Fleetwood Mac is one of my all time favorite bands, no doubt. They’ve always had line up changes, as everyone knows. They started off as a blues band and to this day only two founding members actually remain: Mick Fleetwood and John McVie, which is where the band’s name comes from.

The line up that made them most famous, however, and my favorite line up is the one that started in 1975 with the album called Fleetwood Mac, or commonly known as their “white” album. This line up included newcomers Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, along with Christine McVie who had joined a few albums prior.

That line up will always be special to me and a lot of Mac fans. It produced a long list of hit singles here in the USA; not that I judge a record by the number of hit singles. I simply feel that this 5 person line up had something special that made the band unique and gave them their own, special sound. This is when the band really came into its own.

Since then, they’ve gone through a few more changes, most noticeably when Lindsey left and was replaced with two other men. That didn’t stick and the band seemed to be finished until Bill Clinton came calling and Don’t Stop was used as his campaign song. That also didn’t lead to a full reunion and and when Stevie left, Mick brought in Bekka Bramlett and Dave Mason for one album. Everything pretty much fell apart around then but in 1997 the golden line up got back together and went on to do a live reunion tour called The Dance which was highly successful, again to the testament of that magic 5 person line up of Mick, John, Stevie, Christine, and Lindsey.

The next album called Say You Will didn’t feature Christine, however, who decided she didn’t want to tour or be involved anymore. They forged on with the four-piece instead of replacing her, using session musicians while on tour. The album wasn’t bad at all, actually, but Christine’s presence was slightly missed. I really enjoyed, however, the concert CD/DVD called Live in Boston. It’s an amazing show and while I missed tunes like Say You Love Me and You Make Loving Fun, the rest of the show is so good it doesn’t even matter.

It looked like Mac were just keeping the door open for Christine to come back whenever she wanted which was cool. Then today I read that Sheryl Crow will be joining the band.

So I’m having a musical dilemma now.

I’m a big fan of Sheryl Crow, as most people know, although I have to admit that her latest recording, Detours, really isn’t thrilling me at all. They can’t all be winners. I know she’s worked with Stevie Nicks before and produced her last solo record, which is nice. But do we really need to replace Christine with Sheryl Crow?

Sheryl is a big star in her own right. I don’t understand this move at all. While I’m certain that no matter who I was or what I was doing, if someone asked me to join Fleetwood Mac, I’d do it in a heartbeat if it meant working with Lindsey Buckingham in some way. I guess from that perspective, I sort of understand. But it’ll sort of seem like a big night of duets, won’t it? Everyone’ll be wondering what Crow’s doing and then the I’m sure the band is going to end up doing a couple of Sheryl’s tunes. It’s just gonna be weird to watch.

I’m just not sure this move is necessary. That last record felt good and sounded good. The tour seemed to go well and the performances were fantastic according to the DVD. Everyone looked like they were having a great time and things were well. McVie could basically walk back in at any time. I guess she finally just said she wouldn’t come back again and the band felt they “needed” to replace her.

Now I know Sheryl is mega-talented and I love most of her work. I know she can bring a lot to just about any project. But what does Fleetwood Mac really need? I don’t picture them as a struggling band trying to stay alive. They’ve proven themselves time and again and the most recent tour seemed to put them back on top of things so… why add a new person, and a big star besides?

Something just doesn’t seem quite right.

Now I’m a big fan of the notion of doing a dual tour. Seeing Sheryl Crow and Fleetwood Mac on the same night would be an absolute dream. For some reason, however, I can’t get used to the idea of seeing Mac with Sheryl Crow standing there the whole time, perhaps on keyboards most of the night? I don’t know what her role will be yet but I think she might just be too big for them. Do they need another good songwriter in the band? Do they need another big personality in there?

Or is it just that Stevie and Sheryl have become such good friends that Stevie just feels like she needs another girl to hang out with while on tour?

I don’t know but while everything inside me thinks that I should be doing cartwheels of joy seeing two of my faves getting together, something is really bothering me about this — and I can’t figure out what, exactly. I just don’t like it.

The end result, however, will really be the thing. If the music is really happening and the songs blow me away, that’s all that will matter, I guess.

I just can’t see Sheryl Crow sticking around as part of the band for long. I’m thinking one album, one tour, and that’s that. This whole thing is just puzzling me. I’m excited and weirded out all at the same time.

Here’s hoping…