Hypnotized

[Lee]

I first heard this song on my local, classic rock radio station on two for Tuesday, when they play two songs by the same artist. I really like this song, & they usually play it after a song like "Go Your Own Way". I'll admit that I'm not too familiar with the Mac's older stuff, but I like to check them out once in a while. So I got on YouTube tonight & checked this song out. I've seen Lindsey sing it & I've sing Bob Welch sing it, but I know Lindsey wasn't the original singer on it because I think it came out before he & Stevie joined the band. So that's why I'm posting this here. Maybe someone familiar with the "Pre-Rumours" music could fill me in on the background of this song.

Thanks,

Lee

[slipkid]

Originally Posted by Lee

I first heard this song on my local, classic rock radio station on two for Tuesday, when they play two songs by the same artist. I really like this song, & they usually play it after a song like "Go Your Own Way". I'll admit that I'm not too familiar with the Mac's older stuff, but I like to check them out once in a while. So I got on YouTube tonight & checked this song out. I've seen Lindsey sing it & I've sing Bob Welch sing it, but I know Lindsey wasn't the original singer on it because I think it came out before he & Stevie joined the band. So that's why I'm posting this here. Maybe someone familiar with the "Pre-Rumours" music could fill me in on the background of this song.

Thanks,

Lee

Hello fellow Delawarean. "Hypnotized" is a jazzy Bob Welch song (with a Jobim mood) that I heard from classic rock radio sometime in the 80's. It was one of those tunes that I thought didn't get it's due compared to the post 1975 band's success. Then I heard Bob Welch's "Sentimental Lady" from the "Bare Trees" album. The later Bob Welch solo album version doesn't stand up to original with Christine McVie singing back-up vocals.

"Mystery To Me" isn't that expensive to purchase. That's the album with "Hypnotized". If you happen to like that album, move on to "Bare Trees". If you're still interested, try "Future Games". Then if you really want to hear what the original band left as their last album, buy "Then Play On". You need to work backwards, otherwise some of the music will probably come as quite a shock. Personally, one of my greatest discoveries was the original version of Fleetwood Mac, with Danny Kirwan joining a year after. Had that version remained, they would've been the British version of the Allman Brothers.

[nicepace]

Originally Posted by slipkid

Then I heard Bob Welch's "Sentimental Lady" from the "Bare Trees" album. The later Bob Welch solo album version doesn't stand up to original with Christine McVie singing back-up vocals.

I agree with that opinion. The later, Lindsey Buckingham-produced version is too slick, too "commercial," for my taste. But let's make clear this is not a slam against Christine, who sings backing vocals on the original version too. I like her backing vocals on the original a great deal! She's in the band along with Bob Welch during his entire five-album tenure.

I second the advice, just go ahead and buy 'Mystery To Me.' There are a lot of us who love the album. I personally rank it among my two favorite FM albums of all time ('Bare Trees' being my other favorite).

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by nicepace

The later, Lindsey Buckingham-produced version is too slick, too "commercial," for my taste.

Plus, it's missing the all-important 2nd verse!!!!!!!

But, it DOES SOMEWHAT answer the question "What would Fleetwood Mac sound like had Welch NOT left and they added Lindsey & Stevie anyway?".

[mylittledemon]

I dont think anyone has ever posed this question... has anyone else noticed that on the recording (and the live performances) that Welch always says "Hyp-muh-tized"?

[jenniferuk]

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

I dont think anyone has ever posed this question... has anyone else noticed that on the recording (and the live performances) that Welch always says "Hyp-muh-tized"?

Yes!!! I've noticed that--love (LOVE!) the song but that little 'quirk' has always annoyed me a bit.

[louielouie2000]

Track down and buy Mystery To Me. It's the absolute best jumping off point for pre '75 Mac. If you're a Stevie fan, you will like this album. Outside of that, every single song is worth it's weight in gold. I think it's probably the highest quality Mac album of all time... absolutely NO filler. The album is worth it for Hypnotized and Why alone... amongst Bob Welch's and Christine McVie's best Mac contributions of all time. ChiliD is right... this is what Fleetwood Mac would have sounded like had Lindsey and Stevie never been hired. And it's surprisingly not all that different from post '75 Mac. Christine's songs are every bit as bubbly and head bobbing as they were in the Rumours era. GREAT music on this album!

Being a North Carolinian, I asked Bob Welch in his Penguin Q&A several years back about Hypnotized... and the significance of the verse talking about the pond in North Carolina with walls of glass. Bob said he and a friend were riding dirt bikes in a heavily forested area near Winston-Salem, and they came upon what they believed was a meteor crater which was filled with water. He said it had a weird vibe, and totally creeped them out, and they high tailed it out of there. It seems like Bob was just taking stories of the supernatural and weaving them together for Hypnotized... and kind of looking at them all collectively in a philosophic way.

Bob is without a doubt my favorite Macster outside of the Rumours line up. He had a deep love for the mystical... and you could argue he had a much more intellectual way of looking at mysticism than Stevie Nicks for instance. I have often wondered what the Mac would have sounded like with Stevie, Lindsey, and Bob. Crowded probably... but they could have made some damn cool music!

