A reminder to ourselves of what an integral strand Christine McVie is to Fleetwood Mac's superstar DNA

FLEETWOOD MAC: 
CHRISTINE MCVIE’S TOP 15 CONTRIBUTIONS 
by Mark Pursell
Glide Magazine

Even die-hard Fleetwood Mac fans forget (or never knew) that English-born Christine McVie was part of the band’s first incarnation as a British blues act whose intermittent success and ever-changing lineup prevented them from widespread success.  The Fleetwood Mac that people (especially Americans) tend to think of is the band’s California reinvention of the mid-‘70s, a reinvention that brought Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks on board and eventually resulted in the band’s permanent pop canonization.  The chemistry between Buckingham and Nicks, both on-record and off as writers, performers, and lovers, tended to throw a long shadow over the decades, perhaps unfairly obscuring the very real, very substantial contributions that Christine McVie made to the group’s success.

It’s usually obvious when a Fleetwood Mac track that belongs to McVie begins playing.  Her upbeat grooves are deceptively lighthearted, painting a contrast with the plainspoken but often emotionally raw content of her lyrics.  Said contrast seemed to speak to listeners; if you look at any breakdown of Fleetwood Mac’s greatest hits, nearly half are written and sung by McVie. Her songs showcase a sunny exuberance that, taken in context of a full Fleetwood Mac record, build a perfect contrast to the band’s darker tracks.  She’s also underrated as a vocalist; her deep, bluesy voice works wonders in a pop-rock context, bringing a gravitas to her own straightforward but heartfelt songs and giving them cunning little dimensions that aren’t always immediately apparent.

In early 2014, Fleetwood Mac announced that McVie would be rejoining the band after a long hiatus.  There are plans to tour; some are even hoping for a new record.  In the spirit of McVie’s return, let’s revisit fifteen of her most accomplished, most enduring contributions to Fleetwood Mac, and remind ourselves of what an integral strand she is in the band’s superstar DNA.

Click through for Glide Magazine's Top 15

Great grouping of songs... Some omissions that could have made the lists... But it's all subjective.

How does Fleetwood Mac follow-up "Rumours"? The answer is "Tusk"

Follow-up Albums: Fleetwood Mac - Tusk 
(Originally broadcast May 24, 2012 on BBC Radio 4)

Radio 4 Archives have made this 28 minute Fleetwood Mac feature on Tusk available for download through their archive. Listen on-line or download from BBC Radio 4 (Scroll down the list for the link)

How do you follow a record that sells 21 million copies worldwide and spends over 30 weeks at number

one in the US album chart?

The answer is Tusk - the album Fleetwood Mac recorded in the wake of 1976's Rumours.

Despite joining the band just three years previously, this was the record that saw Lindsey Buckingham impose his will on Fleetwood Mac using the studio as a crucible in which he shovelled intra-band infidelities and his new-found love of punk.

In 1979 it was deemed a failure, nicknamed "Lindsey's folly" from industry insiders. After 35 years, it has been reappraised as their boldest, most forward-looking release, "a peerless piece of pop art", influencing Radiohead and REM.

Produced by Laura Parfitt

A White Pebble Media Production for BBC Radio 4.

"I don’t see Fleetwood Mac ever really stopping" - Stevie Nicks New York Times Interview

Stevie Nicks, Just Following Her Muse 
The Creative Mid-Life 
By JOAN ANDERMAN
New York Times

During her 40-year career as a member of Fleetwood Mac and a solo artist, the singer-songwriter Stevie Nicks has made more than 40 Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums. “In Your Dreams,” a documentary film about the making of her 2011 album of the same name, was recently released on DVD. Now 65, Ms. Nicks called from a rented house in Phoenix, her hometown. A condensed and edited version of our conversation follows.

You just finished a tour with Fleetwood Mac, a band with a tumultuous personal history. How do you all get along now?

Mick Fleetwood and I are best friends. We were mad at each other for six months or a year after we broke up, and then were able to return to who we were before. My relationship with Lindsey Buckingham is never going to be that. When it’s all said and done and I’m 90 years old, maybe I’ll be able to figure that relationship out. John McVie I adore. I look after him as much as I can [Mr. McVie was given a diagnosis of cancer in October] and make sure he puts ice on his back.

Are you surprised that the band is still together?

Surprised? No. It’s a really great band.

How has your voice changed?

I had a lot of problems with my voice from 1975 to 1998. We were only just starting to use ear monitors, and we’d been using huge floor monitors that blast the sound back at you and you just scream over it. There were many bad nights onstage. Since 1998 I’ve been working with a vocal coach, Steve Real, and I’ve never had a problem onstage since.

