Most Underrated & Overrated Mac Songs
 

Hi everyone! With all of this talk about the worst songs by each writer, I'd like to shift focus to something a little less critical and with a little more diversity in opinion (I hope).

I think the most underrated song has to be "Crystal". I love it on Buckingham Nicks, and it's even better on the White Album. The harmonies by Lindsay and Stevie are perfect; you can really hear the love in their voices. So few new Mac fans know this song, but IMO it shows Stevie and Lindsey's musical partnership at its best.

I'd go with "Everywhere" as the most overrated. It's pretty catchy, but it's just so bland and a bit too lightweight for me. It sounds like Chris just going through the motions without putting much feeling in the song. It's often considered an 80's classic and is a frequent starting point for new Mac fans, but IMO it just doesn't deserve all the praise it gets.

I think this is a great way to build on the more basic best/worst threads, and maybe we could even do most overrated and underrated for each writer.

Hmmm, going to have to go think on that.

Wow this is an impossible thread because the Mac has so many underrated songs. Just every song on Tusk is underrated. The entire Mirage album is underrated. Even worse, many Christine McVie songs are underrated especially prior to Buckingham/Nicks.
Say You Will is also full of underrated songs. Too many to list.

I cant think of an overrated song because I don't think the Mac was an overrated band. They earned success the hard way and then surprised everyone with Tusk. For a song to be overrated it has to be successful commercially where everyone knows it.
I would say the song Tusk is overrated. Its a great jam but not much of a song. It was commercially successful but only because it was the first single on a new album after Rumours. I don't think it would have charted if it was the 3rd single release. Its a good song and I enjoy it live but definitely overrated IMHO.
I forced myself to pick one so don't yell at me. I could not come up with an underrated song so forced my hand on this one. :eek:

It's way too hard to pick two from their entire catalog so I'll limit mine to singles;

- Most overrated? Don't Stop. It's good but it's not amazing.
- Most underrated? A lot of people I know always forget about As Long As You Follow and I think it's a gem of a tune.

Overrated: Sara, Sisters of the Moon, Everywhere.

Underrated: most of Mirage, Honey Hi, Blue Letter, Seven Wonders.

Great topic! I totally agree with the OP on this:

For most underrated....I'll stick with another single and pick Think About Me. It's really a great, great song and I've never understood why it wasn't every bit as popular as Sara or Tusk.

oooooh that's a good one!

most overrated: Love in Store... zzzzzzz. Dirge. long gaps between interesting bits.

Blue Letter.

I'm So Afraid. Compelling live, but the lyrics.. oy. THey're like bad Stevie lyrics.


Most underrated:
Sugar Daddy. Great story, fun piano riff. Not her best vocal maybe but still.

Think About Me. For the reasons others have said. Should have been a better single.

Tango in the Night. epic. Love most of his stuff on Tango. [His Mirage stuff not so much.]

Not That Funny.

most overrated: Sara

most underrated - majority of Tusk and many SYW songs.

Going back a little further into Mac history.

Most underrated: Danny Kirwan's contribution to the Fleetwood Mac sound. His amazing guitar playing, arrangements and singing, is tragically over looked by both fans and the band alike. Top Song Pick: Sands of Time. Same can be said for Bob Welch but I'll leave it at one.

Most over rated: Dreams. While I love the song and it deserved to go to #1, it carries little pizazz live, Stevie seems bored with it and the band plays it way too fast, even back in the day. But most notably, the song falls apart without the high notes. We need to remember Dreams the way it was recorded and not ever hear it live again.

I agree with Blue Letter being overrated. I mean, it had its place in the sun and in the early years it really was that good. But I have no nostalgia for it now. I know people will say it isn't the song that is bad just because their last live arrangement of it was lackluster. But, for me, even if they did it perfectly today, it's still not great anymore. It didn't travel well.

Michele

-------------^ This.

