Silver Springs/Timespace

[Travis]

Originally Posted by Tusky

On Timespace I could see it fitting in between Beauty and the Beast and If Anyone Falls.

Tusky, I've always said that I think "Timespace" is one of Stevie's most perfectly sequenced albums. "Beauty and the Beast" going right into "If Anyone Falls" is flawless. I think inserting SS between the two would have messed up the flow.

I too do not see the original recording of SS fitting into Timespace, but perhaps a newly recorded version would have fit. None of this matters much anyway, it all worked out in the end.

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by SteveMacD

She had every right to rerecord the song, since she owns it. She just doesn’t own Fleetwood Mac’s recording of the song, and Mick wasn’t at liberty to let her release the song.

If Stevie wanted it on “Rumours,” she should have been willing to cut the time down. Per Gotta Groove Records (the pressing company my friend uses for his albums):

1.) Rerecord it for “Timespace” and release it as a single. It’s not like she hasn’t rerecord “Crystal” (twice!) or “Twisted.” That was perfectly within her rights.

2.) It was out of his hands. Even if he wanted her to have it at that point, there was no way that could happen without Warner’s approval. Warners had the exclusive mechanical rights to Fleetwood Mac’s recording of the song at that point. If a record label lets a song or album go out of print for ten years, the releasing rights go back to the artist. “Silver Springs” was originally released as a b-side to GYOW in 1977. It was rereleased as the b-side to “Don’t Stop” as part of Warner Bros. “Back To Back Hits” series of 45s around 1987. Then it was released in 1992 on “The Chain” and again in 2002 on “The Very Best Of Fleetwood Mac” (ten years later, go figure). With the 2011 reissue, it’s Warner’s property until 2021, assuming that they'd ever let a version of "Rumours" with "Silver Springs" ever go out of print.

Thing is, Stevie had to know all of this. If I know this just being a friend of an indie rock artist and having very, very minor personal dealings with it myself, there's no way somebody who had been in the industry for 18 years at that point didn't know that. I think she just used it as an excuse to leave the band knowing that most people don't know enough to question that reasoning.

This makes perfect sense of the issue, and how it all went down. I assume Warner Brothers wanted Silver Springs for The Chain box set on the basis of marketing, as it was a strong selling point. Stevie, knowingly or unknowingly, chose to publicly target Mick as the bad guy pulling the strings. Wow! Ironically, because of all the drama, the song, it went from obscurity to legendary.

I remember getting the single of Go Your Own Way and discovering this unknown, mystical song hiding out on the b-side. Then I became obsessed with the poorly recorded bootleg of a very rare live performance of the song early on; I think when they went on tour in 1976 and tried out some new, yet to be released songs from Rumours. I guess because the song didn't make it on the album, it didn't make the set list. I can't be sure, but think some D-jays (sic?)played the song on a local Boston radio station ( I lived there). Back in those days they weren't ruled by corporations and could play whatever they wanted. They could spin a 10 minute song so they could take a bathroom break or whatever.