Wednesday, December 23, 2020

Fleetwood Mac, "Dreams" Top 25 Songs of 2020 (Rollingstone)

 

Year in Review: Rob Sheffield’s Top 25 Songs of 2020

#25 Fleetwood Mac, "Dreams"

Who else but Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham could keep re-breaking the same chain for over 40 years, from Tusk to TikTok? “Dreams” became the year’s most surprising TikTok sensation, inspiring Stevie, Lindsey, and Mick Fleetwood to join the fun — probably the closest we’ll ever get to a reunion. Yet another weird twist in the endlessly weird Mac saga. There’s something so beautiful — and so scary — in the way these bad lovers are still haunted by the music they made together, and how the music still refuses to give them their freedom. It’s official: Stevie is the thunder that only happens when it’s raining. And Stevie is always raining.

- Rollingstone

FLEETWOOD MAC 1969-1974 (The Best Reissues And Box Sets Of 2020)

The Best Reissues And Box Sets Of 2020 

FLEETWOOD MAC
1969-1974

This box offers remastered versions of the seven studio albums Fleetwood Mac recorded during its formative period. There are some stone-cold classics here – the early blues-leaning, but not entirely blues-derived, Then Play On, featuring founding guitarist Peter Green, and the later ones, too, including Bare Trees and Heroes Are Hard To Find, which showcase guitarist and songwriter Bob Welch. That's not all the required listening however: There's also a curious radio set from December 1974, just before Welch left the band – that fateful change that led to the arrival of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham and the hitmaking era that followed. In this "before" document, it's possible to hear all the stylistic evolutions of Fleetwood Mac swirling powerfully together: Starting with the incantory blues and whiplashing rhythm-section choreography of "Green Manalishi (With The Two Prong Crown)," the set includes a lovely and wistful rendering of Christine McVie's "Spare Me a Little," a wicked "Black Magic Woman" and Welch's "Hypnotized," which dissolves the concert in a dreamlike aura. It's a glimpse of an inventive, well-oiled band at an amazing moment, made just a bit more amazing when you discover it was one of only two FM performances in all of 1974.

- Tom Moon NPR

STEVIE NICKS PARTNERS WITH PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC!

Press Release:

STEVIE NICKS PARTNERS WITH PRIMARY WAVE MUSIC!
THIS NEW PARTNERSHIP WILL SEE THE INDEPENDENT PUBLISHER ACQUIRE A MAJORITY STAKE IN THE LEGENDARY SINGER’S PUBLISHING COPYRIGHTS, AS WELL AS NAME AND LIKENESS SONGS INCLUDE “EDGE OF SEVENTEEN,” “RHIANNON,” “LANDSLIDE” AND “DREAMS”



“The true rock legends change the game. Stevie Nicks, as a member of Fleetwood Mac, and later in her solo career, changed the game not only for women, but for what you could do in rock as a songwriter and a singer.” – NPR

NEW YORK, N.Y. (December 4, 2020) – As her hit song “Dreams” was re-entering the Billboard charts, the iconic singer and songwriter Stevie Nicks and Primary Wave Music were finalizing their partnership that will see Stevie join their family of legendary and iconic songwriters. This partnership continues to prove that Primary Wave is truly a home to the legends in music, furthering a year of incredible acquisitions and partnerships. Named one of the 100 Greatest Songwriters of all Time by Rolling Stone, Stevie Nicks is the only woman to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice – the first time in 1998 as a member of Fleetwood Mac and then again in 2019 as a solo artist. Over the course of her unprecedented career, she has received eight Grammy Award nominations and two American Music Award nominations as a solo artist, as well as another five Grammy nominations and a win for Album of the Year as a member of Fleetwood Mac.

