The Fleetwood Mac singer looks back with a boxed set

By Steve Morse, Globe Staff, 04/24/98 Most supergroups tour, then take some serious time off. Ask the Rolling Stones and U2 about that. But not all supergroup members go quietly into prolonged vacations and private mansions. Stevie Nicks finished Fleetwood Mac's tour this winter, but has already booked her own tour for the summer, fueled by a new three-CD boxed set, ''Enchanted,'' which comes out Tuesday.

''It's easier for me to just keep going than for me to stop and do nothing for a couple of months, you know what I mean?'' Nicks said recently from Los Angeles. ''It's better for me to just keep working.''

Nicks's workaholic ways could be surmised from the song, ''Sweet Girl,'' which she wrote for Fleetwood Mac last year. It contained a telling verse that defines her life: ''I chose to dance across the stages of the world/Sometimes I think I was always on call.''The call this time came from Atlantic Records, which has issued Nicks's six solo albums and wanted a finale before Nicks bolted to her new label, Warner/Reprise. The idea of a boxed set was raised. Nicks at first wanted to do a five-CD box, but settled for three - and a handsome three, at that, since they include eight previously unreleased tracks and 20 songs overall that have never appeared on a Nicks album, ranging from B-sides to live and soundtrack cuts. These are joined by her 12 Top 40 hits such as ''Stop Draggin' My Heart Around'' (a duet with Tom Petty) and ''Edge of Seventeen (Just Like the White Winged Dove).''

''Atlantic wanted to put it out now,'' Nicks said of the box. ''So I thought I'd do it as quickly as possible and still try to do it beautifully. Then go out and do a three-month tour [coming to Great Woods on June 12], then come back and start on my next record.''

The songs span passionate times, jilted times, druggy times - and all the rest of the highs and lows that have characterized this Phoenix native's rags-to-riches, rock 'n' roll life.

''All these songs are about some heavy stuff,'' said Nicks. ''There isn't a song in here that isn't about something intense. To hear all the songs in a group, I didn't even realize that my life was that intense. When I proofread all the words for the songs, I went, `Wow, even I'm amazed that you're still alive.'''

And, yet, Nicks isn't complaining. Which is why she titled the box ''Enchanted'' (also the title of one of her songs, though the title for the box was suggested by her brother, Chris). Said Nicks: ''I have always considered my work and my life somewhat enchanted.''

The box is not chronologically arranged, but does include the song ''Rose Garden,'' which Nicks wrote when she was 17. It was only the second song that she ever wrote.

''I had no idea about fame or fortune or anything else back then. All I had was my own life,'' said Nicks, who turns 50 on May 26. ''I had no idea I would become famous and own big houses and acres of land and have men and money, though what I wouldn't have would be that great love of my life, because that great love of my life wouldn't be able to hang out with my lifestyle.''

Speaking of lifestyle, Nicks has had several rock-star lovers through the years - Lindsey Buckingham, Mick Fleetwood, and Don Henley - but there's a B-side on the boxed set, ''One More Big Time Rock Star,'' which cynically says, ''just what I need.'' The song is about a rock star who sends flowers instead of showing up himself. Nicks won't name names in this case.

''It's such a rock-star thing to send flowers. It's sick to send a $150 arrangement of flowers and think that that's going to make it OK,'' said Nicks. Of such an individual she adds: ''Nobody needs one of those. They are a pain.''

The boxed set comes with an obligatory booklet, but it's not crammed with the kind of gossipy insights that other booklets have. ''I'm not a big confession person. I don't feel I have to confess all my sins to the world,'' said Nicks. ''I've never been that way. I'm different from Lindsey [Buckingham] in that way. I mean, he likes to confess everything. We just feel differently about it.''

The box is highlighted by several previously unreleased demos. One is ''Twisted'' (featuring Jesse Valenzuela of the Gin Blossoms on guitar), about someone ''chasing down the demons, crying out for love.'' Another is a terrific rockabilly cover of Dorsey Burnette's 1959 tune, ''It's Late,'' where Nicks shows the vocal power for which she's famous.

A new single will be released from the box, entitled ''Reconsider Me.'' It's a Warren Zevon love song recorded in 1987 with a backup vocal from Henley, but it's never been released before. It was a source of conflict at the time with Nicks's longtime producer, Jimmy Iovine.

''When Jimmy brought me the song, he thought it was going to be a key song in my career, like a second `Stop Draggin' My Heart Around.' But we got in a big fight, because I really don't like to do other people's songs that often. That's why I write my own songs. I was pretty crazy at that point in my life, and you couldn't tell me anything. And I said to him, `I would never say the words ''reconsider me'' to somebody. I would never ask somebody to reconsider loving me.' Well, he thought that was the biggest bunch of crap he'd ever heard, so we had a big fight about it and that's just about the last time Jimmy and I ever worked together.

''But all these years later, I'm not uptight about it anymore,'' Nicks added. ''And Zevon was a very good friend. ... I'm delighted to be doing Warren's song now.''

Nicks has clearly matured through the years. T hat was evident on the last Fleetwood Mac tour, where she starred on many nights. She hopes the Mac will one day tour again, even though she admitted that bandmate Christine McVie is reluctant to do so. ''And I would never go out without Christine. She is just too much a part of it,'' said Nicks. ''But in my heart of hearts, I don't feel this is the end. I just feel that everybody is resting right now.''

Everybody, that is, except Nicks.

This story ran on page D17 of the Boston Globe on 04/24/98.

© Copyright 1998 Globe Newspaper Company.