Fleetwood Mac’s Mirage

I particularly like the cover art.

Straight Back is my favorite followed by the "Extended Cut" of Gypsy (found later on those special editions)

Gypsy is timeless- it fits no genre really. As time has gone on, you would think it came from a soundtrack on a film. Which isn't surprising since it had that wonderful video.

Stevie's voice was TRULY AT ITS ZENITH ON THIS album. 1981-83 Stevie is like no other. That deep, deep, vibrato..

I like Eyes of The World as well...

It was supposed to be Rumors 2 and is almost viewed as very SAFE. However, when you listen to it, it is quite modern for its time/timeless...

And I think Smile At You was supposed to be on this album? Those great hard rocking rehearsal versions are out there...

And I love that live show filmed in California, Stevie was just so IT.

I despise her now after the Lindsey stuff.

And by the way, Gypsy SUCKS BALLS LIVE. It always has. Should NOT be sung live. It loses every charm live. Its unlistenable.

Yeah the cover art was great. Lindsey was at his hottest during this period. Decent album, but obviously didn’t have the magic of Rumours. I think the drama of the break ups surrounding the Rumours album really fueled that dynamic to classic songs. Stevie was in classic mode and voice on this album. Hold Me is my favorite on this album. But Gypsy a close second.

IMO - Stevie’s best vocal performance (after “Whenever I Call You Friend”) was this version of “If You Were My Love”. I’m not sure why it wasn’t included on the album though it might have been due its length. And back then Stevie was still only getting 3 songs per album even though she had proven herself a fan favorite.

R3- Stevie at this point, was at her VOCAL PEAK. (See that Solid Gold Stand Back performance. SNL) Her peak.

I am going to listen now!

Still hate that she became a bitter cunt. And I was not even a huge Lindsey fan!

Very underrated album. Love In Store, Can't Go Back, Eyes of The World and Empire State were great songs in addition to the ones that were singles.

I was a freshman in college when this came out, and played it to death. Was no Rumours of course, but nothing ever could be. I like every song on this album, but I can see why many thought Lindsey's songs were too "out there".

Eyes of The World was awesome!

I liked the retro/modern vibe of Oh Diane and Book of Love. Lindsey was a hot piece of ass and they all were at their coked-out best on tour that year. Stevie's vocals were never better than in this era, and Straight Back is a perfect example:

I love Gypsy. A simple, catchy, atmospheric melody by Stevie, taken into the stratosphere by Lindsey's genius touches. I love the exotic guitar riffs he plays over the verses. I also love his guitar solo at the end. It sparkles. He plays a lot of notes really fast here, and this solo might be influenced by the speedy hard rock / metal guitarists who were popular in the years prior (Randy Rhoads, Eddie Van Halen). Lindsey's solo is technical impressive, and it actually fits and enhances the song.

I also love "Hold Me", and I don't know why it wasn't a bigger hit. The piano riff that Christine's plays in the intro and solo is beautiful, sad yet somehow upbeat at the same time. I wish those parts were longer. Because it's a Christine/LIndsey duet, I can't help compare it to "Don't Stop". As usual, Lindsey's guitar solo is perfect.

Loved Hold Me! This is when I remembered, wow, Lindsay, cleans up well.

I was living in San Francisco. Before I withered on the vine. I had a really close work friend named Jeannie and I reckon just about every night we'd stop by Toal's Irish pub near the Civic Center. We'd sit in the back. "Hold Me" was the new single and played it every night. The part where the song stops momentarily and the drums start up is imprinted on my brain (those two cells work very hard for me and I do reward them frequently and often).

I've developed a recent schwarm for "That's All Right." Its meaning was pointed out to me by a friend in 1993 and just a year ago I began listening to it often. It really is a sad song, but the country flavour sort of saps out the bitter pathos.

Lindsey was so good on this album, too. He learned to curb his out there music impulses like playing drums on a Kleenex box with a Tiffany fork (I made that up, but he *was* on the spectrum during the recording of "Tusk"). His vocals were so impassioned yet controlled.

If you forward to 22:30 at the audio link below, Stevie kicks the living shite out of "Rhiannon." It's scary. The link is the whole show they played in Memphis in October 1982 on tour supporting "Mirage." From the soundboard.

[quote] I also love "Hold Me", and I don't know why it wasn't a bigger hit.

