centers around Thula, a young woman who gains the incredible educational opportunity to go to college in New York, where she encounters others like herself, willing to take on the man in the hopes for a better future. She gives up everything for her community, while it hangs on by a thread back home, her cohort of age-mates struggling between subterfuge and out and out revolution to repay the violence and injustice suffered through the years.

With a keen eye and heart examining responses from villagers across educational and generational lines, Mbue uses an impartial eye, even while breaking our hearts for this communities suffering. Her writing is powerful and pulls no punches as the reader is taken on a harrowing journey as a tiny village tries to overcome insurmountable odds for a better life.

Get Tusked! #3 – Get Tusked: The Inside Story of Fleetwood Mac’s Most Anticipated Album by Ken Caillat and Hernan Rojas

For a rabid Fleetwood Mac fan who’s been listening to the albums for over 45 years, saw them in concert a handful of times, find their music to be incomparably amazing, and am endlessly fascinated by the individuals who make up this messy, emotional trainwreck of a band, this book is like crack. I haven’t finished a book this quickly in years. Tusk was the band’s 12th album, but it was the follow-up to the mega-monster smash, Rumours. The anticipation around this album was stratospheric, and the 13-month recording session nearly tore the already fragile band apart.

Authors Ken Caillat, producer and engineer who worked on Rumours, Tusk, Live, Mirage, and The Chain box set and Tusk recording engineer Hernan Rojas, give a detailed behind-the-scenes look at the process of creating what at the time was one of the industry’s biggest disappointments, and in hindsight, is lauded by many as a bold, creative step forward by a multi-talented band.

It was the late-70’s, and Fleetwood Mac were mega-stars. Every excess was their for the taking, and the took a lot. Already known for their intense, soap opera-like personal relationships that were devoured by millions through Rumours, and just coming off a year+ long concert tour, the band immediately began the grueling process of creating the follow-up album in a state-of-the-art recording studio with enough food, alcohol, and drugs to keep an army happy. The band’s history with drugs, particularly cocaine, is well-documented, and it just boggles my mind that they were able to operate at all under the influence of so many mind-altering substances. I wish they reach out to Pacific Ridge – a reliable rehab center. Add to that singer/songwriter/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham’s creative evolution, that while perceptive and brilliant, was housed in the mind of a rich and successful, spoiled, damage, emotionally-stunted musical genius. While the rest of the band, and the crew that surrounded them arrived at the studio ready to make another album that met and surpassed the exquisite pop-rock Rumours, Lindsey had other ideas. Latching on to the burgeoning punk/new wave sounds that were starting to herald the coming of the 80’s, Lindsey want something entirely different, and he threatened to walk if he didn’t get it. Caillat and Rojas alternate in telling the tales of this process, which works well because they experienced the same scenarios, but came at them from different perspectives and temperaments.

What makes this book so delightful for me, is the fact the two authors are first and foremost, recording engineers, who go into rich, geeky detail about each song on the album: how it was recorded, the instrumentation, how they were created. I found that endless fascinating, and thrilled the long-buried musician in me. After each song was worked on and discussed in the book, I found I had to go listen to it and note the details and anecdotes that were revealed in the book.

The detailed aspect of the creation and recording of the album lifted it out of what could have been just a sensationalistic celebrity tell-all. Not that it didn’t occasionally slip into that territory, and not to say I didn’t occasionally enjoy that aspect, the film did lag a little when the boys would veer off into their sexual escapades and dalliances. Rojas did spend the latter months of the recording of Tusk in a passionate affair with Stevie Nicks, who, I might add, just ended her affair with drummer Mick Fleetwood months before, and who, two years prior, ended a 7-year relationship with guitarist Lindsey Buckingham. It made for some interesting personal dynamics. I am pleased to say that this book only served to make me love Christine McVie even more.

To sum up, as a massive admirer of Fleetwood Mac and their music, and quite specifically, the Tusk album, this book was nearly everything I’d hoped for. It certainly provided a glimpse into the working and personal lives of world-famous musicians during a very particular time in history that was fun and rewarding.

August 15, 2020August 15, 2020

Fleetwood Mac Tracks, #’s 5 – 1

Here we are, my favorite Fleetwood Mac tracks, and it’s no surprise that this list is dominated by Christine McVie songs. I so admire her as a songwriter, as a singer, and as a musician. She is the heart of Fleetwood Mac, and I feel overshadowed by her more colorful cohorts, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Yet it’s when all three of the together make music that the magic happens. I credit much of my love of Fleetwood Mac on Lindsey’s obsessive production work, Stevie’s passion, and the unique and breath-taking way the three sound when they sing together. Christine’s not alone in the Top 5 though, and Stevie makes quite a long-lasting mark with her top track. Let me know what you think!

