Bob Welch has died

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by wetcamelfood

I think Jimmy Robinson produced the 1st Paris album.

Anyway, well, PG, JS & DK weren't there either and it went fine. Would it have been the end of the world if, say it was Christine, Mick would just say like he did with those three that they/CM "couldn't be here tonight but he thanks them on their behalf" or whatever? Just a thought.

John

EDIT: Oops, of course PG was there, can't remember about JS but DK def wasn't so point being DK and/or CM (if CM is "the one') would have still been inducted but not present at the awards show etc.

That's why it makes you think perhaps it was Lindsey, or more crucially, Stevie. If either of them hadn't shown, it would have been a big flurry in the press....*especially* if Stevie didn't show. I love her to death, but what with the royal court that surrounds her such a thing would not surprise me. Majorly disappoint me, but not surprise.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

That's why it makes you think perhaps it was Lindsey, or more crucially, Stevie. If either of them hadn't shown, it would have been a big flurry in the press....*especially* if Stevie didn't show. I love her to death, but what with the royal court that surrounds her such a thing would not surprise me. Majorly disappoint me, but not surprise.

Has Lindsey ever said anything publicly about keeping up with Bob over the years?

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Has Lindsey ever said anything publicly about keeping up with Bob over the years?

Not that I'm aware of, but I don't always keep up that closely with his press.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Has Lindsey ever said anything publicly about keeping up with Bob over the years?

No, Lindsey hasn't. Lindsey says he doesn't even keep up with John.

Following Bob's death, there was a press report in the obits saying that he was still friendly with Lindsey and, especially, Stevie.

Michele

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

BTW, for any of you attending one of the upcoming meet and greets, for crikeys sake, ASK LINDSEY about this!!!!!!

I was shocked by his silence about it at the Ithaca show, which was only one night after Bob's suicide.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

EDIT - I should add, that she just posted that "It wasn't Mick, who kept Bob out of the HOF, but another small minded person in the band"

As much as Wendy is grieving, and as much as I have been moved by her loving posts, I don't think it all comes down to one band member saying no. Bob may have felt that way, and certainly at the time of his death the only one he appeared not to have reconciled with was Christine, but we should be careful about making any assumptions that would finger one person. Still, it's quite tempting to develop a theory.

And it is certain that the deterioration of Christine's and Bob's friendship is very sad in light of their closeness and her praises of him in throughout the late 70s and early 80s.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Billy was in the band for eight years, and BTM was the highest charting, biggest selling record that didn't involve Buckingham.

That album sold so well because of the remaining Rumours-era members presence on it. Anything with Stevie's name is bound to sell more than the 250,000 units Pre-BN albums usually sold.

Billy and Rick worked very hard for FM, especially Billy. But I don't think their contributions were as crucial musically as Welch's. We can agree to disagree.

[wetcamelfood]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

That's why it makes you think perhaps it was Lindsey, or more crucially, Stevie. If either of them hadn't shown, it would have been a big flurry in the press....*especially* if Stevie didn't show. I love her to death, but what with the royal court that surrounds her such a thing would not surprise me. Majorly disappoint me, but not surprise.

Yeah well that's why I suspected them first but because Wendy said it's "someone that you wouldn't expect" that's why I thought maybe Christine but like someone said above it could be a few voices spoke up and that combination made it be that way (for lack of a better phrase) but that also since Wendy is in the grieving process now we probably shouldn't read in to things (which I'm guilty of).

John

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

I was shocked by his silence about it at the Ithaca show, which was only one night after Bob's suicide.

Lindsey may not have been close to Bob or he may have hated his guts, I don't know. Maybe he didn't feel it was worth mentioning. However, if he had any sentimental feelings about Bob, I'm not surprised that he didn't acknowledge the passing. His father died in 1974 and his brother died 16 years after that and Lindsey still gets choked up trying to dedicate a song to them in concert after all of these years.

