Would You Care To Dance...?

Rock legends, Fleetwood Mac stunned home grown American audiences when the band announced a one off special come back gig with the original ‘Rumours’ line up. Despite all the tantrums, splits and divorces that have cloaked the band with the same sensationalism as Electro Shock Treatment, they still managed to hold their heads up high and smile affectionately at each other throughout the performance. It was filmed for television and shown so late one night on BBC1 that the entire world forgot to tape it. The ‘soundtrack’ of the phenomenal occurrence was this perfectly produced album, ‘The Dance.’

With a inner sleeve that depicts the band in incredulous poses of well lit miracles, it is hard to imagine this band still sounding, and above all, still looking exactly the same. If only for Mick perhaps looking a touch greyer around the gills, it is amazing to see Stevie ‘Tinkerbelle’ Nicks still looking not a day over ‘Rumours.’ If Diana, the Princess of Wales was the most photographed woman of the 20th Century, then Fleetwood Mac were the most beautified band. Their charisma is quite staggering to the point that they appear out of this world. It is hard to believe that the two old gits at the back, one on drums, the other on bass, once shared the back of a transit van to use as transport and dressing room when their biggest venues was either The Swan in Fulham or The Toby Jug in Tolworth. (If you have ever patronised these establishments as much as the author here, then you will have some idea as to the impact of their fame.) So, through countless line up changes, solo careers plus members leaving and then suddenly returning after admitting never to darken the studio door again; here we are with yet another, masterpiece…

In the Summer of 1997, Fleetwood Mac showed off their immortal talents for a special gathering for MTV. (Well, anyone would say yes to MTV), and the result was this polished live album. Perhaps there are very few bands in this world who can get away with a pitch perfect live set. The Stones, is about the only other band who can pull off a live performance, but then again, Jagger never had a pitch perfect voice. For a band who managed to fuse live sounds and studio effects with imagination and versatility, Fleetwood Mac had tricked us over the years with what was ever better, live or studio recordings? In this set, they show also their ability to put on a shining performance. Born to play live, their feed from an audience where they do, feel the most comfortable.

The usual suspects are all here. There really is not need to remind ourselves how ‘The Chain’ goes or the fiddly bits of ‘Go Your Own Way,’ end, so there is no room for disappointment here. We are, however, treated to a clutch of pieces that may have passed us by. To be a truly focused FM fan, one has to be totally converted to a new type of religion, that is to say, a lifestyle where upon you are obliged to listen avidly to every album and single B side. It is the latter, where you will always find the best gems. Even on a live recorded show, ten years after the reality of ‘Tango In The Night,’ (in Christine McVie’s die hard Brummie accent,) they can still surprise, just when you thought you knew all there was to know. A running theme of percussion gives a new twist to ‘Everywhere,’ the dreamy anthem from ‘Tango..’ mixes beautifully with the darker, more disturbing ‘Rhiannon,’ that follows. Nicks proves with this track that although her vocals have certainly deepened over the years, it can only be a good thing. An atmosphere of bewitching tales surrounds this aging singer now, who, dare I say it, is growing into an ever more fascinating woman through her older years.

Buckingham has to flex his rhythms somewhere doesn’t he, and even he, an accomplished guitarist and songwriter in his own right, has leant heavily on the steadfast-ness of the world of Fleetwood Mac for his hunger penetrated recognition. The extraordinarily titled, ‘I’m So Afraid,’ may not be everyone’s cup of tea and certainly exposes us to the introverted side of the band, is the baby of the Buckingham limelight. It twists through the chords and spirals out of control towards the end as all great Buckingham tracks do. We’ll let him be and flick over to the next. One cat howling is enough for one evening, I think…

Yet the night is young and much merriment is in store for a frantically over paid audience of media this and that so why not throw them off balance by shoving in a jolly ditty entitled, ‘Temporary One?’ If Buckingham has a mental illness, it would be a split personality. We still are in awe of the fact that this musician of the highest calibre can set our brains a’ wondering if he is quite well one minute and transfix us the next with he cutesy harmonies and jumpy Tweenie lyrics. Can this man be okay with himself, or does he just mull over paranoia behind closed doors? Who knows, if being a member of FM can dampen his extraordinary soul every so often then he can play anything backwards if it makes him happy in the privacy of his own front room.

Strangely a track pops up here which we also find on the massive come back album, ‘Say You Will,’ which they didn’t record for another six years. The folksy themed ‘Bleed To Love Her,’ appears in this 1997 set, a track that they were working on for a while before this set was even recorded. Another trick of the FM clan here, they write a song, record it a few times, play around with it for a while then shove it onto an album six years later and make us all believe that it’s new. (!)

We have to mention that there is many a snap still left in a floppy piece of celery, and this acoustic take on the yet thunderous ‘Big Love’ is a piece that will force you to reconsider who is in your top ten of greatest guitarists. I shall not say too much here, only that if Lindsay Buckingham is not on your list after this track, then you need the nearest audiology clinic…

Of course a Fleetwood Mac concert would not be the same without Stevie input and she doesn’t fail to inspire us here either. Giving us the very best of her lowered vocal, she rocks us to sleep with an emotional and yet, magically musical rendition of ‘Landslide,’ with her friend, ex lover and guitarist, Lindsay Buckingham. Watching these two perform in a single spot light will take the oldest of the audience back to when these two were young, in love and impressionable. A gentle and very romantic moment. But fear not, our ears are in for a stage breaking treat as we move towards the end of this perfected album. We are thrown back an era with the loud, chants of ‘My Little Demon,’ and perhaps the best track on the album that certainly needed no real introduction, back to back with another Nicks delight, a gentle country themed love song, ‘Silver Springs.’

We are subjected to ‘Go Your Own Way,’ in full band filling style which leads neatly into an even mightier ‘Tusk,’ and then finally ‘Don’t Stop,’ the swansong of the band complete with marching band, streamers, balloons, fireworks and questions of ‘well, this is all very well and good but where the hell has the band gone…?’


This military, glossy ending captures a warmth in the heart and a melting of the soul when we suddenly realise that the world is not as threatening and as violent as every one thinks it is. It is still warm, heart felt and sincere, if we just look hard enough, and on the days that we fail in their search for humanity, we find an album by a band who we can trust and hug, not to mention, forgive for all those line up changes that just really didn’t work…





Just when we thought it was over, the album, ‘Say You Will,’ was released in 2003 and they, again enjoyed a handful of minor single releases from it. It didn’t feature Christine McVie. She had been reported to have been touched by the desire to retire from the band…





Solo projects for certain members will always pull the band in different directions for the rest of their days.



Tracks included on this album;

The Chain
Dreams
Everywhere
Rhiannon
I’m So Afraid
Temporary One
Bleed To Love Her
Big Love
Landslide
Say You Love Me
My Little Demon
Silver Springs
You Make Loving Fun
Sweet Girl
Go Your Own Way
Tusk
Don’t Stop.











www.fleetwoodmac.com

On ‘The Dance,’ FM were;

Lindsay Buckingham
Stevie Nicks
Mick Fleetwood Mac
John McVie
Christine McVie.



HMV - £7.99
The video of the show is available from HMV
Reprise records 1997
©m.duffy 2006