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Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood, Press Kits

Fleetwood Mac, ‘Sad Angel’ – Song Review

Earlier today (April 30), Fleetwood Mac released a four-song EP, ‘Extended Play,’ their first new studio material since 2003′s ‘Say You Will.’ While the EP is available for purchase exclusively at iTunes, you can stream the lead track and first single, ‘Sad Angel,’ below.

Written by Lindsey Buckingham, ‘Sad Angel’ opens with some typically kinetic, percussive Buckingham rhythm guitar before his vocals come in, and joined later by the whole band. The rhythm section of John McVie and Mick Fleetwood chug along in typical no-nonsense, muscular fashion, with some keyboards and a few layers of guitars to fill it out.

Even though she sings in tandem with Buckingham for all but the opening 15 seconds, Stevie Nicks is largely invisible. She takes her lines well and the two still blend together very well, but there’s little of her trademark personality on display. Maybe that’s a little harsh, but for a band that has traded so frequently on the duo’s history together, ‘Sad Angel’ doesn’t offer much in the way of tension between its two lead singers.

Not that that’s a bad thing, of course. Throughout the run-up to the release of ‘Extended Play,’ we’ve heard about how those past issues are behind them – note how they’re posed in the press photo above – so what better way to prove it than with a nice, poppy song that is, lyrically, light years removed from their famously autobiographical work.

Or is it? The ambiguous lyrics could be Buckingham acknowledging that he and Nicks need each other, and are never better than when they’re together. “We fall to Earth together / The crowd calling out for more / Hello, hello sad angel / Have you come to fight the war?” they sing in the chorus. It’s hard to tell, because we usually associate Nicks with gypsies or witches, not angels.

If ‘Sad Angel’ is about her, then it’s a nice peace offering as the two of them prepare to write the newest chapter in their incredibly long history together. If not, then it’s still a welcome return to form for one of rock’s most enduring bands.

Fleetwood Mac, Release Info, UK Articles

Fleetwood Mac release new four-track EP on iTunes without warning

Fleetwood Mac have unveiled their first new music in a decade. Without fanfare or a marketing campaign, the band released their four-song EP direct to iTunes on 30 April.

The release, simply titled Extended Play, comprises a quartet of tunes: three originals by Lindsey Buckingham and one by Stevie Nicks, written in 1973 when the pair were still the duo Buckingham Nicks. This is hardly a set of sexagenarians’ basement tapes: Without You – not be confused with the Danny Kirwan-written Mac song of the same name – and Sad Angel are as shiny as Rumours, and even the lonely piano ballad, It Takes Time, has a dramatic synths/strings coda.

Buckingham revealed plans for the EP at a gig in Philadelphia earlier this month – the band have been performing some of the new songs on their current tour. “It’s the best stuff we’ve done in a long time,” he said, promising that the record would be out “in a few days”. It took a few weeks, instead, but within hours of appearing on iTunes, Extended Play had appeared in the digital shop’s top 10 chart, though it has since dropped.

“We all felt that it would be great to go into the studio and record new material before embarking on this tour and the result has been remarkable,” Buckingham said in a statement. Nicks has previously indicated that Fleetwood Mac would only record another full-length if she felt certain fans would buy it. “Big, long albums don’t seem to be what everybody wants these days,” she told Billboard in February. “[Let’s] see if the world does want more music from us … If we get that feeling, that they do want another 10 songs, we can reassess.”

One of Buckingham’s new songs is an explicit response to Nicks’s musical reticence. “At the moment [Sad Angel] was being written, I was really thinking about the fact that [Stevie] and I were not agreeing on the idea of an album,” he recently told MSN. “The chorus is, ‘Hello, sad angel, have you come to fight the war?’ It goes on to talk about ‘the crowd’s calling out for more’ … [Sad Angel and Miss Fantasy] are songs about Stevie and me.”

Prior to Extended Play, Fleetwood Mac’s most recent new recording was the 2003 album Say You Will. That record reached No 6 on the UK album charts, and achieved gold sales, but fell well short of the band’s commercial peak from 1975 to 1987. The band have sold more than 100m albums worldwide.

Fleetwood Mac are currently in the midst of a North American tour, with plans to visit the UK and Europe this fall.

Fleetwood Mac, Release Info

Fleetwood Mac Release ‘Extended Play’ EP

Four-song set marks the band’s first new music in 10 years

April 30, 2013 9:55 AM ET
Rolling Stone
stevie-306v-1367328618Fleetwood Mac have returned with their first batch of new music in 10 years. Extended Play, available now exclusively on iTunes, contains the new tracks “Sad Angel,” “It Takes Time” and “Miss Fantasy,” penned by Lindsey Buckingham. It also includes “Without You,” a rediscovered and revamped track originally written by Stevie Nicks from the pair’s Buckingham Nicks project.

