July 12 – today marks the 75th birthday of the very wonderful Christine McVie of Fleetwood Mac. ILYOS celebrates Christine’s wonderful contributions to the Mac – and to the world of popular music – with ten of her greatest songs.

Christine McVie has long been Fleetwood Mac’s secret weapon. Not part of the perennial duo celebrated in the band’s name (the Mac comes from her ex-husband John’s “McVie”, not hers), nor of the now-no-more glamour duo that seemed to steal so much of  the limelight, Christine has written and sung more than her fair share of the band’s classic tracks, and brought a warmth and simplicity to the band’s music since the dark days of the early ‘70s, when they couldn’t find a hit to save themselves.

Indeed, as the only singer in the band to serve across the band’s earlier Britain-based and blues-oriented years (Christine played on the band’s second album Mr Wonderful, and eventually joined in 1970) and into their better-known pop days, Christine served as a rare element of continuity within Fleetwood Mac, and helped the band’s music retain a lovely earthiness. And when her then-husband John started showing off his tanned legs in shorts, and her soon-to-be beau Mick seemed to be simply having too much fun, it was Christine who seemingly maintained a sense of decorum and propriety that helped the band hold on to a semblance of its Englishness.

But of course, it's those classic tracks that she will be remembered for, as well as that voice and that gently propulsive way with the keys. There is a wonderful coherence to Christine McVie’s body of work within the overall Fleetwood Mac oeuvre (and indeed going back to her Christine Perfect days), and here we explore that with ten of her finest tunes from the band’s hit-making era. (And if you’d care to explore some of her earlier work, we urge you to check out our earlier feature Before She Was Christine McVie, She Was Perfect!). 

Don’t Stop 

One of the Mac’s biggest hits and a classic rock staple, “Don’t Stop” is as close as Christine has ever come to a flat-out rocker. A bearded and wild-looking Lindsey stole the show in the film clip to the point that it was easy to come away thinking he was singing lead, but it’s Christine, sitting at her keyboard, who wrote the song and sings most of it. And for all the flash in Lindsey’s solo, it’s Christine keys that drive the song and give it a wonderful groundedness that was somewhat at odds with the band’s lifestyle and infamous flights of fancy. Records don’t come much more perfect than this. 

 

Everywhere

By the end of the 80s, record production was a long way from what it was when Fleetwood Mac hit the top of the charts in the mid-70s. Mac, of course, weren’t ones to really buck trends – despite Lindsey Buckingham’s occasional wilfulness – and their 80s albums were state of the art and are much loved by those who love that art. But where so many records of the era sound simply too bloodless and clinical, Fleetwood Mac maintained their warmth and Christine was a big part of that. “Everywhere” was a highlight and hit from Tango In The Night that harked back to earlier McVie faves like our next few… 

 

You Make Loving Fun  

The simplicity is the beauty here, as it is in so many of Christine’s songs. A beautiful and simple sentiment and a beautiful and simple tune. While Lindsey was loved for his pop smarts and occasional quirks, and Stevie was the ethereal white witch, Christine was the every-person, and it’s no mean feat to create beauty out of such simplicity. Not one of the biggest hits off Rumours, “You Make Loving Fun” still made the US Top 10 when released as a single after seemingly half the record-buying public had already bought the album.

 

Think About Me

More art from artlessness. Not quite as bluesy as “You Make Loving Fun”, but more of the same wonderful stuff, which many Mac fans – and record company exec’s - no doubt found comforting in the face of some of the other tunes on Tusk, including the title track. 

 

Say You Love Me

Perhaps the pinnacle of Christine’s sweetly rocking mid-tempo tunes, “Say You Love Me” actually predated the last couple here and was a highlight of the band’s self-titled breakthrough album in 1975. Whilst this only scraped into the Top 40 here in Australia, it nearly reached the Top 10 in the States, and it remained so popular that the band performed it at their 1997 Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame Induction. Not sure where Christine’s keyboard went or if Lindsey’s banjo really fills in for it, but it’s nice to hear it in semi-unplugged form and still sounding so great.  And how great is the chorus?  

 

Temporary One

A ‘new’ song on what was otherwise a collection of hits and favourites on the Fleetwood Mac’s hugely successful 1997 live album The Dance, “Temporary One” is not one of Christine or the band’s greatest moments, but it is worth pointing out that it is Christine the band tuned to when they needed a new song for the project, and of course it’s very much in keeping with those 70s McVie gems.

Songbird

One of Christine’s most exquisite songs, and one that shows she could handle the arty stuff just as well as Stevie or Lindsey when she wanted too. Ironically she reportedly wrote it in half an hour and promptly recorded the version we know and love immediately thereafter. It’s just her on piano and Lindsey on acoustic guitar and it’s a magical as anything Christine’s compatriot put down. 

 

Little Lies

Another one of Christine’s more guileful numbers, as befitting as its title. Indeed with Stevie fairly removed from the band at this point, Christine maybe thought she could steal a bit of Stevie’s thunder for a change with this beguiling little number. Indeed “Little Lies” was the biggest US hit off the album, Tango In the Night, that became the band’s second most successful; McVie’s contributions at this point were perhaps more significant than ever to the band’s success.

 

Warm Ways

This one proves that Christine had the whole dream-pop thing down back in ’75, at the same time she was specialising in those easy-going mid-tempo keyboard numbers. It features one of her great choruses and shows she could be as perfect a musical foil for Lindsey Buckingham - his guitar plays a big part here – as Stevie Nicks ever could. 

 

Feel About You

From Christine’s latest release, her 2016 album with Lindsey, which established once and for all that Buckingham and McVie could be every bit the wonderful musical pairing that Buckingham and Nicks was. “Feel About You” was a perfect return to irresistibly simple McVie pop of the ‘70s and is the perfect finale for our list of Christine favorites!! 

 

For more of the best from Christine McVie and  Fleetwood Mac, listen to our I Like: Fleetwood Mac playlist...