Say You Will Poll: Stevie's Best Work Since. . .?

[TrueFaith77]

As an extension of the conversation going on here:
http://ledge.fleetwoodmac.net/showthread.php?t=41912

I know I should have asked something like: Do you agree with Stevie that SYW sucks? But instead, I wanted to establish some standards.

[holidayroad]

At least her best Fleetwood Mac album since Tusk. Some of her solo in between was better than her songs on SYW.

[BellaDonna93]

Maybe it isn't THE BEST works BUT the album rocks and I absolutley LOVE it!!!!

[Peestie]

I've not heard much of her solo stuff other than EO17 but I'd say that within FM it is by far her best since Tusk.

[JohnL]

I think her work on Mirage is better than SYW. I love Gypsy, Straight Back, Thats Alright,etc. Plus I think that most of TISL is better than most of SYW with the possible exceptions of Thrown Down and EFO.

[Gypsycat999]

I agree that Mirage is better than SYW. Everything that came after Mirage doesn't really do it for me. On each album are a few songs I like but the most just sucks .

[FMlex]

I had to say no on this one.

I don't voluntarily listen to Say You Will.
It's not that I don't like the songs, but... I don't know... it just seems kind of blah and random to me.

I do like Stevie's contributions to the album, with "Thrown Down," "Smile at You," and "Goodbye Baby" being my favorites.
I've said this before on here -- I lovelovelove the demos of those songs but I can't make myself listen to the album versions. It's just way too over produced for me.

I think it's a no-brainer that between 1979 and 2003 she wrote some MUCH better stuff than what she put on Say You Will. Just my opinion!

[wheart]

SYW has it's brilliant moments, most of them being Lindsey's songs. It think it's quite obvious when listening to SYW that it was originally intended to be a Lindsey Buckingham solo album. Songs like Miranda, Red Rover, Murrow, Peacekeeper, etc. are wonderfully crafted little gems, his best work to date.

In comparison, Stevie's songs just don't measure up. Sure, Everybody Finds Out and Thrown Down are excellent but the rest her tunes sound lifeless, uninspired and thrown together. Her vocals on most of her songs are a big part of the problem. She sounds like she's half asleep and suffering from a major sinus problem. I don't think the problem lies in the songs themselves, but the production and delivery. Although Stevie didn't talk about her unhappiness during the making of this record until now, she certaintly communicated it through her songs.

[HejiraNYC]

In essence, you are basically saying that Stevie's ten songs for SYW were better than her ten songs for Bella Donna? This is so beyond absurd... my brain is just about to hemorrhage.

[TrueFaith77]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

In essence, you are basically saying that Stevie's ten songs for SYW were better than her ten songs for Bella Donna?

Yes.

Perhaps a better way of asking the question would have been: "Is SYW Stevie's best collection of original songs since TUSK?" So I'm glad you clarified things.

I would really like to hash out why I feel this way. But I'm at work! But I'm enjoying reading the responses to the poll.

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

This is so beyond absurd... my brain is just about to hemorrhage.

Don't let your brain hemorrhage over it though!

[Artemis]

I think Stevie's Say You Will work is her best set of Fleetwood Mac songs since Mirage, and as a whole, is better than Rock A Little, The Other Side Of The Mirror and Street Angel.

I think on a whole her Trouble In Shangri-La album is better than her work on Say You Will, but some of her songs on Say You Will have that... "wow" factor that's been missing from most her stuff since Mirage.

Thrown Down, Running Through The Garden and Everybody Finds Out really stand out to me as amazing.

However, Say You Will also has Silver Girl and they totally destroyed Smile At You...so I don't know.

I think Trouble In Shangri-La is her best set of work since Mirage / Wild Heart, but I think Say You Will has the songs with the most "Wow factor"

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by HejiraNYC

In essence, you are basically saying that Stevie's ten songs for SYW were better than her ten songs for Bella Donna? This is so beyond absurd... my brain is just about to hemorrhage.

I concur...

[jbrownsjr]

Say You Will is a very weak album to me. It doesn't flow well, it was dated on release, the vocals are subpar, and the compositions don't seem like they go together. The opening track is laughable to say the least. I never once got that "magic" i got from Tango, Mirage, Tusk, Rumours, or FM... (I'll leave out the great pre-Buckingham/Nicks albums to compare apples to apples)

As far as Stevie's material she has some decent tunes... but the production of them are aurally in bad taste. There are times when Stevie sounds like she's holding her nose while singing and it's the production trick of running the headphones thru the main mic... God that's disturbing...

Her tunes on Mirage are amazing to my ears... Straight Back, Gypsy, That's Allright... she mixes up genres with perfection... a little rock, a little pop, a little country sounds... the harmony factor alone on Mirage blows SYW away..

Yeah SYW... I bought it... but I'm just not buying it...

[Nico]

I don't know...I'll probably say yes only because I don't think she had anything really great going on those other albums after Tusk, aside from Gypsy and Seven Wonders, and maybe I'm the only one who thinks the latter is really "great." Anyway, her stuff on SYW is pretty strong in comparison, but it isn't all that consistent.

Now if we're referring to solo, I'll say Wild Heart (album) is superior to her stuff on SYW.

I kind of think of SYW as an LB album because I prefer his songs to hers and I play them way more, so I sometimes forget about her songs on there. But Stevie has some great solo moments after Tusk. I just think they're few and far between, but they are there.

[Glittermoondust]

Better than Gypsy?? That's Alright?? Seven Wonders?? Juliet?? If You Ever Did Believe?? Fireflies?? Sorcerer??? Nope!!!