Are you kidding me? Pretend its 1975 and especially Mac has been transformed from a Blues Band. Over My Head was the perfect first radio single. Stevie always said she never wanted them to release Rhiannon because no one thought it was a single and did not want to see it dragged through the mud.

The Mac released Warm Ways as its first single in England which turned out to not be a wise choice. Its a beautiful song but usually the best songs are not the most commercial ones unfortunately.

Speaking about David's post about going in a new direction with SYW singles...….. I would have loved for Isnt it Midnight be released as the first single from Tango. Its the album's best song IMHO. But the entire world was waiting for the first song from the Mac in 5 years. It would have been a hit even a small one. It may not have charted as well but would have made a statement. They could have releases all of their radio friendly singles afterwards which would have been just as successful. But this would have made the Mac more credible as a rock band. The Tango singles are pure pop commercial songs.

Don't get me wrong. Everybody finds out is my favorite from SYW and I would have released it as the first single. I am speaking in reality what the record company wants and thinks will be most likely a hit.

My point got slightly misinterpreted. In what way was Say You Will (the song) radio friendly in the 2003 market? It's a song that chugs along sweetly in 4/4 with all its pat ingredients from 1978 firmly in place: the sing-along chorus, the insta-sugar sentiment of the lyrics, the chiming acoustic guitars, the safe and sane electric lead right out of the session hack's playbook, the cloth-rich harmonies, etc. Everything was lifted right out of three decades earlier. What did kids in 2003 care about any of that?

How did Say You Will "fit" with what we were all listening to in 2003?

In suggesting Come and those other songs, I was trying to think of anything on the album that would have gotten some attention owing to its more contemporary sound. Say You Will fooled no one. If people heard it at all, they heard it as intentionally retro blandness. It's been Fleetwood Mac's curse ever since the mid-seventies, when THEY were the measure of what radio hits should sound like, to try to regain that stature by going deliberately retro. But the only time I can think of when that approach worked for them (commercially) was with the 1997 reunion -- and there were peripheral reasons for that particular victory.

Precisely. Over My Head fit right in with radio in 1975--James Taylor's How Sweet It Is, Johnny Nash's Tears on My Pillow, and all the other soft-pop ballads by Olivia Newton-John and Natalie Cole and the Eagles and John Denver and 10cc. There was nothing outlandish or musically odd about Over My Head at all. In 1975, remember, most of us were still listening to AM. (I was listening to Elton John and Redbone and Tavares and Frankie Valli and KC and the Sunshine Band and the Carpenters and the Bee Gees and Captain and Tennille and Neil Sedaka. I was a blandly commercial little boy, but I sure loved Come and Get Your Love and It Only Takes a Minute, Girl, to Fall in Love, the two greatest songs of all Western history.

Me, too. I play that at the gym for my workouts to this day. Anyway we can! Anytime we can! Anyway!

Might have gotten some airplay. They should release it now!

Are YOU kidding ME?

Fleetwood Mac stopped being a blues band back 1969 with Albatross. Then Play On, Kiln House, Future Games, Bare Trees, Penguin, Mystery To Me, and Heroes Are Hard To Find were pretty far removed from the blues. There might have been an anecdotal song or two, if that, but those were not blues albums. “Sunny Side of Heaven,” “Sentimental Lady,” and “Spare Me A Little” were every bit the pop masterpieces as anything on 1975 album.

I don’t know if I would have picked it over SYLM or Blue Letter, TBH.

Peacekeeper was a real single and a good one.

I broke my rule to not respond to your posts because its like a dog chasing its tale. I never said The White album was a blues album nor 1975 Fleetwood Mac, a blues band. I said they transformed from a Blues Band.
I recall even in Micks first book exclaiming it was a no brainer which song would be the first single. I saw a Lindsey interview many years ago commenting it OMG it was Fleetwood Mac WITH hits. You can hear in Christine's singing in the song she has a blues influence.
You don't care for the song, and I am not that crazy about it either. That was NOT anyone's point. Christine has many bluesy singing and sounds on her entire catalog especially the albums you mention.

