Eagles Mentions in the Press (2006 - 2017)

[Jonny Come Lately]

Fleetwood Mac may have released seventeen albums, but nine of these came out before Lindsey and Stevie joined the band, by all means check for yourself:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fleetwood_Mac_discography

Thus Fleetwood Mac have over this time released eight studio albums - just one more than the Eagles. In order the eight albums are:
Fleetwood Mac (''The White Album'') - 1975
Rumours - 1977
Tusk - 1979
Mirage - 1982
Tango In The Night - 1987
Behind The Mask - 1990
Time - 1995
Say You Will - 2003

From this, I would say that they may be able to knock an album out in a couple of months, but they've not seen fit to release many since the 1980s.

Frankly I think Time can be discounted from this list - according to the credits it does not feature Stevie Nicks at all, and features Lindsey Buckingham singing backing vocals (not lead vocals, and no guitar) on one track. As someone who loves Rumours dearly, I have never been remotely curious about listening to this album. Would you accept an album featuring - for the sake of argument - Bernie, Randy and Joe, with Glenn singing on the harmonies on one track and Don nowhere to be seen, as a proper Eagles album? I know I wouldn't.

Also, there have been times when Fleetwood Mac's lack of a unified creative vision has harmed their music - Tusk is IMO the best example of this. Lindsey Buckingham's minimalist production style suited his own material (with strong influences from punk and new wave, although also bluegrass to a certain extent) but I think was totally unsuited to Christine's songs, bar the well produced and classic Mac sounding Think About Me. Her songs on that album for the most part were not especially strong pieces of writing and needed a fuller sound to highlight the melodies, whereas instead the stripped-back production highlighted their bland lyrics and lack of hooks.

One thing I would add to Soda's point is that Mick might be able to fire one of the vocalists, but if he did so he'd be seen as being on a par with Mike Love - a man firing the true creative talents in his band for the sake of wielding his own power. Suffice to say I have very little respect for Mike Love and although I am not a massive Beach Boys fan I think he cannot hold a candle to Brian Wilson and 'Mike Love's Beach Boys' are an empty, pale imitation of the real band.

[Funk 50]

Since 1975 the Eagles have produced 4 albums. 4 1/2 if you count the new songs on HFO. One's a double but so was Tusk.

I don't see how you can discount Time just because you don't want to count it. It's got Fleetwood Mac on the sleeve as the artist. It doesn't matter who's in the band. Hollywood (Some Other Kind of Town) is one of my favourite C McVie tracks.

You can't name 3 Eagles albums with the same line up.

Mick Fleetwood has shown that he'll keep Fleetwood Mac going whether the others want to be part of it or not.

I've bought most of the Eagles solo albums. At best there will be a couple of other Eagles on those. I don't judge the tracks by how many Eagles they have on them.

[sodascouts]

It's wonderful how Fleetwood Mac can knock out an album in a couple of months.

Are we talking about the same band? Fleetwood Mac hasn't "knocked out an album in a couple of months" since 1975! Even the live albums take longer than that to finalize.

Poor Lindsey would weep bitter tears at this statement. That's exactly what he was trying to express in the article - his frustration at the fact that despite he and Christine writing quickly, they can't do an album without Stevie on board, and she hasn't given them any kind of timeline.

At the risk of getting a bit off topic - before Rumours, Mick readily fired and replaced the singer/songwriters in the band, or tensions got so bad that they just left. Since several were mentally unstable and one was bedding his wife, you can't blame him for the Merry-go-round of band personnel (they had five different lead guitarists / lead vocalists come and go over the span of ten years). Only Mick Fleetood and John McVie, for whom the band is named, go back to the beginning in 1967; any album they put out as Fleetwood Mac is a "proper" album regardless of who else is in the band.

After the huge success of Rumours, however, Mick had zero desire to fire any of that "magic" line up. Chris, Lindsey, and Stevie have all left the band and rejoined along the way, but none were "fired". Instead, he took to humoring their whims, for better or for worse. I for one am profoundly grateful that he has managed to get so much out of the Rumours line-up, no matter what he had to do to achieve that.

Compared to Fleetwood Mac, the Eagles seem downright stable.

Still, those of us who read a lot of Lindsey's interviews know his "compliment" of the Eagles is a back-handed one. He's said elsewhere that he believes that they're unified by greed. I'm sure it doesn't help that half the band has been intimate with his ex.

[L101]

Just saw this on twitter today :


Wouldn't you just cry if you were that close to them and never realised until too late !!!

[VAisForEagleLovers]

I would be devastated, Lacken!

Here is an interview with a group called Love & Theft, and they mention the Eagles (and Jackson Browne) as major influences.

http://radio.com/2015/03/12/love-and...-on-my-breath/

[VAisForEagleLovers]

A discussion of music and fame and reality TV.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay...ectid=11419048

[VAisForEagleLovers]

A discussion of music and fame and reality TV.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay...ectid=11419048

I wouldn't say, for our guys, that fame is a by-product. Like a lot of young adults, they wanted to be successful. It's just that they were smart enough to know that it takes good songs, and they were even smarter to know it would take work and a lot of it.

[Ive always been a dreamer]

A discussion of music and fame and reality TV.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/hawkes-bay...ectid=11419048

I wouldn't say, for our guys, that fame is a by-product. Like a lot of young adults, they wanted to be successful. It's just that they were smart enough to know that it takes good songs, and they were even smarter to know it would take work and a lot of it.

Just getting around to reading this and I agree with your remarks VA. And, I might add that another key to their success is that they also regarded the band as a business. I know they sometimes get a lot of flack for this from some fans, but, the reality is that it forced them to approach the band's affairs very seriously and professionally even when they were busy partying and otherwise 'experimenting' with life. Their 'eagle-eye' focus kept the band as their top priority.

[VAisForEagleLovers]

This guy gives the line-up of the band as the Hotel California line-up, either because he doesn't know any better, or because he concentrates his article on that album. He tries to talk about the relevance of their lyrics, but I read it and walked away still not knowing his opinion, really.

http://nooga.com/169469/record-bin-h...el-california/

[Ive always been a dreamer]

Yeah - I think, overall, he is trying to be complimentary, but he has a rather strange way of making his points, IMO. Funny that he lists the HC lineup, but the picture posted has The Long Run lineup with Timothy. Like you said VA - it's hard to tell if he doesn't know or doesn't care. Here's the part of the article that I found most astonishing ...

The Eagles were never going to be a band whose words were held in high esteem. Admittedly, the lyrics were fine and did their job admirably, but the band would never be accused of being dedicated lyricists. This is not an insult per se—just a simple observation.

That made me go - I was under the impression that they are generally considered to be some of the best lyricists in rock and roll.