FLEETWOOD MAC 101
Lesson Two: A New Incarnation is Born
In 1974, drummer Mick Fleetwood,
bassist John McVie, and pianist Christine McVie were looking for a new guitarist for Fleetwood
Mac. They had settled in Los Angeles at the time, and were starting to
stray from their roots as a British blues band.
Meanwhile, a young couple was
struggling to make it in the music business.
Lindsey Buckingham, a guitarist,
and his girlfriend Stephanie "Stevie" Nicks had released an album
together called Buckingham Nicks. It was relatively disappointing and the
couple was dropped from their label.
They were ready to call it
quits. Stevie's parents had made arrangements
for her to come home and go back to school.
Mick started
checking out potential studios in the L.A. area for a place to record the next
Fleetwood Mac album. He came upon Sound City Studios and owner Keith
Olsen. Keith began demonstrating to Mick the quality of recording that
his studio could produce. He used the studio recording of a song called
"Frozen Love" to make his point of just how good the acoustics were
in his studio. Mick then asked Keith who the guitarist was on the
recording as he was quite impressed. The guitarist turned out to be
none other than Lindsey Buckingham.
Mick met with Lindsey, and Lindsey
kindly explained that he and Stevie came as a pair.
Mick Fleetwood and John McVie hired Lindsey and Stevie on. Little did they know, that this new incarnation would propel them in to
super-stardom.
Next time, the making of the first
album!