Why so few Stevie songs on their albums?

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I remember many saying that Stevie was the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac. That is what many people thought and maybe Lindsey tried to dampen the limelight a bit from her.

HAHA! Last Saturday in Nashville, when I was seeing a (n awesome) FM tribute band, some dude in the crowd kept asking me, "how tall is the lead singer?"(because she was REALLY short, just like Stevie)
Well, I wasn't HAVING it!
Me> "FM doesn't have a lead singer".
Douche > "Yeah, they do, the chick in the middle"
Me> "NOOO, FM has THREE singers. There isn't one lead singer!"
Douche > "Yeah there is, that girl in the middle"
Me > "well, you're wrong. Stevie ISN'T the lead singer!!!!"
Douche > walks away, perturbed.

He clearly picked the wrong guy to axe about FM having a lead singer!!!

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

HAHA! Last Saturday in Nashville, when I was seeing a (n awesome) FM tribute band, some dude in the crowd kept asking me, "how tall is the lead singer?"(because she was REALLY short, just like Stevie)
Well, I wasn't HAVING it!
Me> "FM doesn't have a lead singer".
Douche > "Yeah, they do, the chick in the middle"
Me> "NOOO, FM has THREE singers. There isn't one lead singer!"
Douche > "Yeah there is, that girl in the middle"
Me > "well, you're wrong. Stevie ISN'T the lead singer!!!!"
Douche > walks away, perturbed.

He clearly picked the wrong guy to axe about FM having a lead singer!!!

Ha ha. Good for you. I think even Lindsey commented on this on some recent interview I heard. The group was seen as having Stevie as the lead singer and center stage. I am sure this drove Lindsey nuts. At least Stevie was grateful and recognized that no established band with a singer already would just let someone walk into the band and take over center stage.

[dreamsunwind]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

i also think at least in the beginning she wasn't seen as the major contributor that she has become. She always talks about how in the beginning she was just happy to be there and perhaps somewhat exaggeratedly says that because she was just a "chick singer" and not a real musician she was in somewhat of a "lesser" position. So I can see this being a conscious or unconscious factor for the first album and even for Rumours because wasn't OMH a bigger hit than Rhiannon charting-wise? I think Christine was obviously the senior songwriter from FM and Lindsey being the songwriter/arranger/producer on BN material he had more clout in the beginning than Stevie. And in those days she deferred a lot to his decisions on which of her songs to include. Then they just got into this 3 song thing and it became her mantra......kinda like the "we break for 3 years" thing in recent years. After Rumours and Tusk I agree she may have been holding onto certain songs for solo work, though she's always claimed that she shows them everything and they can use whichever they want.

Oh I've always believed that after Bella Donna she's saved her favorite or what she thought were great songs for her solo material. Gypsy was kind of a whatever song (in my opinion) that became a classic because of the production, I listened to the Tom Petty version and some of the other demos/outtakes and it would have been forgettable imo. Which is understandable, but I 100% believe that after her solo career took off, things just weren't the same with her attitude towards the band.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by dreamsunwind

Oh I've always believed that after Bella Donna she's saved her favorite or what she thought were great songs for her solo material. Gypsy was kind of a whatever song (in my opinion) that became a classic because of the production, I listened to the Tom Petty version and some of the other demos/outtakes and it would have been forgettable imo. Which is understandable, but I 100% believe that after her solo career took off, things just weren't the same with her attitude towards the band.

Exactly. Two of her three Mirage songs were from demos more than five years old.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Ha ha. Good for you. I think even Lindsey commented on this on some recent interview I heard. The group was seen as having Stevie as the lead singer and center stage. I am sure this drove Lindsey nuts. At least Stevie was grateful and recognized that no established band with a singer already would just let someone walk into the band and take over center stage.

Thanks.

You know, if she was talented enough to actually play an instrument(not counting her ONE "F" chord on a 100K piano ), people would consider her a "band member".

But the fact that she LACKS that talent, makes her the "leader singer"???

Oh Moses, smell the roses!!!

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Thanks.

You know, if she was talented enough to actually play an instrument(not counting her ONE "F" chord on a 100K piano ), people would consider her a "band member".

But the fact that she LACKS that talent, makes her the "leader singer"???

Oh Moses, smell the roses!!!

