STEVIE NICKS SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS LIVE IN CHICAGO

STEVIE NICKS THE SOUNDSTAGE SESSIONS

+ LIVE IN CHICAGO 

On July 17, 2008, Stevie Nicks' Soundstage premiered in the US.  This two-hour concert was broadcast over two nights in July on the 17th and 24th.

"This is the first time since 1985 that I have had one of my live shows filmed and recorded," said Nicks. "We spent three years perfecting this show which we began in Vegas in October of 2007. I could not move on until we filmed this show. Luckily "Soundstage" producer Joe Thomas, who saw the show many times, felt the same way. I am as proud of this as anything I've ever done in my entire career."

This show was filmed in October 2007 before a live audience at Grainger Studios in Chicago for the PBS program "Soundstage".  The Joe Thomas-directed show was made available to purchase on DVD online shortly after the broadcast in July 2008 exclusively through the PBS website.  It would take Reprise until March 31, 2009, to release the DVD "Live in Chicago and the accompanying 10-track CD "The Soundstage Sessions" commercially worldwide.

Aside from the cover, the difference between the two DVDs is the setlist on the televised PBS version and subsequent DVD release, it didn't include "Dreams" or the bonus track "Landslide" (with orchestra).  The other omission from both versions of the DVD was the last song of the night "Beauty and The Beast". The song was filmed twice that night once with the background screen showing scenes from the film La Belle et la Bête, and once without the film clips.  These scenes had been used by Stevie as background during her '07 tour and rights were secured for that purpose - but for whatever reason permission wasn't granted for Stevie to use the film clips on the DVD.  Even though a backup version of the song had been filmed, not including the film clips, it was decided not to use the song entirely for the DVD.  But not all was lost as the audio version of the song appeared on the CD version of the show.

The "Live In Chicago" DVD includes timeless Nicks songs from her solo projects as well as songs written as a member of  Fleetwood Mac. All the Stevie classics are included such as the energetic opening track "Stand Back," "Rhiannon," "Dreams," "Gold Dust Woman," "Landslide" and "Edge Of Seventeen," the DVD also features a few really great cover songs, Dave Matthews' "Crash Into Me" Led Zeppelin's "Rock And Roll" and Bonnie Raitts "Circle Dance" in which Vanessa Carlton makes her second appearance.

"We wanted everything on the DVD and CD to look and sound perfect and I think we succeeded," said Nicks.

"The Soundstage Sessions" CD included 10 songs extracted from the "Live In Chicago" DVD.  Nicks brought the songs from the show to Nashville and worked once again with Joe Thomas in the studio where they added "Nashville Strings" and additional vocals.  They also removed the audience from the live recording giving it a more "live in the studio" feel.  The CD features a lush orchestral version of "Landslide", the bonus track audio from the DVD, and other Nicks gems including "Stand Back," "Crash Into Me," "Sara," "Fall From Grace", "If Anyone Falls In Love" and "Beauty and The Beast" a faithful restating of the song, which closed "The Wild Heart" in 1983. Lost in the rapture of her lyrics, Nicks captivates for seven minutes. Accompanied by just strings, piano, and her background vocalists.  She dubs her performance “the Witherspoon vocal” after a woman who attended the recording of the song in Nashville.

Ahead of the official release date of March 31, 2009, digital downloads of "Crash Into Me" and "Landslide" (orchestral version) were made available on Amazonmp3.com on March 17th. "Enchanted", was available March 31st as a bonus on Amazonmp3.com if you purchased the digital version of the CD. "Gold Dust Woman" and "Edge Of Seventeen" were the bonus tracks available exclusively on iTunes on March 31st.

An exclusive Limited Edition CD/DVD set featuring different cover art inside and out called "The Soundstage Sessions Live in Chicago" was made available to purchase exclusively through Stevie's record label Warner Bros.  If you purchased this set, you received instant downloadable tracks "Rhiannon" and "The One" both not included on the CD.  Also, anyone who purchased this Limited Edition early on also received an 8x10 never before-seen Lithograph of Stevie.

