Christine McVie on her ‘lost’ third album

In September 2004, six years after retiring from Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie released her third solo album, In The Meantime. It was a casual affair, Helped by her nephew Dan perfect and featuring contributions from former Fleetwood Mac member Billy Burnetts, ex-husband Eddy Quintela and singer-songwriter Robbie Pattern (with whom she wrote “Hold Me” in the early 1980s.

Recorded entilely in her garage in rural Kent, In The Meantime feature some of the strongest songs in decades, including the sweet opener “Friend” the globe-trotting travelogue “Bad Journey” and the devastating “So Sincere” (“Didn’t you like my love song darling? I was so sincere”). “It’s a great little record.” she says. “My nephew happens to be pretty handy with ProTools, and he plays a pretty good guitar. He did quite a bit of writing on it as well. He and I get on really well, I think because we share the same self-deprecating humour. It was a successful project inasmuch as it brought us closer together.

It was not a particular successful however, in other regards, and McVie blames herself and her fear of flying for the record’s failure to fine an audience. “I couldn’t even contemplate going on the road with it. I did fly to New York once, bit I had to get drunk to do it. So then album died a graceful death.

In retrospect, In The Meantime holds up surprisingly well, especially when compared to Fleetwood Mac’s more bombastic Say You Will, released the year before. It was the band’s first record in 36 years without McVie, and her love songs are greatly missed. “Even with John and Mick playing, it was a glorified Buckingham-Nicls album,” she says, referring to the duo’s pre-Mac release. “I think that element of me might have been missing, those love songs that are both intimate and commercial. So to be back in the band again is just magical.

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