Do you have a voice care regimen?

Three hours before I go on-stage I do a 40-minute vocal lesson. We go on at 8, which means I have to be done at 5, so from 3 to 3:30 I do the first part and between 4:30 and 5 I do the second part; 30 minutes and then 11 minutes. By the time I walk onstage at 8 o’clock, I’m ready to do 2 hours and 40 minutes.

So your voice is in better shape than it was 30 years ago?

Oh, yes. I tell all the young people I know that sing to get a vocal coach. You don’t have to take them on the road like I do. They’ll make you a tape, and you’ll become a better singer.

Why the 10-year wait between your last two solo albums?

After I made “Trouble in Shangri-La,” which came out in 2001, I started realizing that everything my manager was telling me about how the Internet was going to eventually kill the music business was true. Records as we knew them, records as concepts, as 12 songs in a row that were sequenced, where you may not like the fourth song but you let it play because you love the way the third song went into the fourth song and the way the fourth song went into the fifth song, were definitely ending. And that was heartbreaking. I was told that the best thing for me to do as an older rock ‘n’ roll singer would be to tour.

Eventually you made “In Your Dreams.”
Well, I saw this movie, “New Moon,” in the Twilight series, and I was very inspired by that story so I wrote a song about it called “Moonlight.” And I thought, I can’t just put out this one song so I guess I’m going to have to put out a record. I got off the Fleetwood Mac tour in 2009 and hit the ground running. I called Dave Stewart [formerly of the Eurythmics] probably two weeks after I got home and said I’m ready to make a record now.

This week on the charts: Fleetwood Mac | Stevie Nicks U.S., UK, Canada, Australia, NZ

US - February 8, 2014

Rumours spends another week on the Top 200 in the U.S. moving up to No.191.  Stevie's new film "In Your Dreams" in it's 8th week charting in the U.S. moves down a few places to No.22 from No.17 last week on the Top 50. 

BILLBOARD TOP 200 ALBUMS CHART
# 191 (200) Fleetwood Mac "Rumours"

TOP 50 CATALOGUE ALBUMS CHART
# 36 (39) Fleetwood Mac "Rumours"

TOP 50 MUSIC VIDEO SALES CHART
# 22 (17) Stevie Nicks "In Your Dreams"
# 19 (19) Sound City "Real To Reel" feat. Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood and Stevie Nicks

"In Your Dreams" Chart run thus far:
TW     LW        Weeks On
22       17      8 In Your Dreams Stevie Nicks
17       18      7 In Your Dreams Stevie Nicks
18       21      6 In Your Dreams Stevie Nicks
21       22      5 In Your Dreams Stevie Nicks
22       18      4 In Your Dreams Stevie Nicks
18       12      3 In Your Dreams Stevie Nicks
12        7      2 In Your Dreams Stevie Nicks
 7         -      1  In Your Dreams Stevie Nicks (Debut)

UK - February 8, 2014
Fleetwood Mac have the No.1 Catalogue title in the UK this week with Rumours. Up ten spots from No.10 last week.

TOP 100 ALBUMS CHART
#   51 (45) Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of
# 100 (60) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours - 35th Anniversary Edition

TOP 40 CATALOGUE ALBUMS CHART
# 1 (10) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours

NEW ZEALAND - February 3, 2014
TOP 40 ALBUMS CHART
# 39 (24) Fleetwood Mac - 25 Years The Chain [box set]

AUSTRALIA - FEBRUARY 3, 2014
TOP 100 ALBUMS CHART
# 28 (20) Fleetwood Mac - 25 Years The Chain [box set]
# 69 (72) Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of

TOP 50 CATALOGUE ALBUMS CHART
#  2   (2)  Fleetwood Mac - 25 Years The Chain [box set]
# 13 (14) Fleetwood Mac - The Very Best Of
# 32 (29) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

TOP 40 MUSIC DVD CHART
# 21 (19) Fleetwood Mac - The Dance
# 36 (R/E) Sound City - Real To Reel

CANADA - January 26, 2014
TOP 150 CATALOGUE ALBUMS CHART
# 17     (4) Fleetwood Mac - Rumours
# 91 (120) Fleetwood Mac - Greatest Hits

TOP 50 MUSIC DVD CHART
# 33 (34) Fleetwood Mac - The Dance

THE AMERICAN HORROR STORY EFFECT

Fleetwood Mac's "Seven Wonders" had a nice little bump on iTunes after the American Horror Story:
Coven season finale aired last Wednesday, featuring Stevie Nicks. Stevie's appearance took the song from basically obscurity all the way up to No.98 on the overall Top 200 iTunes songs in the U.S. That's huge! The track made it up to No.2 (Tango version) on the Top 200 Rock songs chart and the remastered version from The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac reached No.6. Currently the Tango In The Night version is No.184 on the overall Top 200 chart and at No.3 on the Top 200 Rock Songs chart. Not bad!! 

