Lindsey, Chris & Stevie....harmonies & other ??

[AliP]

Originally Posted by Moony

Stevie was on World Turning? ...don't think so, at least not that I can hear The Ledge, I'm pretty sure is all Lindsey.

I wish Stevie had been more present on a lot of Christine songs. Take Love In Store for example...I think her vocals really improve the song. Stevie & Christine sounded so great together on Straight Back. There should have been more

I agree. I love the sound of Stevie's harmonies. For instance, YMLF from the Rumours reissue (Disc 2) - where Stevie sings "isn't it time to try" (I think, plus something else I can't make out) I think her vocals just add so much more to the song. (I know all the Stevie haters would disagree) but I wish there were more songs like that - where all of them add harmonies. Much better, IMO.

[Brwn_eyes0511]

Originally Posted by amber

Yeah, I can hear Stevie really well on The Ledge, fairly well on GYOW, and ok on IKINW. But I really listen for the harmony, maybe that's why. I mean, granted, it mainly sounds like just "a harmony" and i can barely discern Stevie's "signature" vocal qualities, but I can still tell it's her. The most seamless, "non Stevie" harmony that I can think of, where you can't tell it's *her* at all, is "Farmer's Daughter" from the Tusk reissue. That sh** is really tight, and I can't hear any of her vocal anomolies. And another Stevie harmony, which is one of my favorites (in fact it really makes the song for me) is on "I'm so Afraid" that is definitely one where she is prominent, even though she only has a few lines...

The harmony on "I'm So Afraid" (mainly The Dance version) is awsome! Proves why Stevie/Lindsey sound so awesome together!

[amber]

Originally Posted by Brwn_eyes0511

The harmony on "I'm So Afraid" (mainly The Dance version) is awsome! Proves why Stevie/Lindsey sound so awesome together!

Don't I know it!! And I think not only on the Dance version (Although I see what you mean, because that version is better overall, but actually, if I'm just talking about Stevie's harmony, it kicks just as much "A" on the original, if unfortunately Lindsey's part pales on that one.)

[macfan 57]

I don't believe that either Chris or Stevie are on any of Lindsey's Tusk songs. I think the backing vocals on "The Ledge" may sound like Stevie, but I think it they're Lindsey backing vocals(trying to sound like Stevie), same thing with "Save Me A Place" & other songs. I generally like Lindsey's Tusk songs on the album, but I prefer them live. I think "Save Me A Place" is so much better with Chris & Stevie's harmony. I also agree with most everyone in that I wish Chris & Stevie had harmonized more together, like "Straight Back". But, I think Chris & Lindsey's voices blended together so well, far better than Stevie & Lindsey's voices in my opinion.

[HejiraNYC]

Originally Posted by macfan 57

I don't believe that either Chris or Stevie are on any of Lindsey's Tusk songs. I think the backing vocals on "The Ledge" may sound like Stevie, but I think it they're Lindsey backing vocals(trying to sound like Stevie), same thing with "Save Me A Place" & other songs. I generally like Lindsey's Tusk songs on the album, but I prefer them live. I think "Save Me A Place" is so much better with Chris & Stevie's harmony. I also agree with most everyone in that I wish Chris & Stevie had harmonized more together, like "Straight Back". But, I think Chris & Lindsey's voices blended together so well, far better than Stevie & Lindsey's voices in my opinion.

Oh, c'mon... you mean that "uh-huh-uh-uh-uh" during the guitar solo in "The Ledge" was Lindsey? Oh please, Stevie is singing both harmony and melody on this one.

I have also kind of wondered how Stevie's voice seems largely absent from a lot of songs- both Lindsey and Christine's. I hate to make another cliched analogy, but it seems like Lindsey is a painter who uses Stevie's voice like a rare accent color- just enough to add a bit of contrast, but not enough to distract from the overall theme of the painting. For example, in a song like "Say You Love Me," Stevie is pretty much absent except for the "Falling, falling, falling" part at the end- a point in the song where things might have become monotonous and bland. Same with "Sugar Daddy," where Stevie's voice is just brought in faintly at the end during the "I'm not asking for LOVE" part. And I don't hear Stevie doing harmonies on "Little Lies," but she has her "Tell me lies" line all to herself (and all that inane vamping on the 12" mix). Again, just wispy little Stevie strokes here and there on the FM canvas.