Primary Wave’s partnership with Nicks will see the dynamic publisher acquire a majority stake in her publishing copyrights, as well as representing the Grammy winner in brand alliance and brand marketing opportunities and will partner with Kobalt on administration for the catalog. The deal includes many of her timeless hits as frontwoman for Fleetwood Mac including the platinum hit “Landslide,” the Grammy-nominated “Edge of Seventeen” and “Stand Back,” as well as “Dreams,” which recently saw a resurgence thanks to a viral Tik Tok video posted this October. The song, which was the second single off Fleetwood Mac’s critically acclaimed, 1977 album Rumours, recently went Top 10 on Billboard’s streaming chart, saw another 16 million streams bringing it to over a half-billion plays on Spotify alone, and gave Stevie the #1 spot on Billboard’s Hot 100 Songwriters chart thanks to her writing credit on the classic hit.

Additional terms of the deal include a strategic publishing alliance with the singer that will allow her to sign new songwriters to a joint venture. Stevie will also now have access to Primary Wave’s entire marketing, branding, Broadway, Film/TV, and digital strategy teams, as well as their licensing and synch departments.

Of this new partnership, CEO & Founder of Primary Wave Music Publishing, Larry Mestel said, “To say we’re excited to welcome the incredible Stevie Nicks to the Primary Wave family would be a dramatic understatement. If Primary Wave were starting our company today, Stevie Nicks would be one of the shining pillars, a true legend among legends.” He goes on, “She is a groundbreaking artist, and the longevity of her iconic career comes from writing songs, instantly recognizable and critically acclaimed, that stand the test of time.”

Sheryl Louis, Stevie’s long-time manager, and Jamie Young, her attorney, negotiated the deal on behalf of Stevie Nicks.

Legendary singer, songwriter and storyteller Stevie Nicks is one of rock and roll’s most successful, inimitable, and groundbreaking artists. As a multi-platinum, Grammy Award-winning solo artist and member of Fleetwood Mac, she is the only woman to have been inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame twice and has collectively sold more than 140 million albums. Having captivated audiences for decades with her iconic live performances, distinctive songwriting, and constant cultural influence, Nicks continues to be an inspiration and mentor to younger performers. A member of Fleetwood Mac since 1974, the band’s enduring spirit stands for an incredible body of music – including Rumours, one of the best-selling albums of all time – that has connected with generations of people all over the world for more than 50 years. In October 2020, Stevie Nicks 24 Karat Gold The Concert was released at select cinemas, drive-ins and exhibition spaces around the world for two nights only. The sold-out film offered audiences a virtual front-row seat to the magic Nicks brought on her sold-out 24 Karat Gold Tour. Nicks also recently released her first new music in six years with the song “Show Them The Way” which also featured a stunning Cameron Crowe directed video. The song originally began as a poem and a track she calls “a prayer for people to unite; a prayer for people to get together.”

 

Thursday, December 03, 2020

STEVIE NICKS THE 24 KARAT GOLD TOUR 2-CD/DVD + BLU-RAY AVAILABLE JAN 15, 2021


Stevie Nicks The 24 Karat Gold Concert will finally hit stores on January 15th!

The DVD is packaged along with the 2-CD's that were previously made available either through Target in the US or Amazon everywhere else. Pre-orders are available on Amazon

CD 1:
1. Gold And Braid
2. If Anyone Falls
3. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
4. Belle Fleur
5. Gypsy
6. Wild Heart / Bella Donna
7. Enchanted
8. New Orleans
9. Starshine
10. Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)

CD 2:
1. Stand Back
2. Crying In The Night
3. If You Were My Love
4. Gold Dust Woman
5. Edge Of Seventeen
6. Rhiannon
7. Landslide

DVD:
1. Gold And Braid
2. If Anyone Falls
3. Stop Draggin' My Heart Around
4. Belle Fleur
5. Gypsy
6. Wild Heart / Bella Donna
7. Enchanted
8. New Orleans
9. Starshine
10. Moonlight (A Vampire's Dream)
11. Stand Back
12. Crying In The Night
13. If You Were My Love
14. Gold Dust Woman
15. Edge Of Seventeen
16. Rhiannon
17. Landslide


The Blu-ray of the concert will also be released on January 15, 2021. Available now for pre-order at Amazon.