Not only was Seven Wonders seeing some action, but by the time Thursday rolled around there were 11 different Fleetwood Mac/Stevie Nicks tracks on the iTunes Top 200 Rock Songs Chart (all but one song sung lead by Stevie) including the 2 versions of Seven Wonders, Landslide, 2 versions of Rhiannon, Dreams, Edge of Seventeen, Leather and Lace, Silver Springs, The Chain and Gypsy. On the Top 200 Rock Albums Chart on Thursday - 5 albums were making waves including Fleetwood Mac's Greatest Hits, Rumours, Stevie's Cyrstal Visions...The Very Best Of, Fleetwood Mac's The Very Best of and Tango In The Night.

Broadcast | Rehearsal and Audience Shot Video: Lindsey Buckingham with NIN, Dave Grohl and QOTSA - Grammy's

Trent Reznor Tweets 'F--- You' to Grammys After His Performance Is Cut Short

Trent Reznor isn't happy about being played off at the Grammys on Sunday night. The Nine Inch Nails frontman took the stage at Staples Center, playing "Copy of A" from his 2013 album Hesitation Marks, as the final performance of the show. He was joined by Fleetwood Mac singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham, along with Dave Grohl, manning the drumkit and with frequent collaborator Josh Homme.

But the performance was cut short as the credits began to roll before the performance was done. Afterward, Reznor took to Twitter to express his displeasure with the decision.

Backstage, Recording Academy president Neil Portnow explained to reporters the thought process behind that decision.

"We save the end slot for something that is a bit of a jam, because you can have the energy go and then it's just a matter of the clock," he said.

Music's biggest night... to be disrespected. A heartfelt FUCK YOU guys.
— Trent Reznor (@trent_reznor) January 27, 2014

by Kimberly Nordyke
Hollywood Reporter

View Gallery

Full Resolution Shots From Rehearsals

Rehearsal Video:

 Broadcast Version Trent Reznor’s ‘F—k You’ To CBS for Cutting GRAMMY Performance
Billboard

Queens of the Stone Age Thrash Grammys With Dave Grohl, Trent Reznor
Nine Inch Nails, Lindsey Buckingham join megagroup to close out 56th Annual Grammy Awards
Rollingstone

The 2014 Grammys closed on gloriously weird note, thanks to a unique collaboration of Nine Inch Nails, Queens of the Stone Age, Dave Grohl and Fleetwood Mac's Lindsey Buckingham. The supergroup kicked things off with their take on Nine Inch Nails' "Copy of A," of the group's Hesitation Marks LP, beefed up with bubbling bluegrass guitar line and flashing psychedelic lights. If someone were to isolate the tracks of the song, it might sound like pretentious noodling – a little EDM flourish there, some jangly country guitar there, some Muppet-like drum crushing from Grohl and a whole lot of sweet vocal harmonies. But together, it made for a sound that was far trippier than the lighting rig but also something that was more than the sum of its parts.

Then out came the sun, or at least a very colorful globe. After a white backdrop fell to the stage, Queens frontman Josh Homme swiveled his head as he intoned "My God Is the Sun," a song off his band's 2013 album . . . Like Clockwork, a song that featured Grohl on the recording. The mega backing band shook maracas to the beat, but the glory didn't last long. Running overtime by about 15 minutes, CBS or one of the Grammys producers pulled the plug on the performance and ran ads for airlines and TV shows, which, to its credit, made the song seem all the more surreal as it played out this year's installment of the awards show.

Audience Shot Video:

Can't really hear Lindsey as prominently as on the televised version... But at least you get to see how the 2 song set ended! (Still pissed they cut the show because of time constraints)

OFF THE RECORD with Joe Benson Feat. Fleetwood Mac this Sunday 8pm 100.3 The Sound LA

This Sunday night at 8pm on 100.3 The Sound of Los Angeles, OFF THE RECORD with Joe Benson will feature the music of Fleetwood Mac as well as more of Joe's extensive conversations with Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood and Christine McVie.

Stream Live on Sunday at 100.3 The Sound of Los Angeles at 8pm 

(Pretty sure this is pacific time).

Off The Record

Check out the audio promo HERE