Do we really want a new Fleetwood Mac album?

[shackin'up]

Well nobody responds on my suggestion of Jack white producing. Lindsey himself said that he would love to work with him.
I can live with Rick Rubin, though. But maybe, realisticly, T-Bone Burnett would be an awesome option.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

Well nobody responds on my suggestion of Jack white producing. Lindsey himself said that he would love to work with him.
I can live with Rick Rubin, though. But maybe, realisticly, T-Bone Burnett would be an awesome option.

Jack White is a pretty inspired suggestion. I like his production sound -- he has a great ear for melody & rhythm, and the various instrumental elements of his songs are crisp and clear. I do have to wonder, though, what he'd do with Fleetwood Mac's more "poppier" inclinations.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by mitzo

I wonder if Stevie's take on the production of her songs has more to do with her relationship with the producer, and the commercial success of the songs, than the actual merit of said production. Her solo career is littered with bad production.

I think it is heavily influenced by those things. In the past, she and Lindsey never got along, but since the finished product sold and won widespread acclaim she didn't think of it negatively. She was not happy with SYW from the beginning, but the tour seemed to ease some of the friction between her and Lindsey -- until it ended. I think if SYW had been a hit my some miracle, she'd never have knocked the songs.

Same thing with Street Angel. She may have hated the experience, but the album sales would have changed that. When the album goes nowhere like SYW did and the songs that will be on this next album will, then she's going to be unhappy and that resentment will be locked in. For eternity. No, I don't think that she will take the low sales of the FM album the way she took IYD. No, I don't think she's going to love her contributions to it anyway. If Lindsey is involved in her songs, she's going to blame him, rightly or wrongly. As they are eighty years old now, I think the complaints we get from them in the next years are going to be the same ones on their dying lips. Hopefully my ears and eyes will have deteriorated so I won't have to witness those gripes for very long. Michele

[shackin'up]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

Jack White is a pretty inspired suggestion. I like his production sound -- he has a great ear for melody & rhythm, and the various instrumental elements of his songs are crisp and clear. I do have to wonder, though, what he'd do with Fleetwood Mac's more "poppier" inclinations.

Something like this?

http://youtu.be/iErNRBTPbEc

By the way, you can record like this, too.

http://youtu.be/v4QbEcVVBHM

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

Something like this?

http://youtu.be/iErNRBTPbEc

Fantastic track. Not really the style of pop I was referring to, but I can see where Christine's & Stevie's songs would sparkle with this type of treatment.

Whomever the band ultimately chooses to work with, I hope they produce something that is both contemporary and harkens back to their classic sound.

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I think that might have had more to do with the six or seven years that went by between the recording of Lindsey's tracks and the recording of Stevie's, rather than the fact that there were additional producers.

I would say it was a combination of all that -- Lindsey tunes recorded at different times, different producers, Stevie tunes that were a bat fit, etc.

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by Matt Lucas

Hello all---
Sometimes a demo really captures that new energy that only comes when you’ve created a new song from essentially nothing, and it’s hard to reproduce that feeling when you’re in the studio doing 34 takes of a lead vocal. I’ve experienced it myself. So, I get that.

Great point. Though I would argue most songs benefit from repeated playing, especially in front of an audience, to marinate and mature. I know this is harder to do in a band setting than a with singer/songwriter approach, but it can be done to great effect when it is possible.

Personally, I think part of the change in style over the years, particularly since RUMOURS, is the fact that Lindsey discovered the Rick Turner guitar and stopped using “real” guitars as much. I remember reading interviews with him around the time of OUT OF THE CRADLE, and he talked about how, in the studio, he still used other guitars like a Telecaster [I think one of those instrumental introductions was actually recorded on a Telecaster]. To my ears, that’s part of the reason that album sounded so good. Since then, I don’t think I’ve seen a single photo of him with anything other than the Turner guitar or one other acoustic guitar, and I haven’t read a single interview in which he talked about using a Fender or a Gibson.

Another great point, but the Gibon vs. the Model 1 becomes almost an academic discussion since the Turner can be as beefy, or more, than the Gibson, if that's what you're looking for. He also still uses Teles and Strats in the studio. I believe Down on Rodeo, for instance, uses a Tele. What bothers me is the use of the Renaissance models in the studio when he should be using a nice Martin or Gibson acoustic -- or even one of this Taylors, as long as it is miced properly.

[Johnny Stew]

Originally Posted by michelej1

I think it is heavily influenced by those things. In the past, she and Lindsey never got along, but since the finished product sold and won widespread acclaim she didn't think of it negatively. She was not happy with SYW from the beginning, but the tour seemed to ease some of the friction between her and Lindsey -- until it ended. I think if SYW had been a hit my some miracle, she'd never have knocked the songs.

