Thursday, September 29, 2016

Check out Lindsey's collaboration with Empire of the Sun 'To Her Door'

Empire of the Sun, 'To Her Door'
NPR
by Megan Buerger

When Fleetwood Mac released Rumours in 1977, the band's lush instrumentals and melancholic harmonies reignited an obsession with bright, shining California pop. Decades later, modern folk bands like Mumford and Sons, Best Coast and Haim are still channeling the same bittersweet chords and joyful choruses.

Empire of the Sun is the latest group to pay tribute to Fleetwood Mac's lush legacy, but the Australian synth duo is far from folksy. It's better known for playing dance-music festivals in exotic Space Age costumes that feel, from a distance, almost like Cirque du Soleil. And yet, its forthcoming album, Two Vines, features a glistening collaboration with longtime Fleetwood Mac guitarist Lindsey Buckingham called "To Her Door."

"When you've got the undeniable, magical aura of Doctor Buckingham, things blossom," Luke Steele — one half of Empire of the Sun — tells NPR. Both he and bandmate Nick Littlemore consider Buckingham one of their heroes. "We jammed like we were in high school and it came together almost instantly."

The song captures a couple's dialogue the day after a big argument. One partner wakes up surprised and anxious, Steele says, eager for reconnection. "He says, 'Hey, good morning, what happened, can I come around and talk?'" The lyrics convey that desire: "I feel better when we're together / I know it's simple but I don't care / I try to say the things to make up for the mess I've caused."

Sonically, "To Her Door" reflects Fleetwood Mac's warmest records — such as "Hold Me" or "Gypsy," which overflow with richness. Steele says that when he and Littlemore conceptualized a direction for this album, they were drawn to an image of vines that grew out of the ground and into cities, wrapping around buildings and cars until they overtook the urban world. He couldn't get the image out of his head. When they traveled to Hawaii to record at Honolulu's Island Sound Studios, where Kanye West recorded My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy, the tropical, breezy setting cemented the return-to-nature concept.

Tuesday, September 27, 2016

Genesis Publications announce a signed limited edition book by Mick Fleetwood


Genesis Publications announces a new, signed, limited edition book by Mick Fleetwood.
Genesis Publications are delighted to announce a signed limited edition book by Mick Fleetwood that will chronicle the formation and rise of Fleetwood Mac. Genesis are looking for anyone who has photographs of the band during the years 1967 – ’75 for possible inclusion in the book.

For your photo to be considered, and to sign up for more information, please visit: www.mickfleetwoodbook.com

Review Fleetwood Mac's Mirage Deluxe Reissue


Mirage nixed any suggestion that intra-band drama was their sole animating force, and flourished in the emotional void they occupied: heartbroken, strung out, and alone at the top.

by Laura Snapes
Pitchfork

After two records about cheating on each other, it was inevitable that Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Christine and John McVie, and Mick Fleetwood would begin to cheat on Fleetwood Mac. They were traveling in separate limos by the end of the bad-tempered Tusk tour, where Buckingham had kicked Nicks onstage, and they’d circled Europe on Hitler’s old train. “Looks like the end of the line,” the New York Post warned in March 1981, as solo careers started to proliferate. Fleetwood released The Visitor in June. Where Tusk had taken a year to record, Nicks’ debut album, Bella Donna, was nailed in a few days, released in July, and certified Platinum by October—just as Buckingham’s Law and Order limped to No. 32. Her blousy mystique was the antithesis of his uptight theme, and to dent his fragile ego further, it had been validated by serious men: collaborators Tom Petty, Don Henley, and producer Jimmy Iovine, who she was now dating. According to Buckingham’s then-girlfriend, Carol Ann Harris, he liked to refer to “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” as “Stop Draggin’ My Career Around.”

Having accepted that the band weren’t interested in “shaking people’s preconceptions of pop,” as he sniffed to any reporter who would listen, Buckingham resolved that Fleetwood Mac’s next album should be a proper group effort. Mostly minus Nicks, they mingled their ghosts with those of the haunted Château d’Hérouville, just outside Paris, a destination chosen to accommodate Monaco resident Fleetwood’s tax affairs. Harris observed communal meals eaten in silence. The drug intake exceeded even that of Tusk, according to co-producer Ken Caillat. It’s hard to find any comment about why they chose to name their thirteenth record (and fifth under this lineup) Mirage, though the resonance is obvious in hindsight: It’s the illusion of the band, rather than the full-blooded beast. Buckingham tossed off his songs in under two months. “What can I say this time/Which card shall I play?” Nicks sings on “Straight Back,” sounding like a woman in search of an idea. She pulls out her well-worn tarot deck—wolf, dream, wind, sun—and whips up an unconvincing sandstorm about how “the dream was never over, the dream has just begun,” while Fleetwood Mac increasingly resembled an inescapable nightmare.

Full Review at Pitchfork

Review Fleetwood Mac - Mirage (Deluxe Edition)

Album Review: Fleetwood Mac - Mirage (Deluxe Edition)
September 26, 2016
By Jeff Burger
The Morton Report

If ever there was a case of the media building up and then knocking down a band, it was the one involving Fleetwood Mac in the late-'70s and early-'80s. The critics cheered when the group—newly energized by the addition of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks—delivered its chart-topping eponymous album in 1975 and the even better Rumours a year later. But many of those same critics spoke less kindly of the follow-up to Rumours, 1979’s Tusk. According to them, it eschewed commercialism in favor of self-indulgent experimentation, though major experimentation was in fact largely limited to the excellent title cut. Then, when the group reverted to fully accessible form on its next studio album, 1982’s Mirage, reviewers griped that the band was going backwards; never mind that this radio-friendly LP delivered exactly what the critics claimed was missing in its predecessor.

Well, as I noted last year, Tusk ranks among the most underrated albums of the rock era. But Mirage—which Fleetwood Mac’s members recorded in France after pursuing solo projects—is arguably even more underrated. Rolling Stone, for example, allowed that it found the group returning to “simple pleasures” but awarded it only three stars and said “the band seems to have lost its spirit.”

