Taken from the web
Brad asked: "What do you think of Say You Will?"
Well, what I thought was my copy of it is still sitting here in my parents' house, and when I went to grab it, both discs were missing and a spider crawled out.
But then I spent $9.99 on a replacement and, after listening to it for two days, I don't exactly regret it. I don't exactly not regret it, either, though.
I mean, I don't know, I should like this album. I loved Lindsey's tracks when they were passed around as a shelved solo album called Gift of Screws. (This was a different Gift of Screws than the Gift of Screws that came out in 2008.) But maybe that's the problem -- this is a Lindsey Buckingham album.
Which, adding Fleetwood Mac to a Lindsey Buckingham album doesn't do any harm -- when has Stevie Nicks harmonizing with Lindsey Buckingham ever harmed anything? -- and there are a couple of lovely new moments. The way Stevie curlicues up off the main melody at the end of "Steal Your Heart Away." The way her voice haunts Lindsey's on "Say Goodbye." (Though even that's much, much better live.) But on most of the songs, Fleetwood Mac feels like an afterthought. Or not a thought at all: the Say You Will versions of "Come," "Murrow," and "Red Rover" are identical to the Gift of Screws versions of "Come," "Murrow," and "Red Rover." "Peacekeeper" is the only song that really changes with the addition of the band -- it's deeper and more urgent with Mick and John behind it, and any chorus to which Stevie Nicks is added automatically becomes a chorus of fifteen-year-olds. Which is what a song about a nation marching its children off to an endgame of a war (or something) needs!
But you know what song doesn't need a chorus of children? A song about asking a former lover for a second chance. And as long as we're talking about things that don't need to exist: "Illume." "Destiny Rules." The part of "Illume" that re-appears as part of "Destiny Rules." Stevie is really, really uneven on this album -- but the bad lyrics aren't even the biggest disappointment.
Four of Stevie's songs had been around since before this album too: "Thrown Down" was an outtake from her last solo album, Trouble in Shangri-La. "Running Through the Garden" is from at least as far back as '85. "Smile at You" demos were recorded for both Mirage and Tusk, and "Goodbye Baby" grew out of a demo called "The Tower," which I think was recorded in the late '70s.
In their demo forms, those last two were two of my favorites. "Smile at You" was a straightforward rock song built on a solid line: "My first mistake was to smile at you." "The Tower" never got past the piano-and-metronome stage, but I never thought it needed to, the throaty resign of her voice sounded better when there was space around it. And it isn't like she couldn't have done them justice, even twenty years later, even with the way she sounds now. She managed it with the three old demos that turned up on Trouble in-Shangri-La -- no, more than managed it. She made the way her voice had changed work in her favor: the Trouble in Shangri-La version of "Sorcerer," for example, starts out even, settled, so the trill comes out of nowhere and disappears just as fast, and the way that plays against the rest of her voice, and against the lyrics, it's disconcerting, it's menacing. It brings out the best of what she has now.
Say You Will, on the other hand -- the same way the band feels like an afterthought on Lindsey's tracks, Stevie's voice feels like an afterthought on Stevie's tracks. Because they sound like a Lindsey Buckingham album, too, layers of Lindsey's guitars, layers of Lindsey's voice crawling up out of the shadows, that shivering dream atmosphere that works so well when he whispers or yelps against it, but makes Stevie's voice seem jarring and out of place. And it's frustrating, because there are moments where it works despite itself, moments like the verses of "Smile at You" and the middle of "Running Through the Garden," where she sounds more alive than she has in years. "Everybody Finds Out" is the worst song I've ever heard, until it becomes the best song I've ever heard, until it becomes the worst song I've ever heard. And while the lyrics are a little bit to blame, it's mostly the fault of the frantic production -- which, by the way, go pick up Tango in the Night and listen to "Big Love." Now listen to "Everybody Finds Out." Now listen to "Big Love" again. Right?
I guess what I'm trying to say is, the parts are there, but they never come together. It's like something important is missing, you know? It's like something important is missing.
http://girlboymusic.livejournal.com/307298.html