Oooh, believe in the five....to survive the distance....

The Dance is over.....

As reported by CNN, and the Reprise Records page, here is the news release (12/8/97):
The dance is over for Fleetwood Mac. The reunited band is calling a halt to its current tour to promote the album ``The Dance.'' Sources say singer/keyboardist Christine McVie has had enough of the grueling concert schedule. Fleetwood Mac's outing will close the year as the fifth highest grossing tour, making more than $36 million with 44 shows. While they won't be extending the tour, occasional performances are likely -- especially when the band is inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March.
(above photo from Q Magazine, December 1997)

"I chose to dance across the stages of the world...."
THE DANCE era Fleetwood Mac!!

Most die-hard Stevie fans already know the stories about her rise to stardom, but I thought I'd include a section about this history anyway.  Enjoy!

Stephanie Lynn Nicks has loved music since early childhood.  Her grandfather, country singer AJ Nicks, encouraged her to sing and when she received a guitar from her parents on her 16th birthday, she wrote her first song - "I've Loved And I've Lost."  Stephanie began singing publicly with a school choral group called The Changin' Times. But then she met Lindsey Buckingham in high school, at a Young Life meeting at a friend's house one night.... they joined voices for the first time singing California Dreamin'.  She didn't see him again until they met up at San Jose State University, at which time Lindsey asked her to join his band The Fritz Raybine Memorial Band.  Fritz, as they soon became known, began opening for all the major San Franciso area bands in the late 60's and early 70's....Stevie counts watching Janis Joplin from the wings as one of the turning points of her own life.

(above, a rare live shot of Stevie performing with Fritz)

(above left, the controversial Buckingham Nicks album cover....above right, an outtake from that photo session)

Stevi (as she was known then) and Lindsey decided to leave Fritz and become a duo, both romantically and professionally.  They began their recording career with the release of Buckingham Nicks in 1973. It was because of this album that Mick Fleetwood first heard Lindsey's excellent guitarwork on Stevie's Frozen Love, and asked the duo to join Fleetwood Mac on New Year's Eve. 1975 was to be Stevie and Lindsey's breakthrough year! Crystal, a gorgeous song written by Stevie with lead vocals by Lindsey was to be resurrected and re-recorded for their first album as members of Fleetwood Ma (and most recently, re-recorded by Stevie in 1998 for the Practical Magic movie soundtrack). In addition, Rhiannon and Landslide, two songs that were initially intended for a second Buckingham Nicks album became Fleetwood Mac classics.

Fleetwood Mac, the self-titled album that debuted Lindsey and Stevie, was a turning point for the band. Traditionally a blues group, the California sound of the new members gave Fleetwood Mac a whole new sound and their first real taste of widespread commercial popularity....this album was the band's first to reach number one on the U.S. charts. In addition to Stevie's tracks already mentioned, the album featured some terrific new songs by Christine McVie such as Over My Head and Say You Love Me, both of which enjoyed much airplay and success. Lindsey's epic I'm So Afraid became his first signature piece in concert.

And then there was Rumours....released in 1977, this album was nothing short of phenomenal. To this date, it is still one of the biggest selling albums of all time. During a time of personal turmoil for the whole band, some legendary songs were written.....as a result of their relationship crumbling, Go Your Own Way was Lindsey's powerful response to Stevie's poignant Dreams (the first and only Fleetwood Mac single to hit #1 on the charts). Songbird is a touching piece written by Christine McVie as a farewell of sorts during her breakup with husband, bassist John McVie. The Chain, in my opinion, is the band's signature piece as a group because it is the only song that was written by all five members together. Every track on the album is classic.....Gold Dust Woman - Stevie's excellent rock masterpiece, Don't Stop, Christine's very familiar song that was adopted by Bill Clinton's first Presidential campaign.....You Make Lovin' Fun, another great song from Christine that sounded even better when performed live....and a snappy little tune called I Don't Want to Know, written by Stevie that was to begin a riff between Ms. Nicks and Mick Fleetwood that would go on for many years to come....due to the fact Silver Springs was axed from the album in favour of I Don't Want to Know.

Following a mammoth world tour to promote Rumours, Fleetwood Mac began work on its next studio album which was titled Tusk. Pressured to produce another commercial hit, Lindsey in particular chose to stretch his talents in different directions and the result was nothing like Rumours. Say what you will about Tusk, but it was definitely original and new, and truly shook up the music industry. And although it did not sell in the numbers that its predecessor did, Tusk was still a hit..... My own personal favourite tracks from this album are definitely Stevie's, Beautiful Child...Sisters of the Moon.... Storms.... Angel..... and the legendary Sara, which was the most popular single from the album. The title track, featuring the USC Trojan Marching Band, also was quite popular. This was also the band's first foray into the world of music videos....Sara (a concert clip from a video documentary) and Tusk both enjoyed airplay on MTV.