Continue to the full review

STEVIE NICKS returns to the Ellen Show Oct 3rd to perform her classic hit, "Edge of Seventeen."

October 3rd: Rock Goddess and rocker of shawls, STEVIE NICKS makes her return to the Ellen stage to perform her classic hit, "Edge of Seventeen." She's also here to tell us about her upcoming tour with The Pretenders. 


Stevie Nicks adds Dec 17th in Las Vegas to 24 Karat Gold Tour

NEW DATE: Stevie Nicks Live in Las Vegas at Park Theater at Monte Carlo Resort and Casino, Sat, Dec 17, 2016 Amex Pre-sale September 29th - General Public tickets on sale October 3rd.


Christine McVie Interview on Mirage, Fleetwood Mac's new album and touring future

Christine McVie on Fleetwood Mac's 'Peculiar' 'Mirage' Sessions, New LP
Singer-songwriter looks back on heady days at Château d'Hérouville, discusses band's future plans
By Richard Bienstock
Rollingstone


Christine McVie has a confession to make. The 73-year-old singer, songwriter and keyboardist is on the phone with Rolling Stone to discuss the new deluxe reissue of Fleetwood Mac's 1982 effort, Mirage; but, she admits, she hasn't actually listened to it yet. "I just now got my copy of the remastered edition in my hands," McVie says, calling from her home in the U.K. "But I just moved to a flat where I don't have my DVD or CD player yet. So I'm unable to play it. And there's all these outtakes and demos and things in there that I certainly haven't heard since we made them. So I'm most curious to listen."

Indeed, the new package is a treasure trove for Mac completists (and, apparently, band members). In addition to presenting the original 12-track album – which spent five weeks at Number One and spawned two of the group's biggest and enduring hits in McVie's "Hold Me" and Stevie Nicks' "Gypsy" – in remastered form, the three-CD and DVD set offers up a disc of B sides, titled "Outtakes and Sessions," as well as a live collection culled from two nights at the L.A. Forum in October 1982 on the Mirage tour. The whole thing is rounded out by a vinyl copy of the album and a DVD in 5.1 surround sound, as well as a booklet with extensive liner notes and photos from the era.

An impressive package, to be sure, and one that is perhaps necessary for an album that, for all its multi-platinum success, never quite gets its due, having been overshadowed in the band's canon by the career-defining trio of records that preceded it – 1975's Fleetwood Mac, 1977's mega-smash Rumours and 1979's sonically adventurous double album Tusk. In an earlier interview with Rolling Stone, drummer Mick Fleetwood acknowledged that, in such imposing company, Mirage often gets overlooked – a notion that McVie seems to agree with. "It does, and I don't know why," she says. But, she adds, "As it stands today, a lot of people know every track on it. Which is quite unbelievable. So I just take it for what it is."

McVie spent some time reminiscing about the album with RS, from the "unusual" experience of recording at the Château d'Hérouville outside of Paris, to the "nightmare" of filming the video for her song "Hold Me" in the Mojave Desert outside of Palm Springs. But she wasn't only looking backward. McVie also discussed Fleetwood Mac's plans for the future, which may include a new album and another world tour. "We're just gonna keep on doing what we do best," she said, then laughed. "Which, I'm not really sure what that is!"

What was the state of Fleetwood Mac going into the making of Mirage?

Sunday, September 25, 2016

Stevie Nicks to perform Oct 3rd on Ellen and Oct 7th on The Late Late Show with James Corden

Look for Stevie in early October on The Late Late Show with James Corden October 7th (Late night October 6th) and also on daytime TV with Ellen October 3rd.



Friday, September 23, 2016

Lindsey Buckingham On Writing With Christine McVie on 'Mirage'

Arriving in store today (September 23) are deluxe editions of Fleetwood Mac's 1982 album Mirage.

The new set comes as a single-disc remastered version of the album along with a two-disc Expanded edition and a Deluxe package that includes three CDs, a DVD and an LP. The latter two include bonus demos, rarities and alternative tracks, while the Deluxe also features a 1982 concert from Los Angeles.

Mirage was the more "traditional" follow-up to 1979's experimental Tusk and hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, going on to be certified double platinum. Lindsey Buckingham tells us that it was also on album on which he and singer-keyboardist Christine McVie -- who wrote the first single "Hold Me" -- clicked in a way that was different from the way he worked with Stevie Nicks:

"I would say that it's...an intangible thing. It's a very strong thing of what I always thought was, for lack of a better term, the whole being greater than the sum of the parts...and I think in that sense Christine and I as two musicians who are very well-grounded in their craft have a kind of symmetry of respect and love for each other on a creative and a musical and a personal level, and I think that was a big part of what that whole being greater than the sum of the parts was at the time. The fact that what I could do for her, I did it for Stevie too but the fact that she (McVie) could infuse her sensibilities into my stuff and I could tap into what I do as a producer, say, and give back so much to her."

McVie rejoined the band in 2014 following a nearly 16-year leave of absence. Fleetwood Mac has been working on new material but no release plans have been announced.

 - Gary Graff

Mick Fleetwood on if he's listened to the expanded version of Mirage

Released today (September 23rd) is the deluxe and expanded version of Fleetwood Mac‘s 1982 chart-topping Mirage collection. The album, which was released on June 18th, 1982, was the group’s first studio set of the decade and topped the album charts for five straight weeks. Mirage, which was released in the wake of Stevie Nicks‘ 1981 solo breakthrough, Bella Donna, was pushed by constant airplay of its first two singles and videos — Christine McVie‘s “Hold Me” and Nicks’ “Gypsy.” A third song from the set, McVie’s opening track “Love In Store” stalled at Number 22. In Britain, Lindsey Buckingham‘s neo-rockabilly track, “Oh Diane” was released as a single and scored the band its only Top 10 hit off the album there, when it peaked at Number Nine.

