Heart of Stone

bwboy · #1 06-01-2021, 08:15 PM

From Billy Burnette’s autobiography Crazy Like Me:

“Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine and I recorded two new songs, “Love Shines” and “Heart of Stone,” for the FM box set. Patrick Leonard, who produced Madonna at the time, produced them. They were a couple of my favorites that we did while I was with the band.”

Nothing conclusive, but it’s very telling to me that he doesn’t mention Stevie. He confirms the two songs were recorded at the same time, so it makes no sense that Stevie would have sang on one and not the other.

Villavic · #2 06-01-2021, 08:42 PM

I read this thread in my laptop and immediately looked for and played in youtube. My laptop sound has no great sound, but I would say I did hear Stevie.

Then I looked for info, there is not much. Fandom mention this, but I undestand it's a colaborative page:
Heart of Stone is a song written by Christine McVie and Eddy Quintela and recorded by McVie with Fleetwood Mac as one of four original tracks on their 1992 compilation 25 Years: The Chain. It has never been released anywhere else and is currently not available for download.

Personnel
Christine McVie - vocals, keyboards
Billy Burnette - guitar, backing vocals
John McVie - bass
Mick Fleetwood - drums

bwboy · #3 06-01-2021, 08:57 PM

To piggyback off what Villavic said, here’s another quote from Billy Burnette’s autobiography:

“There were three different incarnations of FM while I was with them. The first was Stevie, Christine, John, Rick, Mick, and me. After the Behind the Mask tour, we did some tracks for The Chain. That lineup was Christine and John McVie, Mick Fleetwood and me. The tracks were “Love Shines” and “Heart of Stone.” The last lineup I was in was Bekka Bramlett, Christine McVie, John McVie, Dave Mason, Mick Fleetwood and me.”

bombaysaffires · #4 06-01-2021, 10:21 PM

she's still audible on Heart of Stone.

as the Queen recently said "recollections may vary"

Villavic · #5 06-01-2021, 10:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwboy

The last lineup I was in was Bekka Bramlett, Christine McVie, John McVie, Dave Mason, Mick Fleetwood and me.”

I read somewhere that Christine didn't get along with Mason. Did she actually record with him? I mean were they together in the studio?

HomerMcvie · #6 06-01-2021, 11:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Villavic

I read somewhere that Christine didn't get along with Mason. Did she actually record with him? I mean were they together in the studio?

I believe that they HATED each other. If I knew the reason why, I've forgotten. I'll bet Steve MacD knows why, but he seems to have left the board...

I only remember ever seeing ONE pic of the full Time band.

*looks at pic* Man that Bekka was(IS) SMOKING! It's a damned shame they never gave this lineup a real shot!

HomerMcvie · #7 06-01-2021, 11:39 PM

And I found a second pic in my archives...

FuzzyPlum · #8 06-02-2021, 02:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwboy

From Billy Burnette’s autobiography Crazy Like Me:

“Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine and I recorded two new songs, “Love Shines” and “Heart of Stone,” for the FM box set. Patrick Leonard, who produced Madonna at the time, produced them. They were a couple of my favorites that we did while I was with the band.”

Nothing conclusive, but it’s very telling to me that he doesn’t mention Stevie. He confirms the two songs were recorded at the same time, so it makes no sense that Stevie would have sang on one and not the other.

The thing is, Billy's book is absolutely littered with mistakes. As good a read as it is, its filled with grammatical errors and factual inaccuracies. I wouldn't, therefore rely 100% on what he says.

I'm sure he did only record the song with Mick, John and Christine, but maybe Stevie was recorded at some later stage for overdubs or perhaps they even had a set of her vocals hanging around from a previous (redundant) recording session.

**jbrownsjr** · #9 06-02-2021, 11:24 AM

Or, you can just go listen to the track. She's on it.

bwboy · #10 06-02-2021, 01:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

Or, you can just go listen to the track. She's on it.

I’ve heard people say they don’t think Stevie is on Magnet and Steel, so I defer to things like production notes before anything else. Because it’s insane to me that anyone would say they don’t think it’s Stevie on Magnet and Steel, and there’s objective evidence to back that up- she’s credited on the song. It’s not just an opinion.

