The Mac Is Back.
While there are those that would argue that one of
the greatest bands in rock & roll has never been
away…
. while there are those who would insist the group is
alive and well, as long as somewhere in the world,
someone is playing a copy of Rumours . . . while no
one could contest that Mac music sounds as fresh
and full of surprises today as it did the moment it was
minted . . . all this, and more, considered The Mac
is still back.
“Mac,” in this case, of course, refers to the
once-in-a-lifetime line-up of talent that
single-handedly defined the term “supergroup” now
and forever. Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine
McVie, Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham are,
and always will be, The Fleetwood Mac of
recordscores of millions of records as a matter of fact,
spanning one of the most wildly successful, and
endlessly inventive, creative conspiracies in modern
musical history.
It’s a saga that continues with the Reprise Records
release of The Dance, the new Fleetwood Mac album
that gives fresh meaning to the term “long-awaited.”
Recorded live for an MTV special, The Dance
highlights new renditions of 13 Mac classics, from
“Dreams” to “Rhiannon,” “Don’t Stop” to “Tusk” as
well as the such key tracks as “The Chain” and
“Silver Springs.”
Proving the Mac magic is as potent as ever, The
Dance, produced by Lindsey Buckingham and Elliot
Schiener, also features four new songs, including the
Christine McVie composition “Temporary One,”
“Sweet Girl” by Stevie Nicks and two new
Buckingham tracks, “Bleed To Love Her” and “My
Little Demon.” Catapulting straight from the studio to
the stage, Fleetwood Mac embark on an extensive
U.S. tour this fall, bringing the Mac magic to
audiences coast to coast.
After a moment to catch our collective breath, it’s
fitting to note that the reunion of Fleetwood Mac is
occurring on the twenty year anniversary of Rumours,
the most influential and innovative album of their
career, and an enduring landmark of the rock era.
But Fleetwood Mac redux is about more than simply a
fond look back. It’s about artists and writers, musical
spark plugs and men and women of amazing ability,
picking up precisely where they left off, minus a
mound of emotional luggage and with, as Mick
Fleetwood puts it, “an incredible amount of creative
gas in the tank.”
Not that Mac’s individual components have been
experiencing anything like a fuel shortage since they
last recorded together, ten years ago. While the rock
solid rhythm section of Fleetwood & McVie continued
to lift high the venerable Fleetwood Mac banner with
various incarnations of the group, Lindsey, Stevie
and Christine have all nurtured brilliant solo careers,
as well as working in various combinations on one-off
projects, such as the Stevie/Lindsey collaboration on
the hit 1995 Twister soundtrack. And, while it might
have taken a special request by the President of the
United States to reconvene the band for an
appearance at the 1992 Inaugural Ball, performing
Clinton’s campaign song, “Don’t Stop (Thinking About
Tomorrow),” the notion of a full-blown reunion has
been in the air almost from the moment they
disbanded.
“We’ve been asked many times over the years to
reform,” explains Mick, “but the time was never right. I
think we were all still in the process of growing up
and discovering that the things that had once pulled
us apart didn’t seem nearly as important anymore.
The level of success we had together was, quite
simply, overwhelming. We’ve had the opportunity to
step back and get some perspective, to realize that
what was important all along was the music.”
The impetus for that discovery came from several
directions. “The 20th anniversary of Rumours gave
us a vantage point to look backand forward,” asserts
John. “We realized that we had created this
tremendous body of work and that we wanted to
celebrate that accomplishment. 1997 also marks the
30th anniversary of the founding of the original
Fleetwood Mac, so the occasion seemed especially
auspicious for that reason as well.”
What was needed was a suitable creative catalyst,
provided in timely fashion by Lindsey’s latest solo
project. “I’d been working on new material since late
1995,” Lindsey recounts, “when I happened to run
into Mick one day, it seemed like he’d been through
some changes and I know I’d done some moving on
myself since we’d last met. We’d lived through such a
musical soap opera and just the fact that we’d
survived gave us something in common.”