The newly expanded version of Mirage, features the remastered original 1982 album, a second disc of 19 alternate versions and outtakes, along with a third disc featuring highlights from the band’s brief U.S. tour in support of the album.

We caught up with Mick Fleetwood and asked him if he’s actually gone through the entire deluxe reissue of Mirage: 

“Oh yeah, we’ve all heard it — a while ago, to be quite blunt. So, we’re very happy with the way Warners. . . they do a lot of leg work. Y’know, we don’t actually have anywhere near — sadly — we don’t have anywhere near the archive (the) Beatles, and (Rolling) Stones, and Eagles and. . . I’m always happy when we do find something with outtakes and stuff like that that have been kept, and also it’s that time to do that. We’ve never really got into it. The Stones and the Beatles, they’ve been doing this for a long time.”

Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage has been re-released in three different configurations:

Deluxe: Three CDs, DVD and LP. Original album remastered, plus B-sides and rarities; the original album on LP; live performances; and a 5.1 mix on DVD
Expanded: Two CDs. Original album remastered, plus a disc of B-sides and rarities
Remastered: Original album remastered. A digital version is also be available.












LISTEN New Interview with Christine McVie on BBC Radio 2


Steve Wright in the Afternoon
BBC Radio 2

Steve and the team are joined by Christine McVie to talk about the deluxe reissue of the classic Fleetwood Mac album Mirage that was originally released in 1982.

BBC Radio2

Tuesday, September 20, 2016

REVIEW Fleetwood Mac Mirage (Expanded Reissue)

Fleetwood Mac - Mirage (Expanded Reissue)
(Warner Brothers/Rhino)
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
American Songwriter
Written By Hal Horowitz


Often considered the belated follow-up to 1977’s mega platinum Rumours, 1982’s Mirage was a clear retreat from the somewhat abrasive, occasionally commercial avant-pop of the controversial Tusk. While that album has, over the decades, come to be respected as Lindsey Buckingham’s creative zenith, it appears Warner Brothers was less enthusiastic about their star act’s detour into the artsy abyss. Perhaps Mac were tired of it themselves, because the slick, glossily produced Mirage seems a capitulation to an audience who might have found the dense, inconsistent, but bold Tusk a musical and drug-fueled bridge too far.

While Mirage was no Rumours, its dozen sophisticated pop songs include such near-classics as “Love in Store,” “Gypsy,” and “Hold Me,” the latter two appearing on most subsequent Mac hits packages. But there are other, often unappreciated gems here too. Selections such as Buckingham’s folksy “Can’t Go Back,” Stevie Nicks’ surprisingly effective foray into country “That’s Alright,” the frisky pop/rock and sumptuous harmonies of “The Eyes of the World” and the closing “Wish You Were Here,” one of the always dependable Christine McVie’s more affecting and least appreciated pieces, are well worth reexamining.

It’s not a great album but it’s a good one, especially for Mac’s avid pop fans, and ripe for rediscovery on this newly remastered and expanded edition. A second disc with 20 previously unreleased rarities includes early, stripped down demos, alternate arrangements and outtakes of nearly every tune, plus some that didn’t make the final cut, and is well worth the price of admission. The no-frills versions are a welcome contrast to the finished product’s often over-produced slickness, and such oddities as a four minute in-studio jam on drummer Sandy Nelson’s 1959 instrumental “Teen Beat” with Buckingham at his most frazzled and unhinged is a major find.

But the real excitement is relegated to the pricey “deluxe” package that includes not only a 5.1 surround audio-only DVD of the album and a remastered vinyl reproduction, but a live show from the ‘82 Mirage tour. This 74-minute concert catches the band on a particularly inspired and improvisation filled night in LA as Mirage was ensconced atop the Billboard charts. It kicks off with a propulsive seven-minute “The Chain” that smokes the studio take into oblivion and features extended performances of two Tusk tracks with a nearly 10-minute “Not That Funny” along with another 8 minutes of “Sisters of the Moon,” closing with an unplugged emotional “Songbird” all in front of a clearly engaged audience.

Whether that’s worth dropping nearly $90 is up to you, but this is an invigorating presentation. It captures these five musicians (before they added an unnecessary backline to bolster the live sound) bouncing energy off each other and feeding from the crowd with exhilarating results.

MORE REVIEWS:
Fleetwood Mac – Mirage
The weakest album produced by the Rumours line-up? Or an essential chapter in the Fleetwood Mac story...
Sam Richards
Uncut


The deluxe edition of Mirage is out on September 23rd on Warner Brothers
Mirage (Deluxe) (3CD/1LP/1DVD-Audio)
http://smarturl.it/MirageDeluxe

Mick Fleetwood on Fleetwood Mac's 'Overlooked' Smash 'Mirage'

Ahead of new reissue, drummer talks "wild and romantic" France sessions, opulent video shoots and more
By Richard Bienstock
Rollingstone


"I don't think it would be wrong to say it sort of got overlooked," says Fleetwood Mac drummer Mick Fleetwood, reminiscing about his band's 1982 album, Mirage, which will be reissued in a deluxe package via Warner Bros. on September 23rd. It's something of an odd statement to make about a record that charted at Number One on the Billboard 200, spawned multiple hit singles and went on to sell more than three million copies. Of course, when you're in Fleetwood Mac, the definition of what constitutes success is relative.

The album, the band's 13th studio effort overall and fourth to feature singer Stevie Nicks and singer/guitarist Lindsey Buckingham alongside longtime members Fleetwood, bassist John McVie and singer/keyboardist Christine McVie, came on the heels of one of the more impressive runs in rock: the lineup's smash 1975 "debut," Fleetwood Mac; the now-more-than-40-million-selling follow-up, Rumours; and the sprawling and sonically adventurous Buckingham-helmed double–LP Tusk (a commercial "failure" that still managed to move several million copies). By the time the band reconvened for Mirage in May 1981, they had been off the road for close to a year, during which time three members had recorded – but not yet released – solo albums (Buckingham's Law and Order, Fleetwood's The Visitor and Nicks' eventual chart-topping, multi-platinum Bella Donna). That time apart, combined with the tensions that had been brought on by the experimental nature of the Tusk album, left them ready to recapture a bit of the old Rumours magic, so to speak.

