Tuesday, February 06, 2018

REVIEWS It all began with Fleetwood Mac

It all began with Fleetwood Mac

Spectrum Culture
by Kevin Korber

Casual music fans would be forgiven for thinking that Fleetwood Mac is the band’s first album. It isn’t even the first self-titled album in the band’s discography–that honor goes to a 1968 release put out when the band was a blues-rock trio led by Peter Green–but it might as well serve as a starting point for what Fleetwood Mac would eventually become. While it is often overshadowed by the iconic Rumours, much of what made that album great is laid out here, from the band’s smooth, folk-rock sound and the identity that Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks brought to the band. If this re-issue demonstrates anything, it shows that this album is very much deserving of the instant-classic status that its successor also enjoys.

Fleetwood Mac is an album of three distinct personalities and styles that mesh surprisingly well together in a beautiful way. Buckingham provides most of the album’s rocking moments, but his slick, polished West Coast rock is far removed from anything the band did with either Peter Green or Bob Welch at the helm. Everything seems to have arrived fully-formed: the shimmering harmonies and scorned-lover lyrical perspectives are all there on “Monday Morning” and “Blue Letter,” the latter of which is one of the real hidden gems on this album. Nicks arrived in the band with a mix of heart-on-sleeve sincerity and sultry mysticism that created two of the album’s most enduring hits (“Landslide” and “Rhiannon,” respectively), and the new mastering on this edition makes her irreplaceable voice all the more powerful.

However, it’s arguably Christine McVie who stands out as the MVP on the album, straddling a line between Nicks’ ethereal folk and Buckingham’s driving rock to create songs that are really crucial to how the band would later develop. McVie had previously acted as the pop counterbalance to the band’s more blues-y tendencies after she joined in 1971, but the drastic shift to a more pop-leaning sound allowed her to truly shine with compositions like the dreamy “Warm Ways” and the undeniably catchy “Say You Love Me.”

The extra material available here only serves to underline just how remarkable the album is. Demos on box sets like these usually show a slow progress as each song develops from its barest beginnings to the finished product. That’s not quite the case with the demos for Fleetwood Mac, nearly all of which are mostly finished songs that lack the final production touches of the album versions. The early versions of Buckingham’s songs here mostly just lack the vocal harmonies that gave the final versions that extra kick, while McVie’s early recording of “Over My Head” is essentially finished. Given the amount of overhaul in the band at this time, the unified front presented in these studio outtakes is surprising indeed.

The real conflict in Fleetwood Mac circa 1975 comes out in the live material listed here. Yes, Buckingham and Nicks were brought in with the purpose of shaking up the band’s sound, but Fleetwood Mac had spent a decade as a wonky blues band before then, and those habits are difficult to break. Live, the band seem to be in a constant tug of war between their hard-rocking past and their poppy present. It should be a mess, but it instead gives the band a fire and energy that one doesn’t get on the recordings. The band’s newer material has a sharper edge, best exemplified by Buckingham’s blistering guitar work on the live version of “Rhiannon.” Similarly, the renditions of early blues material gets a new life by being interpreted by musicians less attached to the traditions of the material, turning them into fiery rock songs with just the right amount of aggression. It’s a wonderfully jarring experience for anyone who thinks of this era of Fleetwood Mac as a baggy-clothed folk-pop band without any harsh edges.

Whether they rocked or not, this iteration of Fleetwood Mac endured because of their songs. For all that can be said about Peter Green or Bob Welch during their respective time with the band, it’s clear now that the band’s focus was more on performance than on songwriting when they were figureheads. Buckingham and Nicks changed that entirely, and along with Christine McVie, they put pop songwriting at the forefront of what the band was about. The end result was a run of some of the greatest, most enduring pop music of all time and it all began with Fleetwood Mac.


Music Review: Fleetwood Mac, By Fleetwood Mac
By: Tony Nielsen
NZHearld

The original Fleetwood Mac was a British blues band, which operated between 1967 and 1974 when Mick Fleetwood, John McVie and his new wife, keyboardist Christine, found themselves without a lead vocalist and lead guitarist, and scouting LA for replacements.

Cue Lindsay Buckingham, who insisted his singer and partner Stevie Nicks were conditions of his joining Fleetwood Mac. Musically this also drew a line in the sand to their role as blues campaigners.

So, 40 years on we're celebrating what was the new-look Fleetwood Mac's self-titled album, second only to the mega selling Rumours, reaching over 40 million in sales, and securing a top 10 position in overall album sales.