I have a theory about the absence of Stevie harmony vocals on the "Tango in the Night" album. I think it's because her voice was still suffering from the "Rock a Little" syndrome; it was just too wild and raw to blend in well with the other voices. For whatever reason (coke, presumably), around this time her voice had this warbly/crackly barbed wire quality that was probably too distracting no matter how low she was buried in the mix.

Anyway, here are some FM Songs without a discernable Stevie vocal (not including largely solo/acoustic songs, e.g., "Songbird"):

-Big Love (except for the 12" dance mixes)
-Everywhere
-World Turning
-Don't Stop
-I Know I'm Not Wrong
-That's Enough for Me
-Think About Me
-Over My Head
-Caroline
-Tango in the Night
-Family Man
-Empire State
-Wish You Were Here
-Only Over You
-Hold Me
-Can't Go Back
-Oh Diane
-Eyes of the World
-That's All For Everyone
-Love Shines
-When it Comes to Love
-Come
-Not That Funny
-Murrow
-Red Rover
-Love Minus Zero
-Hard Feelings

[dissention]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

I have a theory about the absence of Stevie harmony vocals on the "Tango in the Night" album. I think it's because her voice was still suffering from the "Rock a Little" syndrome; it was just too wild and raw to blend in well with the other voices. For whatever reason (coke, presumably), around this time her voice had this warbly/crackly barbed wire quality that was probably too distracting no matter how low she was buried in the mix.

I see Tango as a Buckingham McVie album, anyway, and that's why I like it. It gave Lindsey and Chris a bigger and better opportunity to work together than they had before. Even with songs that I dislike somewhat, I listen to them when I pop the album in because they just go together so well overall. I had to burn a copy without Stevie's tracks, though; she throws the whole blasted thing for a loop and almost ruins it.

[catinthedark]

Originally Posted by AliP

Yeah, in my original post I said excluding SYW songs. You are right - Stevie definitely has a presence on Lindsey's SYW songs!

Whoops! Sorry!

I've wondered, too, if it's only Lindsey sounding like Stevie on The Ledge, but to my ears, I think Stevie is there, too. I think there definitely (clearly) are layers of Lindsey, but I do hear Stevie, too. That's just me.

Also, I mentioned World Turning. I think in my head I was hearing the live versions of World Turning - where Stevie is definitely prominent. Maybe not so much on the album. But to me, prominent can be when she is providing backing vocals or harmonies. I am all about harmonies! For example, I don't really care at all for Say You Love Me, but I love the last few lines. And in most FM songs, I do hear her vocals (obviously not on the few Tusk songs that are all Lindsey, or something like Songbird). But if she's providing backups, the song is instantly more appealing to my ears.

I wonder if some people are more "in tuned" to certain vocal qualities and so they hear them better. Clearly, people have different tastes in music ('scuse me while I state the ridiculously obvious ), and so it makes sense to me that we all hear music differently. People with perfect pitch hear things way differently than me. People who are more musically "sharp" (can't think of a better word here) hear the different instruments more clearly than I do. I could never be a music producer, for example. But imagine what it must be like to be Lindsey listening to a song with 20 different tracks? Must be a totally different experience, because he hears each one. I know I am very alert to Stevie's voice, as I'm sure others here are. So I think I hear her more intensely on songs because it's like she is singing the main track to my ears. I used to go to sleep with my radio on, and no word of a lie, I would wake up if a Stevie nicks song or a Fleetwood Mac song came on. The first time it happened, I thought it was a coincidence. By the 10th or 11th time, I figured there was a reason. Not sure if this makes any sense, but it does to me. It's all about what our ears and our brains react to.

[Les]

I think one factor in why the girls didn't show so prominantly in some of Lindsey's songs is, as Stevie described about Tusk, they didn't want to be on his songs because they thought they were weird.