Full interview with Mick at Rollingstone


The deluxe edition of Mirage is out on September 23rd on Warner Brothers
Mirage (Deluxe) (3CD/1LP/1DVD-Audio)

10 Questions for Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac

The peacemaker of Fleetwood Mac on Mirage, Maui and missing the buzz
by Ralph Moore
The Arts Desk

theartsdesk meets Christine McVie on a sunny Friday afternoon in September; the Warner Brothers boardroom (with generous hospitality spread) is suitably palatial. We’re the first media interview of the day, so she’s bright and attentive. McVie was always the member of Fleetwood Mac who you’d want to adopt: the most approachably human member of a band constantly at war with itself. Readily admitting that she’s the “peacekeeper’ in the band, the singer/songwriter behind such Mac classics as “Everywhere” and “You Make Loving Fun” is as sweet and serene as you’d hope she would be.

She’s here to promote the new deluxe remaster of 1982 album Mirage – the follow-up to the somewhat deranged 1979 Tusk, which was recorded and released as Christine and John McVie, the band's bassist, were divorcing. She quit the band in 1998 after the hugely successful live album The Dance, after which she started a fairly solitary life of her own in the English countryside for the best part of 16 years. The first four of those, she says, were simply spent working on the house. It was only therapy and the canny, persuasive hand of Mick Fleetwood that coaxed her into returning after a trip to Maui, Hawaii, where Mick lives close to John McVie, his lifelong partner-in-crime.

The former Christine Perfect had a severe fear of flying that she’s now completely beaten, and as we speak, it’s clear that she’s fairly perplexed about having left the fray for so long in the first place. So what was she doing in all that time exactly? “A lot of people ask me that question!” With a brand new album (their first since 2001’s Say You Will) and a new world tour in the planning stages, it’s clear that the Fleetwood Mac story still has several enthralling chapters ahead. Somewhere near Fleetwood's on Front Street – Mick's fancy restaurant in Maui – the drummer must be feeling pretty smug that the ragged band of brothers and sisters he founded are finally back together.

RALPH MOORE: What was the mood of the band post-Tusk?

CHRISTINE McVIE: I remember we did two huge world tours after Tusk. We drove ourselves into the ground physically, and obviously there was a lot of drinking and a lot of drugs, and that just about killed us all, so we took a lot of time off. There was a long time between Tusk and Mirage. Mick went to Ghana to make an album called The Visitor and Stevie [Nicks] made Bella Donna, which was a huge hit for her.

But I think maybe we were under contract so had to make a record at that time, so Mick tried to recreate a similar bubble to Rumours where we were away from our homes, and that’s how that started. The mood? I was quite looking forward to it. We recorded at Honky Château [the infamous Chateau d'Herouville, located 20 miles north of Paris in the Val d'Oise]. There was a big piano there that Elton John had left there, so that was great. I seem to remember we did a lot of mucking around, playing table tennis. The guys from the French Open came down to visit us and John McEnroe also came down – I think I actually beat him at table tennis one night! It was a funny time. I don’t remember any particular animosity. I'm sure we were under contract to do another record so that was the basis of it. And from that, from little acorns the oak tree grew and it turned into a much nicer experience with some really good songs on it.

You returned to the band in 2014: had the dynamic changed?

Well, I just couldn’t believe that 16 years had actually passed. I mean, quite literally, from the moment I stepped on stage in Dublin to rehearse “Don’t Stop” I knew: the eye contact with all the band members, it was like going home. Truthfully. And they felt the same about me. The circle was complete. Had anything changed? Only technically. Vibe wise, I had Mick looking at me through his cymbals, but there was always that gap there on the stage when I left – they hadn’t filled it up with anyone else. That gap when they were touring without me was there every night. It was such a great feeling.

Is it fair to say that you’re the peacekeeper in the band?

I know Stevie always calls me Mother Earth, so possibly! How do I put this…. I have always been the most sane one of the lot, more down to earth, but I think John’s probably even more down to earth now. Peacekeeper? Yeah, I like that title. I do tend to meander around in the cracks! And do I have to be a peacekeeper now? Only occasionally. You always get moments with Stevie and Lindsey [Buckingham], that’s part of their make-up – they are each other’s muses and they have not been together for years, but they have this love/hate thing that they’ll always have and someone has to gently insinuate in the middle.

But Stevie and I are really good friends, in fact I think we’re better friends now than we were 16 years ago. And it’s a fact, when it's the Buckingham/Nicks show backed by John and Mick, that’s going to cause a lot of tension and stress. But with me in there, it gave Stevie the chance to get her breath back and not have this constant thing going on with Lindsey: her sister was back.

Is it fair to say that Fleetwood Mac is a democracy, but driven for the most part by Mick?

Yes, but you’ve got to have a degree of flexibility. We’re very democratic. If one person is outvoted, you go with it. Mick always says, I’m a drummer, I can’t just sit in a room and play drums, I need a band. So in Maui, he has his own little band and when Fleetwood Mac’s not touring, he plays with them. It keeps him busy.

In the 16 years interim, what were you doing and did you see the band much?

I didn’t see them very much. First of all, I never flew anywhere. I saw them at Earl's Court a few years back and sat at the sound board and that was a weird feeling. But I had no sense at that time of wanting to rejoin and at that time it was a relief – but I didn’t realise what pleasure I was missing until more recent days when I made the phone call to Mick and asked, "What would be it be like if I came back?" Fortunately Stevie was dying for me to come back, as were the rest of the band. Lindsey didn’t believe it would ever happen, but when I walked back onstage he did and they were delirious.