#5 – Say You Love Me (McVie, C.) Fleetwood Mac (1975)

Another of Fleetwood Mac’s most well-known songs, “Say You Love Me” was the fourth single from the Fleetwood Mac album peaking at #11, where it hung out for three weeks. It was also the fourth single from the album in the UK, and the first to chart, reaching #40. For me, it’s the prototype of Christine McVie songs, and perhaps one of the most enduring. This woman has fallen head over heels for this guy who’s a bit of a player. Things sound great in verse one, it’s the start of a relationship, she’s smitten, then the chorus comes in and he turns on the charm and tells her he loves her. Yet in verse two suddenly things aren’t going so well, and she thinks he’s moved on, but back he comes into her life and she just wants him to treat her right. Will he? Only time will tell.

Things I love about this song? Christine’s piano really drives the song. I love the intro which is all piano, then it just steadily moves the song along. This is possibly my favorite John McVie bass line, especially the melodic part through the chorus. Lindsey’s banjo adds a lot of color to this number as well, But what makes this song so special to me, was it’s the first time I experienced that gorgeous and unique sound that comes when the three of then harmonize on the chorus. I love how their voices blend together seamlessly, but because their voices are so distinctive, you can pick out each one beautifully. It’s pure pop bliss. I used to sing this song over and over when I was a teenager, each time taking a different harmony part. And two silly things I love about this song: on some choruses, I love the way Christine sings, “And dere’s not another living soul around” instead of “there’s;” and the use of the word “woo” in “You woo me until the sun comes up.” How often do you hear the word woo? It’s a great word.

The song was remastered for the 45 release, with the banjo coming in a little brighter, and some fuzzy electric guitar licks added in to pump up the sound, but I prefer the original, piano-driven version, so I’ve included that here. Then, because of the stripped down arrangement and highlight of the vocals, I’ve also included the live version from The Dance. It’s cool to see the five of them all lined-up at the front of the stage too.

#4 – Warm Ways (McVie, C.) Fleetwood Mac (1975)

Christine McVie’s “Warm Ways” is my earliest memory of Fleetwood Mac. As a 13-year-old in the throes of puberty, this lush, sexy ballad really resonated with me. Spending the night with her lover, she’s waiting for the sun to come up because she can’t sleep with his warm ways. I could only imagine what that was like. Christine’s breathy vocals touched parts of me that other songs had not done up to this point. This song featured all the best things about the talented musicianship of the band, each part fitting the song’s tone perfectly. The heavily reverbed Fender Rhodes electric piano, the languid guitar licks and softly strummed acoustic guitar, the gentle, plush bass work, and Fleetwood’s incredible drumming came together with sublime beauty. Stevie and Lindsey’s gentle background vocals seemed to float like gauze under Christine’s exquisite voice. The slow fade-out still raises goosebumps on my arms.

It’s placement on the album, sandwiched between two of Buckingham’s rockers, “Monday Morning” and “Blue Letter” works perfectly, it’s gentle wash the perfect balm to the high energy male energy around it. A writer from PopMatters extols “Warm Ways” as Christine’s finest moment. He notes, “McVie’s contralto radiates the heat of someone who enjoyed hours of incredible sex and can’t wait for the next round. But the music is wistful. The layers of gratitude McVie’s voice folds into the line ‘You made me a woman tonight’ suggest a woman awake to erotic possibilities undreamt of twelve hours earlier.” The song speaks to a maturity that most pop rock songs eschew, and no one can pull it off like Christine McVie. Sadly, the band has never performed the song live, although there are some bootleg recordings of the band rehearsing it which I’ve included here so you can here Christine and Stevie harmonizing together.

#3 – Heroes Are Hard to Find (McVie, C.) Heroes Are Hard to Find (1974)

Here we go, the first of two surprise entries… for me, at least. The first offering from 1974’s Heroes Are Hard to Find album, the last Fleetwood Mac album before the arrival of the Buckingham Nicks team. It was just Christine McVie and Bob Welch carrying the songwriting duties, and surprisingly, in retrospect, it included some of Christine’s best and I must say, most daring work. Perhaps she subconsciously felt a change was in the wind for the band that caused her to step up her songwriting game, but whatever the reason, her songs on this album have proven to stand out amongst her prolific oeuvre.