Same thing with Street Angel. She may have hated the experience, but the album sales would have changed that. When the album goes nowhere like SYW did and the songs that will be on this next album will, then she's going to be unhappy and that resentment will be locked in. For eternity. No, I don't think that she will take the low sales of the FM album the way she took IYD. No, I don't think she's going to love her contributions to it anyway. If Lindsey is involved in her songs, she's going to blame him, rightly or wrongly. As they are eighty years old now, I think the complaints we get from them in the next years are going to be the same ones on their dying lips. Hopefully my ears and eyes will have deteriorated so I won't have to witness those gripes for very long. Michele

We have two examples of albums that didn't sell millions of copies, but that Stevie loves: 'Trouble In Shangri-La' (663,000 copies) and 'In Your Dreams' (188,000). And we have two examples of albums that didn't sell millions, that Stevie doesn't like: 'Street Angel' (229,000) and 'Say You Will' (864,000 - more than 'TISL' and 'IYD' combined, for the record).

I'm not sure why her reaction to the latter two albums has become the accepted view among fans of how she responds to something with low sales. Seems to me like a 50/50 shot that she'll love the next Mac album, even if it doesn't sell a million copies.

[secondhandchain]

Originally Posted by David

With the "Annabel Lee" arrangement and production style, Dave actually did a better old-school Lindsey Buckingham than Lindsey himself has done in his own work—probably since "Countdown" and "Soul Drifter" twenty years ago.

Dave also got beautifully hushed vocals out of Stevie on a few of the songs on that album. Lindsey hasn't captured a great vocal out of Stevie since "That's Alright."

I often wondered why Stevie doesn't use a falsetto more often. I wouldn't mind her using a falsetto to hit notes she can't anymore. Rhiannon for example.

[AnthonyMI]

Originally Posted by secondhandchain

I often wondered why Stevie doesn't use a falsetto more often. I wouldn't mind her using a falsetto to hit notes she can't anymore. Rhiannon for example.

I think i recall Stevie saying that she wont record a song the way she has to play it night after night after night unless they are notes she can sing every day. Like the same seemingly 8 note octave she has been using the last 10 years or so LIVE. She can sing those higher notes, she just prefers not to. Part of that is the slow loss of her higher non-falsetto range over the last 20 years and part a bit too much vocal training to be monotone and droning. We all know she can sing pretty and soft, but it is harder to do that and wears on the voice more than opening up the throat and singing from the diaphragm.

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by shackin'up

Well nobody responds on my suggestion of Jack white producing. Lindsey himself said that he would love to work with him.
I can live with Rick Rubin, though. But maybe, realisticly, T-Bone Burnett would be an awesome option.

Jack White would be interesting. He might bring out some of the raw energy that we see live but doesn't appear in the studio.

T-Bone Burnett would be a fantastic choice.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I'm not sure why her reaction to the latter two albums has become the accepted view among fans of how she responds to something with low sales. Seems to me like a 50/50 shot that she'll love the next Mac album, even if it doesn't sell a million copies.

Her defeatist comments after TISL failed to sell and her claim that poor sales were the result of fans stealing the music did not encourage me to think that that's not how she reacts to low-selling records. But she bucked up and put out IYD anyway and has fought for it. Good for her.


But despite her faith in IYD regardless of how it was received, I think her expectations for FM sales are still different from what they are for her solo records. Aside from that, because of the fractious production process, I think she would have been inclined to dislike a lot more of the FM records, if they hadn't sold. Mirage wasn't that hot, but with the Gypsy video lighting up MTV she couldn't complain too much about her music on there. But she'd be hating those FM albums as much as she used to hate Tusk if most of them hadn't been so successful.

That's how I think she is. Maybe she'll do something to change my mind. We'll see.

Michele

[gssmith]

I loved what jack white did with Loretta Lynn's album!

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by gssmith

I loved what jack white did with Loretta Lynn's album!

Van Lear Rose is incredible. He got out of the way on the production. It was pretty spare. The way Lynn's voice sounded and the fire -- ferocity -- she had was really great. The deep, oaken way that Christine's voice sounded on Meantime, if she still sounds like that, I would love to see Jack White produce her by herself and bring out something new in her that would surprise even the long time fans.

Michele

[aleuzzi]

The title of this thread is "Do we really want another Fleetwood Mac album?" And there's even a poll. After a week of staring at it I keep wondering, who wouldn't want another Fleetwood Mac album? I mean, really, does anyone out there think there shouldn't be one?