The Soundstage Sessions CD and Live in Chicago DVD are for the most part satisfying because Stevie sounds and looks fantastic.

Stevie, one of the most successful female artists in rock history and the embodiment of the transcendent power of music is a multi-platinum, multi-Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee and a member of the legendary Fleetwood Mac.  

Fleetwood Mac was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the same year that her box set Enchanted came out. In 2001, Nicks released her last Studio album Trouble in Shangri-La, this time with friends Sheryl Crow, Sarah McLachlan, Dixie Chick Natalie Maines, and Macy Gray and in 2003 joined Fleetwood Mac for the reunion album Say You Will.  In 2004 Fleetwood Mac released the DVD Live in Boston.  In the spring of 2007, Reprise released the CD/DVD Crystal Visions: The Very Best of Stevie Nicks, an extraordinary collection of songs and videos spanning the legendary singer/songwriter's career.

After touring the world with Fleetwood Mac for the better part of 2009 on the Unleashed Tour, and spending pretty much this last decade celebrating her work as a solo artist and with Fleetwood Mac, Stevie's back in the Studio working with Dave Stewart and many others she's worked with over the years recording tracks for a long overdue new studio album.  No official date has been given for the release, but given her past track record, it looks like it might be a spring 2001 release with touring dates likely to follow.

In the meantime, Stevie's lined up a short run of shows beginning August 4th in Santa Barbara, CA.

WHERE TO BUY THE CD USA - itunes | CANADA - itunes (Includes Bonus Tracks only available on itunes "Gold Dust Woman and "Edge of Seventeen") USA ONLY - mp3 Album Only Amazon (Includes Exclusive Album Track "Enchanted") USA - Amazon | CANADA - Amazon

WHERE TO BUY THE DVD

USA - Amazon | CANADA - Amazon

USA - Itunes CANADA - Itunes

DAVE STEWART CALLED UP MIKE CAMPBELL FOR INPUT ON STEVIE NICKS PROJECT

Do you have anything in the works in terms of doing sessions or production work?

"Yeah. I don’t do a lot of sessions, ‘cause I’m not real comfortable walking into a room with people that I don’t know. But I’ve done a few over the years. I have a couple of things. Mostly what I do in my off time is just write and record in my studio. Occasionally, I will step out. Like last week I had an opportunity to do something that was really fun. Dave Stewart called me up, and he’s working with Stevie Nicks. He’s doing a record with her. And over the years, I would give Stevie some music here and there. And Dave said, “She’s got a song of yours that she found and she wants to record.” And so we got together and changed a few things and made it better and went in and cut that. In the course of that, I had this other piece of music I gave her and she wrote a really great song to it. I’m really proud of it. So I did that last week. A couple of songs with them, and that was a lot of fun."

Q&A with Mike Campbell (Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers) by Daniel Durchholz.
His full Q&A with Mike can be read at Play It All Night Long

Thanks to RockALittle250 for finding this Q&A
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In other related news.... Dave Stewart who's producing Stevie's next album tweeted today that he's back working with Stevie on Monday the 19th.  He was on a break from recording with Nicks - spending some time in Nashville recording his own solo album.  By the sounds of it, it went really well and given that he wasn't in Nashville all that long - he seems to have accomplished a lot in a short amount of time.... I guess playing and recording live in the studio shortens up the overall recording time.... Maybe that's the "new way of recording" he spoke about months ago when he first started talking about recording with Stevie...

See The Dave Stewart Stevie Nicks Timeline

Nsight - Fleetwood Mac "Profile of Fleetwood Mac" BBC Radio 6

Nsight - Fleetwood Mac

BBC Radio 6

Profile of Fleetwood Mac. Presented by Alan Black.
Archival Footage includes Mick, John, Chris, Stevie and Lindsey
Duration:60 minutes

Available until: 4:02am Friday 23rd July 2010

Listen Now

CLICK THE IMAGE TO BE TAKEN TO BBC 6

FULL INTERVIEW WITH FLEETWOOD MAC CELEBRATING 35 YEARS

Live In The Studio with Redbeard

FLEETWOOD MAC

35th ANNIVERSARY OF THE RELEASE OF "FLEETWOOD MAC". 

