Christine Mcvie - Songbird (A Solo Collection) (2022)

It's great cosmic justice that the least flamboyant member of the Nicks/Buckingham version of Fleetwood Mac is also the one who contributed many of the band's best songs, including "Say You Love Me," "Over My Head," "Don't Stop" and the divine, "Songbird." Only that last tune, in greatly altered form, appears on this compilation that focuses on Christine McVie's two solo albums, Christine McVie (1984) and especially, In The Meantime (2004). The decision not to include anything from her first band Chicken Shack's two albums, her self-titled solo debut, or any of her Fleetwood Mac material outside of the title track keeps this from being a more complete picture of her singing, piano playing and often breathtaking songwriting.

Licensing challenges are likely culprits for the lack of Fleetwood Mac material, but the omission of her biggest solo hit, the very Mac-esque "Got a Hold on Me" from her debut (which featured the talents of Lindsey Buckingham, Steve Winwood and Steve Ferrone) is mystifying. What's here though has been fully remixed by producer Glyn Johns (The Rolling Stones, The Beatles) who tinkered with levels and moved instruments around in the mix without changing the originals in hugely obvious ways. This collection also contains two unreleased tracks—the bouncy guitar-led "Slow Down," which was originally written and recorded for the 1985 film American Flyers but went unused, and the heartbreak ballad "All You Gotta Do," a duet McVie wrote and recorded with the late George Hawkins (whose bass is heard on all but one of the album's songs). Originally left unfinished, "All You Gotta Do" was completed by adding Ricky Peterson on organ and Glyn Johns' son, Ethan on drums and guitar. Most interesting is the orchestral version of "Songbird" where the brilliantly talented arranger and composer Vince Mendoza builds a lush string setting around McVie's original vocals from the Rumours session to give the song an even more ethereal, slightly less lonely feel than the original. The results are utterly spectacular.

The collection features songs that were remastered by legendary producer Glyn Johns, who worked closely with McVie on the project. The collection includes a selection of songs from two of her solo albums - 1984's 'Christine McVie' and 2004's 'In The Meantime' - plus two previously unreleased studio recordings including 'Slowdown', which was originally written for the 1985 film American Flyers.


Tracklist
1. Friend (Remix)
2. Sweet Revenge (Remix)
3. The Challenge (Remix)
4. Northern Star (Remix)
5. Ask Anybody (Remix)
6. Slow Down
7. Easy Come, Easy Go (Remix)
8. Givin' It Back (Remix)
9. All You Gotta Do
10. Songbird (Orchestral Version)