The album Christine McVie said was her darkest work: “I was completely paranoid”
Of all the songwriters in Fleetwood Mac, Christine McVie always seemed to be the most at peace behind her keyboard.
We all know that most of the sessions for their albums were anything but harmonious when they got down to business, but her calming presence every time she sang tunes like ‘Little Lies’ helped diffuse nearly any petty grievance that the rest of the band could have possibly had. They all knew when to lay their weapons down for the sake of the music, but Christine also knew that heartache was songwriting fuel at the worst of times as well.
Because when you think about it, what is Rumours if not one long therapy session between the bandmates and the audience? Most people in their situation wouldn’t have known how to carry on with their exes and still continue to make music, but when listening to all of them working in tandem, it was as if the songs were helping all of them exorcise their demons half the time they were playing.
And while that anger and aggression was a bit more pronounced when listening to Lindsey Buckingham sing, Christine always found a way to take the nuanced approach. She knew her relationship with John McVie wasn’t working out, but ‘Songbird’ is the perfect kind of tune to end a relationship on. All of the emotion is there, but all she wants is to wish peace for both of them when all the smoke clears.
But the hard times don’t magically end once the headlines stop. Christine had gone through her fair share of ups and downs behind the scenes, and while Stevie Nicks may have been the more public figure in the band half the time they played, Christine wasn’t afraid to let her feelings show, even if it meant taking her off the road for years at a time, thanks to her fear of flying.
‘The Mac’ was a distant memory by this point, but In the Meantime showed her to have a few more demons lingering around at the time. She had all of the power players that helped make those old records so magical, but given that she had come out of another rough relationship, she practically needed them to help process what she had just gone through.
She was never going to become the same kind of solo star as her bandmates, but she was happy to have documented the dark corners of her mind, saying, “I was coming out of a relationship and just got it all off my chest. It’s about the darkest thing I’ve ever written… I was completely paranoid and uncomfortable doing it. I don’t think it sold anything but the point was to prove I could still write, still play, still sing.”
It was great to hear her again, but one can’t help but think of what could have been here as well. Fleetwood Mac had already made a stellar comeback with Say You Will, but if they managed to take out a handful of Nicks and Buckingham’s songs and added Christine back into the mix for one last ride, they could have easily made the perfect comeback album that called back to the Rumours days.
That might all be wishful thinking, but In the Meantime was at least a way for Christine to re-establish her footing again. She had been away from music for years at that point, but once you got her behind the keyboard, that signature magic never fully went away no matter what era she was in.
