Moments that bring down good songs

[louielouie2000]

Some of the worst offenders come from the bands solo albums, such as:

That horrible synthesized solo in the middle of Ask Anybody on Christine's '84 solo album. Embarassingly awful elevator music.

Kenny G's sax solo in the middle of Alice on Stevie's Other Side Of The Mirror. No, just no.

The obnoxious way What Makes You Think You're The One starts with those piercing, sharp drum bangs.

The hugely cheesy intro to In The Back Of My Mind. It's like a Disney haunted house movie or something.

[michelej1]

Lindsey's vocals on Down Endless Street. It makes the song campy, when actually it had great value as a "straight" song.

The effects he uses on it make it sound like a Halloween special, and you expect to hear ghosts shrieking "booo-booo-booo" through it. I still like the song a great deal. But I would have liked it even more if he'd just gone traditional with the vocals.

Michele

[KenB]

Originally Posted by WildHearted

The absurd tempo of the album version of Say Goodbye.

Yes. How great would it be if they re-recorded "Say Goodbye" for the new album, in a pace similar to the live version? It could be such an amazing song.

[MikeVielhaber]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

The obnoxious way What Makes You Think You're The One starts with those piercing, sharp drum bangs. .

How does this bring a good song down when the whole song comes after it?

[goldustsongbird]

Originally Posted by KenB

1. "Temporary One" -- I understand that a lot of fans aren't crazy about this new tune of Christine's on The Dance. I like it a lot. But that very cliched-sounding ascending bass riff John plays just after the second chorus (at right about the 1:30 mark)? It makes me cringe. It just sounds so generic and uncreative, like "I need to play something here, but I'm not sure what."

3. "As Long as You Follow" -- the brief guitar solo in the middle (don't know if it's Rick or Billy). Again, it sounds cliched to me and takes me out of the mood on a song I really like a lot.

I love Temporary One, and hope they play it when I see them. But as I've been singing it to myself over the last few days, I thought, It really does go on and on.

ALAWYF is a time travel machine to 1990. I hear it and think neon Nike and being in a mall like this.

Originally Posted by sodascouts

Another song, Say You Will, was ruined by Stevie adding cutesy kid vocals repeating that chorus ad nauseum at the end.

This is FM's death knell, honestly. It'd be a cute thing to keep in Destiny Rules, but not on the CD.

Originally Posted by bethelblues

- Bleed to Love Her...the Say You Will album version. I think the production choices, the beat added to the song, takes away much of the magic of the Dance live performance.

This one suffered from SYW's overproduction. I love The Dance performance.

[michelej1]

Oh, I definitely agree with the kids at the end of SYW. Gag.

You're right, I loved the little footage on Destiny Rules. Molly was there and Will must have been like 4. It was adorable, but I don't need that stuff on my album.

I didn't really even believe that there were kids singing when I first heard the song. I thought it was Lindsey manipulating his voice.

Please, the sound of children's voices singing to me is ... I don't like my songs to "feel good."

Michele

[mottabam]

Originally Posted by louielouie2000

Some of the worst offenders come from the bands solo albums, such as:

That horrible synthesized solo in the middle of Ask Anybody on Christine's '84 solo album. Embarassingly awful elevator music.

Kenny G's sax solo in the middle of Alice on Stevie's Other Side Of The Mirror. No, just no.

The obnoxious way What Makes You Think You're The One starts with those piercing, sharp drum bangs.

The hugely cheesy intro to In The Back Of My Mind. It's like a Disney haunted house movie or something.

^ I'm probably the only one but that intro is perhaps my favorite part of that album. When it first came out I used to play it full blast in the car. Something about it I just loved. Sure it was unusual but I also thought it made a great intro as the opener on some of the Mask tour dates.

[olive]

Originally Posted by mottabam

^ I'm probably the only one but that intro is perhaps my favorite part of that album. When it first came out I used to play it full blast in the car. Something about it I just loved. Sure it was unusual but I also thought it made a great intro as the opener on some of the Mask tour dates.

I agree and it was a great opener

[wetcamelfood]

Originally Posted by sanders8323

"In the Back of My Mind": The intro is too long. The song would make more of an impact with a shorter intro.

Hence, the single edit.

John

[sanders8323]

^
^
^
I'm aware there's a single edit, but it should have been the edit that made the album in the first place. Really, the song itself is not single material at all. IMO it is the worst song on Behind the Mask...yes, even worse than "The Second Time."