I don’t hear Stevie on Heart of Stone, but she could be on it. But looking at the time frame, it seems very unlikely. She quit FM, then got into a tiff with Mick and they didn’t speak for 2 years. The tiff started in 1991, and the Chain box set was released in 1992, which was when Heart of Stone and Love Shines were recorded. I’m trying to imagine a scenario where Stevie would be angry enough with Mick that she wouldn’t speak to him, but then agree to return to sing backup vocals for one of Christine’s songs. And not even both songs, but just one. Mick couldn’t even get a new song from Stevie for the box set, even with the promise of a producer like Patrick Leonard, so they had to get Paper Doll off the shelf from 1988. It would be nice to think that Stevie would have reunited with FM for new songs in 1992, but does anyone see that as realistic?

**jbrownsjr** · #11 06-02-2021, 01:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bwboy

I’ve heard people say they don’t think Stevie is on Magnet and Steel, so I defer to things like production notes before anything else. Because it’s insane to me that anyone would say they don’t think it’s Stevie on Magnet and Steel, and there’s objective evidence to back that up- she’s credited on the song. It’s not just an opinion.

I don’t hear Stevie on Heart of Stone, but she could be on it. But looking at the time frame, it seems very unlikely. She quit FM, then got into a tiff with Mick and they didn’t speak for 2 years. The tiff started in 1991, and the Chain box set was released in 1992, which was when Heart of Stone and Love Shines were recorded. I’m trying to imagine a scenario where Stevie would be angry enough with Mick that she wouldn’t speak to him, but then agree to return to sing backup vocals for one of Christine’s songs. And not even both songs, but just one. Mick couldn’t even get a new song from Stevie for the box set, even with the promise of a producer like Patrick Leonard, so they had to get Paper Doll off the shelf from 1988. It would be nice to think that Stevie would have reunited with FM for new songs in 1992, but does anyone see that as realistic?

I hear ya BWBOY... they could have had Lindsey come in later on and fake her voice. Or maybe she was on the demo and they used that track.
Christine was also a little clever faking that voice in the studio.
But if you listen to it, it sure sounds like her. I'd consider that it could be a fake Stevie or a used track. Email Billy. You might get an answer.

xhector · #12 06-02-2021, 03:51 PM

It's her. If you can't hear her during the song, listen to the fade out. At 4:12. It seems that they put her louder in the mix at that final chorus. "That you had a heart of STONE". It's her. Lindsey can't mimmick that, or nobody.

**jbrownsjr** · #13 06-02-2021, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xhector

It's her. If you can't hear her during the song, listen to the fade out. At 4:12. It seems that they put her louder in the mix at that final chorus. "That you had a heart of STONE". It's her. Lindsey can't mimmick that, or nobody.

Agreed. I can clearly hear her, especially at the end.

Stevieforever · #14 06-03-2021, 10:48 PM

It's absolutely her! But l too have always been puzzled by when it was recorded. To me, it sounds like it was recorded at the exact same time as "As Long as You Follow." Listen to the last minute or so of both songs and you can hear Stevie singing exactly the same way on both. Is it possibly that like with Stevie's two songs she did for "Greatest Hits," with "Paper Doll" being held over for the box set, that Christine did two as well and "Heart of Stone" was a hold over from 1988 also? Any thoughts?

Regardless of when it was recorded, it is one of my absolute favorite Christine songs ever!! I was so happy to see a thread dedicated to it and just had to join in!

Mr Scarrott · #15 06-04-2021, 07:39 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Stevieforever

It's absolutely her! But l too have always been puzzled by when it was recorded. To me, it sounds like it was recorded at the exact same time as "As Long as You Follow." Listen to the last minute or so of both songs and you can hear Stevie singing exactly the same way on both. Is it possibly that like with Stevie's two songs she did for "Greatest Hits," with "Paper Doll" being held over for the box set, that Christine did two as well and "Heart of Stone" was a hold over from 1988 also? Any thoughts?

But Rick Vito doesn't appear to be on HoS, per Billy's account... and "Heart of Stone" & "Love Shines" were both produced by Patrick Leonard after Vito left,unlike the 1988 stuff ("No Questions asked" "Paper Doll" and "As long as you follow" ) which were produced by Greg Ladanyi.

Stevie may have just done some overdubs after Chris, Billy, John & Mick recorded "Heart of Stone" as a favour after she had formally left.