Whatever. :rolleyes:

I didn’t suggest you did.

Implying that the arrival of Buckingham Nicks marked their transition away from the blues. I was saying they had already started moving away from the blues in 1969, and were not a blues band by 1970.

I recall the opposite. I forget who they went to, but that guy was the one who thought it was a hit.

Including mine.

The blues will obviously always have some influence on whatever Mick, John, and Christine do musically, but “Spare Me A Little” has more in common with “Say You Love Me” than “Get Like You Used To Be.”

Steal Your Heart Away and Bleed to Love Her are great. Would not have done well on top 100 chart but would have on adult charts. Say You Will to me was Stevie was writing more like Christine. Not Stevie at all. I always wondered with proper marketing if Thrown Down could have done better given it was featured on Friends. Have to capitalize on that stuff.

Absolutely.

"Say You Will" is a terrible choice. IMO, it shouldn't have even made the album. Just take the subject matter: a woman asking a man for one more chance, or at least some time to do the real convincing (maybe in the song's sequel?). It's the most tepid courtship imaginable, with the woman somehow both the pursuer and the weaker party.

Plus that line "at least give me time to change your mind" is just unwieldy and requires a bad meter to make it scan.

My problem with "Peacekeeper" is less pronounced, but concerns the subject matter, which is too impersonal and executed too cryptically for an anti-war song (and is also about as far from Fleetwood Mac's wheelhouse as one could imagine).

I agree with what you said about songs we would rather have as singles. But I disagree with the idea that those songs could not have been singles. Part of what made/makes FM interesting is that their work was so confessional and different! It is a shame that Straight Back - one of Stevie's most interesting songs ever IMHO - is buried on FM's least popular album. And Isn't It Midnight (along with Little Lies) is the catchiest track on Tango in the Night so that still bothers me too!

Say You Will is catchy but it would not make me want to buy an album. I think Everybody Finds Out and Smile At You (even though this version is not my favorite of this song) are exciting tracks. Tonally they follow the thread of scorned lovers in Fleetwood Mac songs and that story and authenticity makes you want to hear more. Plus, Stevie gets so into it vocally in Everybody Finds Out, yelling alongside the crescendo of the violins... It is an energy I do not think we have seen in a studio vocal from her since then. I think that would have appealed to anyone even remotely familiar with her famous Rhiannon performances, as well as new fans. It is a shame they never do this live!!

I hardly believe you forgot since you obsess over this stuff 24/7.

Yeah, horrible that Stevie finally found her voice and creativity again and wanted to record a solo album instead of recording with a “band” that had stopped being a band over a decade earlier. You want to blame someone, blame Christine who bailed after cashing in on the reunion hype. Stevie stayed with FM.

Cashing in? They did 4 brand new songs. Rebooted Silver Springs with beautiful piano intro, re-arranged Rhiannon with a grand piano intro as a duet w/ Stevie, Big Love and Go Insane were brought in solo, re-arranged Say You Love Me with a vocal arrangement and banjo, they had the USC Marching band for the concert special, and DVD, they actually put out a DVD... Christine and the band put a lot of work into that tour. And, she came out of retirement to do it. Also, she specifically told them this would be her last tour BEFORE THE TOUR STARTED

Blame Christine??? really??? For what? Giving the fans a great way to go out?

I absolutely love SYW.
I loved it upon it's release, and still love it to this very day.
I think any song released as a first single would have struggled due to the rapidly changing music landscape of radio.
There simply wasn't a viable way to promote it.
MTV had drastic changes, barely playing music videos, and rock radio no longer was one genre. Most new rock songs got rotation on "alternative" stations and "Classic Rock" was regulated to a mostly oldies format.
All things considered, the album performed pretty well.

She stayed more than we needed her to stay, honestly. :rolleyes:

But we all know Stevie can do no wrong. We owe her everything really. She's our muse, our inspiration, our Goddess. I don't know where FM would be without her, really. :laugh::laugh:

Please, Stevie left the band when she wanted to, just as the rest of its members! And we all know why. Too much of…. everything.