Coming in at #3, is the title track of the album, a bold, brassy, call to the ladies that was Fleetwood Mac’s attempt at a hit single. Sadly, the song didn’t make it to the Top 100, but it diid help the album become the highest charting of the band’s career, climbing to #34 on Billboard’s Hot 200. This is an upbeat McVie number, driven by her rollicking piano, and preacher-style, call and response delivery, but punctuated with an incredibly catch horn section that adds so much color and verve to this great, great song.

Lyrically it takes Christine’s usual trope of falling for a guy that’s just no good for you, and turning the blame from the pining woman, to the no-good guy. As she sings, ” But you’ve got to pity him, and try to understand, that a hero, a hero is so hard to find.” I love how she starts the song with a call to all the ladies, “Girls you know,…” then she proceeds to gather them together to say, we’ve all been there, you get involved with a guy and they invariably disappoint you. Well, just remember, a hero is hard to find. Christine and Bob Welch provide the fun response, back-up vocals to Christine’s preaching, to add to the fun. This song always makes me smile, and it’s a nice change of pace for Christine, and one I would have loved to see more of through the years.

#2 – Silver Springs (Nicks) The Dance (1997, 1977)

Lest you thought the Top 5 was going to be all Christine McVie songs, Stevie Nicks comes crashing back in so close to the top at #2 with the gorgeous underdog track, “Silver Springs.” The story of “Silver Springs” is a fascinating one, fraught with tensions that nearly broke up the band. As a teenager, I remember discovering the songs as a b-side to the “Go Your Own Way” 45 release from Rumours. Even back then, I was stunned that this amazing song had been left of the album, only to appear as a b-side. Because of it’s elusive nature, I lost track of the song over the next 20 years, until it emerged, powerfully as the stand-out track of Fleetwood Mac’s reunion concert and live album, The Dance. Nominated for a grammy and given new live in such a dramatic way, it was certainly vindication for Stevie Nicks who fought passionately for the song to be included on the Rumours album.

Written about the collapse of her long relationship with Lindsey Buckingham, the song had been intended to be included on Rumours. For multiple reasons, including its length and relatively slower tempo and — over strenuous objections from Nicks — the song was excluded from the album, and replaced with I Don’t Wanna Know. Nicks was furious, and the tensions that arose nearly led to the break-up of the band, or at least that version. Years later, after the world tour to support their 1987 album, Tango in the Night, Nicks left the band after a dispute with Mick Fleetwood, who would not allow her to release “Silver Springs” on her 1991 compilation album, Timespace — the Best of Stevie Nicks because of his plans to include the song as part of a Fleetwood Mac box set, 1992’s 25 Years — The Chain. It’s fitting that the song was the centerpiece of the band’s 1997 reunion concert, and a vindication of sorts for Nicks.

The song clearly embodies the emotions wrapped up in Stevie and Lindsey’s break-up in a way no other song does. In the live video of the concert version, Stevie and Lindsey share a moment, singing together, and the emotion from 20+ years ago just still out from them. I love this story Stevie told “MacLean’s” magazine: After Christine McVie rejoined Fleetwood Mac in 2014, her heartbreak sisterhood with Nicks was rekindled. By that time, “Silver Springs” had already become a staple of the band’s set lists. “When I finish [performing] ‘Silver Springs,’ Christine waits for me and takes my hand,” Nicks said in 2015. “We walk off and we never let go of each other until we get to our tent. In that 30 seconds, it’s like my heart just comes out of my body.”

I love both the studio and live versions, but there’s something about the live version that really captures the intensity and the passion of the song. Stevie is in the best vocal form she had been in for years, and the live version really shows up Christine’s piano talents, forming the foundation for the song, while the studio version spotlights Lindsey’s delicate guitar work, both acoustic and electric. As always, “Silver Springs” is another amazing example of how these three vocalists come together and harmonize better than just about anyone. It’s one of Stevie’s more grounded songs lyrically as well, and she restrains from going all mystical and ethereal, which I very much appreciate for this song.

For me, this is Stevie’s crowning, song-writing achievement, and for Fleetwood Mac, it’s one of their best moments as well, and I would add, for the McVie/Buckingham/Nicks era, THE moment.