Sweetheart, it went to #4. It couldn't have been a whole lot bigger.

[quote] I've developed a recent schwarm for "That's All Right." Its meaning was pointed out to me by a friend in 1993

What is it about?

I'm listening to it now. I bought the 2016 CD remaster on Rhino. I hadn't heard it in years. Somehow, Tusk became my favorite FM album over the years. My favorite of all of their albums is Lindsey's Go Insane.

Well, [R13], it's odd what you remember so clearly from a conversation that took place 27 years ago, but I do. Ross told me it was about one partner separating from a relationship and that there was no bitterness, that from the point of view of the writer, it was time to part and it felt exactly right.

And when I hear Stevie sing it now, I hear that in her tone. That she can't define love, but that's all right. And slight little digs at the other partner, like, "You never did believe in time/you're not changing anybody's mind." This song has sat in the back of my mind for years before I began playing it a lot, so these are my own interpretations.

The thing about Stevie's songs is you don' need the Times of London crossword cheater book to understand her lyrics.

I always liked Christine McVie and wonder how she put up with Stevie

[R16], you know it was Christine's yay or nay that decided Stevie's invitation to join the band? Lindsey & Stevie and the band went out for dinner after Mick Fleetwood met with Lindsey about joining. So, the dinner, unbeknownst to Stevie, was sort of a final interview/evaluation. Christine like her, and the rest is drug soaked rock and roll disaster drama.

Also, Christine's English. And the English tend to get on with others. They'll rip you to shreds the instant your back is turned, but they'll get on with you if it's necessary. Also, Christine and Stevie got to be close when "Rumours" was initially being recorded. The guys rented a house and Christine and Stevie rented a two bedroom apartment, or something like that.

I know far more about The Rolling Stones minor details than I do FM.

Good for Christine for being a bigger person than I would probably be about Stevie

Hold Me music video producer Simon Fields said the shoot was a nightmare. Most scenes only have one or two band members in the shot. All 5 are never seen together.

"It was so hot, and we weren't getting along," recalls Stevie Nicks. Lindsey Buckingham was still not over their breakup six years earlier, nor her subsequent affair with Mick Fleetwood. Further, she elaborates, the rest of the band was angry with Fleetwood because he had then begun an affair with Nicks's best friend, who left her husband as a result, causing serious issues for Nicks.

"Four of them, I can't recall which four, couldn't be together in the same room for very long. They didn't want to be there," says director Steve Barron. "Christine McVie was about ten hours out of the makeup trailer. By which time it was getting dark." According to Fields, "John McVie was drunk and tried to punch me. Stevie Nicks didn't want to walk on the sand with her platforms. Christine McVie was fed up with all of them. Mick thought she was being a bitch, he wouldn't talk to her.

Even 10 hours in the makeup chair could not make Christine McVie attractive.

The epitome of "caneface".. Christine, whether you were in make up for 10 minutes or 10 hours, its not gonna make one bit of difference.

I despise her as much as Stevie at this point after her betraying Lindsey...

Pretty gross group of individuals when you look at it. And I know Lindsey is no prize either.

everything on the album is fine, except for Stevie Nicks

Mick is by far the sleaziest member of the group. He tried to cheat his own band members out of money. In his biography, he talked about how a fan wrote him love letters and sent photos of herself. She portrayed herself as a fashion model. He was going to leave his wife for this fan. Then it turned out that the woman was using someone else's pictures, and she was really...gasp...overweight. He was disgusted about how she could do something so despicable...even though he was ready to dump his wife for a younger, prettier woman who didn't exist.

R22- Agreed- By far.

1) Mick

2) Stevie (These 2 after their spat in the early 90's are as thick as thieves)

3)Lindsey

4)Christine- Records that album with Lindsey, tours with him, and drops him during Stevie's Ego Explosion. Fucking pathetic. Her voice is SHOT anyway, and her keyboarding is from the 1800's.

5)John- I know nothing about him as he never reveals anything, however, other than being an alcoholic, I have never heard a bad word.

“Hold Me” made it to number 4 which is considered a “big hit” song. But that was in the US.

In the United Kingdom, "Hold Me" was released in July 1982, but failed to chart. It was eventually re-issued in February 1989 to promote the group's Greatest Hits (1988) package. It only reached #94.