PBS AIRING THE CONCERT

PBS is airing the concert through out the month of December. Check your local listings. They are also offering DVD/CD, 2-LP Gold Vinyl and 11x17 Lithograph Donation Packages. Either individual or as a collection of all three (CD\DVD + Vinyl + 11x17 Lithograph). 

The Lithograph is a PBS Exclusive - a high quality 11x17 lithograph of the 24 Karat Gold Tour theatrical artwork, with gold embossing on the text and a “Superfine white egg-shell” finish, sequentially numbered with gold-foil stamping.






Saturday, November 28, 2020

Stevie Nicks Nicks has been embracing some of the busiest years of her dual careers

Stevie Nicks Answers All Our Questions About Harry Styles

BY KEATON BELL
VOGUE

Of all the disciples to worship at the altar of Stevie Nicks, none have managed to capture the attention of rock’s reigning priestess quite like Harry Styles. 

The 26-year-old rocker (who this week received three Grammy nominations) is the Gucci-clad poster boy carrying the torch for a bygone era of music history that the Fleetwood Mac frontwoman helped crystallize. Styles recently cited the group’s 1977 (and still charting) classic “Dreams” as one of the first songs he learned the words to growing up. Their friendship began in 2015 after the former One Direction member presented his idol with a hand-piped birthday cake after a Fleetwood Mac gig in London. (“Glad she liked carrot cake,” he later said.) The years since have seen the duo’s mutual affection blossom into one of pop culture’s most cherished bondings. 

Last year, when Styles inducted Nicks into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, he proclaimed the 72-year-old “everything you’ve ever wanted in a lady, a lover, in a friend.” Nicks has gushed about him in interviews as everything from “the son she never had” to her “love child” with bandmate Mick Fleetwood. Styles earned her official seal of approval after covering “The Chain” every night of his first solo tour in support of a record that sounds closer to Crosby, Stills & Nash than anything he released under his prior band. 

“Harry could’ve lost a lot of fans, but he didn’t,” Nicks recently told Vogue over the phone. “I’m so proud of him because he took a risk and didn’t go the One Direction route. He loves One Direction, I love One Direction, and a gazillion other people do too, but Harry didn’t wanna go the pop route. He wanted straight-up rock and roll circa 1975.”  

Nicks has been embracing some of the busiest years of her dual careers as both Fleetwood Mac frontwoman and solo sorceress—and doing so amid a global pandemic. Since she last performed with Styles at the Forum for his Fine Line release show in December, she’s released a 24 Karat Gold concert film and “Show Them the Way,” her politically minded single and first piece of original music in six years. After Miley Cyrus asked for Nicks’s blessing before releasing her “Edge of Seventeen”–tinged “Midnight Sky,” the two joined forces for an exhilarating new mash-up titled “Edge of Midnight.”

In honor of Styles making history as the magazine’s first solo cover boy, Nicks caught up with Vogue to answer all our questions about their cosmic connection. Currently beachside with her quarantine bubble in Hawaii, she’s been doing what one would expect Stevie Nicks to be up to during a pandemic: writing new music, dancing around her house to “Watermelon Sugar,” and “casting little spells.” As befitting rock’s foremost storyteller, our intended 30-minute chat turned into a two-hour confessional about her love of Styles, working with Cyrus for the first time, joining Fleetwood Mac, the president-elect Joe Biden, the Met Gala, betta fish funerals, and much more. 

Your assistant just texted me a photo of the most gorgeous sunset I’ve ever seen. Where are you calling from? 

We just got to Maui. It’s turning winter in Los Angeles, and I live close to the beach, where it’s colder than anywhere else in Southern California. Me and my quarantine buddies had a little break where we thought we could come over safely, so we did. 

Did you bring your dogs along?

Yes. We have three—two Chinese cresteds and one Yorkshire—and they’re thrilled. I think this pandemic affected them too because they’re travelers. It’s just a two-week trip, but we brought enough stuff to last us a year. I don’t really come out of my room much since I don’t go to bed until seven in the morning and typically sleep until three—and that’s whether I’m in L.A. or London. Wherever I go, I still end up having breakfast at five in the afternoon. 

