(A Fairly Exhaustive) Timeline

[snoot]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

My hunch is that Christine officially joined the band prior to the Kiln House tour, but they said she was a "guest" because she was still under contract with Blue Horizon. I think that's also partially why she started going by Christine McVie. I mean, she DID work as Christine Perfect for a while after she married John.

I don't think so Steve, for a couple of reasons. For starters, the tour followed very closely on the heels of the KH sessions. If she signed on prior to the actual tour, that would have made her an official member of the group during the Kiln House project, and I think that can be pretty much ruled out (unless you mean a very short time before the tour). I never heard of any FM contract being signed by CM prior to that summer of '70 tour. Beyond that, her relatively light involvement on Kiln House would strongly point to her enlistment a side player only. I think the only sure-fire way she could have been induced out of "retirement" was with the allure of becoming a full fledged member of the Mac. To my knowledge, that BH contract did more to bind her recording-wise than it did regarding stage or live performances.

If it had not been for those BH contractual obligations (and recording resistance), I'm positive Christy would have been credited as being a guest artist on the Kiln House project in addition to the album artwork acknowledgement she did receive, but not as a direct member of the band. Maybe Jeremy will spot this and give us his assessment and recollections. I'd also be interested to know where Kiln House was recorded - I've heard it was at that country estate, but were they really set up as such in that rental to pull off a full project? I know FM recorded a lot at CBS Studios on New Bond, and later at Advision in London. But what about Kiln House, and Then Play On for that matter? Bust out your reference books boys, or JS put on your thinking cap and do tell.

[snoot]

Thinking back on it, could they have been done at Kingsway Recorders, the old De Lane Lea studios? Or maybe Olympic Studios in London? What can I say ... the mind is a terrible thing to lose.

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by snoot

For starters, the tour followed very closely on the heels of the KH sessions. If she signed on prior to the actual tour, that would have made her an official member of the group during the Kiln House project, and I think that can be pretty much ruled out (unless you mean a very short time before the tour).

That's exactly what I meant. I think she became an official member of the band, at least as far as the rest of the band was concerned, contract or no, when she agreed to go on tour and began rehearsing for the tour with them, and was an official member of the band when she flew out with them to New Orleans. Again, maybe not under a contract (for legal reasons), but at least in spirit.

I also contend that the "guest" stuff and deciding to change her name over to McVie was due in large part to the BH contract.

[Norton]

Benifolds is definately in Hampshire (but close to the border of Hampshire/Sussex/Surrey). Haslemere in Surrey is only a few miles away.... here is an ariel photo..

http://maps.google.com/maps?hl=en&t=...-0.815499&z=17

[snoot]

Yes, and how delicious is the irony that one of the key stretches of road between Kiln House and Benifolds is <> Green Street <>