[Wdm6789]

Originally Posted by On Ice

2. "Dreams" -- any live version after the mid-'80s. When Stevie sings that high C during the "It's only right" and "It's only me" lines on the studio recording, it's magical. When she plays it safe and avoids that high note live, it's flat and dull.

Agreed...I think she can reach the note, but only on occasion. It would not be sustainable on a long tour. When the best part of the song is missing, is loses steam and it seams most times she just wants to get it over with, which is a shame, in that it totally deserves a modern rearrangement. I do give her kudos for the modern slower Rhiannon Intros and think she should stop there and ditch the rock version because of being unable to sing the chorus the way it's intended. I'm not really interested in the back up singers doing it for her.

Although not Mac, it's the same issue with Edge of Seventeen live, because she won't up the "winged" dove, the song falls flat and no attempt to outdo the wail makes up for that. I've always been disappointed with the song live for that very reason.

Lindsey: Most live versions of Not That Funny. While a quirky fun little song on Tusk, it's not a show stopper and doesn't deserve to be drawn out in shows. The 2013 tour was more what this song was intended to be.

Christine although close to "perfect" in my books, loses ground with Only Over You, with the too obvious Beach Boys imitation with Out of my Mind. Those words don't work with what's she's trying to achieve.

The Tusk tour "not that funny" is really good. It's actually much better than the album version, the album version should sound more like that live version.

The 1982 "not that funny" was not as good, actually disappointingly so. Especially because it's like 10 or 11 minutes long. It's too guitar dominant, the 1979-1980 one, Christine's piano and Lindsey's guitar are much more even and in sync. I wish that was was 10 minutes long.

[Hawkeye]

Counter thoughts:

1. I think the single over my head with the louder guitar is WAY better. Takes the song from being a 6 to a 9.

2. The kids don't bring say you will down. The song say you will brings say you will down. Never have I thought "this song kicks ass, serious stand out of the album. Stevie outdid herself here and then... SH*T, these kids voices RUINED this masterpiece.

3. dreams never matched its studio version once not even out the gate in 1977. Not one thing. The vocals, harmonies, not even the freaking instruments. The crying guitar never was the same live. The best live dreams for me are the wild heart and rock a little tours. They had some special nuances that were never seen before or after. Waddys special guitar intro was great.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

Counter thoughts:

1. I think the single over my head with the louder guitar is WAY better. Takes the song from being a 6 to a 9.

2. The kids don't bring say you will down. The song say you will brings say you will down. Never have I thought "this song kicks ass, serious stand out of the album. Stevie outdid herself here and then... SH*T, these kids voices RUINED this masterpiece.

3. dreams never matched its studio version once not even out the gate in 1977. Not one thing. The vocals, harmonies, not even the freaking instruments. The crying guitar never was the same live. The best live dreams for me are the wild heart and rock a little tours. They had some special nuances that were never seen before or after. Waddys special guitar intro was great.

Agree on all fronts.

Love the OMH Single version so much better. Same for SYLM. I think Ken produced the single versions. Blue Letter and Rhiannon sound great too as single edits.

SYW is such a below average song, and the kids at the end make it even worse.

Dreams is such a pristine recording with the harmonies in the studio. I agree with the live versions. Christine and Lindsey never really get their voices up to par to help Stevie out. They often ruined Sara with bad backing vocals as well.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by michelej1

Lindsey's vocals on Down Endless Street. It makes the song campy, when actually it had great value as a "straight" song.

The effects he uses on it make it sound like a Halloween special, and you expect to hear ghosts shrieking "booo-booo-booo" through it. I still like the song a great deal. But I would have liked it even more if he'd just gone traditional with the vocals.

Michele

Hahaha!! Now you've ruined it for me. I can't not hear the Halloween special in this.

[lbfan]

Originally Posted by Wdm6789

The Tusk tour "not that funny" is really good. It's actually much better than the album version, the album version should sound more like that live version.

The 1982 "not that funny" was not as good, actually disappointingly so. Especially because it's like 10 or 11 minutes long. It's too guitar dominant, the 1979-1980 one, Christine's piano and Lindsey's guitar are much more even and in sync. I wish that was was 10 minutes long.

Actually, NTF started out at about 4-1/2 minutes at the start of the Tusk Tour and grew to 10 minutes over the course of the tour (1979 to 1980). The version on Fleetwood Mac Live is 9 minutes long (from the Tusk Tour). On both the Tusk Tour and Mirage Tour, the drum solo accounts for most of the increased duration. There is a live studio version that was included on a CD single (I believe the Love Shines CD single) from the 25 Years box set (but only included on the single, not in the box set - the box set includes the Mirage version from the taped HBO special).