Fantastic album cover

Lindsey was so sexy and so talented yet so crazy—the deadliest of combinations

This was my first FM album. "Gypsy" is still pure magic -- so haunting and melancholy. Decades later Stevie said it was written about her early days in San Francisco and as a tribute to a friend she'd lost. Even the video seems beyond its time.

I also loved "Only Over You", "Hold Me", "Book of Love" and "That's Alright". I don't listen to 'Mirage' much these days because it is not upbeat and those teenage years were tough for me.

I bought all the Fleetwood Mac box sets that were issued in the past five years or so and they are all fantastic.

I was able to get Mirage at HMV by redeeming my Pure Points. Mirage, in particular, looks gorgeous in its deluxe LP style packaging.

All those box sets are worth getting. Lots of demos and alternate takes.

A long time ago, my brother gifted me "The Chain" box set, and the song gypsy was a special version that featured a longer bridge. The bridge was a bit sadder in tone., and included the line "I can't find you" in place of "I still see your bright eyes".

Lindsey had a nice ass in the r10 “Hold Me” music video!

R28- That's the extended version that I love. The ending is really great- And Stevie does this great "And it all comes down to you" in a different octave. Its really good.

I loved "Hold Me."

I have memories of being at the local swimming pool and that song playing on the PA system - that summer was when I first started noticing men. So it has a warm spot in my memories.

Mirage was no. 1 album for 5 weeks.

The early version of Hold Me had Stevie prominent in backing vocals with Christine, and it rocked. The album version was a bit too sweet - and Lindsay's vocals were heard way over Stevie.

Gypsy was the 1st video released - before Hold Me's video on MTV - so FM did it a little strangely.

I never get tired of hearing Lindsey's version of Book of Love.

[quote]John- I know nothing about him as he never reveals anything

He’s a registered Republican. The only band member who is.

[quote] The early version of Hold Me had Stevie prominent in backing vocals with Christine, and it rocked.

Is this version available on YouTube?

There’s a version of “Oh Daddy” which also features Stevie prominently on backing vocals that i much prefer to the album version.

R35 yes it's on YT. Type in Hold Me Early Version. It's over 6 minutes long - probably why it wasn't the single.

R36- I cannot stand Hold Me from Mirage. Now this version? It is VERY good. Like night and day. Thanks for posting.

People forget what a great harmonist Stevie is..

R1 You despise Nicks?

Buckingham is the cunt abuser who treats women he's with like shit.

Read Storms: My Life with Lindsey Buckingham and Fleetwood Mac

FUCK LINDSEY BUCKINGHAM

R38= Carol Ann Harris

Lindsey and I both think Anne Heche is a crazy bitch with a smelly pussy.

R39 No

I'm Christine McVie. I slapped Lindsey backstage after he kicked Nicks on stage. And my ex-husband John threaten to kill him after he tried to strangle her.

Our former band mate has always been butt hurt that her solo career made her more famous than the Mac, and record buyers never gave a shit about his solo work

I always found it interesting that the album covers for Mirage and Tango in the Night actually cross match their titles.

This is the early version of “Oh Daddy” I referenced above. Too bad they didn’t let Christine and Stevie harmonize more often.

No doubting Rumours was their peak. The strain of all the drama took a toll on their work. Loved "Hold Me", though, great song. "Gypsy" is OK, but not Stevie's best song, that would be "Rhiannon."

[quote] Stevie's best song, that would be "Rhiannon."

No, "Dreams" is her best song. She performs "Rhiannon" with more gusto but it is an odd song. I guess all her songs are odd.

Oh, Daddy ruins Rumours for me.

Otherwise it’s a perfect album.

Listening to the Demo to see if Steve elevates it above dreck.

(Listening)

Yeah, Stevie’s harmonies make it tolerable. Not good, but better than the album.

R46, I don't like "Oh, Daddy" either. And I can't figure out why so many people seem to think that "Songbird" is such a great song. I've given it a chance, but the melody doesn't hook me.

I agree that Oh Daddy is the album’s weakest track. They should have gone with Silver Springs.

Did we really need Never Going Back Again?

Yes, r49 - but only 3 minutes of it.

"Never Going Back Again" is beautiful. I think I would like it better if it were an instrumental. Lindsey's lyrics drag it down into bitterness, when it could be a more cheerful song.

[quote] Did we really need Never Going Back Again?