But when I first left, I was married at that point and spent four years restoring the house, a big rambling place with gardens – it was quite a project. But I didn’t write very much and the marriage didn’t work out, and I started to find I was twiddling my thumbs in this huge place, bouncing off the walls. So I thought that I’d do a little solo project. I got together with my nephew who’s a good musician and quite handy with ProTools and I thought, I’ll do a little record because I can’t fly, and I don’t want to tour, so we did that in my garage. And that took a couple of years, because we didn’t have a pressing need to finish it.

And then I sunk into isolation and got in a bit of trouble and sought help, and that was when I called Mick. It was healing and cathartic going back into the band. I missed all that buzz. I was also deluded about some idea of being the country lady with dogs, a Range Rover and Hunter boots, going for long walks, all that. Baking cakes in my Aga. It was not what I wanted in the end.

How did you overcome the fear of flying?

I was starting to realise that I was trapped in England unless I went by train or boat – and that I will never be able to see the world. So I went to a therapist and said, "I have to be able to get on a plane." And he said, "Where would you most like to go?" And I said, "Maui!" And he said, "Buy a first-class ticket. Don’t get on – you have the ticket, that’s the starting point." And as serendipity would have it Mick said, “I am coming to London” and I said, “I have a ticket to Maui!” So he said “Stay there! And we’ll go back together.”

So I went back with Mick to Maui and didn’t even feel the plane taking off, that’s how unafraid I was. I had some pretty good therapy, and I love flying now! And I did some songs with his little band there, and that was the start of it all. It’s the best thing we could have ever done. In many ways, I think we sound better and the audience reaction is better than even it was before. It’s unprecedented in rock ‘n’ roll that someone should leave and rejoin 16 years on and all five of us are still alive and healthy – touch wood and whistle.

Let’s talk about the new album.

I love every single track we’ve done, bar none. This's something to me that is really special. Stevie hasn’t come in on it yet because she’s been busy doing something else. Last year, I was in there with Mick and Lindsey and John – John’s healing very nicely now – and nearly completed seven tracks and they’re magic. Seriously, no padding! I’m going to go over again in October to work on it. Stevie’s on tour but we’ve got until next year to finish it because we’re planning a world tour again, for the summer of '17. I don’t know if I’m privy to give song titles yet, but Lindsey and I have practically co-written everything. Getting the band all together is like herding sheep: to get all five of us in a room is nigh-on impossible. And then somebody will wander out. But it does happen.

And what’s great is Fleetwood Mac is now a genuine, cross-generational experience.

The generation gap is phenomenal! Kids are going, "We’d better see them before one of them dies!" The songs endure. I have lots of friends with growing children, even 12- and 11-year-olds and some of them are avid listeners, they carry Rumours on their iPods! Tango is a favourite and Tusk is a favourite of some the weird 14-year-old boys. The demographic is remarkable.

And you still have the potential to play Glastonbury again.

Yes. I think we have been asked but for whatever reason it hasn’t happened, I don’t know for what reason. Would I love to do it? Love’s a strong word! I wouldn’t mind – so long as we could helicopter in and helicopter out!

Let’s end by returning to Mirage – where does it sit in the Mac canon for you?

If I have to be really truthful, it’s not catalogued as my favourite but on it are some great songs and some really good memories and it harkens in a vague sense not to the soul of Rumours but to more commercial roots after Tusk, which was the antithesis of commercial. On Mirage we made an effort to have a few more catchy songs. But it’s still a pretty eccentric record when you listen to it. It’s nuts!

The deluxe edition of Mirage is out on September 23rd on Warner Brothers

Source The Arts Desk

The deluxe edition of Mirage will be released September 23rd
Mirage (Deluxe) (3CD/1LP/1DVD-Audio)

Monday, September 19, 2016

Stevie Nicks details what fans should look forward to on 24 Karat Gold Tour

Stevie Nicks Talks About Empowering Women, Fleetwood Mac and her Next Tour
by Kyle Stevens
Huffington Post

Legend. Icon. Storyteller.

“I have a super loud voice,” Stevie Nicks said with a laugh. The world is thankful for it. Her voice is necessary in times like these. The future is up in the air and Stevie Nicks has stepped up to the plate to be the heroine we all need. She is taking the show on the road and it will be unlike anything anyone has ever seen before. The 27-city tour starts on October 25th in Phoenix and will travel to places like Atlanta, Toronto, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York City and more. “The 24 Karat Gold Tour” is the next chapter in the mythical career of Stevie Nicks.

In an exclusive interview with The Huffington Post, Nicks went into detail about what fans should look forward to when “The 24 Karat Gold Tour” comes to town. 

Full Interview at Huffington Post

One section of the interview I was really happy to read about are all the Herbert W. Worthington III Photos left behind when he died. I'm glad Stevie is now the owner of them. A lot of amazing shots were taken over the years.

"The guy who took the cover of Rumors, Fleetwood Mac and all of my covers, Herbert W. Worthington III, died last year and he left me everything. He left me every picture he ever took, all the way back to Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy and all the Fleetwood Mac stuff. All of the press photo sessions. I have an immense amount of amazing photographs taken by this great photographer who was a dear friend of mine that I can now use."

Friday, September 16, 2016

Christine McVie with MixMag Editor Ralph Moore

Christine was interview this morning (Sept 16th) by Ralph Moore, Editor of MixMag, on the re-
release of Mirage. No word yet on when the interview will be released, but it'll likely be in the next issue since Mirage will be released next week.  She looks great!!

Stevie Nicks shares intimate memories of her longtime friend Prince

Stevie Nicks: ‘My Heart Is With Hillary Clinton’
By  Ian Drew
Us Magazine

The Gold Dust Woman is with her too! During a chat with Us Weekly Entertainment Director Ian Drew about her upcoming 24 Karat Gold tour, Stevie Nicks revealed her pick for the 45th president of the United States: Hillary Clinton.

The ringing endorsement doesn’t come as too much of a surprise. After an extended hiatus, the singer, 68, reunited with her legendary band Fleetwood Mac to perform at the Inaugural Ball for the former secretary of state’s husband, Bill Clinton, in 1993 (the group’s 1977 smash “Don’t Stop” was his campaign theme song).

