Quote:
Originally Posted by Nico
I understand everything you wrote. And you may actually be correct about Lindsey being such an intense control freak, but if that is so I have to lose some respect for Stevie. If these songs were extremely special for her, some she had just written after a dry period, she should have stuck to her guns be damned. She almost matches Lindsey's key role by her popularity and audience draw. She has a ton of pull, and given that she presents the image of a tough, speaks-her-mind, type of dame I'm sure if it mattered enough she would have made it clear.
I have a feeling she was resting a bit on her laurels, and Lindsey. I think she was expecting him to be the same kind of guy who did all that fabulous stuff back in the day- and, well, we all reach our peak. Perhaps he had more invested in helping her so much back then, or cared more, but whatever the reason the bottom line is a bunch of people feel he didn't do her songs justice. And I just feel...perhaps Stevie didn't really care that much. I agree with you that she may have been playing a very good band member and wanted to get it moving...but for the sake of artistry? Is it worth it? That's what I don't get...
But the album was never bad to me. Never. I recall listening to it the first time that it sounded extremely adult contemporary and that Silver Girl was truly awful. But I loved Say Goodbye and Thrown Down instantly. True, Stevie's songs didn't hold up all that well for me compared to Lindsey's- but I can't call it awful. I feel there's all this negativity towards this album that wasn't even bad. I even wonder if it would be so had the album actually been more of a hit.
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I agree with absolutely everything you said, especially the part I bolded. I think there was some really wonderful material on SYW. Nobody else seems to agree with me, but I think especially Illume is one of the coolest songs Stevie recorded within Fleetwood Mac. Destiny Rules is utterly classic sounding to me. I love the progressive feel most of the songs exude.
However as an
album, I still argue SYW falls short. There is no continuity. Even Lindsey has recently admitted this. Stevie and Lindsey got away with this lack of continuity on Tusk because they still had Christine to bridge the gap. Without Christine as a buffer, Lindsey and Stevie seemed to instead be battling/clashing on SYW. Perhaps SYW was just the learning experience they needed, and the next FM album will benefit from it