Yes, it is one of his best.

Silver Springs is a great song. I totally understand Stevie being upset it not being included the album proper.

Straight Back is a good song but a little bit too similar to Sisters Of The Moon.

Second Hand News is a brilliant opening.

Listening again. Skipping Oh, Daddy!

Rumours needed I Don't Want To Know - more upbeat than dirges like Goldust Woman, Dreams or Silver Springs.

"Gold Dust Woman" was the second best song on Rumours, after "Go Your Own Way." And the perfect ending.

I know I'm in the minority, but: I HATE Silver Springs. I find the melody boring, and the melody/lyrics are depressing.

I didn't like Dreams as a kid, but I came around to liking it as an adult. The melody is very simple (few chords), but Lindsey and the rhythm section somehow make the song hypnotic. And Lindsey's sparse, airy, dreamlike guitar lines are perfect for the song (as usual). The melody does get interesting when Stevie suddenly goes high ("it's only riiiiiiiiiight"), but in the last couple of decades she's dodged that note for a lower octave. I understand why, but that melody needs big intervals.

R58 - she did it for this fairly recent Deep Dish version but I’m sure she’s terrified from attempting it live.

The Mirage album cover is beautiful but what does it mean? I thought Lyndsay and Stevie hated each other at this point. The sexy embrace doesn't make sense.

Is that lit shape in the center (formed where Lindsey, Christine, and Stevie's hands meet) a coincidence? If not, is it a a "mirage" of a "gypsy" woman's face?

I think Stevie wore the same dress from the Mirage album cover in the “Edge of Seventeen” video.

not the performance scenes, the scene where she is in black walking along the beach. The sleeve of the dress is transparent black silk chiffon with polka dots just like on the album cover.

"Hold Me" spent 7 weeks at #4!

It landed there July 24, below Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger" at #1, Toto's "Rosanna" at #2, and John Cougar's "Hurts So Bad" at #3.

on August 7, "Rosanna" dropped out of the top 5, but Steve Miller's "Abracadabra" jumped over "Hold Me" to #3 while "Hurts So Bad" moved to #2.

then, for the next 4 weeks, the top 5 remained static, with Chicago's "Hard to Say I'm Sorry" in the fifth slot.

finally, on September 4, "Abracadabra" went to #1 as "Eye of the Tiger" inched down to #2, "Hurts So Bad" slid out of the top 5, and the Chicago tune jumped over "Hold Me" to #3; the following week, "Hold Me" dropped to #7 and began its descent.

I never understood it either, R60. What guy would be tempted by Christine when they've got Stevie? And Mick and John were fine with being put on the back?

R59, I'm surprised that recording was released. Stevie hits a bad note @41 seconds (the pick-ip note where she says the word "of") and she rushes the words. Wow. I had to stop.

R66 that's weird. It sounds like she omitted the word "of" when she sang the line, and then an editor pasted in the word from another recording of the song (possibly made during the same session). But there wasn't enough room to paste the full word "of" in that gap, so the editor clipped off the beginning and end of the word. Really, the lyric works just as well without the word "of".

I remember reading an interview with Stevie in which she stated she hated posing for the album cover in that position because her neck was stretched back and it made her feel extremely vulnerable.

Something to do with her being a reincarnation of Anne Boleyn who was beheaded. She was probably high at the time of the interview.

She probably hated it because her assistant couldn't blow cocaine up her asshole for an hour.

R67, yes, there was definitely some cut and pasting going on there.

Gypsy is my all-time favorite Fleetwood Mac song.

I forget the man's name, but he directed the Gypsy video and he said that Stevie Nicks could've been a major film star if she hadn't gone into music instead.

Young people can listen to Rumors and the other older albums and enjoy them but it's even better when they know the whole back story about band and who the songs were about.

[quote]Something to do with her being a reincarnation of Anne Boleyn who was beheaded. She was probably high at the time of the interview.

Stevie is such a fucking nut and I've always loved that about her.

she said that, yes. Then the following year the second ‘Stand Back” video is shot and we see her stretching her neck back in the bending willow part of the song.

Stevie lies and makes shit up, everyone knows that. She’s an awkward interviewee because of it.

What's weird about Lindsey being pissed off about his breakup with Stevie is that he was in a relationship with Carol Ann Harris. I mean, you can afford top dollar therapists, get over it. Times change, people (really should) move on.