Last time we spoke you talked about the inspiration behind writing “Show Them the Way” around the time of the 2008 election and waiting all these years release it until you felt the moment was right. How does it feel now to finally have it out in the world? 

Saturday, November 14, 2020

Q&A Anything Stevie Nicks says carries a massive amount of weight.

Q&A: Stevie Nicks On How Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Jackson Browne And CSN Shaped Her Sound

By Steve Baltin - Forbes

Anything Stevie Nicks says carries a massive amount of weight. She is a two-time member of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame, solo and with Fleetwood Mac, and one of the most beloved icons in music today.

So when she talks about her influences, those artists that shaped her sound, it is a fascinating read. And one of the main influences in the quartet that she says, " I just put in the big witches' pot and stirred it up and made it into one thing," to make her sound, happens to be fellow multiple member of the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame (solo and with Buffalo Springfield), Neil Young, who turns 75 today.

So in honor of Young's seventy-fifth birthday, here is part three of my incredible 90-minute conversation with Nicks, where she talks about her quartet of influences, Bob Dylan and much more. If you want to know where Stevie Nicks' sound comes from, she tells you here. And not surprisingly it is some of the greats of music, like Crosby, Stills And Nash, who she talks about wanting to cover. How cool would that be?

Steve Baltin: I love the way that you refer to "Show Them The Way" as a prayer and saving the world. What are some protest songs for you, that give you the feeling of being able to save the world and also what are some songs that are like a prayer for you, that have a similar sort of ethos to show them the way?

Stevie Nicks: That’s a hard question. When I think of actual protest songs, the song that runs through my head is Bob Dylan’s "Tangled Up in Blue," “There was music in the cafes and revolution in the air." I was just losing my head the first time I heard "Tangled Up in Blue." Which was a long time ago, before there was ever a political bone in my body .But I understood that he was very political and that just everything he wrote was touched with some politics. And the idea that there was music in the cafes and revolution in the air, and that’s what music does to people. They may be out there protesting in the streets, but if there wasn’t a pandemic they’d still be going into restaurants and into bars and into clubs and discuss it in those places and play music and they’d be discussing it while music was playing. So I think that it’s what Bob Dylan meant by that statement. I just always think of that.

Baltin: Blood On The Tracks is such a personal album that is intertwined with political. When you look at other songs that you’ve written, are there other songs of yours that you feel you were… touched by God, as if you were a conduit for it?

Nicks: Well I think I was definitely a conduit for this. I don’t know if I’ve ever written a political song actually. I did write a song, "Desert Angel,' for Desert Storm, and that was a long time ago. I was in Phoenix when that happened. I must have been pretty bummed out about it because I wrote that song. And I wrote "Illume" for 9/11and I’ve never been able to do "Illume" on stage, still, after all this time, because it’s too close. I don’t know if I could do it. And "Desert Angel," that I never did. Those are my three political songs, "Illume," "Desert Angel", and this one.

Baltin: Most writers agree songs change for them over time. Look at a song like "Landslide," written in 1975, it probably feels like an entirely different life?

Nicks: Yeah, they do change for sure. It’s interesting that you bring up Jackson [Browne’s] song "These Days" because the line in that that I remember is the one, “Don't confront me with my failures / I have not forgotten them.” That line, because we all feel that way. You don’t have to bring up my failures to me because I know exactly what they were. That’s a pretty heavy statement. It’s like "Music in the cafes and revolution in the air," sometimes just a sentence out of somebody’s song will mean a million things to you, who didn’t write it. Just to the person that’s listening to it. And sometimes us as writers are the last people to really understand.

Baltin: What have you been listening to during this time?