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

It seems like Bob was just taking stories of the supernatural and weaving them together for Hypnotized... and kind of looking at them all collectively in a philosophic way.

In one of the Q&As he said something about reading books by Carlos Casteneda around that time which he drew from

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

I have often wondered what the Mac would have sounded like with Stevie, Lindsey, and Bob. Crowded probably... but they could have made some damn cool music!

Ummm...Louie? Re-read my last post regarding Bob's French Kiss version of "Sentimental Lady"....

Originally Posted by chiliD

But, it DOES SOMEWHAT answer the question "What would Fleetwood Mac sound like had Welch NOT left and they added Lindsey & Stevie anyway?".

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by chiliD

In one of the Q&As he said something about reading books by Carlos Casteneda around that time which he drew from



Ummm...Louie? Re-read my last post regarding Bob's French Kiss version of "Sentimental Lady"....

Ahh, that makes sense! I've read a couple of my Dad's Carlos Castenada books on Don Juan myself. Neat, albeit "out there" stuff!

And who'd a thunk it... you and I having similar trains of thought on the same subject!

[chiliD]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Ahh, that makes sense! I've read a couple of my Dad's Carlos Castenada books on Don Juan myself. Neat, albeit "out there" stuff!

Welch even references "Don Juan" by name during "Miles Away" ("....Don Juan goes up in a cloud of smoke; and all those Hari Krishnas turned out to be a joke....")

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

And who'd a thunk it... you and I having similar trains of thought on the same subject!

Hey, even weirder things happen around here at times.

[nicepace]

Not all of Christine's songs from this era are "bubbly." Her great "Why" is very, very sad.

I personally don't see the connection between liking Stevie and liking 'Mystery To Me.' I think it makes more sense to say that if you like Christine, you'll like 'MTM.'

As for Bob Welch ... is he the most cerebral writer in the history of Fleetwood Mac?

[louielouie2000]

Originally Posted by nicepace

Not all of Christine's songs from this era are "bubbly." Her great "Why" is very, very sad.

I personally don't see the connection between liking Stevie and liking 'Mystery To Me.' I think it makes more sense to say that if you like Christine, you'll like 'MTM.'

As for Bob Welch ... is he the most cerebral writer in the history of Fleetwood Mac?

You're totally right... Why and Way I Feel are good examples of Christine's pre '75 Mac music not being entirely bubbly. She definitely had a deeper, more serious side to her than she perhaps had post '75. But there are songs like Just Crazy Love, Believe Me,and Keep On Going that could have been on any of the Buckingham Nicks era Mac albums.

The reason I said why anyone who likes Stevie would like this album is twofold. Firstly, the thread starter has a Stevie avatar... so comparing this album to Nicks was the best route. Secondly, this album has a very pop oriented, yet extremely mystical sound... very approachable for Stevie fans. All of Christine's Mac songs from any era are worth their weight in platinum... that's a given. Nobody is ever let down by her material, period.

[doodyhead]

Originally Posted by chiliD

Welch even references "Don Juan" by name during "Miles Away" ("....Don Juan goes up in a cloud of smoke; and all those Hari Krishnas turned out to be a joke....")



Hey, even weirder things happen around here at times.

A further reference to Carlos Casteneda. There is a very large Carlos Casteneda recovery group out there due to the fact that he got his doctorate on the basis of his anthropological studies of Don Juan and his band of Indian mystics. He went on to "write several best sellers on the basis of this mystical connection.
It was later revealed that he and his communal brothers and sisters just made up the **** to an eager receptive audience. "The comedy group "Firesign Theater" did a tremendous parody of the hucksters a long time ago. I must admit to one of those who scarfed up several volumes of the stuff. It slowly became harder and harder to believe as they tried to keep their story straight. To this day the University that granted his doctorate has had to grapple with their role in validating Carlos's cashcow.

doodyhead

doodyhead

[nicepace]

One of the famous FM stories is the one that says that Stevie, when invited to join the band, listened to all the previous albums, and found an element of mysticism that existed throughout the band's history, no matter who the personnel were.

She jumped right in and continued that element of mysticism.

So, I can see the connection between the mystical Bob and the mystical Stevie. But I think Stevie's mysticism is emotionally based, whereas his is more cerebral. (To use a word I used earlier in this thread.)

If you can "trick" a Stevie fan into listening to 'Mystery to Me' by assuring the fan there is something Stevie-like about the record, then that's good. You'd be bringing a musical delight into somebody's life. Who knows, their eyes might open and they might even realize there is more to Fleetwood Mac than Ms. Nicks!

[Wouter Vuijk]

Originally Posted by nicepace

One of the famous FM stories is the one that says that Stevie, when invited to join the band, listened to all the previous albums, and found an element of mysticism that existed throughout the band's history, no matter who the personnel were.

No matter who the personnel was: How about the very first line-up, Peter, Mick, Jeremy and Bob (Brunning). I can't sense any mysticism in their studio recordings as well as the in the Marquee live recording.
OMG, WHAT'S WRONG WITH ME???????