Here's what I don't get. Lindsey is considered a GENIUS producer, but he seems extremely SELFISH in the job.

On Fleetwood Mac 1975 - he sings Crystal even though Stevie wrote it. And her vocal years later on the Practical Magic soundtrack is much better. Just thank what Stevie's 1975 voice would have been like. Stevie only gets two songs to Buckingham's five. But they were Landslide and Rhiannon which both have huge impact on the Mac's legacy - his not so much.

Rumours - we all know the shafting Silver Springs got. Christine's Oh Daddy has a much better version than was used on the album. Stevie gets three songs, one of which she has to share vocals with Buckingham even though she wrote it. Christine wrote Don't Stop, but he gets lead vocal. Buckingham has 5 lead vocals on the album.

Tusk - I've listened to it through the years on vinyl, cassette, CD, and now digital (yes I'm old) and ALL of Buckingham's tracks are louder than Christine or Stevie's. If you want their songs at a good rockin' level, you have to turn it down when one of Lindsey's 'I RECORDED THIS IN THE BATHROOM ON SPECIAL TILES WHILE SINGING FACE DOWN ON ALL FOURS' shite comes on (see video below). And once again some of the unused Christine and Stevie versions are superior to what he chose (especially Sisters of the Moon). And of course he gets NINE songs compared to McVie's six (and she has to share vocals with him on one, even though all of his songs are JUST HIM) and Stevie gets the least of course with 5.

Mirage - We now know Smile at You and If You Were My Love, both great songs and fantastic versions by Stevie, were left out even though she only gets three songs on the album. And then the HOLD ON album version has him singing co-lead with Christine even though she wrote it, and the outtake with just Christine singing lead and Stevie doing background is far superior. He gets SEVEN songs (counting the hidden track Cool Water) on the album - but know room for Smile or My Love which are better than some of his songs?

In the video below (at 8:03) he talks about how he is more important as a producer for Fleetwood Mac than he is even as a singer songwriter.

Really, asshole? Then why do you constantly hog the albums with you inferior songs? It must eat him up that Christine and Stevie outshine him.

What a prissy little bitch he is all through this video below.

An excited Stevie brought the band finished copies of Bella Donna (her first solo album) to the studio and Lindsey famously left it on the floor. He wouldn’t deign to bring it home. It was devastating to her that her band mate (and former partner) would reject her solo work so obnoxiously. She didn’t do anything wrong by branching out as her allegiance to Fleetwood Mac never wavered and she needed an outlet beyond the band since she was so prolific. Lindsey was such a bully to Stevie and really tortured her for the better part of 25 years. Her ousting him and having such massive late in life success is the ultimate in karmic retribution.

^Yes

It must crush his soul that Stevie's solo albums made her a SUPERSTAR (which he had nothing to do with) and audiences didn't give a SHIT about his 'precious' solo work.

And for those above in the thread who hate the other members for kicking him out (following Stevie's lead) REMEMBER HE QUIT the band in '87 right before the Tango tour trying to shaft them all.

FUCK HIM

I love his solo work, r78. I've never bought one of her albums.

Well if we can find 5 others who like his solo albums, you can get eggroll.

(I'm sure his solo work has fans, but C'MON his solo work did about as well as Christine's)

Bland as fuck. This album is muzak. A couple of the tracks are ok, the rest are just forgettable.

You're asking me to C'MON, r80, but I simply don't give a fuck about what you give a fuck about.

And still no eggroll

R82 You mean like how simply no one gives a fuck about his solo work that YOU give a fuck about?

Goodbye, r84.

R85 Don't let the door hit ya, where the good lord split ya

R79 Yes Lindsey, we know you never bought a Stevie Nicks album. Jealous?

Does Kristen know your surfing the internet in your bathrobe at this hour?

Don't forget to clear your browser of all the fetish rape porn. You wouldn't want lil' Leelee, Willie, and Stella to see what turns daddy on.