Overrated:

Everywhere
Don't Stop
Over My Head
Silver Springs (studio version)

Underrated:

Illume
Family Man
Isn't It Midnight
Seven Wonders
Steal Your Heart Away
Crystal
Honey Hi
Brown Eyes
That's Alright
Caroline
Heart of Stone
Tango in the Night
Save Me a Place

I agree with this. Isn't It Midnight is much better.

Most overrated: Go Your Own Way. It's a great song and I love it and it deserves all the praise and esteem it gets, but there are much better songs by this band.

Most underrated: Hold Me, duh lol how has no one said this yet? Another underrated song is Why. It's such a beautiful song, one of Christine's best actually. This song should still be played on the radio, it should have been a single back in the day too.


I don't think Everywhere is overrated at all. I agree with what the OP said about the song, but it's one of my favorite songs and a great comeback tune for Christine.

That's Alright and Fireflies are, to me, hugely underrated, not talked about that much in the discussion about Stevie's best songs, which they ARE. As Long As You Follow I agree is a ridiculously underrated tune as is Sweet Girl (though I prefer Stevie's demo on Enchanted) and the entire Say You Will album is undervalued a lot too.

Though I am not about to admit that When I See You Again is a truly great song, I still like it a hell of a lot, though. Certainly it could have been better of course.

Overrated? I do think Don't Stop is slightly, but I still love it and I never have really ever gotten sick of it. You Make Loving Fun is still Chris's best song on Rumours though.

One of my favourite songs from the Mac is That's Alright. Absolutely fantastic tune and surprised it's largely forgotten. I wish the Mac would bring it back, I can't even find any live performances of it. Storms is very underrated at time as well, wish that was sung live too. Tango in the Night (song) is also a lost gem. As Long As You Follow too.

Overrated: Over My Head, Everywhere, Sisters of The Moon, most (not all) of Lindsey's Tusk songs (unfavourable opinion).

On That's Alright and Fireflies, these are both truly great songs and among Stevie's most creatively constructed and written. I'm more surprised that some of the newer artists haven't covered songs like this, they would sound contemporary done in today's style, they're timeless. Storms is right up there with Landslide in terms of its classicness and the band needs to vamp the song up a bit and promote it for what it is, particularly hearing the stellar acoustic arrangement on the alternate Tusk, the song really shines there.

Overrated: Dreams, Don't Stop, Eyes of the World (so many fans seem to really love this. Don't get why).

Underrated: That's Alright, Warm Ways, My Little Demon.

I kinda have to agree with you here. While I love the way Dreams was performed in the 1980's on Stevie's solo tours when it faded from Outside The Rain, nowadays it just isn't the song it used to be. The Dance performance was the last really good one IMO.

I think one of the most overrated Mac songs is Everywhere. It is a bop and it's fun to listen to, but it's kind of filled with hot air.

Underrated Mac songs? That's a long list.
-Isn't It Midnight
-Paper Doll (I feel like I'm in the minority here)
-As Long As You Follow
-Illume
-Really anything from Say You Will
-Brown Eyes
-The Ledge
-Thats Alright

Great one that I forgot about. For me, "Paper Doll" is a top 10 Stevie tune.

Most overrated: Tusk or Hold Me

Most underrated: Illume or (my all-time favourite) As Long as you Follow

Under:

Heart of Stone
That's Alright
Crystal (white album)

Over:
Landslide (I can't take it anymore)
Over My Head
Sara

Two great choices, Illume is wonderful and they ought to be proud of the results, it's a fantastic song! The arrangement takes it to that place that Stevie hadn't dared touch in a long long time :)


As Long as you Follow: Kind of takes me to the Over and Over place that Christine is so great at doing with her romantic songs. This one is amazing.

Yes. Illume is so rich and ominous and dark and you can picture the 9 11 events. As Long as you Follow has that like 100 part harmony and a new nuance in every listen!

Overrated: "Don't Stop," "Seven Wonders" (I've never understood the appeal)

Underrated: Most of Christine's Tusk Material; "Straight Back" and "That's Alright" (they're overshadowed by "Gypsy," which is no doubt one of FM's greatest songs, but on any other album they'd be standouts)

Overrated: Don't Stop.

