7/29/72 Melody Maker article

[macfan 57]

Here's an old Fleetwood Mac article in Melody Maker from 1972.


Melody Maker 7/29/72

Mac Take It Easy

By Chris Charlesworth



Mick Fleetwood is overseeing the fitting of a new silencer to his V8 Morgan; John McVie and his wife Christine are painting the hall; Danny Kirwan is away at the seaside and Bob Welch is at home in the States.

It’s a typical day in the life of Fleetwood Mac, a band from whom we’ve heard very little since the departure of Jeremy Spencer to the Jesus cult-but a band who’ve been getting it together at a different pace from the rest of those who live out in the country. They can afford to relax.

With years of touring and one-nighters behind them, Fleetwood Mac are in the comfortable position of being able to choose when and where they work, instead of accepting every offer that comes along.

Right now they’re holidaying between strenuous working spells. Their future schedule is planned carefully and life for the Macs is a far cry from the chaotic conditions under which many bands live.

They’re earned their money and invested it wisely in a massive country mansion miles from anywhere in the rough direction of Guildford.

Converted into flats for the use of the Fleetwoods and baby daughter, the McVies and the Kirwans, it serves also as a rehearsal room and, they hope, recording studio in the future.

It’s a kind of communal home where they can get away from each other if they want to; surely an ideal situation for a band.

Bob Welch, the latest addition to the group, who joined in Spencer’s departure, lives most of the time in Los Angeles, joining up with the other four when work demands. It’s an odd situation but one which seems to work quite well.

Easy

It’s true to say that Mac could have been classed as a “super group” by now, had it not been for the departure of Peter Green when they were on the crest of a wave.

At the time they were one of the biggest draws in the country, and doubtless would have remained so if their personnel had remained stable.

Now they seem no longer interested, happy to take things easy and lead orderly lives.

“It is possible that England is forgetting about us”, says John McVie, but at the same time he admits that it doesn’t really worry him. Mick Fleetwood and Christine agree. Their most recent gigs in this country were at colleges and universities, some of which were successful and others not so successful.

There’s another American tour lined up for September, and then a European tour which will include British dates, and December will see them back in America. The same month they’ll make a follow up album to their current album, “Bare Trees”.

“In England the band don’t sell too many albums, although we did at one time. In America, we are a growing band and so it figures that we should spend more time over there”, says Mick Fleetwood.

“It’s a slow process, but our albums are selling over there. In England, we may sell five or six thousand by the time they are finished, but it’s nowhere near what they used to sell.

“We needed that rest we are having at the moment because of the last American tour. I’d say we spend about six months every year in the States”.

How much did Jeremy Spencer’s leaving contribute to the decline in interest in the band?…”There were people who were Jeremy’s fans, and there were people who were Peter’s fans and they were the front liners so it was bound to affect us.” said Mick.

“Possibly people knew too much about the band, but possibly when fans see someone leaving they think the band has started to crumble a bit.

“As far as we are concerned this is definitely not the case. The band is probably a lot more professional musically than it ever has been before.

“Jeremy played the Elmore James style of shuffle and rock music, but Danny is much more of a songwriter and naturally the band changes when people come and go. Different musicians are bound to bring different styles.”

“The new album is much more mellow than anything we’ve done before,” said Christine.

“At the time we were happy with it, but it was recorded six months ago and now I’m not so sure. It was out in America first a long time before Britain. You always feel you can do better after a while.”

Christine, too, is against slogging around Britain playing as many dates as they can.

“In England, it means traveling by road and coming home each night in the very early hours, but in America you are staying in hotels. You don’t feel it’s such a tiring drag over there. If I am away I like to be away and that means completely away.

“We are doing positive stretches of work now and then rest periods, rather than a few gigs and a few days off.”

“All of us have had ten years on the road now and we feel it’s better to be organized,” said Mick. “We can’t sit on our bottoms here forever, but it’s not necessary to work as hard as we used to.”

Mick agrees that living together in the same house has helped the group a great deal. They had the mansion when Jeremy was with the band, and Mick feels that had it not been for the communal living the band would have broken up completely by now.

They’ve had the house for two years and the convenience of living together has paid off tenfold. They have their own rehearsal room, thus saving hire charges and because they are so far out in the country noise is no problem.

Soon the group will be introducing a Mellotron into their stage set. Christine, who has already played a Mellotron in the studio, will be playing one on stage.

“It’s just a basic guitar sound and we’ll be using it as a background instrument. Bands seem to have a lot of trouble with them on the road, but we hope this doesn’t happen. The one we’ve got is specially designed for use on the road.”

Single

I suggested that releasing a single might renew interest in the band in this country, but the group had decided against releasing a track from the new album as a single.

“We wouldn’t go into the studio to make a single and there’s not much point in doing it because we couldn’t promote it with Bob being away in America. It might do more harm than good,” said Christine.

“It’s very hard to get plays on the radio.”

[bretonbanquet]

That is really interesting! Thanks for posting!

[sharksfan2000]

Nice article, macfan! Thanks for posting it.

[aleuzzi]

Interesting article. It is, despite the band's decline fortunes, an oddly uplifting piece. The band seemed content. I new Bob eventually moved to LA when the band took a hiatus in late 73, but I never knew Bob used to spend so much time away from them before this. His involvement with them seemed so intimate. And I don't recall his mentioning this in either of his Q&As.

[DavidMn]

I loved reading that. How did you find it?

[macfan 57]

Originally Posted by DavidMn

I loved reading that. How did you find it?

I won it on eBay. I've collected quite a few old English music magazines with Christine/Fleetwood Mac articles.