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John McVie... How did I miss him?

#61
Altitude said:
Clearly Buckingham's main contribution was in writing songs that hundreds of millions of people wanted to hear over and over again, giving McVie a constant platform to do his thing well.

But I do understand your thought - when Buckingham wrote a song, to what extent did he write the parts specifically versus submitting changes and a conceptual framework? I've been in bands where the lead writer did it both ways, and for sure if you're the bass player in a band of the latter type you need to assert yourself heavily to get any kind of writing credit.
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McVie's playing was already heading in a more pop direction with his playing on albums like Bare trees and Future Games, and from what I've heard did not take kindly to any pressure from Lindsey on his bass parts. he does share credit on The Chain, probably because of his coda riff. Such a great player with killer instincts for what bassline fits the song without ego.
 
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#62
jerry said:
McVie's playing was already heading in a more pop direction with his playing on albums like Bare trees and Future Games, and from what I've heard did not take kindly to any pressure from Lindsey on his bass parts. he does share credit on The Chain, probably because of his coda riff. Such a great player with killer instincts for what bassline fits the song without ego.
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For a blues guy to cross over so effortlessly and effectively into such a well-defined and unique pop/rock sonic environment says a lot. If I didn't know his history I would have a hard time believing he was so steeped in British Blues.
 
#64
jerry said:
McVie's playing was already heading in a more pop direction with his playing on albums like Bare trees and Future Games, and from what I've heard did not take kindly to any pressure from Lindsey on his bass parts. he does share credit on The Chain, probably because of his coda riff. Such a great player with killer instincts for what bassline fits the song without ego.
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The way that song finally came together is fantastic. They finally realeased the outtakes of Keep Me There and Chains with a box set a couple years ago. Both were incomplete demos, and an accompanying E-jam. Lindsey's Running In The Shadows riff was added in, and the whole thing made one song that each member had contributed to.





Pay special attention to John on Christine's demo. He's right on her left hand.
 
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#67
2F/2F said:
If that is the case, then I am guessing you have sorely underrated Bill Wyman as well. It's the same deal; he was an astoundingly great bass player, and completely integral to everything he played on...yet he not only gets overlooked, but routinely disparaged and shat on. Time to get studying'!
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For some reason I've been more engaged with Bill Wyman over the years. As much as it seems strange when they did Miss You and Start Me Up, those basslines really caught my attention when I was younger. He's another guy who plays parts that are deceivingly difficult regarding the timing. Trying to pull off Miss You note for Note is a challenge...... At least for me it is.
 
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#68
nozkcb said:
Been playing bass for about 40 years. Have had many influences from the super, mega chops flashy masters of the bass, to some of the world's most Renown Studio session players as well as a handful of and players from rock, pop, Jazz and Country, but for some reason, until recently I didn't have a good appreciation for John McVie's work with Fleetwood Mac.

Maybe it's because he doesn't do anything flashy or because he just stands there and plays the bass. I'm not sure how I missed it until I started working with a group that is doing a handful of Fleetwood Mac songs, and once I started to really pay attention to what he's doing, I discovered his playing is a huge part of what made those songs what they are. And no, it's not just that bass riff in The Chain. A lot of very tasteful and internal parts of Fleetwood Mac songs came from his hands.

I wonder how many others have underappreciated him as a player and an big part of what made the band songs so good?
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I couldn’t care less about the Buckingham Nicks era, the Green band was everything, with dimishing returns after he left(but I loved Kiln House and Future Games). However, that’s the band as a whole. McVie’s playing was always steady as a stopwatch, and in tandem with Fleetwood, probably the best British shuffle drummer, they were a machine as a rhythm section. The Mayall stuff was tight as well. This clip is a lip-synch(mime), but you should get an idea…

I always thought that J.Geils’ Danny Klein was Mc Vie’s American counterpart, so on that note…
 
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#69
nozkcb said:
For some reason I've been more engaged with Bill Wyman over the years. As much as it seems strange when they did Miss You and Start Me Up, those basslines really caught my attention when I was younger. He's another guy who plays parts that are deceivingly difficult regarding the timing. Trying to pull off Miss You note for Note is a challenge...... At least for me it is.
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"Miss You" is only scratching the surface of Wyman's greatness. Listen to everything he did during the Brian years. The dude's a friggin' bass genius.

As for John McVie, you should check out the Bluesbreakers albums with him.
 
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#74
Tubehed said:
A really solid player throughout his career. Great playing on the early Fleetwood Mac records with Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan, too. Man, he has played with some monster guitar players throughout his career!
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The 3-disc Live in Boston 1970 set with McVie is spectacular! Here's the entire 3 1/2 hours in one YT vid. I bought the set when it was released.

 
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#78
I'll take some slagging for sayin it but I've always been a fan of FM only after Stevie and Lindsay joined. The earlier Peter Green formation never did anything for me.

Rumors is such a fantastic LP and once we added a female voice we were able to add some FM to our setlist, which I love. McVie is so solid and playing his bass lines is great fun.
 
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#79
John McVie is a good player. Considering how far back in the beat Mick Fleetwood plays (and Im not talking about fatbacking a snare to make it funkier - I mean he sits so far back that he practically drags), McVie was always Swiss time perfect to give that drag feel a much needed boost. McVies note selection was always Goldilocks perfect

The only thing I never liked about McVie was his tone and I often wondered how this guy managed to make an Alembic not sound like an Alembic :D
 
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#80
Rib 13 said:
John McVie is a good player. Considering how far back in the beat Mick Fleetwood plays (and Im not talking about fatbacking a snare to make it funkier - I mean he sits so far back that he practically drags), McVie was always Swiss time perfect to give that drag feel a much needed boost. McVies note selection was always Goldilocks perfect

The only thing I never liked about McVie was his tone and I often wondered how this guy managed to make an Alembic not sound like an Alembic :D
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I love the "Goldilocks perfect" line!
 
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