(July 11, 1975)

U.S. Syndicated radio show InTheStudio celebrated the 35th anniversary of one of rock's most pivotal album's the 1975 FLEETWOOD MAC album. Show producer and host Redbeard spoke to Mick Fleetwood, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks about the first Fleetwood Mac album featuring Buckingham/ Nicks and how this line-up change along with a new producer transformed Fleetwood Mac forever.

The full 25 minute show is now up on the InTheStudio site to listen to.

Link To Interview

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CHRISTINE MCVIE - BORN ON THIS DAY

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An English songwriter, vocalist, pianist, and synthesizer player who has worked both in bands and as a solo artist, McVie is one of the most highly regarded female musicians in the genres of pop/rock and blues/rock. She is considered a pioneer, and was one of the first female musicians to enter the British blues scene of the 1960s, as well as one of the first to release a solo album.

1969 Melody Maker Award

Christine began her music career in 1968, performing with the bands Chicken Shack and Sounds of Blue. She was voted best female vocalist in the 1969 Melody Maker poll. Christine joined Fleetwood Mac in 1970 and went on to play a crucial part in the band’s creativity for 25 years. She wrote and performed on many of their best selling platinum albums, including Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all time. Her classic work includes the songs You make loving fun, Say you love me, Don't stop, Over my head, Hold me, Everywhere and Little Lies.

Her soulful alto, keen melodies, sensitive lyrics, and grounding presence were a focal point for nearly 30 years in Fleetwood Mac, which began as a blues band in the early 70's only to shot to super-stardom in the mid-70's. Fleetwood Mac went on to become a benchmark to rock and roll with the band's music very much embedded in popular culture today partly due to Christine's contribution.

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Induction

Christine left Fleetwood Mac after the highly successful 1997 Reunion album "The Dance", subsequent tour and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Honorary Doctorate Degree

Since retiring from music and leaving the band she's been spotted a few times in early 2000. On July 20, 2000 she received an honorary doctorate degree in music by the University of Greenwich in honor of her major contribution to international popular music. In her acceptance speech she stated "I find the prospect of standing here before you today more daunting than singing in front of 65,000 people at Madison Square Gardens in New York".

Accepting Legends Award

On September 26, 2003 Christine accepted an award on behalf of Fleetwood Mac at the first-ever Capital Gold Legends Awards held on Friday, September 26th, at the Hilton London Metropole. Fleetwood Mac won for Rumours in the "Legendary Album" category.

Christine McVie & Brett Tuggle

In 2003 Christine attended one of Fleetwood Mac's "Say You Will" concerts at Earls Court in London.

Being virtually non-existent in the music industry since 1998, it was a nice surprise for fans world wide when it was announced Christine was working on a solo album. The CD "In The Meantime" recorded in Christine's home studio, London and California was released in June, 2004. The CD was produced by Christine, her nephew Dan Perfect and Ken Caillat (Rumours and Tusk).

Christine McVie & Ken Caillat

The Mick Fleetwood Blue Band toured the UK in 2008 and Christine attended the filming for the DVD which was recorded at the Marlowe Theatre in Canterbury, Kent, England. The DVD was eventually released in January, 2010.

Christine, 2010

In 2009 Christine also attended one of Fleetwood Mac's "Unleashed" tour shows at Wembley Arena in London.

Christine's most recently was photographed in her village in England where a story broke in the local press about how she joined a consortium to purchase land next to her property to protect it from development.

Christine turns 67 today and all fans world wide, I'm sure, join me in wishing Christine a very Happy Birthday!... You are missed!

STEVIE NICKS "CRYSTAL VISIONS".... WEEK 10 ON THE CHARTS

AUSTRALIA'S TOP 50 CATALOGUE CHART: WEEK OF JULY 12, 2010

Week 10 on Australia's Top 50 Catalogue Chart for the week July 12, 2010 - puts Stevie's 2007 "Crystal Visions The Very Best Of Stevie Nicks" at #29 down 12 spots from last week.