Given that People magazine gave Stevie 'the lion's share of the credit' for Rumours naming her one of its persons of the year in 1977 - you have to figure Buckingham and C. McVie had to resent her. I never heard where Stevie EVER gave herself that much credit, but she certainly could have pulled rank to demand better treatment in the way of having an equal number of songs on future albums. Supposedly she tried to buy her way out of the band after Mirage was finished and THEN the band balked. Their next studio album Tango was five years later, and Stevie was in no shape to present any coherent songs. She wrote one line of Seven Wonders (the majority written by Sandy Stewart) and Welcome to the Room Sara and When I See You Again were pretty bad. Then it started falling apart - Buckingham refused to tour for an already scheduled Tango tour. Stevie got enthusiastic again and performed well every night on that tour - because she was sober. She also looked great during that period. Check out Stevie and Christine presenting at the 87 MTV Music Awards. I'm just saying she could have been the biggest bitch and held the whole thing hostage to her whims. She didn't - back then. What happened in 2017 - obviously she'd finally had it with Buckingham's shit. She wanted no part of recording a new FM album and we got the forgettable Buckingham/McVie duet album.

"I forget the man's name, but he directed the Gypsy video and he said that Stevie Nicks could've been a major film star if she hadn't gone into music instead."

Stevie is certainly the most "actressy" of the 70s pop stars and probably even the 80s, too.

"Times change, people (really should) move on."

Do you really think that all of the lingering relationship drama that we read about in interviews is real? The only certainty is that the audience LOVES the drama and wants more of it and wants it to never end. Lindsey and Stevie aren't idiots, they know how to give the audience what it wants year after year after year.

I do not like Lindsey, as you can tell by some of my posts above, BUT I loved Tango in the Night and was shocked that his songs were my favorites. Although I did like all three of Stevie's songs (although they did not compare to her work on the other Mac albums).

So I was SO PISSED that he bailed (like a prissy little bitch) on the tour. I was looking forward to hearing him do Big Love and especially Tango in the Night and You and I Part II.

But then I saw the tour in Houston and was blown away by the show and new members Rick Vito and Billy Burnette.

Guess the joke was on Lindsey. I really think HE thought that the Mac would wait and not tour just because of him.

Instead they were like BYE and hired new members and did an EXCELLENT tour.

In retrospect 1977 was a fucking great year in all respects. It was in fact probably the last year before the capitalist fascisti started their comeback; also a year of great hedonism. And Rumours was the soundtrack. I love the entire album to bits.

I was 13 in 1977. My two favorite albums were Rumours and this:

Yes, 1977 was a great year

Right before the 1987 acrimonious split.

Like minutes before....

Bradley Cooper could play Lindsey Buckingham in a Fleetwood Mac movie.

Is there a studio version of “Fireflies”? One of my favorite FM songs from Stevie.

Stevie Nicks got FAT and SLUGGISH and made the WORST album of her career (and worst tour!) with 1989’s HORRID “The Other Side of The Mirror”, she looked ugly, the music was ugly, and it would take her a long long long long long time to dig herself out of that cesspool. She stopped being The Queen of Rock, from that point on.

R97 Sure Lindsey

TOSOTM is fantastic as was the tour.

R98, I am the new Stevie Hater since the shit went down with Lindsey. (She could do no wrong for me until 2015 or so.

However, I quite love The Other Side Of The Mirror.

It has some really good songs. (I particularly love Doing The Best That I Can and Alice-

+++However+++++++Stevie SANG LIKE A DEAD-ZOMBIE-GOAT DURING THAT TOUR.

In fact, that 1987-1992 era for Stevie, was her nadir. She sang in 1 octave and was a fucking zombie... She sounded horrible on the Tango, OSOTM, Behind The Mask, and Timespace Tours...

Somehow in 1994 she really started to come back to life after Klonopin and by 1997 she began a whole new life. I loved the Enchanted Tour especially, it was a great night!!!

That being said, I am done with the entire band now. Back to Mirage!!

I love her cover of I Still Miss Someone from OSOTM

The most accomplished musician in Fleetwood Mac was Lindsey Buckingham. HE was one that got noticed by Mick Fleetwood. He heard his guitar work and liked it, so he asked him to join the band. He said "not without my girlfriend." He and Stevie were a package deal. So that's how she got into Fleetwood Mac; by sleeping with Lindsey Buckingham. Not to mention the fact that he would transpose and arrange her songs to make them sound better. She owes her entire career to him. As far as him being an awful person...well, neither he, Nicks, nor Fleetwood were exemplary human beings. They're ALL rock star assholes.

Oh no, please don't start another round of the Stevie vs. Lindsey war on Datalounge.