#1 – Come a Little Bit Closer (McVie, C.) Heroes Are Hard to Find (1974)

And in a surprise move, Christine McVie takes the top spot with a little-known ballad from 1974’s Heroes Are Hard to Find album. I knew this track would end up high on the list, but was pretty surprised to find it in the top spot. To tell you the truth, I’m not sure what “Come a Little Bit Closer” has that pushes it to the top, but I have loved this song since I first heard it sometime in the late 70’s, when post-Rumours I delved into my brother’s back catalog of Fleetwood Mac albums.

Not a whole lot is written about “Come a Little Bit Closer,” so I don’t know all that much about the background of the song, but several critics who laud the album as one of the most overlooked of Fleetwood Mac’s albums have universal praise for this sweeping, McVie ballad. Dave Swanson of Ultimateclassicrock.com wrote, “‘Come a Little Bit Closer’ is pop perfection from Christine McVie. The song has an almost George Harrison-like quality to it with some nice pedal steel from the legendary Sneaky Pete Kleinow.” The song is grand and bombastic in the way Christine rarely is, with crashing drums and sweeping strings. It opens with a gorgeous, piano intro, something else that Christine rarely does — show offer her piano skills — gracefully building with an ascending scale to a crash of drums and what is possibly my favorite thing about the song… the strings sweep up and slowly descend along with some big notes from Christine’s piano, in contrast to the pedal steel guitar that provides a complimentary ascension, all culminating in Christine’s gorgeous alto voice bringing it all together.

When the chorus comes in, I am practically swooning. Some might say this song is over-produced, but I think the grandiosity fits it perfect, and when Christine’s voice soars to the clouds in the line, “When you held me in your arms…” I am so choked up over the beauty. McVie and Welch provide backing vocals that are perfection, and as the chorus ends, we’re back into that sweeping ascent/descent compliment of strings and pedal steel. Rarely does Christine cut loose like this, her songs are usually pretty laid back and cool, but here she throws her heart way out there and the effect is thrilling. I distinctly remember leaping around the room to this song… if I had been a figure skater, I would have no doubt done a routine to this song — I can see just where the triple jumps would go.

Lyrically it’s not too far afield from your standard McVie song. The relationship is over, and she is yearning for a lost love. “Now all that’s left is a sweet memory…” But then the second verse seems to imply things might not be over and done with… and she asks him to give them another chance. “Come a little bit closer, ’cause I remember the time when you held me in your arms and you wanted to be mine.” Listening to it again over and over as I write this I see how it’s definitely deserving of the #1 spot in my list of favorite Mac tracks. If you’ve never heard the song (or even if you have) I’d love to hear what you think!

My favorite Fleetwood Mac song of all time.

And how about your favorites? Did I miss any of your favorite tracks? Thanks for indulging me, this was fun. I’ll be back with more, but now it’s time to check in on my love of comics again.

Rumours era — How I will always think of them…

August 8, 2020

Fleetwood Mac Tracks, #’s 10 – 6

And here I find myself exploring my Top 10 Fleetwood Mac tracks. A couple of surprises for me, many are not surprising. The winning album is 1975’s Fleetwood Mac which scores three of the Top 10 songs. Biggest surprise was that Rumours is only represented once. And most surprising? Neither of those albums show up in the Top 3! I was also surprised that 6 different Mac albums have songs in the Top 10. Much more spread out than I would have expected. Now let’s see how things play out, with Stevie Nicks kicking us off.

#10 – Angel (Nicks) Tusk (1979)

I’ve always loved this upbeat, jaunty Tusk cut by Stevie Nicks. If I were to describe “Angel” using shorthand, I would say it was Stevie Nicks’ version of a Christine McVie song! Stevie wanted to right a light-hearted rock & roll song when she started writing “Angel.” And while it starts out like that, lyrically and stylistically it gradually morphs into a more traditional Nicks number.

There are a couple of theories as to the themes of the song. I read somewhere that it “Angel” references Nicks’ affair with Mick Fleetwood. Another source cited “Angel” as the second song Nicks wrote about the Welsh Rhiannon legend. I do love the line, “I still look up when you walk in the room.” There are those people who have been in your life, whether long-term or short, that just capture your attention whenever they’re in the same room as you. Stevie does a great job capturing that reflection of a past relationship well.

