Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks weren’t the only ones from Fleetwood Mac to pursue solo ventures after the Tusk tour of ’79-’80 ended acrimoniously (again). The front half of the group’s namesake did likewise, releasing his noble failure The Visitor in June ’81.
As its cover and title imply, that LP saw the veteran drummer journey to Accra, where he spent half a million dollars to cut collaborative tracks involving dozens of Ghanan musicians, another resurrection of Peter Green(baum) and, back in England, a slide-guitar cameo from George Harrison.
FM’s longstanding label Warner Bros. passed on financing it, so Mick turned to RCA, who clearly didn’t mind losing money. The Visitor, a bellwether of Western/African hybridization to come, fared well enough with critics, but its admirable strides fell flat with fans — and still RCA funded a follow-up.
This time Fleetwood hewed more closely to commercialism. Regrouping players he helped anchor in Buckingham’s band during dates for Lindsey’s ’81 solo debut Law & Order — and renaming the lot Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo — the lanky sticksman shelved more ambitious plans, like recording in Brazil. Instead, as he always did in Mac, he relied on the singer-songwriters in his ensemble for direction on I’m Not Me (June ’83).
That meant George Hawkins, who’d sung lead on most of The Visitor, shuffled concurrent sessions with Al Jarreau to sneak in four tunes, while newcomers Steve Ross and Billy Burnette filled out the remainder, along with two out-of-place oldies.
Quite a likable set that has aged better than most mainstream rock of its era, especially those Mirage-y moments led by Burnette — who, of course, will become yet another member of Fleetwood Mac when he replaces Buckingham for Tango in the Night (’87).
And once again we find Christine McVie in the mix, almost right away, providing oohs and ahhhs and keyboards to the Marshall Crenshaw feel of Burnette’s ‘Angel Come Home’ and plenty more songs on this uneven gem.
She’ll get to her own solo album soon enough.