In some regard, I agree with you, R101. I don't like ANY of her solo stuff except for "Leather and Lace" and "Edge of 17". (I even dislike "Stand Back" and "Stop Dragging My Heart Around".)

I love Stevie's songs. She writes good, simple melodies, but no one has made her songs shine like Lindsey did. Rhiannon would be boring without Lindsey's heavy-metal like guitar riff and bluesy fills. Gypsy would be boring without Lindsey's weird dreamlike guitar riffs and sparkling solo at the end. Landslide and Sara would be boring without Lindsey's understand but elegant acoustic playing and the dramatic chords he chose to support the melody. Dreams would be boring without Lindsey's idea to create a loop and add ethereal guitar bits.

Same with Christine. My favorite solo song of hers is "Got a Hold on Me". Turns out Lindsey was a guest guitarist on that track. (Was he also a producer?)

The same could probably be said for any musician who worked with Lindsey. I don't know why more artists weren't banging his door down trying to work with him.

Stevie's solo music died after The Wild Heart. Nothing she did past that is worth listening to, but that's okay because her first two solo albums are fantastic, and she brought some good stuff to FM after that.

"Rooms On Fire" was a great song. Not everything from The Other Side Of the Mirror" sucked.

Rooms on Fire was allegedly a top 10 hit in 1989. I was 19 in 1989, listened to the radio a lot as my first job was an hour drive each way, and I swear I never heard it played. I honestly didn't know the song existed until a few years ago!

I remember Rooms On Fire on the radio.

R106, it peaked at #16.

Rock a Little and OSOTM were noisy and brash sounding albums typical of the late 80s. They haven't aged as well as Bella Donna and Mirage, which endure probably because they are more subdued, earthier and acoustic-based.

I remember Rooms On Fire on the radio too.

16 is a dream most artists never even come close to achieving. It's still a very good chart showing, I think.

My favorite track from OSOTM.

I guess I must have been the only one to miss the boat on Fleetwood Mac. The only song of theirs I ever liked was Tusk. I hated Stevie Nicks with a passion, and I still do. Have always thought of this band as a group of drug addicted assholes who hated each other that came together once in a while to create drama to sell their lackluster music. Just my opinion (I know, I can take my opinion and shove it lol)

R113 = Peter Green

R113 = Don Henley

So many of those 70s rock guys would be #metooed into oblivion today. Henley, Buckingham, Robert Plant, so many others.

R112- I like that one too.

Hell, half of that album I really liked.

It wasn't bad, and was somehow extremely cohesive in its sound/tone...

But my god she was a zombie on that tour. Somehow there was some bootleg from Austin TX- it was from a radio show that had the entire show live. They made her sound decent on that one.

[R117], you can thank her starfucking therapist who prescribed Klonopin and kept increasing the dosage. She was thwacked out of her skull whilst she was on it. I know, I've abused benzos. I never abused Klonopin, but the withdrawal, even though it was mild, is nothing I ever wish to experience again.

(If you click on the link you can ignore the prompt about your browser, if that pops up in your browser.)

R118- I know, Sorry, Every time I trash that 5 year period, I should mention the Klonopin.

If you look into her eyes during some of those live shows, her eyes are DEAD. She barely danced. Truly disturbing.

I am always so surprised when people like that era, live shows wise... It is beyond sad.

And shit, that is right- it was 1987 (possibly 86) to 1993/94-

Not 5 years.

And you can see and hear it on Tango In the Night. Its a lifeless droning.

Was this a Klonopin performance?

dead eyes, and lifeless voice. That's it!

And this is Stevie at her best then, because the concert was proshot (like Red Rocks)

And the show was clearly augmented vocally. Just like Red Rocks, which was completely re-recorded.

Stevie never takes the blame for anything, and the people around her just enable her. It was so obvious that something was wrong, and she was a known abuser of substances so giving her something addictive was a recipe for disaster. Keep in mind it takes a little while to ramp up on dose to get to where it’s a problem, yet I’ve actually seen interviews where Stevie blames her dismal showing for the Tango recording sessions on Klonopin, when she would have been still fairly new to the drug in late 1986, early 1987. She doesn’t want to admit that fresh out of Betty Ford for coke she was still drinking, or that she had an attitude problem because she was coming off of several years as a successful solo artist.