Musically, it’s actually quite stripped down and bare. Simple bass, drums, electric piano kick things off, and pretty much carry the entire song. Lindsey adds his guitar licks throughout, but they are not flashy, and are there really to add texture. During the long coda, there are some layered, “ooohs,” to fill out the sound, but otherwise, it’s spare sound fits well on Tusk. The distortion on Christine’s electric piano at the start adds to that feel. John McVie’s got a great, rolling bass part throughout. I also enjoy the way the harmony parts throughout jump from person to person. Most notably it’s Lindsey, then there’s a section with Christine, then there are a couple of parts where Stevie overdubs herself. It adds a layer of interest for the listener.

Stevie is also known for her long, ad-libbed fades where she often introduces new heretofore unheard lyrics. “Angel” has one of my favorites, just before the fade out, “Oh they tried hard, but you’ll never catch me, yeah, yeah.” For videos Ive included the 2015 remastered track from Tusk, and also a live version from the Tusk tour. Stevie and the whole band actually look like they’re having a lot of fun performing the song, and it’s so funny how the audience just goes nuts whenever Lindsey and Stevie interact. And the three-part harmonies sound great. Glad to see this long-time favorite from Tusk made it to my Top 10.

#9 – Hold Me (McVie, C., Patton) Mirage (1982)

Mirage hasn’t aged as well as its earlier ’70’s counterparts. It’s overproduced and slick, nearly to the point of coldness, but “Hold Me”, its lead single, and another stellar Christine McVie/Lindsey Buckingham duet has a special place in my heart. I remember hearing it for the first time. It had been a long time since Fleetwood Mac had released Tusk (1979), at least for those days, and to hear Christine’s piano prominently featured in the opening bars thrilled me. Christine wrote the song with her friend Robbie Patton (whose second album she produced) and then reworked it with Fleetwood Mac. It was inspired by the recent ending of her relationship with former Beach Boy, Dennis Wilson. It is one of Fleetwood Mac’s most successful songs, spending four weeks at #4 on Billboard’s Top 100.

Underneath all the slick production, there’s a pretty standard Christine McVie “longing-for-love” song at the heart. An early version of the song was recorded that was sung as a solo part by Christine, and features Stevie’s harmonies much more up front, rather than washed into the mix. As often is the case, like “Angel” and many of Christine’s songs, the song if powered by the solid bass, drums, piano combo, so essential in Fleetwood Mac. Christine plays both acoustic and electric piano, and kicks things off with a highly recognizable piano riff that repeats in the break after the guitar solo. Some surprising power chords come in on the chorus, and lead up to a frankly soaring electric guitar color and some acoustic guitar flourishes high up in the mix before the chorus repeats to the end. Lindsey adds a lot of odd flourishes, like what sounds like the bark of a dog repeating in the chorus. It’s what takes this standard pop song and gives it some quirkiness. Surprisingly, for a song that did so well for the band, it’s not performed live too often. It was played during the Mirage tour, Buckingham and McVie’s recent tour, and then their latest tours without Lindsey, and Neil Finn on vocals.

Perhaps most memorable about “Hold Me” is it was the band’s first release post-MTV launch, and featured an elaborate video, shot in the Mojave Desert, in the middle of summer, with temperatures over 100 degrees! The surreal video, based on several Magrettie paintings, was apparently a nightmare to shoot. The relationships between band members were strained, and the videos director said they were not easy to work with. The entire band was never seen together in any scenes. Stevie Nicks was quoted: “It was so hot, and we weren’t getting along.” Lindsey Buckingham was still not over their breakup six years earlier, nor her subsequent affair with Mick Fleetwood with whom the rest of the band was pretty angry because he had then begun an affair with Nicks’ best friend who left her husband as a result. Director Steve Barron said, “Four of them, I can’t recall which four, couldn’t be together in the same room for very long. They didn’t want to be there. John McVie was drunk and tried to punch me. Stevie Nicks didn’t want to walk on the sand with her platforms. Christine McVie was fed up with all of them. Mick thought she was being a bitch, he wouldn’t talk to her.” To make matters worse, Christine added, “And I’d be the first one to admit that none of us were stone-cold sober. There was a fair degree of alcohol and drugs going on.” Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but the result is one of my favorite Mac videos.

Below is the video in question, and I’ve also included the early version referenced above.