Have you forgotten about the cowbell?
More cowbell baby!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_MWeOs8Ffg

[singertobe]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

Song length. She always had the opportunity to cut her songs down in length and have more featured on albums but she always preferred to have long songs. If you add up the playing time for Stevie, Lindsey and Chris on each of their albums they tend to work out roughly the same. Indeed, despite having the least number of songs on Tusk she got the longest playing time (quite considerably longer than Christine, in fact). The same might be the case for other albums too.

Her songs don't seem that long

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Have you forgotten about the cowbell?
More cowbell baby!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_MWeOs8Ffg

I'll give her a cowbell....

Around her neck!

[bwboy]

Originally Posted by singertobe

Her songs don't seem that long

On Tusk, Beautiful Child, Storms, and Sisters of the Moon are over 5 minutes, I think, and Sara is over 6 and 1/2 minutes, while many of Lindsey's songs are under 3 and 1/2 minutes.

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Thanks.

You know, if she was talented enough to actually play an instrument(not counting her ONE "F" chord on a 100K piano ), people would consider her a "band member".

But the fact that she LACKS that talent, makes her the "leader singer"???

Oh Moses, smell the roses!!!

the thing is, if she put some effort into it, she could be not bad. Even Christine once said she thought Stevie should play onstage so she could be seen as a musician not just a singer. But that would take a discipline she doesn't have.

If you listen to earlier demos her playing is not bad at all. Not Great, but decent. Sisters of the Moon comes to mind. I think when she joined the band her much lower skill levels were much more exposed and she tried a little harder. She even played guitar onstage early on. But Lindsey kinda nagged at her to practice and have the discipline and she didn't (like when she talks about having taken guitar lessons growing up... she learned 3 or 4 chords, enough to go write one song, and then decided hey i don't need to keep taking lessons!). And very quickly she was never onstage with a guitar again and her piano playing was back to ding-ding-dong. It's so sad to me to hear her more recent demos even things like Thrown Down where it's just her banging on one same chord over and over and over again..... her melodies are good but man.....when I compare that to Sisters, it's so sad. But when you're a legend you can poop out random notes and someone will professionally arrange them for you and turn them into gold and you can delude yourself it was all you.

[FuzzyPlum]

Originally Posted by singertobe

Her songs don't seem that long

Sara: 6.22
Storms: 5.31
Sisters of the Moon: 4.42
Angel: 4.54
Beautiful Child: 5.21
Total: 26.50 (5 songs)

Christine songs on Tusk: 20.18 (6 songs)
Lindsey songs on Tusk: 26.54 (9 songs)

I stand corrected on a previous post I made suggesting Stevie had the longest song time on Tusk. In fact Lindsey's songs totaled longer than hers by 4 seconds.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

the thing is, if she put some effort into it, she could be not bad. Even Christine once said she thought Stevie should play onstage so she could be seen as a musician not just a singer. But that would take a discipline she doesn't have.

It's so sad to me to hear her more recent demos even things like Thrown Down where it's just her banging on one same chord over and over and over again..... her melodies are good but man.....when I compare that to Sisters, it's so sad. But when you're a legend you can poop out random notes and someone will professionally arrange them for you and turn them into gold and you can delude yourself it was all you.

Agreed. You have to be obsessed with it, to become good. She never had that.

Amen to the amen, on the latter... DELUDED is a very good word.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

Agreed. You have to be obsessed with it, to become good. She never had that.

Amen to the amen, on the latter... DELUDED is a very good word.

Stevie plays a mean tambourine
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QCdIN-02jYI

[secondhandchain]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I can see this. I do remember an interview in 1982 with Lindsey stating "they were not playing his Mirage songs on the radio" or something like that. Since Stevie was a huge solo star it could have been a subliminal attempt to remind everyone Stevie was only one member of a 5 piece band. I remember many saying that Stevie was the lead singer of Fleetwood Mac. That is what many people thought and maybe Lindsey tried to dampen the limelight a bit from her. I also believe Lindsey getting more songs was an attempt to prevent the Mac of being a "girl singer" band (to the public).

It has been said many times its about song LENGTH. End of thread.

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by secondhandchain

It has been said many times its about song LENGTH. End of thread.

Thanks, Adolph.