Stevie has a bigger ego than Jon Hamm's PENIS!!!

She's a massive egomaniac.

"you can thank her starfucking therapist who prescribed Klonopin and kept increasing the dosage."

Here's how big of an idiot Stevie Nicks is. She was taking Klonopin and thought it was affecting her badly. She seemed to think her therapist/doctor wasn't taking her complaints seriously. She could have just stopped taking the drug. Or gotten a new therapist/doctor. But no, she wanted to PROVE to him that the drug was ruining her. So what does she do? Why, she gives it to a friend, of course. No kidding; she gave the drug to a friend of hers, requesting he take it just to see what would happen. Well, he had a bad reaction to it. She went triumphantly back to the doctor to tell him what happened. He said to her "Are you trying to kill your friend?" Aha! So it IS a bad drug, just like I said. The dumb bitch. Giving your prescribed medication to another person is ill-advised at best, highly dangerous at worst. But I guess that didn't occur to pea-brained Stevie Nicks.

[quote] And shit, that is right- it was 1987 (possibly 86) to 1993/94-

It was definitely '86. I saw her in early-mid '86 on the Rock a Little tour when I was a teenager and she was just awful. Her voice was shot, she was slurring, could barely stand up and did an abbreviated set. Terrible show.

[quote]Here's how big of an idiot Stevie Nicks is. She was taking Klonopin and thought it was affecting her badly. She seemed to think her therapist/doctor wasn't taking her complaints seriously. [bold]She could have just stopped taking the drug. [/bold]

No. That might have produced the worst possible outcome. You do not go off benzos cold turkey. I know. I did it. I was truly paranoid. I thought my two FBs were out to kill me. I was certain the people on the train stopping at Union Square coming from Brooklyn were going to kill me. I was crazy as fuck, and it turned out to be because I just stopped taking Valium. I might have killed myself.

Lindsey Buckingham was at his hottest in the 1980s. I love watching the Little Lies video to see him.

I'll take Stevie's solo work over Lindsey's solo work any day.

Rock a Little is my favorite.

And that tour was awesome.

[quote]Is there a studio version of “Fireflies”? One of my favorite FM songs from Stevie.

Mine too, but nope. It almost didn't make it to the Live album. It was only performed at a private concert for family and friends. There are demo outtakes but there was no final studio cut.

This one is geoblocked in many countries so you might have to use a VPN.

Fireflies was a B side to some FM single off the Tusk album, possibly in australia or Europe.

Interesting that with all of the deluxe box sets of the big five FM albums, Tango was the only one NOT to have a live show included on any of the discs...

"No. That might have produced the worst possible outcome. You do not go off benzos cold turkey. "

Nobody said she should have stopped cold turkey. She had plenty of resources; she could have gotten off the drug by going to a good rehab center. But giving it to a friend...that's just insanely stupid.

When I lived in Boston, during the Rock a Little phase, Billboard had a shot of her doing an inhouse with two dj's for an interview. The picture they took of the interview was clearly a photoshop. It looked like they superimposed her face from the Rock a Little. This was way before photoshop and I kept looking at the picture and thinking what is wrong with her face???

Other than the hits on this album (Gypsy, Hold Me), Eyes of the World is my favorite track. Straight Back is also good, Only Over You is nice and Can't Go Back has a nice guitar riff.

R136, here's a clip where Stevie sings The Wild Heart to the instrumental of Can't Go Back. Stevie wanted to use it for The Wild Heart but Lindsey said no and kept it for his song. Some queen did a shot for shot remake of the clip but it doesn't seem to be on there anymore.

Just listened to Fleetwood Mac 1975 and Rumours because of this thread. (I put Silver Springs after The Chain in my playlist, not before)

It had been awhile since I had listened to both.

Two great albums. I forgot how good they were cohesively.

Here's Stevie in 1987 talking about Gypsy - and the story behind the song about her best friend passing away.

She also talks about Christine and songwriting in general.

R138: the first Mac album with Lyndsey and Stevie took a full year before it hit number one. This concert from 1975 before they were superstars. It's fascinating.

R87 why are Stevie Nicks fans such insane hysterical cunts? 'Waaaah Lindsey didn't listen to the AUTOGRAPHED copy of Bella Donna that she gave him'. Maybe he had enough of her shitty diva personality.

R137 Stevie didn't ask for the track.