Even just making an observation that Greg would have been proud of Cory made him tear up on stage, so if he felt emotion about Bob Welch, he might have wanted to keep it private, especially so soon after the event, rather than standing in front of an audience trying to find words about something so tragic. It's easy to do such a thing if it's someone you admired from afar, but if you actually spent time with them as a human being and have this vision of that person whose face and voice you knew going into a room and taking their life, I can imagine that a polite speech might be a little hard to cook up on the fly.

Michele

[michelej1]

Nashville Scene
http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashvi...nt?oid=2897312

Remembering the Fleetwood Mac member and "Sentimental Lady" hit-maker
Bob Welch, 1946-2012

by EDD HURT

Among other qualities you could attribute to the guitarist, singer and songwriter Bob Welch, who was found dead June 7 at his Antioch home, it's clear that he was in the music business to make other people happy, not to mention himself. His career contains many of the contradictions that make '70s rock so endearing.

The quality of Welch's music is high. He was a stylish, skillful guitarist who became famous by joining Fleetwood Mac, back when the British band was composed of stone-cold blues obsessives hooked on Sonny Boy Williamson and Elmore James. Welch helped to steer Fleetwood Mac, and thus '70s rock, toward a future that cunningly commercialized the strictures of "Dust My Broom" and the classic Chess Records shuffle by adding generous helpings of commercial, easy-rolling pop.

Born in Los Angeles in 1946 into a show-business family, Welch kicked around in America before heading to Paris — he was a member of the California band The Seven Souls, who made a couple of singles in the mid '60s — and got his break with Fleetwood Mac after he had played a succession of unsuccessful groups. Fleetwood Mac had made their name as a blues band featuring guitarists Peter Green and Danny Kirwain, and released the fine Kiln House at the turn of the decade.

Kiln House contained as much old-time rock 'n' roll as it did electric blues, and by the time Welch was hired in 1971 to play rhythm guitar behind Kirwain, the group was seeking a larger audience. Along with fellow new hire Christine McVie, Welch took Fleetwood Mac in a post-blues, post-psychedelic and decidedly pop direction. The two-guitar combination is potent on "Child of Mine," the first track on the group's 1972 full-length Bare Trees — the British Americana enthusiasts had mastered their own hybrid rock 'n' roll style.

Still, the track that pointed the way toward rock's future was Bare Trees' "Sentimental Lady," an early Welch classic. "We live in a time when paintings have no color/Words don't rhyme," Welch sings. "And that's why I've traveled far/'Cause I come so together where you are." As song and sentiment, "Sentimental Lady" throws over Memphis Minnie for one of those idealized L.A. ladies who populate the tunes of the Eagles, Firefall and all the other American bands with whom Fleetwood Mac competed on '70s radio playlists.

As far as I'm concerned, the Welch-fueled Fleetwood Mac records are quite listenable — I like their blues period, and their post-Welch smashes Rumours and Fleetwood Mac are, of course, rock classics — and I'd like to think that it was Welch's very anonymity that make the mid-period Mac records work. If the British members of Fleetwood Mac had a foot in a variety of American blues music they'd managed to experience first-hand, if a bit late in the game, Welch was as Californian as a big hamburger, with an avocado crescent peeking out from beneath the bun.

You can hear the future of rock on even a seemingly innocuous piece of Welch-rock such as Bare Trees' "The Ghost." A sneaky guitar lick begins the song, with a flute providing atmosphere reminiscent of The Mamas & the Papas' "California Dreamin'." The song is about a daydream amidst a California landscape that is on fire, and Welch craftily works in a jazzy guitar hook. "The Ghost" is easy-listening rock without ideology, and Welch sings in a breezy voice perfect for pop.

Welch stayed with Fleetwood Mac through the end of 1974, and the group went on to their greatest success afterwards with Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. Meanwhile, Welch re-recorded "Sentimental Lady" and hit the charts with the song in 1977. The following year, "Ebony Eyes" went to No. 14 on the American charts, and "Hot Love, Cold World" made No. 31. The hits dried up after that, but he had a good ride. A gifted guitarist with roots in jazz and blues — just like Peter Green — Welch was a pop master, and such giants should make their statements and then fade away to a life of sentimental ladies, vintage wines and easy times.

