Christine McVie 1943 - 2022

An international conference of a week in a far away country, a serious case of food poisoning and some Covid to top things off. That sort of things make even WoNoBlog stop in its tracks. For the first time since February 2012 you have missed something on this blog.

I was still in Addis Ababa when the news of Christine McVie's demise reached me. Of course through an app of the biggest Fleetwood Mac fan in my circle of close friends. With no time to write and very soon no health either.

It may sound disrespectful but of the three principle songwriters of Fleetwood Mac, the biggest version of course, she is the least spectacular if not a tad boring, in a positive way. If anything underscores this, it is her, self-titled, solo album from the mid 80s. I bought it, of course, but I may not have played it even once as a whole, if my memory serves me well, that is. I am listening to it right now on Spotify. What do I hear? Middle of the road pop rock with an Andrew Gold vibe, as 'The Challenge' has a very much 'Lonely Boy' feel over it. It is not that this music is bad, it is just so unassuming, so modest, but not as bad as I had thought. I can imagine taking the album out of the wall and play it some time.

Christine McVie entered my life as Christine Perfect, singer of Chicken Shack, an English blues band. She sang an Etta James song called 'I'd Rather Go Blind'. (Not that I knew this at the time, none of it.) It was a modest hit and I sort of liked it. It became a modest hit once again some five years later and I had it on a cassette tape. One of the song to dance with the girls with. The closest thing to kissing this dancing was and 'I'd Rather Go Blind' worked really well here.

In these years Christine Perfect had become Christine McVie and a part of Fleetwood Mac, the in between version of the band before Buckingham-Nicks joined. Once they joined and the self-titled debut of Fleetwood Mac mach 3 was released, the band reached for the highest peaks that were reached with 'Rumours'. Marriage and relationships faltered the band soared. 'Go Your Own Way' but not apart so to say.

Christine McVie co-wrote 'Don't Stop', a song almost as good as the first single and the fourth, 'You Make Loving Fun', far less spectacular but certainly as good. It wasn't until the comeback album 'Tango In The Night', made to save drummer Mick Fleetwood from bankruptcy, that she scored her biggest hit with the fifth single of the album, 'Everywhere'. Again, a decent, not very spectacular song but very likely the best scoring Fleetwood Mac single in this country, ever.

Christine McVie, singer and keyboardist, always remained more in the background than the prominently present Lyndsay Buckingham and the sexy witch Stevie Nicks. The role suited her and gave her ample opportunity to shine any way. She was the less spectacular of three very talented songwriters who joined into one band, with a rhythm section that gave the band its name. There was competition, undoubtedly, but without the other two none of them delivered at the same level. It all fell apart in the end and despite reunions through the decades things were never the same again.

Christine McVie leaves behind an oeuvre she must have been extremely proud of and in 38 year hindsight even 'Christine McVie' is not so bad after all. Just so decent and unassuming. It misses the pepper the other two brought; just like with the solo albums as the other two miss these injections also. Her music is there for all to hear and my guess is it will for quite some time. Classic rock is not called classic rock for nothing.

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