Christine McVie - Christine McVie

I have a soft spot for this album. Back in '84 I got this solely based on "Love Will Show Us How" A mini master class in pop perfection. When I lost my records, I replaced this with a CD, and then recently for whatever reason a near perfect record showed up in the dollar bin - so I had to drop the buck. 

I know this is probably not the popular opinion, but of the solo efforts from the Fleetwood Mac camp this is the album I like best. Oh sure Lindsey Buckingham released Go Insane in '84 as well, and I really liked the title track, and I appreciated how weird he got, but it wasn't something I pulled out very often - and of course I no longer have it (you never know, that could change one day). Then there was the witchy woman herself, Stevie Nicks, who I will admit had some great songs, but mostly I found her voice irritating.

So here we have Christine who must have figured it was time to do a solo effort as well - and no doubt this cost a boatload of money to produce, and while there were two modest hits off the album, the aforementioned "Love Will Show Us How" and the opening cut from side two "Got a Hold on Me" I suspect expectations from the label were a lot higher, and it would be twenty years before she'd drop another solo effort.

Still, here we have an album that is really solid, and Christine's voice has a warmth and ease of delivery that makes me feel like she's singing to me through the speakers. Especially on songs like "Who's Dreaming This Dream" where she knocks it out of the park. What I find really cool listening now is how much I missed originally. I was too focused on the two hit songs and I failed to really let the album sink in. It's not that I didn't listen to it - I played it a fair bit, but often it was spinning in the back ground, and so much of my music was played in the car, and mix tapes were the rule of the day, I tended to pick the "best" songs and then shelve the records.

For the album she wisely chose to assemble a core band

• Todd Sharp who played guitar, co wrote many of the songs, and sang
• George Hawkins who anchored the album on bass and vocals
• Steve Ferrone laid down the groove and probably has one of the greatest liner pictures I've ever seen. I love his picture, makes you want to have a beer and shoot the shit as you know this guy had stories and has seen things

Then of course she had guests - she's freakin' Christine McVie. From her day job both Lindsey and Mick make appearances and former Blind Faith members Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood lend a hand, the latter providing backing vocals on a few songs.

The album was produced by Russ Titelman and mixed by Elliot Scheiner.

It's strange to sit and really listen to this now and if I'm being honest this album is more akin in spirit to Linda Ronstadt and Karla Bonoff and Andrew Gold from the mid 70s. That's not meant to be a shot those albums have a timeless quality to them as well, and Christine's album is great all the way through - it just seems like an album out of time. Considering what was coming out in '84 her album seemed like a deliberate attempt to craft songs with real musicians and write songs the way she knew how, rather than try to incorporate drum machines and synthesizers and show how cool and relevant she was. With the benefit of hindsight was the right call. The album doesn't sounded dated in the way so many albums from this period ended up, which is kind of refreshing - this still sounds great.

The closest this album comes to being of it's time is her picture on the liner. She's got a little Cyndi Lauper pigtail, and a bolo tie. Considering she was only in her early 40s it's kind of amazing to think of how much she'd already accomplished.

Sadly Christine McVie passed away November 30, 2022 at the age of 79 - she was still out there showing the kids how it was done, pretty much right up to the end.