After Lindsey left the band, Stevie and Christine still didn't really do any songwriting or vocalizing together, which leads me to believe that maybe they just didn't quite feel comfortable for some reason.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by Les

Stevie and Christine still didn't really do any songwriting or vocalizing together, which leads me to believe that maybe they just didn't quite feel comfortable for some reason.

I always thought this was weird. It's really weird that three songwriters in one band can hardly ever come together and write a song as one. I always felt that Fleetwood Mac was a combination of three solo songwriters using each other as a backing band on solo songs. Maybe that's why they were able to work together so well, or as Lindsey put it, five totally different personalities were able to come together and make music amidst their vastly different backgrounds. If they all had to work songs out together from the beginning it never would have worked. The reason that all the songs have that signature F.M. sound is because Lindsey gets a hold of 'em in the end and puts his producer/arranger mark on them. But even still the songs manage to come out containing the unique charm of each songwriter. It just hit me what a totally strange chemistry this band has!

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by AliP

I agree. I love the sound of Stevie's harmonies. For instance, YMLF from the Rumours reissue (Disc 2) - where Stevie sings "isn't it time to try" (I think, plus something else I can't make out) I think her vocals just add so much more to the song. (I know all the Stevie haters would disagree) but I wish there were more songs like that - where all of them add harmonies. Much better, IMO.

In the early version of You Make Lovin' Fun, the end vocals go "I've a feelin' it's time to try" and "I'm beginning to wonder why." When they performed this song (before the album was even released) they sang it this way. I guess they then tinkered with the song and changed the arrangement slightly for final release.

I agree with the general sentiment that, overall, while Fleetwood Mac is well known and lauded for their 2 and 3-part harmonies, in actuality, they rarely utilize and capitalize on that sound within their songs. I think that comes from the reality that they are 3 very disparate individual, strong-willed songwriters and don't really have a group mentality.

What's worse is that in recent years, Lindsey is more prone to creating block harmonies that are so generic -- anyone could be singing them. There's no sense of individual voices blending together "organically." More often it sounds cold and studio-manufactured.

[cliffdweller]

Originally Posted by PenguinHead

In the early version of You Make Lovin' Fun, the end vocals go "I've a feelin' it's time to try" and "I'm beginning to wonder why." When they performed this song (before the album was even released) they sang it this way. I guess they then tinkered with the song and changed the arrangement slightly for final release.

I wish they hadn't!

[SteveMacD]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

Oh, c'mon... you mean that "uh-huh-uh-uh-uh" during the guitar solo in "The Ledge" was Lindsey?

Actually, yes! Lindsey is the master of sonic manipulation. Just listen to his OOTC album. There are many times I think I hear Stevie or Christine, but you know he was avoiding them like the plague in 1992! Basically, he records certain parts at a slower speed. When played at a normal speed, it sound much higher then it really was. Compare a live "Never Going Back Again" to the "Rumours" version. Listen to how much higher the guitar sounds. BTW, Lindsey openly admits to using this technique.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Les

I think one factor in why the girls didn't show so prominantly in some of Lindsey's songs is, as Stevie described about Tusk, they didn't want to be on his songs because they thought they were weird.

After Lindsey left the band, Stevie and Christine still didn't really do any songwriting or vocalizing together, which leads me to believe that maybe they just didn't quite feel comfortable for some reason.

Skies the Limit
In the Back of My Mind

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Compare a live "Never Going Back Again" to the "Rumours" version. Listen to how much higher the guitar sounds. BTW, Lindsey openly admits to using this technique.

I just always thought he'd capo'd it up in the studio?

[AliP]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

Actually, yes! Lindsey is the master of sonic manipulation. Just listen to his OOTC album. There are many times I think I hear Stevie or Christine, but you know he was avoiding them like the plague in 1992! Basically, he records certain parts at a slower speed. When played at a normal speed, it sound much higher then it really was. Compare a live "Never Going Back Again" to the "Rumours" version. Listen to how much higher the guitar sounds. BTW, Lindsey openly admits to using this technique.

Another instance where he's done this was with the love grunts on Big Love. He was constantly making comments about how everyone thought it was Stevie making those sounds but it was actually him slowing down the tape machine, as he always points out.

IMO, that technique of manipulating his voice is one of his favorites to use.