Underrated: Destiny Rules - Thrown Down (understandably!) gets all the love from Stevie's SYW songs, but Destiny Rules is just so freakin' good!

I wonder if some of these "overrated" songs are really overrated, or just overplayed, over exposed so that there's nothing new or fresh left in them and so they become kinda boring.
Whereas part of the appeal of all these other songs is that we haven't heard them to death.

I think Everybody Finds Out is underrated. I wonder if it would have been a hit if it was released in the eighties.

Michele

This is an interesting thread. I do think there are a number of underrated Mac songs, including Oh Daddy and I Don't Wanna Know, but THE most underrated song is Red Rover, which I think is excellent, among the best songs in the band's enormous and diverse catalogue.

The most overrated song: Monday Morning or I'm So Afraid or Never Going Back Again. Take your pick.

I love Heart of Stone!

That should have been the first single from Say You Will. Everything about that song is perfection...lyrics, music, arrangements, production, singing, background vocals, etc. It shows that Lindsey and the Mac still have some magic beans left which really makes me look forward to the new record. I hope they take their time on it too.

The first time I heard it, I was in a meeting with a very mean boss. She was talking and all I could think was, "Is this Christine McVie??????"

"It is!!" OMG what is that?? It was playing over the office intercom.

She was your spirit animal that day!

It was so blissful because I didn't expect any new music from them. I didn't know that the box set would have new songs.

You're probably right. I think Dreams is overrated- to the point I hate listening to it. When I think about it though, I have to admit its really very nice. Its so simple and yet its quite possibly Lindsey Buckinghams finest ever moment. He did a 'Big Bang' and made something out of nothing. If I was to think about what it would sound like if I was hearing it for the very first time I'm sure I'd think it was brilliant...

...and yet, I've heard it a thousand and something times. It bores me absolutely sh!tless

Underrated:
Hold Me: A fantastic song, but noone, not even the Macs themselves seem to appreciate it like it should be.

Bermuda Triangle: (and many other songs Bob Welch did with FM), the Live version from the Bermuda Triangle Bootleg is fantastic, a musical treasure imho. Same is true for Hypnotized.

Sugar Daddy: I will never get the amount of dislike this song gets, it's just a good old blues song, fun and light, builds a bridge from the old days to the Rumours five and is totally catchy. What's not to love about it?

Save Me: A real smasher, does not get the credit it deserves. While mourning the abcense of LB, people did not really listen to that little masterpiece.

Illume: Fantastic, one of the best songs Stevie wrote in the last 15 years.


Overrated:
Mystified - I'm still mystified how FM overrated it enough to put it on TiTN in the first place. The worst FM song ever to my ears. Christines voice is terrible, the sugar coated, dated 80's production kills the already weak composition- there is no redeeming quality of any kind in this song.

Sisters of the Moon: a lesser GDW, especially the single versions production was quite tacky in an overly dramatic way. I do love it live.

I really think GYOW is overrated. It's not awful but just over played.
On the other hand, I believe many pre BN stuff is underrated. Heroes are Hard To Find, Bob's Angel, Bad Loser, Silver Heels, Emerald Eyes,Hypnotized and Why are some of my favourites.

Overrated doesn't equal over-exposed. Think of overrated as overhyped, not as good as people say it is, lower quality than advertised.

I see a lot of songs listed here that are clearly not overrated - Dreams, Go Your Own Way, Landslide - these are some of the best pop songs ever crafted and recorded to tape in the history of popular music. You might be tired of hearing them, but they are not overhyped, or lower quality than advertised, so to speak.

right on, and that was my point in asking the question. Some of the songs people are mentioning are really good songs, and if they weren't so over played we'd see it still. Dreams is perfection!

I don't like Dreams live. But, the other day I put in on in my car (studio). It's 5 people making magic. I love that song.