Somehow, this exercise, which I have tried many times, never really works. Or it works but not in the way I would like.
I can imagine certain Stevie 80s solo tunes on a Mac record--How Still My Love; Enchanted; Nothing Ever Changes; Sable on Blonde; I Sing for the Things...
I can imagine certain 80s Lindsey tunes on a FM record--Trouble; Shadows of the West; Mary Lou Jones; Johnny Stew; DW Suite; Go Insane...
I can imagine certain 80s Christine tunes on a FM album--Ask Anybody; Got a Hold on Me; Smile I Live For; Love Will Show Us How; The Challenge...
But--and this is the big but--I never imagine any of these on the same record. And I don't know how they would fit together. It's odd: all these songs (and more) sound very much like FM songs. But I don't know how they would blend on a FM record.
For what it's worth, Trouble; How Still My Love and Smile I Live For are as FM as FM gets...
My favorite moments of the solo projects from the 80s are the differences, the ways in which each songwriter branches out into "new" territory. That's why Stand Back was a revelation--it was such an unexpected sound for Stevie that worked wonderfully within the context of 80s pop. That's why I laugh with great joy when I hear the zaniness Bwana and That's How We Do it in LA. That's why Christine's blues opus, One in a Million, is so satisfying to my ears--
They each did something the band context would have either stifled or muted.
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