This special edition version of Fleetwood Mac contains favourites like Oh Daddy, Say you love me, Rhiannon, Landslide and Over my Head. Better still the CD/LP that accompanies the original album catches early versions of some of the songs, as well as live versions. In other words, it's a treasure trove of a band that's on its way to super-stardom.

While, with sales of just 40 million, it's overshadowed by Rumours, Fleetwood Mac is one of those releases that sounds as fresh today as it did in 1975, and with then bonus album it's pretty much essential for any record collection.

Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac album review
by Mark Beaumont
Teamrock.com

In which Fleetwood Mac Mk 2 rises from two separate dumpers
Some tacos are destined to change the world. Take the ones over which the remnants of Fleetwood Mac ‘auditioned’ Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks in a Mexican restaurant in LA in 1974. Mac were smarting from five years of slumping record sales and the departure of guitarist and songwriter Bob Welch; Buckingham and Nicks, who had a flop album themselves with 1973’s Buckingham Nicks, were on the verge of quitting their part-time LA jobs, ending their floundering relationship and going their separate ways. The Mac needed only a new guitarist, but Buckingham refused to join unless they took Nicks as well. Mick Fleetwood gave his remaining core songwriter, Christine McVie, a veto over Nicks, but the pair got on famously. By the time the margaritas were drained, softrock history was shaken on.

The Mac album (the band’s tenth) that this fresh new line-up began recording just three weeks later – with Buckingham so pushy in teaching the veteran rhythm section their parts that John McVie chided him: “The band you’re in is Fleetwood Mac. I’m the Mac. I play the bass” – would become their second self-titled release, to mark their final transition from Peter Green’s blues-rock version to a new country-rooted pop-rock sound. The title heralded a new Fleetwood Mac, and their second era would become one of the most successful rebirths in rock.

Inevitably, one returns to 1975’s Fleetwood Mac with radar attuned to the first whispers of Rumours, and there are plenty circulating within these semi-magical 42 minutes. The simmering emotional friction that gave the 40-million-selling 1977 follow-up its invigorated snarl is absent, but the building blocks are stacked high. Buckingham sets out his stall from the off, with the country rock rattle of Monday Morning acting as a practice run at Second Hand News and a minor hint of the unsettled bitterness to come. ‘Got to get some peace in my mind,’ he whines, little knowing he was at least one monster international hit album away from any such thing. Later he plays the invigorated Nashville cowboy rocker with aplomb on Blue Letter and World Turning – an early attempt at electrifying spit’n’sawdust C&W in the vein of The Chain – but at this stage, as he lilts a little blandly over ponderous album closer I’m So Afraid and a reworked version of Crystal from Buckingham Nicks, he feels something of a bit-player in the new Mac order.

It’s Nicks who lands with the impact of a superhero from space. Rhiannon’s sly-eyed dance of the seven veils was the first stone-cold classic of Mac 2.0, instigating the strain of guttural gypsy queen allure that would give this new incarnation its sliver of exoticism, and her other major contribution, future live staple Landslide, set a benchmark for Fleetwood Mac’s folk balladry that they would, somewhat miraculously, go on to top. Here, Nicks is slumped disheartened in an Aspen sitting room, gazing out at the Rocky Mountains, considering giving up everything to go back to school and wondering how her life had become such emotional scree. The autobiographical honesty of the track would seep into the bedrock of Rumours.

Elsewhere, Christine McVie was demonstrably coming into her own. Languid, mildly jazzy tracks such as Warm Ways and Over My Head perhaps throw back too heavily to the Bob Welch era or even Albatross, albeit with Buckingham’s country licks hovering overhead, but with the wonderfully upbeat Say You Love Me and Sugar Daddy she dovetailed perfectly with Nicks and Buckingham’s brand of honeyed hippie honky-tonk.

Of the live tracks, instrumentals and studio out-takes making up the additional 35 tracks of the deluxe package, it’s the unpolished, formative early takes of the original album’s tracks that will most fascinate the dedicated Mac-heads – this was, after all, where Fleetwood Mac’s most celebrated incarnation clicked or clashed. Here, the urgent quiver to Buckingham’s ragged rough takes of Monday Morning and Blue Letter smack of a desperate young songwriter grasping his last chance hard. In contrast, Nicks’ sultry assurance has her adding to the ghostly charms of Rhiannon with an opening speech: “Sometimes you wake up and Rhiannon’s right there.” When the in-band soap opera kicked off in earnest, exaggerating these very traits in Nicks and Buckingham, the world would love to love them both; for now, Fleetwood Mac was the sound of a blessed second chance gradually realising just how blessed it was.

