20 years since Say You Will...
 

What do you think should have happened after?
A new album in 2009 (alongside the Unleashed tour)
Another one in 2013
A final album with the Fireflies called 'On With The Show' and a documentary about the 'making of'...

Another album, especially when Chris came back.

Wow, hard to believe its been 20 years. Although when you watch the documentary you are surprised how young they are. Makes you feel old. I remember driving back from the mall listening to the CD. Today malls dont exist and neither do CD players in new cars. This was an odd time for the band. I was so disappointed with Stevie's 2001 solo album. I wanted to like it so bad but it was so meh. Nothing creative and a bit boring. I did not care much for SYW either. It really needed Chris. However after several months of running down the beach to it every night, I started to hear and notice the creativity in the songs. Maybe the headphones and constant play did it but I suddenly fell in love with the album. Everyone Finds Out is a masterpiece especially with headphones. The next year we got a solo album from Chris which was an unexpected surprise. We thought she retired for good. I hate to paint with a broad brush but everything about this era was not that great. 9/11 changed everything. This music brings back some misery. Having said all this, I am thankful for the album and the band marching on. Although without Chris, I had no interest in seeing them in concert.

Wow. 20 years. Holy hell.

I remember the day my local classic rock station made a big deal about debuting the new Fleetwood Mac single (Peacekeeper) at like 2pm on a random Tuesday or something. I was still an intern just a few weeks shy of the same company hiring me officially and I was in my little cubicle listening super low on a clock radio I had in my desk. I had to make sure I was there and ready right at 2 - lol this in itself makes this entire thing seem SO LONG AGO!

I still think SYW was a solid album but it was bloated and missed Christine terribly. Remove about 4 songs each from S&L and add 3-4 from Chris’ 2004 album and it would’ve been much better.

After SYW and that long tour, they needed a break and I think the world needed a break from the band. They probably should have recorded another album in 2008 and toured behind that instead of just going into the tour only mode that they did in 2009. There was at least the attempt at creativity with SYW and the tour for the most part reflected a willingness to devote a fair number of tracks to new songs. Without Chris we also got additional things in the set like Beautiful Child, Eyes of the World, a non-dragging NGBA, etc.

The real WHAT IF (IMO) was after 1997. They NEVER should have waited to do something until 2002 with a 2003 release. It was too long and they killed that amazing level of momentum that came from The Dance. 1998 should have been a retooled Fleetwood Mac/Buckingham Nicks at 25 celebration. The world hadn’t tired of Stevie and Lindsey’s nonsense and quite frankly it was at its peak. Chris refusing to go on and their willingness to just go their own ways after the Grammys is one in a long list of missed opportunities. If nothing else, Say You Will should’ve been two years earlier.

Yes. However Stevie was working on her 6th solo album for years. Stevie went right into Enchanted in 1998 and then TISRL in 1999. She almost had a RAL DeJa'Vu where she did not use what was recorded in those years and brought Sheryl in to start all over again. Stevie was revamping her solo career. I agree, SYW should have come out in 1999 but Stevie was working on her revitalized solo career. The biggest mystery is during this era you would think they would have embraced the Buckingham/Nicks album and performed some of it live. My hunch is someone wanted to not stray from Fleetwood Mac and not be accused them of being a duo again. But that is just a hunch. It was the perfect time to do it yet a lost opportunity.

I remember feeling tepid about SYW’s release because of Christine’s absence. I played the album and initially thought “meh, kinda’ soulless.” But then about a month later I began to LOVE a lot of it. The mid section drags but there are about ten really good songs surrounding it.

Always hated: Come, WTWCT, Peacekeeper, Silver Girl, Goodbye Baby
Feel mixed about: Murrow, Running, Smile at You
Love: the rest...

Then, a year later came IN THE MEANTIME and I was so crazy happy.

Agree that Stevie capitalized on the momentum and Chris’ departure to restart her solo career. But I think there would’ve been a lot more money in them pivoting to a 4-piece in 1998 and embracing B/N which was celebrating its 25th anniversary. I think with Chris deciding to step away (key difference here from
2018 of course is that Chris like Lindsey in 1987, chose to walk away) they could have done that with great success and acceptance. It would’ve been a unique way to bridge the gap between what the world had just seen as FM and what FM would end up being for the next 15-17 years. A FMBN tour in 1998 that went outside the US and then a new album in 1999 or 2000 would’ve been much more preferable than what they actually did.

It’s all a moot point now but it was such an interesting time and it’s hard to imagine that these people who love money so much just let the Fleetwood Mac circus fade away for 5 years. The world was so different by 2003 than what it was in 1998.

In the real world, after SYW, another album as a 4-piece in the 2008-10 era and a final album with the fivesome in 2015-16 would have been the way to go. What ended up actually happening is the dumbest of the options one could put together.

I can only guess that they knew it would be LAME without Christine. Which it was. The THREE of them is what made them successful. The balance.

They've always been terrible business people. Mick's the card carrier, but they were always too self involved to worry about conquering the world(except Irving, the conqueror... god bless his money grubbing tiny heart).

This was the closest we got!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmzWejMa-IY

I rode to the shops and back to buy it, listening to it on one of those portable CD players while cycling.

WTWCT was a fun fresh start to the album, but I never cared for it on its own until I saw them play it live.
The GOS tracks continue to be a joy for me, but never gelled well with the newly recorded tracks.
I enjoyed the smack-in-the-face provocativeness of the track ordering, but as a single disc it ends up as somewhat bloaty and incoherent and a few tracks too long. The original two-disc idea, or two different albums, or a more conservative track ordering (putting long wild songs on the back half) may have worked better.
One of the attributes of Christine's that's lacking on SYW is shorter songs. SYW average track length is 4:15. The standard 3:30 pop song duration must work for a reason, and Christine often 'hit it on the nail.'
The documentary shows that SnL were at cross-purposes about the whole endeavor from day one. In terms of investment in the process, it looks akin to a repeat of the recording of Tango, but without a Christine or Sandy Stewart to serve up enough hits and pleasant vocals to round out SnL's rough edges.
But in the final analysis, it was a gift to have a "new" Lindsey/FM album and tour.

They should have released it as an album.

"Buckingham Nicks - A Few Bars"

I just had another memory. When Peacekeeper was released and performed on the Today show, the Iraq war was about to begin. I remember thinking it was sort of spooky and a message that had perfect timing.
I dont disagree that its a more "perfect" album removing tracks. But I will take all the tracks I can get from a band that rarely records albums at that time. So I sort of appreciated Lindsey in not wanting the typical commercial perfect set. The album is long and can wander. But its not filler. I will stop there because I will never be able to convince anyone here its a good album.

How dare you suggest that Irving Azoff has even a tiny heart!

No need to convince me ..I liked it from the day I bought it.
But it’s such a slow burner and took a couple of years to really get into it.
Nowadays I love it…yes it’s long, and there are a couple of songs I might ditch…but so what.

At the time I was all in. But in retrospect, songs like Thrown Down, Friend, You Are, Down On Rodeo and even Running Through The Garden seem to give a much better through line to where the band ended up. SYW was a valiant attempt at a sonic re-start which didn't end up going anywhere. I sometimes think the Extended Play EP and Buckingham McVie was more in tune with their catalogue now looking back.