Christine Live in San Antonio 1984
 

This just popped up on YouTube. Weeeeee!

https://youtu.be/ttl-DPl2Ot0

Thank you! I will give this a listen later today :)

Awesome! Keep em coming!

That audience sure loved “Over My Head”! Other favorites that night appear to be “Spare Me,” “One in a Million,” and “Don’t Stop.”

Great crowd.

My overall impression is that is was a VERY full show. She gave a lot and the band was tight. The songs were sequenced well, too. One cool song after another.

With one of the greatest bands of all time at her disposal, why on earth was she touring solo?

Maybe Stevie was busy with Rock A Little. But I imagine Go Insane was either finished by the time of this tour, or the tour could have been scheduled for after it was.

And even if not, does anyone really think Mick and John wouldn't have backed her up?

Her band was pretty good, though. i saw her on that tour and i remember being impressed. :) and i don't know if FM would have been thrilled to be her 'back up band' while she was doing all new solo stuff?

i mean, she was 'touring solo' to promote her solo album, and it was all on a much smaller scale than any Mac tour ever was. Mick i believe was actually on the road as well w/ his own band, the Zoo, around that time period. Stevie and LB had their own stuff going on. And John was pretty bad w the alcohol at that time, so... she used the band she had made the album with. and she probably wanted Eddy there since they were an item by them....so no way would john have wanted to be around all that, as he was never fond of him lol.

i think Chris did a good job w the band she had.

--Lis

She did that solo album as part of her contractual obligation with Warner Bros. Not a shabby obligation, I’d say!

As far as the members of FM being available to back her up, Lindsey was off writing music for what was supposed to be his third album. Stevie was contractually obligated to do Rock a Little less than a year later. John was raising a family.

Mick and Lindsey helped her a lot. LB played and sang on three tracks. Mick on one. Then Mick played live for her video album special.

But I am glad she used her own band. Hawkins and Ferrone make a killer rhythm section. Sharp is a fine guitarist in his own right. The only thing her band could have used was a backup singer to handle high-end harmonies. Christine used David Isaacs, a fine tenor, in the studio for ITM. “Friend” and “Sweet Revenge” benefit from his harmonies.

FWIW John didn't have Molly in 1984. She was born in 89. He was still drinking his *ss off in 84. But it was his little riff with Chris that inspired Love Will Show Us How. and yes, it was nice that LB and Mick helped her on that album, too.

--Lis

That's right! I forgot about John's uncredited contribution to the music.

I love that you a repository for all-things John! It helps us place things in context. Molly was born in 1989? Wow--he became a father rather late. As did Lindsey. Glad they both found that joy after years of the rock-n-roll life...

LOL yes I suppose I am that repository. i love him to bits. and yes he was a late in life dad...by 1989 he and Jules had both gotten themselves together a bit more... although he still had rough patches after that as well. when he first started writing me in 1995 he loved to talk about Molly. seemed to be a very involved dad.. at that point--after the release of Time, which flopped, and that whole tour-- that's really all he was doing! that and sailing.


In my basement is a framed email from him which to this day blows my mind every time I read it. To have this guy who I adored from age 12 (him and Chris were always my favorites...) #1 congratulating me on the birth of my child, and #2 telling me the rumours of a fleetwood mac reunion were 'not far off the mark' and that they were all talking, and he hoped it was gonna happen...ay dios mio. talk about surreal. :xoxo:


--Lis

Her band was incredible. Chris was a terrific musician and writer. Her standards were high because of her own talent. Even though she was a keyboard player, her live solo stuff was still guitar based with a mix of keyboards. It all blended nicely. I always wished Todd got the call to join the Mac.
1984: Stevie was so coked out she was not even showing up in the studio. Lindsey was fascinated with the studio and was not into live gigs. Mick was declaring bankruptcy. John was sailing on his boat. Chris had a fine set of musicians touring making great music. Chris needed to get away from that dysfunction. I am glad I got to see her solo show. But I was always sad that her album was not more of a success and her solo tour was not successful. I know she never wanted to be a solo star but her solo career was almost a self fulfilling prophecy. Rock A Little, Go Insane, and her 1984 solo album. Her solo album holds up so much better. She was so classy that she never embraced the slick quick 80s music trends which is why her music holds up.

Steve Ferrone is a monster drummer. His work with the Heartbreakers is incredible.

And George Hawkins is a great bassist and vocalist. Aside from him being in their inner circle, he used to sing Stevie’s part on “Whenever I Call You Friend” when he was with Kenny Loggins, so it makes sense why he was the perfect bassist for her solo band. Incidentally, my favorite harmony George did was on “One More Time With Feeling” on John’s solo album.