 

Extended Play is Fleetwood Mac’s first studio release since the 2003 LP Say You Will. Buckingham promised the EP was on the way earlier this month during a concert in Philadelphia. In January, he talked to Rolling Stone about how his relationship with Stevie Nicks has developed over the years.

“It’s still evolving, and that’s the beauty of it too. I’ve known Stevie since high school. We were a couple for many, many years, and we’ve been a musical couple forever,” Buckingham said. “After all this time you would think there was nothing left to discover, nothing left to work out, no new chapters to be written. But that is not the case – there are new chapters to be written.”

Fleetwood Mac are currently on a North American tour. Their next show is tonight at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. For full tour dates, visit the band’s website.

 

Fleetwood Mac, Release Info, Tour Info, UK Articles

Fleetwood Mac to release new EP

London Evening Standard
9th April 2013

The band will be putting out their first new material since their Say You Will album from 2003, including new track Sad Angel.

The band – Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks – debuted both that song and another, Without You, last Thursday at the opening of their 2013 tour in Ohio, US.

Lindsey announced news of the new release to the crowd at another show in Philadelphia. He said: “One of the things we thought would be a good idea before we hit the road would be to go into the studio and cut some new material. So last year we did that. It’s the best stuff we’ve done in a long time and in a few days we’re going to drop an EP of new stuff.”

Ex-band member, Christine McVie – who left the band and retired from music in 1998 – has also said she would like to perform with the band at one of their London dates if they will allow her. She said: “If they wanted me to, I might pop back on stage when they’re in London just to do a little duet or something like that.”

fleetwood-MacFleetwood Mac are currently playing in the US as part of a world tour.

Fleetwood Mac, Reviews, Tour Info

Concert review | Fleetwood Mac: First tour stop had it all

The Columbus Dispatch
Curtis Schieber
Friday April 5, 2013 12:21 AM

fleetwood

Fleetwood Mac returned to performing in concert for the first time in three years last night in Nationwide Arena, the core four members putting on their rock ’n’ roll greasepaint as if it had just came off the night before. Columbus was the first show in a 50-gig run.

The band didn’t reserve anything for the next 49, as it delivered mega-hits, out-of-the-way album tracks, solo work and even a couple of new tunes.

The million-sellers brought the house down, especially selections from the group’s mid-1970s albums, with Dreams, The Chain and Rhiannon duplicating enough of the originals to not only welcome the crowd but also loosen it up. Continue reading Concert review | Fleetwood Mac: First tour stop had it all →

Fleetwood Mac, UK Articles

Rumours? All true – 10 things you might not know about Fleetwood Mac.

(Picture: Allstar Collection)

1.) Founding member Peter Green, who alongside Clapton is often hailed as one of the greatest blues guitarists of all time, was suffering from mental troubles before he left the band in 1970 – he also tried to persuade the rest of the band to give away all their profits to charity. A bad acid trip in Munich sent him over the edge.

Fleetwood Mac back in 1970. Left-right: Mick Fleetwood, John Mc Vie, Jeremy Spencer, Danny Kirwan and Peter Green (Picture: Syndication International)

2.) Much has been made of the ‘curse’ on Fleetwood Mac guitarists. Following Peter Green’s departure, Jeremy Spencer went awol in LA in 1971 – he was eventually located with the Children of God cult. Another guitarist, Danny Kirwan, was fired in 1972 after a drink-fueled episode which saw him bashing his head against a bathroom wall and smashing up his guitar. Continue reading Rumours? All true – 10 things you might not know about Fleetwood Mac. →

Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood, Tour Info

Fleetwood Mac still happy together, despite ‘Rumours’ realities

The Columbus Dispatch
Kevin Joy
Thursday April 4, 2013 5:50 AM

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Mick Fleetwood, the only band member to remain a constant since his namesake band’s 1967 inception

The modern rumor-mill media world, with its Twitter gossip and screaming TMZ headlines, has nothing on the dramas of Fleetwood Mac.
Although its past is littered with divorces, drugs, lineup changes and lustful behavior —
including a painful split between singer-guitarist Lindsey Buckingham and free-spirited frontwoman Stevie Nicks — the ensemble hasn’t buried its missteps.

“We still choose to be more revealed than not,” said drummer Mick Fleetwood, the only player to remain a constant since his namesake band’s 1967 inception. “I think you’d find in any of our interviews, Stevie, and even Lindsey, are almost too open about things that are very personal, really.” Continue reading Fleetwood Mac still happy together, despite ‘Rumours’ realities →

Fleetwood Mac, Tour Info, UK Articles

Fleetwood Mac: The resurgent 1970s icons head out on a new world tour

Fleetwood Mac in their 1970s heyday (Picture: Allstar Collection)

As Fleetwood Mac embark on a world tour, we look at the renewed love for a band that defined the 1970s.

