Stevie Nicks reflects on an 'Enchanted' life

by Gary Graff

She's spent the past year reunited with Fleetwood Mac -- not unhappily, either. But it's time for Stevie Nicks to go her own way again.

Oh, the door isn't closed on Fleetwood Mac reunions.

"It'll probably be in two years, 2 1/2 years," said Nicks, adding that she and the other group members will "fix those things" that made it difficult for singer Christine McVie to tour and subsequently caused her to declare an end to her involvement with the band.

Until that time comes, however, Nicks plans on being plenty visible. This spring she released a three-volume retrospective box set, "Enchanted," which spans her solo career. She'll be on tour into August, with a stop at Great Woods tomorrow, then plans to complete work on her first solo album since 1994.

"It's almost like I didn't ask for any of this," said Nicks, 49, who had started working on the solo album when the Fleetwood Mac reunion began to take shape. "The whole world changed, upside down. and when I got home from the Fleetwood Mac thing, I was told Atlantic (Records) felt this was a good time to do the box set."

That's hardly surprising. Fleetwood Mac's tour in support of "The Dance," an album culled from a special concert performance for MTV, provided a reminder of just how popular Nicks is. The loudest cheers each night were for Nicks, and her succession of hits -- "Rhiannon," "Dreams," "Gold Dust Woman," "Landslide" -- as well as her flowing gypsy-witch stage persona, both of which have long defined the band for many of its fans.

That's why the Phoenix-born, California-raised Nicks has had the most success on her own, starting with the multimillion selling 1981 release "Bella Donna." She's aware of this distinction, but it's also something she tries to keep at a delicate distance.

Nicks said she believes her solo success has been "fine and fairly easy for everybody in the band except Lindsey (Buckingham)...because we started out together. He kind of goes, like, 'When did you do all this? Why do you get this kind of reaction?'"

But since Buckingham is the linchpin in determining whether the current lineup of Fleetwood Mac works, Nicks said she tries hard to keep her popularity from becoming an issue between them -- even if she has skewered Buckingham a bit in songs such as "Dreams" and the intense "Silver Springs."

Nicks describes the compilation of "Enchanted" as "going through a photo album."

Besides her hits ("Stand Back," "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," "Leather and Lace") and favorite album tracks, "Enchanted" dips prodigiously into Nicks' vaults for previously unreleased selections, songs from soundtrack albums (including a version of Tom Petty's "Free Falling"), collaborations with artists such as Kenny Loggins and John Stewart and even the first ever CD appearance of a track "Long Distance Winner" from the Buckingham Nicks album.

There are no Fleetwood Mac numbers, however, save for a spare piano rendition of "Rhiannon" that purposefully closes the set.

"This is probably going to be the most special thing on this whole record," she said. "It's the only time I'll ever play it like this, like the way I wrote it, for the world. It's really important that this song is here and that it's done by just me and that it's the last song on all three discs."

Nicks said she's anxious to get back to work on new songs; her next album, "Trouble in Shangria-la" is an autobiographical concept piece about "achieving Shangria-la and not being able to handle it."

She put it aside when the Fleetwood Mac project began, and she won't pick it up again until after this tour, which she promises will include both Fleetwood Mac and solo songs, including material she's seldom if ever performed in concert.

Stevie Nicks/Boz Scaggs at Great Woods, Mansfield, tomorrow at 8 P.M. Tickets: $25.25 to $53.75. Call (617) 423-6398.

Thanks to Amy Thompson for transcribing this interview and sending it to The Nicks Fix.