Most underrated FM (or related) song?

[chiliD]

I'm not saying "Street Angel" is awful (although many do)...after the debacle of "OSOTM" ("Rooms On Fire" is great, but the rest of the album IMHO ...stinks...no...SUCKS!) "Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind" was, and still is, my favorite of Stevie's solo works, but how I was disappointed to find out she didn't write it. As she didn't write a FEW of the songs you mentioned. ("Seven Wonders"---Sandy Stewart; "Sometimes It's A Bitch"--Jon Bon Jovi, etc) I wish that "MLWCYM" would've been a Fleetwood Mac song rather than a Stevie solo song.

The thing (I'd prefer the term, "problem") about Stevie as a solo artist is that her material is at the mercy of the producer...and Rupert Hine was NOT a good match for Stevie's material. Had those OSOTM songs been done with Fleetwood Mac or a different producer (ie, Jimmy Iovine or Mike Campbell, or...??), my opinion of them may have drastically been different, but "as presented"...as we're "stuck with", blech!

For example, "Whole Lotta Trouble" was the biggest turd on the album...I can hear SO MUCH potential in it, it's disheartening...had that been recorded bare-bones with the BTM incarnation and "blues-ed" up a bit more, it would've really kicked (would've been a perfect Rick Vito guitar monster tune), but the over-blown horn arrangement (no pun intended...or maybe subconsciously, it was ) just ruined it for me...and for some other people, too, as I read here & elsewhere. The whole ALBUM is like that for me, as well...too heavy handed on the production. For me, Stevie sounds her best when her songs are stripped down with a basic band...no strings, no horns, just drums, bass, guitar, & keyboards.

[Sorcerer386]

I also agree in part with the idea that Stevie was not writing her songs on her own much anymore. There are only two songs on OSOTM that have only Stevie's name on it, Juliet and Doing the Best That I Can. Affairs of the Heart was the only Stevie only song on Behind the Mask...Rick Vito cowrote Love Is Dangerous and The Second Time, and I think it was Mike Campbell who cowrote Freedom. But yes, overproduction has much more to do with it. Even though I love OSOTM and Street Angel, I have said before I can like what many would consider a bad song if I like the lyrics or I like the concept behind the song. I hated No Such Think by John Mayer until I knew what it was about, I hated Precious Illusions by Alanis Morrisette until I took in the lyrics. So, I can see why I would like OSOTM and Street Angel while many others wouldn't because I just love Stevie's lyrics and concepts -- like stories. But I never play these albums (or Behind the Mask or Rock a Little) while other people are around because I know that's the best way to turn them OFF of Stevie and Fleetwood Mac. I really only expect the die hard Stevie fans to like those four albums. But I definitely agree that Stevie's songs are best when they are stripped down to the bare essentials...

[chiliD]

Just to digress a bit...

Anyone heard Rick Vito's SOLO version of "Love Is Dangerous" on his "Crazy Cool" album??? Just kicks booty!! Would LOVE to hear THIS arrangement duetted with Stevie.


Ok...back to regular programming

One of the things about her works from about "Rock A Little" forward that just irk the crap outta me is that her lyrics don't fit what's going on musically and vice versa. Instrumentally, a section comes to an end but the lyric line keeps going for a couple of beats further and throws the whole FEEL off. I don't recall any of her pre-Rock A Little stuff doing that. Whether it was Lindsey or Jimmy Iovine making her reword those lines to fit the meter of the music or them retiming the music to fit one of her lines seemed to work. After Rock A Little, it just made me think, "what happened to your EARS?? Can't you hear that line not fitting with what's going on musically?" The worst offenders are the songs I mentioned in a previous post in this thread (and add "No Questions Asked" to that list, too). BUT, I notice that on TISL, that doesn't happen as much, if at all. Which is probably one of the reasons that TISL is one of my favorite non-Mac albums of hers. Her lyric lines seem to match what's going on musically...it's a complete sounding song, rather than this arm-wrestling between the vocal & the arrangement.

[Johnny Stew]

The old saying "one man's trash is another man's treasure" is definitely true of music too! *lol*

Many times the reason someone cites for disliking a Stevie tune, is one of the many reasons why *I* like it.

Her voice on "When I See You Again," for example... yes, it's raspy and ravaged... but i love that about it. I think her voice gives that song a depth that someone with a "perfect" voice, could never hope to.
Same thing lyrically with the "what's the matter, baby" parts... I find the imploring nature in the repetition of that line to be very moving and affecting.

The same also goes for that little quirk chili D. mentioned... of the lyrics & instrumentation sometimes not matching up in a textbook sort of way.
I totally get off on the musical tension that little dichotomy creates within her songs.


One thing we *definitely* agree on... those blasted horns in "Whole Lotta Trouble"!!!
I don't hate the song, and the Tom Lord-Alge remix is better than the album version... but I would not have missed those horns.



Johnny Stew

[Sorcerer386]

Now see, with Whole Lotta Trouble, I would miss the horns because Whole Lotta Trouble just reminds me of a big production type number...like a big ballroom type song or lounge act, very Liza Minnelli-ish to me. I love this song live...the studio version was too, I don't know, too polished I think. This is a song to just let loose to and not worry about everything sounding exactly right. Plus, it has so much more energy on stage. I didn't like it too much during Timespace, but it revived nicely for Enchanted, although maybe a little too high for Stevie's voice. I just wish for the life of me I could figure out WHAT she is saying at the end of this song at Radio City Music Hall...she just goes off screaming about something, then you hear, "Whole Lotta Trouble for you...I told you so, I believe I told you so, *something something something* you're so proud." Or something like that. All in all, WLT is just a different song. But again, I wish I knew what it was about. WHAT could BE a "Whole lotta trouble for you"?

[Sorcerer386]

Adam, well, I don't have the capabilities to copy a video, but maybe someone else can get you a copy of the 1998 Radio City Music Hall show. It's very good, sound is a little bit bad, which is why I can't understand what she says near the end of Whole Lotta Trouble. Just to set this up for you, in Whole Lotta Trouble at the end, she's belting out "Whole lotta trouble, whole lotta trouble, whole lotta trouble for you..." right? And then, she switches to a lower note and sings that again, but then on this video, after she does that, she just starts screaming out something that I can't understand. The most I can make out is "Well YOU SAY *** BABY *** WHOLE LOTTA TROUBLE FOR YOU! I told you so, I believe I told you so *** so proud." It's almost, just almost going back to speaking in tongues, except I know she definitely CLEARLY says something, but due to sound quality I can't understand it. SO, if you really want to hear it, check out the Stevie Boots Webring and maybe someone will be nice enough to do a 2 for 1 for you and copy that concert. Another great reason to get this concert is the difference in the set list. I never expected to hear Enchanted, Gold and Braid, Stop Draggin, After the Glitter Fades, Rose Garden, Whole Lotta Trouble, or Twisted live. I didn't expect Garbo or Sleeping Angel either, but I don't care too much for Garbo and she cuts Sleeping Angel short, at least on this show.

[golddustwoman77]

I really think that several of the songs on Rumours were underrated, because most people purchased the entire album and not the individual singles. Therefore, the album as a whole got (and still gets) more attention than the individual songs.

If I had to pick their most underrated song, I couldn't pick just one. Here is a short list (not all of the songs I would consider are listed, because I think so many of their songs should be hits! ). They're not in any particular order: (1) Blue Letter (2) Crystal (3) Second Hand News (4) Songbird (5) I Don't Want to Know (6) Silver Springs.