More in common, as it turned out, than just shared
history, with Lindsey providing the vital musical link
that reconnected the group. “We started working
together on some of his songs,” continues Mick, “and
immediately sparked off each other. It’s like learning
to ride a bike; once you’ve got it you never forget.
While the chemistry between the group is hard to pin
down, it’s unmistakable once you’re a part of it.”
“We worked together, just the two of us, through the
summer of last year,” recounts Lindsey, “and when it
came time to do some bass parts, I asked Mick who
he thought we should use. I should have known what
his answer would be.”
With John joining them in the studio, the potential,
unspoken but palpable, began to build, gathering
momentum when Lindsey asked Christine to come in
and sing harmonies. “The magic, the energy, the
pure joy of working together was stronger than ever,”
recounts Lindsey. “There we were,” adds Mick, with
a laugh, “all four of us in the control room, really
enjoying each other’s company.”
“It was an odd feeling, being back together, but it was
obvious we were having fun,” is how Christine
remembers the slow approach toward the inevitable.
“I’d been doing some writing and demos for a new
solo album, but had really stepped back from music
for the time being, returning to England and restoring
a huge, sixteenth century house my husband and I
had bought in the country. I was very content with my
life, but at the same time, I must admit, I felt the pull.”
The pull also exerted its influence on the fifth Mac
member. “None of us really had to do this,” Stevie
remarks. “We had our separate lives and careers. But
the chance to work together again, without all the
conflicts that had once made things so difficult, was
hard to resist. I guess it’s always been a dream,
somewhere in the back of my mind, that we would
one day get together again. The Rumours
anniversary was a perfect excuse, but what’s more
important is how we’ve each grown. I’d always loved
being a part of this band, feeling that extraordinary
energy that we could create, and now there’s nothing
to interfere with the flow of that energy.”
The quintet began playing together, with the notion of
reuniting put, for the time being, on a back burner. “It
was just great to play again,” asserts John. “This
configuration was always my favorite Fleetwood Mac
line-up and I think the whole was always greater then
the sum of its parts. It was great to be part of that
whole again.”
“We were playing better than I ever remembered,”
adds Mick. “After we had a chance to musically say
hello to each other, we found it astoundingly easy to
pick up where we left off.”
“My only condition for coming back together was that
we could have some fun,” says Christine. “The
rehearsals proved that we could, and that we were
tighter and better than we’d ever been. It was
tremendously gratifying.”
“I think a lot of the creativity we were feeling had
come from the healing we’d all experienced,” opines
Stevie. “We were friends who had been away for a
long time and this reunion was not just musical, it was
personal.”
Questions of repertoire were resolved almost before
they came up.
“Naturally we did the material we were familiar with,”
explains John. “It was like our fingers were just flying
to the notes. We worked up some new arrangements,
but we also wanted to try out some fresh stuff.
Luckily, we had no shortage of new material to try.”
Christine: “Each one of us brought in a new song and
hearing them played by this particular combination of
musicians is like no other experience I know. We
understand each otherwhere to go and how to get
there, even before it’s spoken.”
What was also left almost unspoken was the fact that,
from various paths both personal and professional,
Fleetwood Mac had at last found themselves together
again. “Of course there’s a business aspect to all
this,” says Mick, “but anyone who’s been around this
process can tell you that it really is the music that’s
brought us back.”
“I care about these people,” is how Lindsey puts it.
“And I enjoy being around them, now more than ever.
Fleetwood Mac is a complicated scheme, a careful
balancing act and when we get it right, there’s
nothing quite like it.”
“Even after we decided to formalize what we’d been
doing as ‘a reunion,’” adds John, “there was still an
attitude of taking things one day at a time. Today is
wonderful. Tomorrow will take care of itself.”
What tomorrow may bring for Fleetwood Mac is
anyone’s guess. But, with the release of The Dance,
the accompanying MTV special and their upcoming
tour, the prospects are positively brilliant for the
immediate future.
“This is all very exciting, but at the same time very
familiar,” muses Stevie. “When we get together
something amazing happens. It takes on a life of its
own.”
The Mac Is Back. Even better than before.