Nicks: I love Neil Young . I've been listening to a lot of Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young and Joni Mitchell and just that whole era of people. Buffalo Springfield in the last seven, eight months. I've been listening to a lot of their music on my Sonos and it makes me happy. And I've decided that Neil Young was actually a lot more...he wrote a lot of very loving love ballads. He was not only the huge rock and roll crazy guy that I always thought. There are so many ballads I've gone, "Wow, you know what? You're just a big pussycat. I can't believe it." No wonder they chose him to come into Crosby, Stills And Nash. They wanted somebody like the Eagles wanted Joe Walsh, they wanted somebody that would have that heavy hand. But then when you listen to something like "Slowpoke" or some of these amazing songs, I've been blown away over the last couple of months listening to his ballads going like, "This guy, really seriously, in a way, wanted to be in love."

Baltin: That is fascinating. But it's interesting because I noticed that transition musically from angry young men in Dylan and Petty to much more sentimental and forgiving. But I also think guys just mellow as they get older.

Nicks: Yeah, I do too. And I'm glad that most of them got their hard rock parts out and then also got some of the beautiful love things out at the same time so that it wasn't like they were tacking on the other side at the end of their career. So they were actually written around the same time because I've been listening to Crosby, Stills, Nash And Young and some of those songs, some of those records, are really sweet from Neil Young and I just never knew that.

Baltin: Is there one song off that record that speaks to you the most?

Nicks: Well, that whole record. I spent my whole summer after my senior year listening to nothing but that record for three solid months. Every single song from "Helplessly Hoping" to a bunch of songs I would really like to record and talk about protest songs, "For What It's Worth" and "Ohio," they wrote some really amazing protest songs. You're like, "Wow, those things could have been written today too."

Baltin: Great protest songs are timeless because the best protest writers are also the best storytellers often, Look at Jackson Browne, who is one of my favorite lyricists of all time.

Nicks: "That Girl Could Sing," one of my favorite songs because I always wanted to think that, even though I didn't know Jackson Browne at that point, that he wrote that about me because, "Oh, I'm such a cool presence." And when you take, "She was a friend to me when I needed one," and you remember those sentences and even the melody of those sentences. When I tell people my greatest influences I say Joni Mitchell for phrasing, she could fit 50 words in a sentence and have them sound glorious without being rushed or crushed in, so I really learned a lot from her about phrasing. From Jackson I learned about writing love songs. From Crosby, Stills And Nash it was the three-part harmony I wanted Lori [Nicks], Sharon [Celani] and me to become like to make my first solo album, which we are doing even on this record, even on this song. There's one line where we do a three-part, "It was just another night in the presence of Martin Luther King," we did that in a three-part. And every time it goes by I go, "That was it, that was what I told Jimmy Iovine when I told him I wanted to produce the record." I told him, "I have two girl singers and they sing amazing. And together we have created a sound. It's like a Crosby, Stills And Nash sound and that's what we want. I don't always want my voice to be louder than theirs." And he said, "Okay, that's what we'll do." That's another thing. I'm so proud of this song, I'm so proud of the singing in this song. It maybe a political song, it maybe a protest song, it may just be a really good song. But what it also is, it's a really well-sung song. And I'm so proud of the girls because we didn't have much time and we pulled off some of the best vocals we have ever done since 1980 when we started Bella Donna.

Baltin: How do you hear all of those influences in your music?

Nicks: When I was coming out of high school to my second year of junior college that was when those four influences really started to take over my life, to the point I'd get in an elevator with Lindsey [Buckingham] and I would be singing Joni Mitchell's "Same Situation:" and he'd look at me and go, "Don't you know anything else?" And I'd look at him and go, "No, I don't. That's all I know right now is that song. I'm just gonna continue to sing it, so thank you" (laughs). That was how completely attached I would get to each one of the songs on all those records. I would just pick one and stick with it for two weeks. That's how I learned. I put them all together, all those people, I blended them into one voice. I took what I thought was the greatest thing about the way Joni phrased and about how Jackson picked out incredibly romantic things to say and about how Crosby, Stills And Nash had the three-part harmony that made me think I should be on the Southern Cross sailboat that was going across the ocean singing at the top of your lungs and that Neil Young was actually a sweet, loving guy that just wanted to be in love besides being a rock star. And all of that I just put in the big witches' pot and stirred it up and made it into one thing. And that was my inspiration for everything I ever did.