I’m as overawed to meet Mick Fleetwood, the towering drummer from legendary Anglo-American rock act Fleetwood Mac, as a hobbit greeting Gandalf – though this wizard sports a batik waistcoat and bright pink socks.

‘We had no concept of the enormity of what we were making with Rumours,’ he says, speaking of their legendary 1977 album. ‘But we did know it was something special and that helped us focus when we were all so desperately unhappy. I can’t think of any other band where all this s*** has happened.’ Continue reading Fleetwood Mac: The resurgent 1970s icons head out on a new world tour →

Solo Activity, Stevie Nicks, UK Articles

Sound City Players I Classic Rock Magazine I Apr 2013

Review from Classic Rock Magazine, Apr 2013

Utah Park City Live, Park City
Grohl’s supergroup rocks Sundance.

StevieNicks+DaveGroul_Sundance2013

Groul anchors the supergroup with a childlike enthusiasm

In a packed-to-the-rafters venue on Park City’s snowy Main Street. Dave Grohl is kicking off the 2013 Sundance Film Festival in ambitious. history-making style. Here to promote his directorial debut Sound City – a documentary chronicling the hallowed LA studio where Nirvana recorded Nevermind – Grohl has assembled a roll call of its famous tenants to play their greatest hits and songs from the film’s accompanying album, Real To Reel.

It may be cold outside (freezing in fact). but inside the temperatures fuelled by the unique chemistry of the shape-shifting supergroup – anchored throughout by ringmaster Grohl (switching between guitar and drums) and his infectious childlike enthusiasm. During the course of the three-hour-plus show, we’re treated to lively vocals from Alain Johannes. Rick Springfield. Corey Taylor and Stevie Nicks, supported by the likes of Trent Reznor, Taylor Hawkins and Krist Novoselic. It’s a who’s who of rock’s finest. and it’s exhilarating to see them on stage together.

There’s barely room to breathe between baton passes. and the constantly rotating line-up keeps the excitable audience on its toes. Both Springfield’s Jessie’s Girl and John Fogerty’s Creedence hit Proud Mary are greeted with roof-raising mass singalongs. However. it’s the ethereal Nicks who alters the night’s real highlight. teaming up with Grohl for an emotional, acoustic version at Fleetwood Mac’s Landslide – a goosebump-inducing close to what been a superbly surreal evening.

Richard Jordan

Reel to Reel – Sound City is available now on CD

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Fleetwood Mac, Mick Fleetwood, Release Info, UK Articles

Tall Stories I Classic Rock Magazine I Apr 2013

By Max Bell
Classic Rock
April 2013

On the eve of Fleetwood Mac’s UK tour to celebrate the 35th anniversary of their astonishing 40-million-selling album Rumours, we catch up with drummer Mick Fleetwood to find out how the band survived drink, drugs and affairs to record it. “We were all fucked up,” he says.

First impressions of Mick Fleetwood are usually something like (to paraphrase the Harry Nilsson song): “Jesus Christ, you’re tall.” Fleetwood doesn’t so much inhabit his swanky Berkeley Hotel suite as loom across the available space. From head toe, he’s immaculately groomed: the silver hair, the Maui suntan, the crisp striped shirt and hand-stitched brown brogues are evidence of his post-psychedelic dandyism. His socks are box fresh and match his scarf. His trademark headwear — today it’s a burnt orange cap — lies on the table underneath a CD copy of his band Fleetwood Mac’s reissued Rumours — the elephant in the room. His ponytail, a reminder of longer-haired days, is constantly teased, as are the opulent Native American bangles on his wrists. He offers water. “Usually I’d have got through half a bottle of good wine by now, but since we’re about to go on tour I’m trying to stay fit.”

Mick Fleetwood has been an American citizen since 2006. He’s lived in California and Hawaii for 40 years, and understandably speaks with a transatlantic accent. Pleasingly, there’s a detectable trace of West Country burr. He was born in Cornwall in 1947 and educated at a public school in Gloucestershire, at one of those institutions where six-of-the-best corporal punishment was the norm — the bat and the cane. No wonder he became a drummer — taken out on those tom-toms.

Suggestions of a whistle-stop tour his life are met with: “Go ahead. I’ll talk about anything. As long as I can get through the jet-lag.”

Does he still see the old gang?

“Peter Green? Once in a while I’ll ring him. I may do once you’ve left. He doesn’t know it and won’t be expecting it.” Continue reading Tall Stories I Classic Rock Magazine I Apr 2013 →