The loss of longtime Fleetwood Mac keyboardist Christine McVie last year remains deeply felt by fans of the long-running group’s unbeatable pop/rock songs. Today, on what would have been her 80th birthday, Rhino Records is releasing unheard music by (and in tribute to) her, with plans to reissue two of her solo albums this fall.
On November 3, Rhino will reissue a remastered version of 1984’s Christine McVie on CD and vinyl, with a cola-bottle clear color variant of the latter available exclusively at Barnes & Noble. That same day, they will also release her belated 2004 album In the Meantime, not only remastered but newly remixed by her nephew, Todd Perfect, with “Little Darlin'” – an unreleased outtake from the sessions – available as a bonus track. It’ll be pressed on CD and double vinyl with a songbird etching on the fourth side, but it’s available digitally today.
Unlike bandmates Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks or Mick Fleetwood, McVie’s solo material was few and far between. Having issued one solo album under her birth name Christine Perfect in 1970, shortly after she left the blues combo Chicken Shack but before she joined the Mac later that year, she wouldn’t issue another until 1984’s Christine McVie. Produced by Russ Titelman, McVie led a band comprised of guitarist Todd Sharp, bassist George Hawkins and Average White Band drummer Steve Ferrone; she also welcomed guests including Steve Winwood (who co-wrote “Ask Anybody” and duetted on “One in a Million”), Eric Clapton and bandmates Buckingham and Fleetwood. Proving her songwriting mettle hadn’t dulled a bit, the brilliant single “Got a Hold on Me” peaked at No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100.
Christine would remain a member of Fleetwood Mac even as Buckingham and Nicks left the band in the ’80s and ’90s, fragmenting the quintet line-up that released smashes like the 1975 self-titled album, Rumours (1977), Tusk (1979), Mirage (1982) and Tango in the Night (1987). That line-up reunited for the concert special The Dance and an ensuing tour in 1997, but McVie decided to retire from the road a year later, and her contribution to 2003’s Say You Will was minimal. A year after that album, though, she was back with another release of her own songs. In the Meantime, recorded primarily with nephew Dan Perfect, Hawkins and Ferrone, proved that she still hadn’t lost a step – once the secret weapon of Fleetwood Mac, now an assured soloist in her own right.
Rhino last celebrated McVie’s solo work with the collection Songbird, issued shortly before her passing last year. That album’s title track, the tender beating heart amidst the turmoil of Rumours, has also been newly covered by Mick Fleetwood as an instrumental with ukulele player Jake Shimabukuro. You can listen to that below and find pre-order links for both reissues, due later this year.
Christine McVie (released as Warner Bros. 25059, 1984 – reissued Warner/Rhino, 2023)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Love Will Show Us How
- The Challenge
- So Excited
- One in a Million
- Ask Anybody
- Got a Hold on Me
- Who’s Dreaming This Dream
- I’m the One
- Keeping Secrets
- The Smile I Live For
In the Meantime (released as Sanctuary SANCD280 (U.K.)/Koch KOC-CD-9600 (U.S.), 2004 – reissued Rhino, 2023)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
- Friend
- You Are
- Northern Star
- Bad Journey
- Anything is Possible
- Calumny
- So Sincere
- Easy Come, Easy Go
- Liar
- Sweet Revenge
- Forgiveness
- Given’ It Back
- Little Darlin’ (previously unreleased)