#8 – Landslide (Nicks) Fleetwood Mac (1975)

One of Stevei’s most enduring, well-known songs, “Landslide,” like “Crystal” is about reflection… and turning points. Stevie wrote the song in 1973, as a 25-year-old who’d recorded an album with her long-time partner, and was then subsequently dropped from her record label. Lindsey was hired to tour with the Everly Brothers, and Stevie stayed with a friend in Aspen, Colorado, surrounded by the Rocky Mountains. During her stay, she pondered whether to give up the musician’s life to go back to school, or work full-time. Obviously, she ultimately decided to keep going, and three months later, Mick Fleetwood asked the pair to join Fleetwood Mac. The imagery in the song, of snow-covered hills, and landslides was inspired by her surroundings.

Musically, the song is just Stevie singing to Lindsey’s acoustic guitar accompaniment. I believe it’s a 12-string on the recording… the sound is very lush and full. There’s a gentle electric guitar solo (that in early concerts, Christine played on electric piano) but that’s it. A beautiful song for its simplicity.

“Landslide” has always been a popular song from the band. It had a resurgence in the late 90’s after the band’s reunion performance and subsequent live album, “The Dance,” where it was released as a single. It’s interesting to think about the song and its meaning for a 25-year-old Nicks, and a 50-year-old Nicks. I actually far prefer the original version of the song, with a young Nicks, whose voice was still strong yet vulnerable. The fragility was there, but so was the control. There’s a purity but also a wisdom in her singing on that 1975 recording. This was the Stevie Nicks before her voice suffered from extensive touring, before the cocaine abuse, before they elaborate mysticism became part of her persona. She was the young and scrappy daughter of a country singer who wanted to make it big. There is hope, and confidence both in “Landslide,” and it remains one of my favorite Mac tracks.

#7 – Think About Me (McVie, C.) Tusk (1979)

About three years ago I rediscovered this song and went nuts for it. I had forgotten all about it! This Christine McVie gem from Tusk is pure McVie, but with the Buckingham’s Tusk-era hard-edged fingerprints all over it. One writer from PopMatters praised the song as “the unlikeliest of things: a McVie rocker — A near-perfect punk number that snuck in below the radar” and that it was “anchored by her electric piano, Buckingham’s fuzzed-up ‘Day Tripper’-esque riff, and the most sarcastic lyrics of McVie’s career,” referring to the couplet, “I don’t hold you down/Maybe that’s why you’re around.” “Think About Me” was released as the third single from Tusk following “Tusk,” and “Sara,” and climbed to #20, but I think it’s an often forgotten hit from the Fleetwood Mac catalog.

It jumps on top of you with bombastic intro that I just love. There a rat-a-tat of snare drum, then Buckingham’s grungy guitar and Christine’s distorted electric piano lay the groundwork, with John McVie’s fantastic bass guitar riff heralding the gorgeous vocals. It’s funny, I always remember this as another fantastic McVie/Buckingham duet, but in fact, it’s not. It’s really Christine on lead vocals, and Lindsey and Stevie providing their trademark three-part harmonies with her on the chorus. In fact, an early version of the song on one of their compilation albums feature just Christine and Stevie singing. There are multiple remixes of this song, and i couldn’t decide which one to leave here, but the more I listen to it, the grungier it gets, and I love that. It really is a nice rascal of a song. I really thought it might get into the Top 5, because I just love this song, but no dice. And at 2 minutes and 42 seconds it’s just way too short.

#6 – Songbird (McVie, C.) Rumours (1977)

Christine’s gorgeous, and generous ballad is certainly her signature number as the concert closer for almost every tour that band has embarked upon. There is certainly no better note to leave a concert on than this sweet piano ballad about love. A heartfelt and powerful expression of love, “Songbird” is about no one and everyone, according to McVie. She goes on to explain that it’s about the members of the band who were going through hard times with longtime couples breaking up. The “songbirds” are the members of the band, and the song is about how much they mean to McVie, and the need for them to get along with each other and keep singing and playing together. It’s a lovely balm to counterbalance the anger of some of the other songs on Rumours.

McVie wrote the song late in the Rumours recording process. Producer Ken Caillat loved the track and suggested she record it alone in a concert style approach. It was recorded live at the Zellerbach Auditorium, on March 3, 1976, with Christine playing the piano and singing while Lindsey strummed the acoustic guitar offstage to keep time. 15 microphones were set up around the auditorium to capture the live feel. To create the appropriate ambience, Caillat ordered a bouquet of flowers to place on her piano. He then requested three spotlights to illuminate the flowers from above. When McVie arrived at the auditorium, the house lights were dimmed so her attention was immediately brought to the illuminated flowers on the piano. I’ve included the album version as well as the live version from “The Dance.” There’s nary a difference over the years. She sounds as beautiful as ever.