Nicks previously revealed she’d like to sing her Mac classic “Landslide” if Clinton wins. “I could gather together the Dixie Chicks, Billy Corgan and everybody who’s ever sung a version of ‘Landslide,’” she told The New York Times on September 6.

The “Stand Back” chanteuse, whose 27-city solo tour with the Pretenders kicks off October 25, also shared intimate memories of her longtime friend Prince, who died from an accidental overdose of the opioid fentanyl on April 21.

Us: You recently finished playing 120 shows with Fleetwood Mac and now you are heading out on the road again. Do you ever take a break?

SN: No, and I blame it on my mother. She was a born entertainer. Leave the songwriting, the singing and all that behind, and I still would have found some way to be an entertainer. I would have never been an actress, though, because I realized early in my life, in like sixth grade, I was a terrible actress. But I would have found something because I love to entertain people. I had the option to take the rest of the year off. But I said the songs on my last solo album, 24 Karat Gold, mean so much to me. I need to get out there and sing them.

Us: Why did you decide to tour with Chrissie Hynde and the Pretenders?

SN: When Chrissie Hynde was inducted into the Hall of Fame, I, of course, was there to see that because I have to back up the girl. When it was over, I said we needed to have a party for Chrissie in my hotel suite. I didn’t really know her, but it was great. I got to sit at the piano with her and just talk to her about everything — her family, rock ’n’ roll, the music business. I’ve always been a Pretenders fan, but I got to know her. So I’m very excited about this.

Us: You collaborated with Prince on your 1983 hit “Stand Back.” I assume you’ll be playing that song in his memory?

Wednesday, September 14, 2016

Video - Stevie Nicks performing Landslide on America's Got Talent, endorses finalist Grace VanderWaal

Stevie Nicks Praises Grace VanderWaal on 'America's Got Talent': 'She's Got It'
Billboard
by Michele Amabile Angermiller


America's Got Talent finalist Grace VanderWaal got a ringing endorsement from special guest Stevie Nicks on Wednesday (Sept. 14) night's season finale.

The 12-year old singer-songwriter entertained the audience once more with her original audition song, "I Don't Know My Name." VanderWaal brought Nicks to the stage following her performance, introducing her as "a true hero of inspiration."

The former Fleetwood Mac singer returned the compliment after performing a beautiful version of Fleetwood Mac's "Landslide," telling host Nick Cannon that VanderWaal has a bright future.

"I have been watching this show from the very beginning," she said, "I have to say she reminds me a lot of me in a lot of ways. We sing very similar ... we like to be weird and perky and we like to be a little different ... and not like anybody else."

VanderWaal's individuality will take her far.

"She's got it," she said. "Whatever happens Grace is going to the top."

LANDSLIDE:









Tuesday, September 13, 2016

Wednesday's 'America's Got Talent' finale will feature a performance by Stevie Nicks

America's Got Talent will crown a Season 11 champion Wednesday night, but there's already a clear
winner: the show itself.

The NBC talent competition (tonight and Wednesday, 8 ET/PT) is again summer's top-rated program, enjoying its biggest audience in five seasons (an average of 13.7 million viewers, up 10% from last year) and its best performance with young adults since 2013. Besides naming a winner, Wednesday's finale will feature performances by Stevie Nicks, Jersey Boys and Il Volo.



Stevie Nicks to honor Prince during upcoming US tour

By MARK KENNEDY
Associated Press

NEW YORK (AP) — Stevie Nicks is trying to whittle down the set list for her upcoming solo tour, but one song that definitely made the cut is her 1983 hit "Stand Back" with Prince. Originally written as a compliment, now it will be a tribute.

The Fleetwood Mac singer, who heard Prince's "Little Red Corvette" on her car radio and loved it so much she decided to write an answer song, hasn't played "Stand Back" since Prince died in April.

"I will be singing it for the first time without Prince being on the planet," she said. "That is going to be horrible, but it doesn't mean that I don't want to pay homage to my 'Little Red Corvette' friend. I'll sing it forever for him now."

Nicks' two-month tour with The Pretenders kicks off Oct. 25 in support of her 2014 album, "24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault." She never got a chance to promote the CD since she spent most of the last three years on the road with Fleetwood Mac.

Nicks promises songs from "24 Karat Gold" as well as old favorites like "Dreams," ''If Anyone Falls," ''New Orleans," ''Bella Donna," ''Rooms on Fire" and "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around."

"Stand Back" will be there, fueled by the memory of her having lured Prince into the recording studio to play keyboards on the song he inspired. She said one of her deepest regrets is never getting him to join her onstage for a live version.

Though Nicks and Prince were friends, the two didn't hang out much. One thing they disagreed on was drug use. "He hated them. And he hated that I did drugs and that's probably why we didn't hang out more," she said.

"He was worried that I would die of an accidental drug overdose and my sadness is that he did die of an accidental drug overdose. He's up there looking down, saying to me, 'Sweetie, I can't believe it happened either.'"

Nicks has no current record deal — "I'm free to do whatever I want" — after delivering "24 Karat Gold" to Warner Bros. It's an album of orphan songs, demos mostly written between 1969-1987.

"These were written during the days when everybody was pretty high and crazy and there was a lot of love affairs going on and a lot of breakups going on and just a lot of emotion going on," she said.

The 68-year-old singer-songwriter said that there were many reasons why the songs never got on any of her albums or those by Fleetwood Mac. In some cases, she didn't like the arrangements and pulled them. Or they came out soulless.

So in 2014, she and producers Dave Stewart and Waddy Wachtel went to Nashville, Tennessee, and re-recorded the songs in a matter of weeks. When they were finished, she put one CD in a gold box, wrapped it in a red bow and delivered it to the front desk of Warner Bros. Then she rejoined the Fleetwood Mac reunion tour.

Now she's getting ready to hit the road again, one of the few legendary acts like the Rolling Stones or Bruce Springsteen to be able to deliver a three- or four-hour set because they never stopped making music.

