This album is a surprise. Partly because it arrived out of nowhere and partly because it is a tantalising mixture of what we expect from my sister Christine laced with some new and powerful elements. 1 hope you will like it as much as I do.
Christine shot to prominence as a blues singer in the 70s and was voted best British female vocalist in the Melody Maker polls. After a brief skirmish with a solo career she joined Fleetwood Mac where her rock-solid keyboard work and richly emotive singing did much to propel the band into an exhaustingly successful 25 years of recording and performing for ecstatic audiences around the world. Fleetwood Mac became a benchmark for rock and roll and the band's music has become embedded in popular culture ... even today it is unusual to listen to a popular music programme without hearing a Fleetwood Mac song. Very likely, it will be one of Christine's ... Don't Stop, Songbird, You Make Lovin' Fun, Little Lies, Everywhere,
Recording an album was an attenuated and hair-raising process for the Mac. A melting pot of talent and egocentricity that did much to assure the quality and character of the output but took its toll on the band. Add this to a gruelling schedule of touring on a grandiose scale and you begin to see why Christine uprooted herself from LA ... encouraged by the 1994 earthquake ... and headed for the serenity of the English countryside. She continued working with the Mac until her final tour with the band in late 1997 - the last time I had the privilege of seeing her live on stage. The other four core members of the Mac are back on the boards but despite the ties of history and shared creativity Christine could not be persuaded to join them. Time to hang up the keyboard and rest the larynx. Or was it?
Songwriters don't just shut up shop. Despite a growing distance from the world of music Christine kept being visited by the odd snatch of lyric and fragment of melody that got written down in a note book somewhere ready for use when the time came. And it did. Christine has passed through a turmoil of emotions disengaging from the craziness of being a rock goddess (my term, not hers!) and re-engaging with the demands, challenges, joys and frustrations of a new lifestyle. The songs on this album have provided the stepping stones for this process and the passion of her involvement is clear to anyone willing to listen. Of course, she has had help from her friends but the album is remarkably independent of the musical environment in which she has operated for the last 30 years. Despite the power and warmth of the music, introspection has been a key feature of the project and my son Dan has been an essential provider of technical and musical support. It has taken a while coming, but the result has been an album to be proud of.
John Perfect
Apnl 2004
Mastered at Masterdisk, NY, NY
Recorded at:
Swallow's Studio, Kent, UK
Sphere Studios, London, UK
Studio International, Ojai, CA, USA
Thanks to:
Tim Butler, Ted & Eunice Elia, Carol NcNeill, Robbie Patton, Anthea, Leo & John Perfect, Dan Perfect, Jo Perfect, Fiona Rae, Martin Wyatt, Dougal & George.
Special thanks to all the musicians who performed on the recording.
UK Issue Notes:
(P) (C) Group Limited 2004 The copyright in these sound recordings is owned by Christine McVie under exclusive license to Adventures In Music Limited/Sanctuary Records Group Limited.
All rights of the producer and of the owner of the work reproduced reserved. Unauthorized copying, hiring, renting, public performances and broadcasting of this record prohibited.
Made in the EU
Adventure Records Ltd.
Units 4C/4D, Westport
36-37 Warple Way
London
W3 0RG
Tel: 020 8762 0101
Fax: 020 8749 3600
info@adventuresin-music.com
www.christinemcvie.com
www.santuaryrecordsgroup.co.uk
www.adventure-records.com
info@santuaryrecords.co.uk
LC 6448
5 050159 0 23
In The Meantime (2004) - 