My review of Fleetwood Mac's SYW

[secret love]

Say you will… Give the Mac another chance

Say You Will is the most recent studio effort from a legendary lost blues band turned rock n roll outfit very well known among older generations but not so familiar to many young people of today until they somehow discover the music – young people such as myself.
When this album was recorded, the group were in their fifties and lacking the songwriting input of Christine McVie – although she is featured on tracks Bleed to Love Her and Steal Your Heart Away on backing vocals and keyboard – two of the strongest tracks on the album. Now, ten years later they have embarked on a World Tour which started in Columbus, Ohio on April 4 2013, and at this stage is due to come to a close in Auckland this December.
Say You Will was not, by any stretch of the imagination, a bad effort. At the time I originally wrote this, it was exciting to think about the new material to be released soon, two or three songs – one called Miss Fantasy, the other called Sad Angel and a third track which is an old previously commercially unreleased Buckingham Nicks song from way back in the early seventies. These songs were released as Fleetwood Mac’s Extended Play – but more on that later.
Also released recently from Fleetwood Mac is another edition of Rumours, which features previously unreleased demos and early takes of their most famous songs. However, I will focus on Say You Will – the only full-length studio album from the current four-piece line up of master guitarist Buckingham, sweet melody writer Stevie Nicks, quiet and loyal bassist John McVie and manic drummer Mick Fleetwood. I will also focus on how this last studio effort could be somewhat of an indicator of what’s to come. Songs which are about Lindsey and Stevie, and their relationship and how it has evolved since they first met [in high school] around 1968.

Say You Will (2003)
Review by James Schofield

B+, 7/10
Say You Will is a refreshing change from the music Fleetwood Mac made on their three previous studio albums, Time (1995), Behind the Mask (1990) and Tango in the Night (1987) – all worth a serious listen – however of these three previous albums, only Tango in the Night was composed by the classic soft rock songwriting team of Lindsey Buckingham, Christine McVie and Stevie Nicks, and this album from 1987, noticeably and sadly lacked much input from Stevie. Behind the Mask featured Nicks, but not Buckingham and then Time lacked both members of the magic musical couple.
So perhaps the biggest strength of the Say You Will album, named after a very catchy Stevie song, is that despite the notable absence of a key songwriter, the record manages to be wholeheartedly and unashamedly about Stevie and Lindsey and their relationship first as lovers and second as musical collaborators and what was going on in each of their lives at the time of the album and in the years leading up to its recording.
The album begins with three songs exploring worldly concerns – What’s the World Coming to cries out against the madness of the modern world and the emotional, spiritual disconnect we experience from each other. This is one of the tracks which really hit the spot for me and I suspect other fans of the Mac were also pleased by this effort. Murrow Turning Over in his Grave is in stark contrast to the first track and even a bit of a shock – it is much more paranoid in its lyric and feels slightly frenetic musically. This second song on the album is a Buckingham-penned track and lays testament to the fact that Fleetwood Mac don’t always play it safe and are still capable of producing diverse, atypical music – even though the track is ten years old – it is still relevant today with its message about the state of disarray and poor, untruthful writing in contemporary journalism. Stevie’s song Illume feels somewhat lost musically, as though the music is not suitable for such a powerful, damning lyric about 9/11. However, this track is one that becomes better the more you listen.
The lack of Christine McVie and its impact is felt more seriously when the two tracks she is featured on, contributing audible backing vocals but more importantly, keyboard; which were recorded a long time before the album’s studio sessions. Bleed to Love her, previously debuted on The Dance Live Album and DVD in 1997, and Steal Your Heart Away, the latter being one of the best songs, if not the best on the album. Miss McVie’s songwriting ability and her skill as a pianist clearly brought a lot to the band, even if she was not as widely acknowledged for her efforts by fans as Buckingham/Nicks were in the band’s heyday.
There are songs which do miss the mark but there are so many gems, gems like the bittersweet and confessional Thrown Down which Stevie wrote during The Dance tour, as well as Destiny Rules which was not part of the usual setlist of the album tour, but was played at two special venues. Then there is the profane Come with its flawless guitar solo, and Silver Girl, which Stevie says she wrote about her friend and long-time musical collaborator Sheryl Crow. There is the political Peacekeeper and the catchy and personal song Say You Will, written for Christine McVie’s benefit; urging her to come back to the band. There is the great rocking Running through the Garden which seems to be about…making mistakes in love and was based on the 1844 fable of Rappaccini’s Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne. Nicks’ Goodbye Baby is simply beautiful.
Some of the songs which maybe just do not quite make the mark are Buckingham’s somewhat repetitive Red Rover and then, Miranda – which on the first listen is quite good, but wears thin after a while. It becomes apparent on the second listen how repetitive Nicks’ song Smile at You is, whilst Everybody Finds Out suffers from a slightly jarring sound – if reworked from both a lyrical and musical perspective it could have been outstanding. The one song on the album that really did not “fit” for me was Say Goodbye – the lyrics seem shallow and clichéd while the music feels like it belongs to a different genre than most of Buckingham’s other contributions to the record.
Say You Will (2003) as it is can lay claim to being one of Fleetwood Mac’s finer records but of course, for many people the best Fleetwood records are The White Album (1975), Rumours (1977), Tusk (1979), Mirage (1982) and Tango in the Night (1987) and The Dance (1997) – records which featured Christine McVie. However, Fleetwood Mac can and will continue to produce great new music without her, having already cut new tracks to be released in early this year to be released ahead of the Live 2013 World Tour.
Older fans who may not have listened to this record and miss Christine McVie’s input will do themselves a great favour in buying this album and in purchasing any new music in 2013, and attending one of this year’s live shows if possible. Fleetwood Mac still sounds great, let’s face it. The Mac are here to stay and in the words of front woman Stevie Nicks’ don’t even think about the band prematurely throwing in the towel because "It's never going to be a final tour until we drop dead." -J.S.

[vivfox]

I enjoyed reading your review James, though we have different opinions on what the good songs may be. One of the reasons I love being a Ledgie is because each of us is allowed to express our opinion whether it is popular or not.