Fleetwood Mac - Fleetwood Mac
Though far from their debut, the band’s 1975 self-titled album felt like a debut: a pop-rock statement and the unexpected intersection of two parallel spheres that offered something genuinely new.

by Stephen Thomas
Pitchfork.com


Reissue Review: Fleetwood Mac’s pivotal 1975 s/t LP remains a timeless classic
By Andrew Sacher
Brooklyn Vegan

UPDATE: The Fleetwood Mac SiriusXM Channel has been delayed

UPDATE: The Fleetwood Mac Channel has been delayed. Please stay tuned for more details. In the meantime, you can hear Fleetwood Mac on Classic Vinyl, Classic Rewind, The Bridge, & The Blend. For a complete list of our rock channels, you can go to

http://www.SiriusXM.com/ChannelLineup .

Saturday, January 27, 2018

Fleetwood Mac helps raise $7 million for charity





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Fleetwood Mac helps raise $7 million for charity

NEW YORK (AP) — Rock 'n' roll's dysfunctional family, Fleetwood Mac, joined with artists paying tribute to their work to raise $7 million for down-on-their luck musicians at a benefit in Radio City Music Hall on Friday.

The annual MusiCares fundraiser, held each year just before the Grammys, like the awards show was in New York for the first time in 15 years. Fleetwood Mac, made whole again recently when Christine McVie rejoined after a 15-year hiatus, have mellowed and grown more appreciative of their career since their drug-taking, partner-swapping heyday.

"Not very far below the level of dysfunction is what really exists and what we're feeling now more than ever in our career, which is love," said member Lindsey Buckingham.

The band capped the benefit with a five-song mini-set, including the sprawling, experimental "Tusk" and Buckingham's classic kiss-off, "Go Your Own Way." Before that, they listened to artists like Lorde, HAIM, OneRepublic and Miley Cyrus perform their songs.

Former President Bill Clinton was on hand, joined by wife Hillary in the audience, to honor the band whose song "Don't Stop" was the theme for Clinton's 1992 campaign. He said the song was played for him more than "Hail to the Chief."

"I owe them more than any of you do, and I wouldn't miss this for the world," he said.

Clinton and Fleetwood Mac have something else in common: They've both won two Grammys in their careers; Clinton's was for spoken-word recordings.


Stevie Nicks reveals Fleetwood Mac's 'paid the same' policy
By: Chloe Melas

(CNN) — Rock icon Stevie Nicks believes the fight against sexual misconduct and gender inequality in the entertainment industry is going to require persistence.

"Everybody needs to not let this be a kind of big wave and just go away and say, 'Oh well, you know, it's over and nobody cares anymore,'" Nicks told CNN at the Recording Academy's MusiCares event on Friday. "Everybody has to keep really fighting because otherwise women, we will be swept under the carpet yet again and it will just start over."

Nicks and the other members of Fleetwood Mac were honored at the annual pre-Grammy Awards charity event.

The singer, who joined Fleetwood Mac in 1975, said she and fellow bandmate, Christine McVie, did not experience much sexual harassment over the course of their meteoric careers.

"I think I've been very lucky," she said. "And maybe it's because when I joined Fleetwood Mac, Christine and I made a pact. We said we will never ever be treated like a second class citizen amongst our peers as we get more famous and more famous -- and if we're in a room with famous rock n' roll stars that are men and they treat us that way, we will scream at them and then we'll walk out."

"We've been a force of nature our entire career, so nobody has dared to step over that line to Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks," she continued. "I'm such a raging monster when I'm angry that it would have never worked, so I'm really glad I never had to run into that."

As for the ongoing conversations about pay disparities between men and women in entertainment and across industries, Nicks said she's in full support of those calling for pay equity.

"Fleetwood Mac has two women and we all get paid the same," She said. "And if we didn't, Christine and I would be walking out the door."

CNN

Thursday, January 25, 2018

The Fleetwood Mac Channel is coming to SiriusXM in February


GRAMMY Award-winning rock band Fleetwood Mac will launch an exclusive, limited-run SiriusXM channel, The Fleetwood Mac Channel, on Thursday, February 1.