Steve has done some sophisticated drumming in his career. Jazz/R&B/Rock. Like Chester Thompson (also a monster drummer)

So true. Steve is so good and all the big names have used him at one time or another. The list is too long but he has recorded with Mick Jagger, Eric Clapton, Roberta Flack, Stevie Nicks, Whitney Houston, Anita Baker. That is just scratching the surface. I love that Chris used him again on her 2004 solo album. He is always in demand. His drum crack on The Smile I Live For gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.

As I mentioned above, she was lucky to have such a killer backing band. Steve and George aren't Mick and John, but they bring an exuberant attack to the material Fleetwood and McVie do not. Whereas her old bandmates are understated and sly in their sophistication, Hawkins and Ferrone drive the material with a certain slick, LA flair. They're pros but their playing is not anonymous.

It's a split second of less dragging. And it bit more in synch. So when they do jamn, it's blows the roof off. Her timing and playing is a bit more on point if you notice.

I do notice! Tight is definitely the word. It lacks the Mac‘s ineffable chemistry, but it rocks hard and pushes forward without, as you say, that brief drag…

It's so nice to watch her keyboard work gel with her band. Years of playing with so many line-ups!!

I am really glad Stevie, Christine, and Lindsey all did solo albums in the 80s. We got so many more great songs from all three of them. But I wonder, if there was an album between Mirage and Tango, what it would have been like.

Mixing Go Insane, Wild Heart and Christine McVie would be amazing.

Sable On Blonde already sounds like Christine John and Mick.

In retrospect, it was that five year period between Mirage and Tango that set a sad precedent for the band's future. Had they done an album in between, they'd have established themselves more fully in the new era.

On the other hand, they also became known as the band whose infrequent projects and reunions were always so celebrated because they were so rare.

It had to be Lindsey's and Stevie's fault. Mick, John or Chris wouldn't have put the band on hold for 5 years.

Go Insane is a very good album, so is CM and WH. I'm glad I have these gems.

It certainly was their fault. Mick wanted to keep the action going (needed recreation money at the very least), and Christine always said she was raring to go for studio projects.

Stevie was required by contract to produce another solo album (as if we NEEDED Rock a Little?) and Lindsey was hell bent on cultivating his creative freedom (though Go Insane is my least favorite of his albums). The one cool thing that came out of the delay was Christine's 1984 album. Still, I would have preferred a 1984 Mac album. Then the 1987 one. They were always better together.

WH and Christine's album are very good. And we wouldn't have gotten "One in a Million" on a Fleetwood Mac album Lindsey was producing. So, I'm glad to have that. "Ask Anybody" is another gem. And "Smile I Live For"( which might have appeared on a Mac album, had there been one in 1984) is great right where it is.

I'm just not entirely convinced about Go Insane. It's professional. It's slick. It's well-executed. But it just doesn't spark for me. It's a nervous, neurotic record.

This thread inspired me to revisit it and I was blown away at how it sounds a lot like modern indie rock. I hear bands that sound eerily similar to that album, especially side 2.

I'm just sayin.. of course the voicings are going to be 80's. But, the arrangement AND running order of the album. The concept of what exactly was going on with his life and his insane need to stay in a relationship. Dennis Wilson, and his Danny Elfman like sound effects. I personally think the nailed it. And it's a clear departure from Law and Order.

He plays and sounds connected to it. It's not a bunch of songs. I love it.
And Tony, we finally disagree on something. Thank God!

Especially after the TITN tour. Instead of a GH album four years ahead of the inevitable 25th Anniversary box set, a Stevie solo album, and two godawful concert videos, the lone focus should have been making the best Fleetwood Mac album with the new lineup using the best material from the four writers as possible. Stevie was too diminished for that level of overexposure. That’s what led to their downward spiral.

I've never gotten into Go Insane. I had walked away from the band for a couple years when it came out. I own it, of course, but.... meh...I FAR prefer Law and Order. Hands down.

Amen. L and O is so dear to me and so special. It has character.

We agree where it counts! All hail Christine!

Though, as I recall, I LOVE Temporary One and you don’t. Another argument for another time :)

It's f*cking freaky deaky! So f*cking WEIRD. 100X weirder than Tusk. I love every f*cking note on it. The greatest thing Lindsey ever put out. :woohoo:


Welllll.... it's....a.... long, long time.......

... and this is why I must go.

No freedom in the mouth... so I don't like it.

“Your jam it tastes the sweetest to me”—yes folks: a 73 year old woman wrote and sang those lines.

I'll say it again....

I've always wondered if she and Lindsey "did it".

While I'm at it, John and $tevie, too.

After Lindsey, she was like a blind woman that now can see! :laugh:

Thank you so much for posting this rare gem from The Majestic Theater in San Antonio! I was at this show and it was magical! The theater was only about half full, so it was an intimate performance. I especially appreciated Chris including songs from the Bare Trees and Mystery to Me albums.

Also - is that the Fleetwood Mac tour manager John Courage introducing Christine at the beginning of the show?

Most likely JC introducing her. He was her manager.

Sounds abut right, but I don't remember.