European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 30, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A family affair Fleetwood Mac sitting along Juat Fine Fleetwood Mac a Chri Aune me vie left stand Long Meek Fleetwood John Movle and Rick Vito Billy Burnette and Stevie Nocka. By Hillel Italie associated press Pristine Mcvie was concerned about the new Fleetwood Mac album. Everyone was getting along so Well but All the songs seemed so sad. Something had to be done. Quot everything was getting to the Point of where it was a Downer album Quot explained the Singer and keyboardist. Quot it sounded like this was a potential suicide band which it Wasny to. I decided to write a song that was really up it was a rally  she dashed off the upbeat skies the limit with its vow Quot the sky is the limit now. We can hit it on the  that a about All the drama involved with behind the mask a letdown perhaps to fans used to the breakups breakouts and dropouts of the bands 23 years. This la Fleetwood Mac phase in an easygoing combination of phases i through Iii. The current lineup original members John Mcvie on Bass and Mick Fleetwood on Drums Christine who joined in 1970 Nicks a member of the class of 74, and new guitarists Billy Burnette and Rick Vito replacements for Lindsey Buckingham. And the band s getting along just Fine Mcvie insists. Life has become As dramatic As an outdoor Barbecue finally living up to Fleetwood macs sound of endless summer. Quot it was actually a joyous year. There were times when we thought that we had to be unhappy to do Well but that a a fantasy Quot she said in a Telephone interview from her Home in los Angeles �?~1rumours was made under great duress with huge emotional problems All Over the place Quot she added referring to the Best Selling 1977 album recorded while two marriages in the band were breaking up. Quot that s not the Ideal recording situation or the Ideal writing situation. I done to write great songs when i m miserable. I Don t write when i m  pop with a twist has Long been the secret for Fleetwood Mac authors of go your own Way a Good old fashioned Rock a no Roll divorce song and Tusk which introduced radio to the tribal beat of tissue boxes. Then there a hold me a hit single in 1982. Written by Mcvie its a mid Tempo Ballad with some neat lyrics a Quot slip your hand inside my Glove Quot a and a Nice fluid rhythm track pushing the song along. But then Buckingham Steps in for a Little Quot additional engineering Quot the kind that caused three year Waits Between albums. Harmonies Rush in arid but like the Waves of the Pacific Mcvie s voice almost lost underneath. A harpsichord jangles in the background. Two Lead guitars Are used during the break. The sound of a strummed acoustic guitar pops up and quickly disappears. Tuning and studio distortion make the plucking of strings from another guitar sound like a broken cuckoo clock Quot it would be trial and error with Lindsey Quot Mcvie said. Quot he would take a song and treat it like a huge Canvas an Oil painting. He would put Down something he thought was Good Start to erase things and paint it Blue. It would sound nothing Tike the original. Quot but i was always close behind Lindsey a Back. I m something of a studio Junkie myself. I Learned a lot from Lindsey and tried to carry it on into this album trying to make sure that everything fit. Mcvie has balled out the band before. In 1970, guitarist Peter Green a founding member quit the then British blues group a month before they were to begin an american tour. Mcvie who had Given up a promising singing career to keep House was hastily recruited. Quot i thought the whole thing was really bizarre when i was asked to join Quot she recalled. Quot i had been a big fan of Fleetwood Mac with Peter Green and guitarist Jeremy Spencer. On my night off i d go to see Fleetwood Mac and ending up dating John. Quot we were All living in the same House. We were All very much like a family tie dyed to shirts smoking pot. After rehearsing on the Road the band decided it wanted to augment the sound with a keyboard. Since i was there they just turned around and said Chris you come along Quot four years later it was Mcvie s turn to2 live Crew banned in the . Don t get fooled again by 2 live Crew. Luther Campbell the group s Leader May deserve support in the obscenity Battles growing out of 2 live Crews last album but he does no to deserve our Money for his new Solo album. Despite the greater comic invention and the More sophisticated musical grooves this time Campbell s Basic approach continues to offer a dour ultimately ugly View of sex. Its All relentless Macho posturing with men giving the orders and women simply following. All this raunch iness May have been expected. Campbell has no obligation to abandon the a rated approach of the group s first three albums. To do so he could maintain would be to concede Victory to those who have tried to outlaw his music. But his right to make this kind of music does t make it any More listenable a much less entertaining. There is. Too one crucial difference Between the new album and 2 live Crew s earlier albums an unnecessarily mean spirit. After the Miami rap group s As Nasty As they Wanna be became in june the first pop recording Ever declared obscene by a . District court More than a million people have bought the album probably to see what the fuss was All about. What they discovered was what s not record review a collection of mostly Boring a rated Stag party tunes by a largely undistinguished rap group. However shallow and stupid the music however it was also Clear that there was no More reason to declare Nasty obscene than the thousands of similarly sexually explicit books and videos that Are available in every City in the land. This realization turned Campbell into a hero of sorts a a major Symbol in the growing debate Over censorship crusades against pop music. Concerned about the principles involved Bruce Springsteen allowed Campbell to use the chorus of born in the . A one of the most stirring and successful songs of the 80s a on Campbells recent banned in the . Single. Doug Morris president of powerful Atlantic records was so outraged after the rapper was arrested for performing material from the album at an adults Only club in Florida that he agreed to distribute the banned single and additional 2 live Crew recordings the alignment with a major Label was important because it gives Campbell whose records were previously released independently More corporate muscle to influence record stores to carry the Nasty album despite the Florida court ruling. This same impulse to support an underdog May Lead another million people to buy Campbell s new Solo album also titled banned in the ., As a vote for Freedom of speech and the first amendment. Think twice. The banned single was a reasonably Clever response to the Legal turmoil in Florida a a provocative but strictly pm affair that maintained Campbell and his group Are victims of racism and political opportunism. That song also opens the new album but the rapper and his musical cohorts soon return at several places in the album to the crude sexually explicit humor of Nasty. More disturbing is the nastiness of some of the commentary. The rapper s reaction to the Campaign against him is nicely framed on the banned single which was designed with radio airplay in mind. Not so elsewhere on the album. One especially distasteful sequence finds Campbell weaving Florida gov. Bob Martinez and his wife into one of the rapper�?T9 sexually explicit diatribes. Martinez once called for a state probe to see if Campbell violated racketeering and obscenity codes with his music which makes him fair game for satirical attack. Yet the language is too pointed to be accepted As simply Good locker room humor. Similarly Campbell employs derisive anti Gay terminology and imagery in lashing out at others who have opposed him including rival rappers. Hey Campbell May say in the style of Mick Jagger when he talks about Rock a no Roll its Only a joke done to get so uptight. But we Don t have to support his bad taste in order to defend his right to make these records. Buying the banned in the . Single May be an appropriate Way to show support for Campbell and the first amendment. Buying the banned in the . Album in t. Send a letter to your congressman instead. A Robert Hilburn los Angeles times Page 16 a a a the stars and stripes monday july 30,1990