** Update ** The channel has been delayed according to SiriusXM, no reason given.

The Fleetwood Mac Channel will showcase music from Fleetwood Mac’s extensive Rock & Roll Hall of Fame career, including their indelible hits, solo material, live songs, rare demo tracks and musical influences.

The channel will also include exclusive stories and insights from Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Stevie Nicks and Christine McVie, plus special hosted shows by band members.

Fleetwood Mac will be honored at the 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute on Friday, January 26 in recognition of their significant creative accomplishments and their longtime support of a number of charitable causes, including MusiCares, the premier safety net of critical resources for the music industry.

SiriusXM’s The Fleetwood Mac Channel kicks off on Thursday, February 1 at 12 pm ET, via satellite on channel 4, and through the SiriusXM app on smartphones and other connected devices, as well as online at siriusxm.com.

Siriusxm

Tuesday, January 23, 2018

Fleetwood Mac 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year January 26, 2018

GRAMMY-winning group will receive the prestigious MusiCares Person of the Year honor on Jan. 26, 2018, at Radio City Music Hall in New York.




Two-time GRAMMY winners Fleetwood Mac will be honored at the 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute on Jan. 26, 2018. The quintet — comprising Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks — is the first band to receive the prestigious award.

Fleetwood Mac will be honored as the 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year in recognition of their significant creative accomplishments and their longtime support of a number of charitable causes, including MusiCares, the premier safety net of critical resources for the music industry.

Proceeds from the 28th annual benefit gala — to be held at Radio City Music Hall in New York City during GRAMMY Week two nights prior to the 60th GRAMMY Awards — provide essential support for MusiCares, which ensures music people have a place to turn in times of financial, medical and personal need.

For questions, contact Dana Tomarken at MusiCares at 310.392.3777

"Our 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute is a celebration of firsts — the first time our annual signature gala will be held in New York City in 15 years, and the first time in the benefit's history that we will honor a band," said Recording Academy President/CEO Neil Portnow. "This excitement is only matched by the genuine thrill and privilege of paying tribute to Fleetwood Mac, a legendary and influential group of artists whose music has provided the soundtrack for music lovers around the world."

Fleetwood Mac earned two GRAMMYs for their Album Of The Year-winning LP, Rumours, for 1977. The band also has two recordings inducted into the GRAMMY Hall Of Fame, including Fleetwood Mac (1975) and Rumours (1977).

"It's a tremendous honor to be the first band to receive the MusiCares Person of the Year award," said Mick Fleetwood on behalf of Fleetwood Mac. "Independently and together, we all set off on a journey to spend our lives as artists, songwriters and musicians. None of us did it alone and there were plenty of helping hands along the way, so we applaud and celebrate MusiCares' guiding principles of giving musicians a helping hand and a place to turn in times of need. We are very appreciative of this recognition."



Performers Announced: Fleetwood Mac MusiCares Person Of The Year Tribute
From Keith Urban to Haim, find out who is among the first group of performers for GRAMMY Week event honoring Fleetwood Mac.

GRAMMY winners John Legend, Lorde and Keith Urban are among the first group of performers announced for the 2018 MusiCares Person of the Year tribute concert honoring Fleetwood Mac on Jan. 26 in New York.

Past GRAMMY nominees Haim and OneRepublic and singer/songwriter Harry Styles will also join the performance lineup. GRAMMY winners Fleetwood Mac — Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, Christine McVie, John McVie, and Stevie Nicks — will close the evening's performances. 

For more information on purchasing VIP ticket packages to the event, or placing ads/messages in the tribute journal, please contact Dana Tomarken at MusiCares at 310.581.8727. Individual tickets for mezzanine seats are on-sale to the general public via Ticketmaster.  


Thursday, January 11, 2018

Check out Fleetwood Mac's Early Version of 1975 Classic 'Monday Morning'


As the opening track on 1975's five-times-platinum Fleetwood Mac album, "Monday Morning" was the first thing most fans heard from the new incarnation of the band after Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks joined. But the song also revealed a new Buckingham. You can listen to an exclusive early take of the song, from the upcoming Fleetwood Mac deluxe edition, below.

Check out billboard.com for more.

Pre-order at iTunes
Pre-order at GooglePlay
Pre-order at Amazon US
Pre-order at Amazon UK 



Three early versions have been released to date: 
Say You Love Me, Landslide and Monday Morning.