Lindsey's Arranging On Tango In Night

[Royfan]

Another musician's question - Lindsey is credited as arranger in TITN.

But he's not listed as playing any keyboards - so on EVERYWHERE for example..
I wonder if he came up with those parts, and sequencer parts - and then
Stevie played them?

I don't think those parts were transferred over from guitar.

Anyone have a theory if that song was all his arrangement? (other than
the main chords and melody obviously :-)

[WildHearted]

Christine would be the one playing keyboards.

Since Chris wrote it, I'm sure she came up with the keyboard part.

[HomerMcvie]

Arranging a song isn't playing the parts, it's deciding what goes where, for how long,the harmony parts, where and if there's a solo, etc. Glenn Frey does it for the Eagles, and if memory serves, they call him The Lone Arranger..

[aleuzzi]

The arrangements on TITN were dreamed up by Lindsey and Christine, for the most part, more Lindsey than Chris, but her output was pretty important,as it was on every project they worked on together. But Lindsey's thumbprint is especially noticeable on the production choices--the use of certain "contemporary" synthesizers, the alteration of the vocals, both his and Christine's throughout to make a more "poppy" sound. Listen to Christine's voice on Tango and compare it to her voice on Mask three years later, or her solo album two years before: different worlds!

Interesting note: when Dan Perfect was talking about working with Christine on In The Meantime, he praised Christine's voice. "There it was, that beautiful instrument...she sounded like she did on the White album or Rumours, without any speeding up or mucking about with the voice in the studio." It seemed as if he were alluding to some of the FM production choices regarding her voice.

[Royfan]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

The arrangements on TITN were dreamed up by Lindsey and Christine, for the most part, more Lindsey than Chris, but her output was pretty important,as it was on every project they worked on together. But Lindsey's thumbprint is especially noticeable on the production choices--the use of certain "contemporary" synthesizers, the alteration of the vocals, both his and Christine's throughout to make a more "poppy" sound. Listen to Christine's voice on Tango and compare it to her voice on Mask three years later, or her solo album two years before: different worlds!

Interesting note: when Dan Perfect was talking about working with Christine on In The Meantime, he praised Christine's voice. "There it was, that beautiful instrument...she sounded like she did on the White album or Rumours, without any speeding up or mucking about with the voice in the studio." It seemed as if he were alluding to some of the FM production choices regarding her voice.

So specifically on "Everywhere" - any theory on the opening real fast sequenced synth bit? and the dramatic chords in the chorus?

In other words , what I'm asking is , is it possible that Lindsey arranged those on a keyboard, but then let Christine play it? Cause he's credited with
arranging , but not keyboards..

Anyway that particular song makes me curious -

[Bryan]

Well arranging,producing and everything else he did..one thing is for sure :he underused Stevie Nicks on TITN.

[redbird]

She was hardly there during the process though.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by Bryan

Well arranging,producing and everything else he did..one thing is for sure :he underused Stevie Nicks on TITN.

Whose fault is that? She wasn't there to be used.

[Ulpian]

Originally Posted by Royfan

So specifically on "Everywhere" - any theory on the opening real fast sequenced synth bit? and the dramatic chords in the chorus?

In other words , what I'm asking is , is it possible that Lindsey arranged those on a keyboard, but then let Christine play it? Cause he's credited with
arranging , but not keyboards..

Anyway that particular song makes me curious -

I don't think he ever 'let' Christine play keyboard parts!

[Stormwind]

Originally Posted by redbird

She was hardly there during the process though.

True. How can you use someone which was hardly present in studio ?

[David]

Originally Posted by Royfan

So specifically on "Everywhere" - any theory on the opening real fast sequenced synth bit? and the dramatic chords in the chorus?

In other words , what I'm asking is , is it possible that Lindsey arranged those on a keyboard, but then let Christine play it? Cause he's credited with
arranging , but not keyboards..

You've probably answered your own question by calling that section sequenced—nobody "played" it because it was programmed. It's too fast for me to hear it precisely, but I think it's the first five tones of a major scale without the fourth (i.e., I-ii-iii-V), ascending and descending repeatedly and rapidly. It's arpeggiated, a roll, with major 6th and major 7th chords in the bass. (I had to re-create it manually in my Fleetwood cover band.)

It's emblematic of what we mean when we call Lindsey the "arranger" or "orchestrator." He provided a lot of that texture, color, and ambience in the Fleetwood Mac tracks by 1) playing an instrument, 2) collating partial bits of tape into wholes, like weaving a tapestry from different materials, and 3) toying with artificial and "found" effects to influence sonics, tempo, dynamics, and wave forms.

One thing he's been doing for many, many years is to use guitars to simulate keyboards. This confounds our senses (one hopes in a good way). We think we're hearing a keyboard somewhere in a track, but in fact it was generated by a plectrum-type instrument. Lindsey once told an interviewer that some of what you hear on Fleetwood Mac albums that sounds like a keyboard is really a guitar or mandolin or banjo that has been "treated" (like costuming your kid on Halloween).

[michelej1]

^Reminds me of Mick saying in 1990:

"Lindsey's work with Fleetwood Mac speaks for itself, but I have to say, being as intense as Lindsey is as a person, he sometimes got to be a little too much for me. And sometimes we had to beg Lindsey to do a solo. He'd go, 'No, I want it to sound like violins here.' Then he'd sit for hours, trying to get a violin sound out of his guitar."

Michele

[michelej1]

I think of Christine promoting Meantime. I am sure Lindsey's many 30% more room comments had not eluded her and that's why she said that she really hated guitar solos. I don't think that was true, because Dan had a lot of guitar in her album and it wasn't particularly good. I just think she was taking a jab at Lindsey because he had taken some at her. The thing is, Lindsey wasn't necessarily putting guitar solos in her songs. He was always doing something fiddly with them to be sure, but he used many different sound effects. Everywhere, Little Lies and Hold Me strongly exemplify this. He didn't just jump in and say, "I'm going to slap a guitar solo here." His input was varied and complex. Although, when he did put down a guitar solo, I don't think Christine minded. YMLF.

Michele

[Dragonfly]

The arrangements on TITN were stunning.

I've been re-listening to it quite a bit lately and I really think Lindsey did an amazing job on that album. Christine's songs were fantastic anyway but he had a job on his hands with Stevie hardly there and not really at her best - but he did a decent job with what he had I think.

Besides the Rumours songs, it's all TITN tracks you hear on UK radio or music TV (Big Love, Everywhere, Little Lies).

[Bryan]

Originally Posted by Stormwind

True. How can you use someone which was hardly present in studio ?

The fact that she recorded her background vocals for all the tracks (doesn't take long) and he basically dumped them off the record, as well as choosing which of her songs were ''allowed'' on the record considering she had some pretty good ones lined up that she (and some fans I would imagine) would have preferred to go on there. In other words:he was being a spiteful bitch