Fleetwood Mac Say New Album
Fleetwood Mac will release their new album, Say You Will,
on April 15th. The album is their first full collection of new
material with Lindsey Buckingham onboard since 1987’s Tango in
the Night. However, Say You Will, the group’s first
release since the half-new/half-unplugged The Dance five
years ago, doesn’t feature keyboardist/singer Christine
McVie, who had been with the band since 1970.
Some of Buckingham’s contributions to Say You Will are
as many as nine years old, as he initially considered using some
for a solo release. “[Christine’s departure] kind of freed the
Fleetwood Mac situation to be looked at in a fresh light and in
some ways in the dynamic that Stevie and I had going before we
joined the band,” Buckingham told Rolling Stone. “But this
music is the best that I’ve ever done on my own, or with Fleetwood
Mac, tapping into some new areas. And after all of this time,
Stevie and I have managed to get to a point where we’re
comfortable. There’s nothing we can’t talk about. I talked to Don
Henley one time about the Eagles, and it seemed like there was so
little love or idealism left in that group of people and perhaps
that’s more the norm for people our age. But we seem to be slightly
more arrested, and I think there’s some potential for some good
stuff because of that.”
Drummer Mick Fleetwood says that Buckingham’s input on the
record reminds him of the band’s segue from 1977’s Rumours
to the more sprawling 1979 release, Tusk. “His whole life
is so involved in doing what he does,” Fleetwood said. “Quite
frankly, I’m not sure how he stays focused all those years on
pieces of music, but he does. It has a lot of the sensibilities [of
Tusk] and Lindsey’s definitely pushed some envelopes that
are exciting. I don’t think people will accuse us of standing
still.”
Nicks’ contributions came from a similar flood of material. The
singer gave Buckingham, Fleetwood and bassist John McVie eighteen
songs to work with, before she went out to tour behind her 2001
release, Trouble in Shangri-La. “So it was the power
trio,” Fleetwood said. “And that was great, because we did a lot of
reconnecting.” Nicks’ friendship with Sheryl Crow also resulted in
a guest appearance by Crow, who added harmony vocals and keyboards
to Say You Will.
Fleetwood Mac are planning a world tour, to launch in May.