(above:  Stevie at her mystical best, during the Tusk tour, pictured here at Compton Terrace in Tempe, AZ - the amphitheatre owned, at the time, by her father. Photo courtesy of Bear.)

Another exhausting world tour followed. Rather than another studio album, the next release was a double Live album, which featured the fabulous and too often overlooked Fireflies, Stevie's delightful song about the band she loves, her five fireflies.

The next studio album, Mirage, was released in 1982. Stevie produced yet another signature song, the mystical Gypsy, a descriptive name soon applied to her for many years to come. The award winning video featured Stevie in everything from vintage clothing filmed in black and white, to a modern Gypsy look of layered chiffon - filmed in color - swirling around in a fantasy forest and dancing in a boudoir decorated with antique mirrors, dolls, crystal balls, "some lace and paper flowers." I also love Christine's beautiful Wish You Were Here, the last track on the album.

The Tango in the Night album was to be Lindsey's last with the band.....his Big Love was the first video and single. Stevie and friend Sandy Stewart produced Seven Wonders, a terrific song that featured a wonderful video.....and Christine's catchy Little Lies was another hit, and was the inspiration for one of my favourite Fleetwood Mac videos of all time. The band hit the road with two new guitarists who also shared songwriting and vocal duties....Rick Vito and Billy Burnette (from Mick Fleetwood's Zoo).

Behind the Mask was recorded with the new six member line-up. Save Me, Christine's song, was the first single and enjoyed moderate success. Stevie and Rick's awesome Love is Dangerous was also released as a single but unfortunately, did not do as well as it deserved to. Another tour followed, ending in December 1990. Lindsey Buckingham made a guest appearance in Oakland, getting onstage to play acoustic guitar for Stevie during a poignant Landslide. Christine and Stevie both announced they were leaving the band....Christine did not want to tour anymore, and Stevie was in a bitter dispute with Mick over the rights to her old song Silver Springs.

Fleetwood Mac was to record again, releasing Time with the additions of vocalist Bekka Bramlett and guitarist Dave Mason. A moderate tour had Fleetwood Mac paired with Pat Benatar and REO Speedwagon.

In 1997, Fleetwood Mac announced plans to reunite the enormously popular Rumours band comprised of Stevie, Lindsey, Christine, John and Mick. A special for MTV was filmed in May, and  was broadcast on August 12, 1997. Viewers saw many familiar old hits as well as new songs from the three writers in the band. A CD was released on August 19, entitled The Dance, which is a collection of live cuts from the special. A home video release version of the MTV special became available for sale on August 26.  VH-1 aired two Fleetwood Mac specials in 1997, one was Behind The Music and the other was Classic Albums - The Making Of Rumours.  The latter is also available on home video release.

The Silver Springs Story
Stevie had written a gorgeous ballad entitled Silver Springs, another name she picked up along the way because she thought it was beautiful (while on the road with Fleetwood Mac to promote the "white" album, she spotted a sign in Maryland that announced the town of Silver Spring, MD). Stevie has said during interviews that this song was also very much written about Lindsey, and one rare 1976 interview with Stevie found her excited about the song and hopeful that it was to be included on the forthcoming Rumours. She referred to it as "a real tearjerker", which it is, to this day. She gave the rights to this song to her mother, who opened an antiques store named after it...Stevie has said her mother is not keen on accepting money from her, so she gave Mrs. Nicks the publishing rights which was a way for her to share her own good fortune. But Mick decided to push Silver Springs off to B-Side obscurity on the back of Go Your Own Way, using I Don't Want to Know on the album instead because "it was shorter." However, fans and disc jockeys alike discovered Silver Springs and it became one of the first real collectible Stevie items during her career. A friend of mine just told me a story of how thrilled she was back in 1978 to actually tape Silver Springs off the radio, that it was a real treasure to her. (Note: It wasn't until the release of the band's 25 year box set retrospective that fans finally got their hands on a legitimate compact disc copy of Silver Springs....however, Mick's decision to keep the song for the box set and refusing Stevie the rights to include it on her TimeSpace hits collection was the last straw, and Stevie quit Fleetwood Mac in December of 1990, at the end of the Behind the Mask tour. She did not return until spring of 1997, for the reunion of the popular Rumours lineup). Now of course we have the beautiful 1997 live version of Silver Springs as recorded during The Dance MTV special, available in a variety of formats. This heartstrings-tugger of a song was definitely a high point of the live shows this fall, in my opinion. None more so, perhaps, than the Atlantic City performance (November 29), second to last show of the tour - when Stevie was so emotional during the song, that Lindsey sang the final line for her. Whatever the status of their real-life relationship, their onstage relationship is still magical and romantic - the two of them certainly gave the fans a wonderful show within a show during the tour.

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