Mr. Sorcinelli, I loved this article and thank you for writing it. But I was wondering if you could provide any info about an issue it doesn't address (perhaps because it amounts to nothing more than, no pun intended, rumors!).
For years I've heard here and there on the internet that Mick Fleetwood and maybe John McVie were in such bad shape at the time of the making of Tango in the Night that one or both of them contributed either little or absolutely nothing to the actual making of the music on the record. That one or both of them was even barred from the studio (by Buckingham?) and just showed up for the album's photo shoot.
Do you know if there's any truth to that? Did either or both of them not play anything, or play little, for the album? Or were they all-in contributors to the recording sessions? Or somewhere in between?
The stories about Mick are probably what led to that thought. One published story says that Mick was living with Engineer Richard Dashut, but Lindsey has said that Mick was living in the RV in his driveway. I personally saw Mick during this period at the Palomino Club in North Hollywood, and he was embarrassingly so messed up, that even I didn't want to bother getting his autograph. No one did! John also has been said to have initially been very rusty having not played in a long time, but got his groove back. I never heard about anyone having been 'banned', though.
Thanks so much for reading. To be honest, I'm not sure if those rumors are true or not. As I touched on in the opening paragraphs, various members in the group were definitely in rough shape before and during this album's creation. But I don't know specifically of any one member being banned from the studio/not pulling their weight on the album. Fleetwood Mac is kind of a tough group to write about because there's so much backstory and mythology swirling around their personal lives and their music. With any band/group of collaborators, separating fact from fiction is hard at times because everyone remembers things differently and people's memories of events change over time.
Let me know if you find anything related to this rumor and I'll do the same. Thanks again for reading.
Mr. Sorcinelli, I loved this article and thank you for writing it. But I was wondering if you could provide any info about an issue it doesn't address (perhaps because it amounts to nothing more than, no pun intended, rumors!).
For years I've heard here and there on the internet that Mick Fleetwood and maybe John McVie were in such bad shape at the time of the making of Tango in the Night that one or both of them contributed either little or absolutely nothing to the actual making of the music on the record. That one or both of them was even barred from the studio (by Buckingham?) and just showed up for the album's photo shoot.
Do you know if there's any truth to that? Did either or both of them not play anything, or play little, for the album? Or were they all-in contributors to the recording sessions? Or somewhere in between?
Thanx -- Matthew
The stories about Mick are probably what led to that thought. One published story says that Mick was living with Engineer Richard Dashut, but Lindsey has said that Mick was living in the RV in his driveway. I personally saw Mick during this period at the Palomino Club in North Hollywood, and he was embarrassingly so messed up, that even I didn't want to bother getting his autograph. No one did! John also has been said to have initially been very rusty having not played in a long time, but got his groove back. I never heard about anyone having been 'banned', though.
Hey Matthew,
Thanks so much for reading. To be honest, I'm not sure if those rumors are true or not. As I touched on in the opening paragraphs, various members in the group were definitely in rough shape before and during this album's creation. But I don't know specifically of any one member being banned from the studio/not pulling their weight on the album. Fleetwood Mac is kind of a tough group to write about because there's so much backstory and mythology swirling around their personal lives and their music. With any band/group of collaborators, separating fact from fiction is hard at times because everyone remembers things differently and people's memories of events change over time.
Let me know if you find anything related to this rumor and I'll do the same. Thanks again for reading.
Best,
Gino