"I am very aware that artists over 50 don't — and are never going to — sell a lot of albums any more. It took me years to accept that," she said. "Now we can just pretend we're like 15 and start over and make records just because we want to."

Saturday, September 10, 2016

Fleetwood Mac Releases "Oh Diane" (early version) from "Mirage" Reissue


The latest single has been released from Fleetwood Mac's upcoming "Mirage" Deluxe Reissue. 
"Oh Diane" (early version)
It's available now on iTunes, Amazon, Spotify and Google Play.

"Mirage" will be released on September 23, 2016.

Pre-order NOW on the following links!

Physical:
Deluxe (3CD/1LP/5.1 Surround Mix)
Expanded (2CD)
2016 Remaster (1CD)

Digital:
Deluxe


Stevie Nicks & Pretenders Flyaway Sweepstakes


Enter for a chance to win a flyaway trip for two to see Stevie Nicks and Pretenders on the 24 Karat Gold Tour at participating show of your choice!


Eligibility: The Live Nation: Stevie Nicks & Pretenders Flyaway Sweepstakes ("Promotion") is open only to natural persons who are legal residents of the United States of America or Canada (except Quebec) who have a valid social security or tax ID number, who are at least eighteen (18) years of age at the time of entry. 

PRIZES
Grand Prize: One (1) winner and guest will receive a 24 Karat Gold Tour Flyaway Package which includes:

  • Reserved tickets to see Stevie Nicks and Pretenders on the 24 Karat Gold Tour at a participating show of winner's choice.
  • Round-trip Airfare
  • 2-night stay hotel accommodations
  • $200 Cash Gift Card

DATES & ELIGIBILITY
Start : September 06, 2016 @ 12:00 pm (US/Pacific)
End :  October 12, 2016 @ 12:00 pm (US/Pacific)




Fleetwood Mac, Blues and Chemistry: The Mick Fleetwood Interview


Written by: Ken Sharp
Rock Cellar Magazine

Long before Fleetwood Mac owned the Billboard record charts for years in the mid to late ’70s with a string of mega-selling albums/singles culled from the albums Fleetwood Mac, Rumours and Tusk, their formative sound was rooted in something altogether different.

Fleetwood Mac mark 1 drew from a heavy blues-rock sound that stood in diametric opposition to their reputation as traditional pop alchemists in a later configuration featuring Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham.

Fronted by one of Britain’s most respected and revered lead guitar players, Peter Green, the early form of Fleetwood Mac was a raw blues band that won over audiences with its dynamic, blues-drenched sound with such signature classics as Albatross, Oh Well, Rattlesnake Shake and Black Magic Woman.

Full Interview at Rock Cellar Magazine


THE MICK FLEETWOOD BLUES BAND TOUR DATES:

Sept 16 - Aspen, CO - Belly Up Aspen
Sept 17 - Denver, CO - Ogden Theatre
Sept 18 - Telluride, CO - Telluride Blues & Brews Festival
Sept 20 - Los Angeles, CA - John Anson Ford Amphitheatre
Sept 21 - Solana Beach, CA - Belly Up Tavern
Sept 23 - Grass Valley, CA - Veterans Memorial Auditorium
Sept 24 - Monterey, CA - Golden State Theatre
Sept 25 - Napa, CA - Uptown Theatre
Sept 26 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom
Sept 28 - Spokane, WA - Fox Theater
Sept 29 - Aberdeen, WA - D & R Theater
Sept 30 - Coquitlam, BC - Hard Rock Casino Vancouver
Oct 02  - Victoria, BC - University of Victoria/Farquhar Auditorium

Enter to WIN Tickets to see Stevie Nicks in LA at The Form 12/18

Stevie Nicks at The Forum
with Special Guest The Pretenders

Enter to win a pair of tickets to see STEVIE NICKS with Special Guest The Pretenders at The Forum on December 18th!

Enter Here: -> 100.3 The Sound

WIN Stevie Nicks Tickets - Tampa, Ft. Lauderdale, Chicago, Washington, Boston, Nashville, St. Paul, Phoenix



TAMPA:
Starting Monday, Ann is giving you the chance to win two tickets to see Stevie Nicks on Wednesday, November 2nd at Amalie Arena!

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FT. LAUDERDALE:
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You can win your spot on the LITE FM Guest List
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Win Stevie Nicks Tickets!  Listen at 4 pm each weekday for DJ Holiday to provide the keyword for your chance to win 2 tickets for Stevie Nicks’ 24 Karat Gold Tour with Pretenders at BB&T Center on Friday, November 4th at 7 pm, courtesy of Live Nation. You can also enter online below! Msg & data rates apply. STOP 2 cxl.

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Win 2 Floor Seats to see STEVIE NICKS WITH PRETENDERS at the Verizon Center on November 14th! Listen to Craig Chambers on Monday morning starting at 9:40 for the PHRASE THAT PAYS.  Every hour at :40 minutes after the hour we will give you another word until 5:40pm.  Put them all together and be the 7th caller when STASH asks you to call and you might win!!
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Nicks discusses what the 24 Karat Gold Tour setlist might include

Stevie Nicks on Crafting a Setlist for 24 Karat Gold Tour, Possible Fleetwood Mac Album & Wishing She'd Performed With Prince
by Keith Caulfield
Billboard


"Whenever I play ‘Stand Back’ from this day forward, Prince will be standing next to me."

“I'm hoping that this will be as much fun for the audience as it's gonna be for me,” Stevie Nicks tells Billboard about her just-announced 24 Karat Gold Tour. The two-month trek -- launching Oct. 25 in Phoenix, with the Pretenders opening -- supports her 2014 effort 24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault, which marked her sixth top 10 album on the Billboard 200 chart.

The album was comprised of tracks Nicks had written and made demo recordings for decades ago but had never been included on any of her previous albums. Then, in 2014, she and producer Dave Stewart headed to Nashville with the demos and recorded entirely new versions of the songs to produce 24 Karat Gold. “I think this [tour] is going to be great,” Nicks says. “I think that all the fans are gonna have a ball. And I hope that they totally just dress up -- as Wendy Williams would say, 'Dress to the nines.' And come to party, and sing.”

