FLEETWOOD MAC OR FOUR FIFTHS of them have reunited to record a new studio album. As yet untitled and quite possibly to be a double CD, it is expected to be released in the first hail of 2003 and will be backed up with some UK shows. The band, now consisting of Lindsey Buckingham, Stevie Nicks, Mick FIeetwood and John McVie, have based themselves in Los Angeles for the sessions. "

We're finishing it off now," Mick Fleetwood told Classic Rock a few days ago. "It's probably about 16 years since 'Tango In The Night'. time flies. Five years since we were last on the road. Seems like two years. It's very exciting. Lindsey's worked to produce the whole package. It's a very personal album. We really worked how Lindsey was working when he was not in Fleetwood Mac. "

We've ended up with an album that I hope people are gonna love. It's adventurous in some ways, but the craft is there. All of that stuff Lindsey had in his learning process, the way he works, we're reaping the benefits of a lot of those sensibilities:'

Buckingham himself added: "To be able to come back and rejoin these people and have the chemistry still there, and have something new to give back to the situation from having left, is great."

The one missing component is singer/keyboard player Christine McVie, who has now retired from the music business. "We have established a different dynamic between the guys, and I think that will translate well to Stevie coming in," Buckingham said.

And as for those 'difficult' personal relationships that the members of  Mac are famous for: "We've had a ball making it, and we've got on like a house on fire," Fleetwood confirms "It's been very revealing. I have a new family, and life has changed, and yet our work ethic has really come full circle. It's very special. We're happy and we hope everyone else will be."

The band's latest greatest hits album continues to ride high in the UK chart and Fleetwood is the subject of a new video and DVD, Two Sticks And A Drum: The Mick Fleetwood Story, available via NBD.