In the Meantime
Christine McVie,Fleetwood Mac's cool as an oyster chanteuse--ying to Stevie Nick's quirky yang--decided to pass on Mac's latest reunion efforts, prompting her former bandmates to insist that the icy blonde was fed up with the music business, and planned to retreat to her country home. But it seems that McVie was only fed up with her former compatriots, and stealthily recordedIn the Meantime, her first solo album in two decades rather than participate in reconfiguring the seventies pop monolith. And just so we know she means business, she not-so-cryptically tackles the invitation from Mick, Stevie, Lindsay and John on the anxious and vituperrious "Bad Journey," leaving no doubt in fan's minds that she's shut the door on her past for good.Meantimefinds the formerly winsome musician newly empowered with claws fully extended--penning songs that crackle with ire and ennui without any of the frothy self-deception of the past, whether on the casual hit-or-miss sex of "Anything is Possible" or the chilly kiss-off of "Sweet Revenge." --Jaan Uhelszki