Nicks says the setlist for the tour is still being shaped (it’s “about at 30 songs right now”) but will feature songs from 24 Karat Gold and possibly title cuts from some of her older albums, like “Bella Donna,” “Wild Heart” and “Trouble in Shangri-La.” She wants the show to “have its little explosions of fun” from the various parts of her career. Nicks also gives a hint to fans: “You know what, you might want to come to two shows, because you never know: There might be an alternative [set]list.”

It’s likely that familiar favorites like “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stand Back” will both turn up in the setlist, and for Nicks, “Stand Back” has a new emotional weight. The track was “written to” Prince’s “Little Red Corvette,” and she’s “brokenhearted” that she was never able to have him share the stage with her on the song. “Had I ever in a million years thought that we would lose him,” Nicks says, “I would have made sure that that would have happened. And it didn't. So that's just one of those things in your life where you so say, 'I really missed out.' Because he should have. That should have happened. So whenever I play ‘Stand Back’ from this day forward, Prince will be standing next to me. That is always going to be a joy.”

Tuesday, September 06, 2016

Stevie Nicks Balancing a Band With Solo Pleasures


Stevie Nicks on Her Fleetwood Mac ‘Team,’ Solo Joys and the 2016 Election
By Phoebe Reilly

Stevie Nicks says that one of her favorite things to do is light a candle, sit at the desk in her Los Angeles home and write poetry. Ms. Nicks, the rock ’n’ roll mystic who constitutes one-fifth of Fleetwood Mac’s classic lineup and wrote several of its most beloved hits (including “Dreams” and “Rhiannon”), is so prolific that six years after joining that multiplatinum California band in 1975, she embarked on a solo career with “Bella Donna,” which featured the memorable centerpiece “Edge of Seventeen.”

“In the beginning, I actually sat down and said, listen, I am doing this because I have way too many songs,” Ms. Nicks said. “I get frustrated because one of you walks by me every time I sit at the piano and says: ‘Oh my God, there she goes writing another song. We only need three or four from you.’ So what am I supposed to do?”

Eight solo albums later, Ms. Nicks, 68, is preparing to go on the road in support of her most recent releases, “In Your Dreams,” from 2011, and the 2014 album “24 Karat Gold: Songs From the Vault,” a collection of tracks written mainly between 1969 and 1987. A 28-city tour with the Pretenders as special guests begins on Oct. 25 in Phoenix. “I just woke up one morning and said I have two years off before Fleetwood Mac comes knocking on my door [for another tour],” she said. “Why would I want to sit around and do nothing?”

Fleetwood Mac has endured despite drug addictions and multiple intra-band relationships (and breakups) during the late ’70s, and recently completed a two-and-a-half-year, 122-date tour. (“I don’t twirl nearly as much as I used to,” said Ms. Nicks, whose past relationship with the guitarist Lindsey Buckingham provided a dose of drama.) When reached by phone, she was struggling to whittle down her set list. Here are edited excerpts from the conversation.

What’s the difference between touring behind your solo work and touring with Fleetwood Mac?

Fleetwood Mac is a team, and when you’re on a team everybody has the same vote — except in this particular team Lindsey has a little bit of a stronger vote than anybody else. I love being part of a team. We argue all the time, but we always have. In my band, there is no arguing. I am the boss. My solo career is probably the reason Fleetwood Mac is still together in 2016, because I was always happy to leave Fleetwood Mac, and I was always happy to come back, too.

You have said you thought Lindsey would like “24 Karat Gold” because so many of the songs are about him. What was his reaction?

Well, I don’t know. I don’t even know if he ever listened to the record and, honestly, I don’t care. I gave up caring about how everybody else in Fleetwood Mac feels about my solo work a long time ago. It’s not their thing. If my feelings were ever hurt, it was after “Bella Donna,” when I didn’t feel that anybody even listened to it. That was in 1981.

The ’80s have once again become a point of fascination in television shows like “Stranger Things.” Are you ever nostalgic?

I wouldn’t want to ever go back there. Yes, it was a lot of fun between 1975 and 1990 — until it wasn’t. I walk onstage every night now and do a three-hour show with Fleetwood Mac, and I have a great time up there. I wish I had known that I actually had the energy to do this entire set totally sober and get just as excited. On one hand, that makes me feel great and on the other it makes me sad that I ever did my first line of coke.

Your songs never lost the rawness associated with youthful emotion. Do you find that inspiration comes from your everyday life now, or is your imagination triggered by re-examining the past?

I would say both. Great stories inspire me. Some people have the ability to be extremely convincing, and other people can sing for 30 years and not convince you that they have lived a story. At 16 I could sing a love song well. My dad would go, “That’s a good song, honey.” And my mom would go, “That’s just beautiful, Stevie.” And they would be thinking, “We know for a fact that she’s only been on one date and she was back in two hours.”

“Don’t Stop” was the theme song of Bill Clinton’s campaign. What are your hopes for this election?

Of course I’m for Hillary Clinton. It’s hard to think of anything as amazing as that song was for Bill. He picked it out when he was driving around in a cab somewhere years before. When she wins by a landslide, I could gather together the Dixie Chicks, Billy Corgan and everybody who’s ever sung a version of “Landslide.” It’s not up-tempo, but it certainly would get the message across.

Are you a fan of Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga or any other major contemporary female artist?

I have so many favorites. I love Katy Perry. [And] I’m so happy for Adele right now. She’ll do what I did — she’ll figure out a way to stay in the business. The big difference between her and me is that she has a child, and that will change things for her, but I think Adele knows what she wants and I don’t think she’s in a hurry. And that’s great. If she needs to go away for three years, she doesn’t feel like somebody’s going to take her place. When you believe in yourself that much, you can take as long as you want.

A version of this article appears in print on September 6, 2016, on page C3 of the New York edition