Fleetwood Mac: Classic or Dud

Occurred to me that this all could be a(nother) passive aggressive battle between Buckingham and Nicks. Buckingham/McVie album was supposed to be a Fleetwood Mac album, but Nicks said she was too busy with her own projects to participate. So along comes another Mac tour, and I can totally imagine Buckingham saying, you know what? I'm busy now, too. Try back later. And they called him on his bluff (by calling in ringers).

Oooo

I seriously wonder how many Fleetwood Mac fans have no idea any of this is happening. There are millions of them, and many of them are probably not internet savvy. So quite a lot, I bet. Some of them might even think Mike Campbell and/or Neil Finn are Lindsey Buckingham!

Oh josh it’s a lot. I bring up the Mac tour to randos and they’re like “what happened”

Some of them might even think Mike Campbell and/or Neil Finn are Lindsey Buckingham!

My sister was excited at having tickets to see them three years ago because "it's the original line-up!"

Danny Kirwan died today, apparently.

from his FB fan page:

DANNY KIRWAN OUR SWEET ANGEL HAS DIED With a heavy heart broken in pieces it appears that i am the only administrator up or available at this hour in America and so i had to confirm the saddest news that some of you have been asking about: yes the news is true. I HAVE NO WORDS: DANNY WAS & IS THE VERY HEART of the success that became Fleetwood Mac everything is owed to Danny but for now i'd like to focus on the human being , the man, the heart and the soul that was/ is our Danny: please wait for my post i'm falling apart a little here

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uh8B5utIuE

RIP, oft overlooked Fleetwood Mac linchpin.

Have any of the obits stated how or where he had been living? Wasn't he missing for a while, and/or homeless? I remember reading about Mick tracking him down and quietly helping to pay for his care/rehabilitation, a la Syd Barrett.

Kirwin was such a great player, RIP

Spinning Bare Trees on vinyl--I can understand why it didn't happen for them then, but it's still kind of crazy that the band weren't bigger than they were at that time. Kirwan and Welch really clicked as guitar players, real superb layered harmony licks that carry the tunes.

a band with three Syd barretts… I watched a Peter Green BBC doc a few years ago: Green is still a many bricks shy a load, but Spencer seems to be completely fine, barring still being involved in the Family of God… "hey I just a had a few bad trips and then spent the rest of my life in a cult that valorizes sex with children as God's will! Ain't no big thing!" also weird how Spencer refused to contribute to Green's songs in any significant way, whereas Green and Kirwan played on his shit…can't think of another example where one member consistently refuses to contribute to other's songs

Kirwan is the only one of the three that never got his life back together…

Fleetwood Mac left a real train of wreckage behind it....what a beautiful player he was and lost soul. :(

RIP. This is one of the best songs:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yEQ07_22YA0

Do we know what his state was the past few years? Did he really never get it back together? Genuine bummer.

a band with three Syd barretts… I watched a Peter Green BBC doc a few years ago: Green is still a many bricks shy a load, but Spencer seems to be completely fine, barring still being involved in the Family of God… "hey I just a had a few bad trips and then spent the rest of my life in a cult that valorizes sex with children as God's will! Ain't no big thing!" also weird how Spencer refused to contribute to Green's songs in any significant way, whereas Green and Kirwan played on his shit…can't think of another example where one member consistently refuses to contribute to other's songs

Kirwan is the only one of the three that never got his life back together…

― veronica moser

i don't know if it's only three... bob welch did kill himself, right?

yep

he had some pretty serious health complications though iirc

this is a nice slow burner, assuming the great lead break at 3:36 is kirwin since he wrote the song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9vMqep1lC0

spencer's sha na na 50s pastiche bullshit kinda fucks up the album for me but it's still got a lot of good stuff

Welch actually seemed pretty stable, all accounts I've read of his suicide lead me to believe it was due to the aforementioned (physical) health issues

He was really into aliens.

sha na na 50s pastiche bullshit

Aw man, this hurts me. True, they make for a disjointed listening experience, but I love almost all of Spencer's cuts (I'm not so hot on the cover of "Mission Bell.")

Anyway, RIP Mr. Kirwan. I'm sure I mentioned on another thread, "Sunny Side of Heaven" was the first song I ever learned to pick on a guitar.

i just read about this, RIP.

this is a really nice solo song

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN6M5hWU_5U

HEY TOUGH GUY, DO YOU PREFER RUMOURS *kisses left bicep* OR TUSK *kisses right bicep*

— zachary (@ingmarbirdman) September 6, 2013

was in a record store in wichita on sunday that had three of kirwan's solo albums for a couple of dollars each. should i regret not picking them up?

RIP DANNY

XP Probably, if they weren't too scratched up. He only did three, they didn't sell well, and have been barely been available on CD.

I haven't actually heard them, but from what I read the first two are pretty good.

i grew up on kiln house, i got nothing bad to say about it

did we ever discuss how beautiful the alternate That's Alright is? https://open.spotify.com/track/6CU4BzfHvcuaYtoKyP9xI6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VElI89y_-QI

in a way i don't particularly care about whether super genius baby lindsey buckingham is onstage here, he's made some of my favorite music of all time and made me want to play guitar but guy is unbelievably full of himself and i'll basically never get over some of the things i've read (and had to incorporate into my own writing) about shit he did

however that was flat and unconvincing for me

then again television performances are often flat and unconvincing

Neil was fine, but stevie was mic'd way too low. and how many extra musicians were there onstage there?

this is still one of my favourite live performances of anything ever
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGykwC0fdJ4

Yeah, that's the definitive take on The Chain

Ugh, love Neil, he deserves better than this. Not full of himself enough!

His new album with Liam is nice.

Idiot tv soundguy was like "ok, who sings lead on this -- the dude? Got it!" I don't think it's a terrific performance anyway, but that mix was unspeakable and maybe the monitors were just as bad so no judging yet.

that was terrible, and I say that as a fan and someone who prior to now had been cautiously optimistic about this new lineup

Thought it was ok, except the closing solo that loses the proto post punk magic of the original

Wow that 1982 clip above is insane. Captures everything wild about the band

they had too much soda before the show iirc

Neil is in a no-win situation here, I think. Well, except his wallet wins, I guess.

Said it before, somewhere, but I would love to see Fleetwood Mac backing Neil Finn. Campbell can come along, too.

honestly do bands ever come off well on TV shows? i feel like the sound is always super weak and the whole thing feels weird

there's a lot of good tv performances from the 60s/70s

And the 80s and the 90s and in the 2000s -- competent sound techs help, and bands that just do their thing regardless tend to do better (which benefits post-punk and post-jazz groups disproportionately). Big thrown together pop groups on Ellen are likely at a big disadvantage. Don't get me wrong -- I suspect the tour's gonna suck and Fleetwood Mac doing a tv show with sound that band speaks poorly for the togetherness of the whole enterprise, but it's hard to judge a mess that big as the players' fault.