Lindsey Buckingham leaves Fleetwood MAC, replaced with....

ourmaninthenorth

What a shame to see two great guitar players going through the motions in this way.

Little time for the rest of 'em..vacuity personified. 

stickyfiddle

It was a bit slick, but it was a cold TV studio stup, not a live show. I'd be happy to go see them. Finn needs a bit more fire in his voice. Not sure he will ever actually have that - time will tell.

Note that they've also got a random playing acoustic at the back, so effectively they've replaced LB with 3 people this time...

Kebabkid

Love both guys and I'm echoing a lot of what has been said here but I'm not sure about this.

Don't stop? Maybe they should

not_the_dj

stickyfiddle said:

Note that they've also got a random playing acoustic at the back, so effectively they've replaced LB with 3 people this time...

They've had an extra touring guitarist for a while, I saw them on the last "Rummors Line Up" tour and they certainly had a strummer back there.

The live show will miss his solo version of "Big Love", IIRC he played that then went into Landslide with just Buckingham/Nicks, that section was really a highlight of the show for me.

richh

That's some fairly brutal criticism IMHO.  I'd expect that by the time they have done a US tour and get to the UK they will be very tight and more cohesive anyway.

I'd be interested to know if there is any truth to the claims that they are using off stage musicians to bolster their talent.  I'd be surprised if that was the case.

I will certainly try to get tickets for London and / or Birmingham when they are announced.

not_the_dj

richh said:

I'd be interested to know if there is any truth to the claims that they are using off stage musicians to bolster their talent.  I'd be surprised if that was the case.

Not off stage, but at the back and never really in the spot light. A guitarist, another keys player and backing vocalists.

It's not really bolstering talent though, just filling out the sound and covering multiple parts that were overdubbed on the records.

richh

Ah, I see! That is okay really - although it would be nice if they did get a mention or credit.

impmann

richh said:

Ah, I see! That is okay really - although it would be nice if they did get a mention or credit.

ZZ Top have been doing that for years... and the guys backstage don't get a mention and get denied. (Refer versions of Cheap Sunglasses on Whistle Test with keys playing... or Glastonbury where Billy's fingers aren't even at the right end of the fingerboard).

richh

That's shocking!  I was surprised to hear that their biggest album was largely written by somebody who didn't get proper credit or much payment - until later.  He may or may not have actually written the songs, but seems to have had a major hand in helping them achieve a much more commercial sound.

Allegedly...

crunchman

I'd rather see extra musicians on the stage so that it is actually live than have them play to a backing track to add the extras like a lot of modern bands seem to.

Philly_Q

not_the_dj said:

richh said:

I'd be interested to know if there is any truth to the claims that they are using off stage musicians to bolster their talent.  I'd be surprised if that was the case.

Not off stage, but at the back and never really in the spot light. A guitarist, another keys player and backing vocalists.

It's not really bolstering talent though, just filling out the sound and covering multiple parts that were overdubbed on the records.

It's funny how bands only ever seem to need extra on-stage guitarists, keyboardists, percussionists and backing vocalists when they're old and past it.

When they're young and energetic they seem to manage just fine with the people who are actually in the band.

Jalapeno

They had an extra keyboardist too in that video. 

Don't mind really, Mike Campbell will be great live </fanboi>.

Philly_Q

Having actually watched the clip now, it wasn't as bad as I was expecting.

Quite surprised to see Marcus Brigstocke lurking around on rhythm guitar, though...

ICBM

not_the_dj said:

Crowded Mac and The Heartbreaker:

[Fleetwood Mac Takes the Stage with "The Chain"]

Oh dear... what a car crash.

It sounds like one of those encores where a band bring on a couple of famous guests and jam their way through someone else's song that none of them really know very well.

It's just a muddled mess. Neil Finn isn't too bad, but Mike Campbell trying to ape Lindsey's soloing is just atrocious - especially given how great a player he is when he's doing his own thing. John McVie even fluffed the famous bass break, and what has happened to his sound?

ToneControl

richh said:

Ah, I see! That is okay really - although it would be nice if they did get a mention or credit.

The acoustic guitarist is Walt from "Breaking bad", I think

Kitsune

richh said:

That's shocking!  I was surprised to hear that their biggest album was largely written by somebody who didn't get proper credit or much payment - until later.  He may or may not have actually written the songs, but seems to have had a major hand in helping them achieve a much more commercial sound.

Allegedly...

ZZTop or Fleetwood Mac?

Funkfingers

Jalapeno said:

Can't remember the name of the film - but I watched the relationship breakdown between Buckingham and the band when they recorded the Tusk Album - he built his own home studio, then charged the band for working there (and wouldn't work anywhere else).

Seems a bit of an arrogant arse tbh

Cocaine Decisions.

Winny_Pooh said:

After watching the Destiny Rules documentary, Lindsey seems difficult to work with if things don't match his outlook and he resists changes. During the doc, he was fighting for Say You Will to be a double album which, from an outsider's view (and the rest of the band), is obviously mad. 

LB certainly puts his own spin on the story when he tells his side.

In the case of what became Say You Will, Buckingham was working on a solo album. At some point, he decided to have Fleetwood and McVie guest on a couple of songs. Next thing, somebody suggested combining LB's half-finished album with Christine and/or Stevie's half-finished compositions and putting the whole thing out under the Mac name to maximise sales.

Somewhere along the line, it will have become apparent that some LB songs were suitable for the Mac audience and others were too far into leftfield. The result - two albums. Say You Will and The Gift Of Screws, respectively.

In hindsight, it is obvious that combining all of the material into a double album would have resulted in a sort of Tusk II - something Buckingham used to say that he wanted to avoid. 

Ironically, taking the better songs from each of the above-mentioned albums might have resulted in something decent. (Or not, as you may think.)

ICBM

I haven't heard Gift Of Screws, but Say You Will is surprisingly not too bad...