But in later years, Welch was left out of Fleetwood Mac's lineup when the band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. This didn't sit well with Welch, who rightfully believed he had helped the band make the transition from '60s burnouts to '70s super-group. He moved to Nashville and released re-recorded versions of his signature songs, along with a jazz record titled Bob Welch Looks at Bop. Concerned about his health — he had undergone spinal surgery a few months previously, and doctors had told him he was facing life as an invalid — Welch ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

That album sold so well because of the remaining Rumours-era members presence on it. Anything with Stevie's name is bound to sell more than the 250,000 units Pre-BN albums usually sold.

In Europe, prior to 1975, "anything with Peter Green's name is bound to sell more..."

Apples to apples.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

In Europe, prior to 1975, "anything with Peter Green's name is bound to sell more..."

Apples to apples.

I wouldn't agree or disagree with that, since I don't have the European market sales charts.

But that's besides the point anyway. My original opinion stands: Bob Welch's tenure with FM was more substantially musically and historically than Burnette's or Vito's without slights to them as people or musicians.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Lindsey may not have been close to Bob or he may have hated his guts, I don't know. Maybe he didn't feel it was worth mentioning. However, if he had any sentimental feelings about Bob, I'm not surprised that he didn't acknowledge the passing. His father died in 1974 and his brother died 16 years after that and Lindsey still gets choked up trying to dedicate a song to them in concert after all of these years.

Even just making an observation that Greg would have been proud of Cory made him tear up on stage, so if he felt emotion about Bob Welch, he might have wanted to keep it private, especially so soon after the event, rather than standing in front of an audience trying to find words about something so tragic. It's easy to do such a thing if it's someone you admired from afar, but if you actually spent time with them as a human being and have this vision of that person whose face and voice you knew going into a room and taking their life, I can imagine that a polite speech might be a little hard to cook up on the fly.

Michele

I hope you're right here, that his silence speaks to an effort to keep it together on stage. It's a maybe, but one that would speak well of Lindsey if it's true.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

But that's besides the point anyway. My original opinion stands: Bob Welch's tenure with FM was more substantially musically and historically than Burnette's or Vito's without slights to them as people or musicians.

No, you missed my point.

Were Jeremy and Danny included because of their contributions to the band? If that's the case, Welch should have been inducted too because his contributions were more successful. Were Jeremy and Danny inducted because they were in a successful line-up? If that's the case, Billy and Rick were in the second most successful line-up. The argument that Billy and Rick were only in a successful version of Fleetwood Mac because Stevie Nicks was in it, and their music as it relates to the band's success wouldn't justify their inclusion into the Hall of Fame could also be made about Danny and Jeremy (much though it kills me to say that).

I personally don't see why Welch, Burnette (the second longest tenure of Fleetwood Mac guitarists), and possibly Vito weren't included. There were many artists in there who've done less.


Then again, Gram Parsons, Clarence White, and Gene Parsons weren't included with The Byrds, and the country-era Byrds were highly influential.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

That's why it makes you think perhaps it was Lindsey, or more crucially, Stevie. If either of them hadn't shown, it would have been a big flurry in the press....*especially* if Stevie didn't show. I love her to death, but what with the royal court that surrounds her such a thing would not surprise me. Majorly disappoint me, but not surprise.

I'd be majorly disappointed and surprised if it were Stevie. It doesn't strike me as her style. Plus, to the best of our collective knowledge as fans, Stevie had no reason to bear a grudge toward Bob or want him blocked from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. It would also seem that Bob, in the years after the R&RHoF snub, harbored no ill-will toward Stevie or Lindsey.

In his 1999 Q&A here on The Penguin, he wrote, "I talk to Stevie once or twice a year, and always go to her show if she's in town... Of course my "beef" was not anything to do with Stevie or Lindsey anyway. I haven't talked to Mick, John, or Chris at all, and frankly don't expect to.."