Fleetwood Mac Prepare New Studio Album

After 30 years in this industry divorce-rock champions Fleetwood Mac are about to return with a new album of original material, according to Rollingstone.com.

The album is currently getting mixed in the studio, but can be expected to be out in early Spring 2003. This is the first album of all new material to feature all the band's classic Rumours-era line-up in nearly 15 years (their last proper album, 1990's Behind The Mask didn't include songwriter Lindsay Buckingham).

Be warned though, the "classic line-up" business is a wee bit misleading. Keyboard player and part-time songwriter Christine McVie has permanently left the band, although voice and playing does appear on one of the album's tracks.

The rest of the group — Buckingham, singer Stevie Nicks, bass player John McVie and drummer Mick Fleetwood — all appear in their regular roles. Rolling Stone reports that most of the songs come from tunes that Nicks and Buckingham had individually been considering to release as solo work.

To keep things current, they've brought in Sheryl Crow to sing back-up and play keys on one song. No concrete release date or title has been set for the album yet. Expect Fleetwood Mac to do a full tour upon the album's release.