Brown Eyes

[EricBliss12345]

Remeber I'm new to a board full of FM fans so I dont know what everybody's collectvive opinion of songs is yet, so 'scuse me if I'm wrong here.

For some reason I'd get the impression that Brown Eyes would be one of the more under-rated tracks on Tusk, it doesn't really have the exciting coked out paranoia of Lindsay's tracks or the stately beauty and power of Stevies.

Actually, it kind of seems to ramble a bit without making much of a statement, and if you want to be anal it has a hell of a throwaway chorus. So why is it the only track on Tusk that I'll play mulitiple times before I'm satisfied (besides Tusk itself)?

The vocals are the coolest I've heard on any FM track, period.
There's just something about the eerie beauty of them that just gives me chills, mainy the "Sha la la la la la Ooooooooooahhhhh!!!!" part. Her voice just rocks. And I'm also a sucker for any song with that beautifully chilled out Rhodes electric piano. I just like vintage keyboards period, wish she used the mellotron more like she did on "The Ghost"

Also the instrumentation is unusally spacey and trippy for a Mac track. I wish there were more songs like this one in their catalog (I heard Future Games was kind of prog/space rockish but haven't heard it).

So I dunno what's y'alls take?

[macfan 57]

I LOVE "Brown Eyes". I agree, terrific vocals & keyboards. I think this song is Fleetwood Mac's sexiest song ever. It was also fantastic live. They played it on the Mirage & Tango tours, although strangely not on the Tusk tour. When I saw it live, it got a GREAT audience reaction.

And, Future Games is definitely worth getting. It has a very spacey kind of feel to it, especially the title track.

[wondergirl9847]

I LOVE Brown Eyes....one of my fave CM songs for sure!! It IS their sexiest song too, I agree.

I'll beat chilid to this (heehee) but Peter Green plays a lil (and I mean LIL!!!) guitar towards the very end of the song...that bluesy part as the song fades.

[dontlookdown]

Brown Eyes is so gorgeous. Like many moments on Tusk - it's all about the harmony. Brown Eyes was never played on stage during the Mirage tour - but they did break it out for the Tango In The Night and Behind The Mask tours. It was introduced as "something special from the girls". I think it was one of those quiet spaces on stage when everyone was OK with Lindsey being gone - because it was so damn good live.

I hate the mix that was used for the boxed set. The Tusk version is so much better.

[dontlookdown]

from what i've gleaned over the past 24 years of shows and articles, Lindsey was never a big fan of cocaine. His songs on Tusk were just his normal energy - and came from influences like the Clash and the Talking Heads - music that he listened to a lot at the time. He did, however smoke the occasional pot - so maybe that's where your paranoia theory comes from.
But for the most part, Lindsey was one not big on drugs. He likes to play music and read.

back to Brown Eyes - Chris was on a roll during Tusk - her tracks were so strong. I think she kept the momentum going up until right before the Dance.
For the first time in all her musical years, I thought she sounded kind of lackluster and ambivalent on the Dance album and tour. Maybe that's why she's retired.....

[Jason T.]

"Brown Eyes" is probably not only my favorite Christine McVie song, but it is also my favorite Fleetwood Mac song. It's just one of those songs that truly captures you. I could listen to it for hours at a time and not get sick of it, in fact I have done exactly that...about thirty times. :)

Cannot even say enough about how awesome that song is. Am I the only one who wishes they would of made that song eight or ten minutes long?:nod:

[Jason T.]

On a side note: I just bought "Future Games" last week, and it is an awesome disc of music. Could of used more Christine, but it is just worth getting for "Show Me A Smile,""Sands Of Time," and of course "Future Games."

[PenguinHead]

Originally posted by dontlookdown
Brown Eyes was never played on stage during the Mirage tour -

Hi dontlookdown! Dontbesosureofyourself! (lol) Brown Eyes was, INDEED, first performed on the Mirage tour. I attended one of those shows and was very surprised to hear them play it. If there is any suspicion that I only hallucinated it, numerous recordings of that tour can confirm the fact.

There is another erroneous fact floating around out there...that the Mirage tour took place in 1983. It actually took place in Sept and Oct of1982. Stevie was well into Wild Heart by 1983. It's amazing how someone's incorrect assumption of history can get spread around to the point where it virtually becomes fact.

[tamaraluvsFM]

Originally posted by macfan 57
I think this song is Fleetwood Mac's sexiest song ever. It was also fantastic live.


I totally agree this is one of the sexiest. I love the softness of her voice and I love the Sh la la harmony. This song always makes me want to turn the lights down, light some candles and get a bottle of wine out. Now that is classic Mac :)
Ok you can laugh now..lol

Tamara:wavey:

[EricBliss12345]

You didn't even mention "Never Forget"! Yet you included "Honey Hi" which she may as well have called "Ambien" :laugh:

[RavenOfRhiannon]

I love Brown Eyes. It was also played on the Tango tour, I think.

PS: Welcome Eric!

Randy

[darklinensuit]

We did a thread on the most romantic/sexiest FM songs a few months ago, and lots of people referred to those sha-la-las.
Tusk definitely contains Chris's best songs. I love Never Foget & Think about me, and Honey Hi has a perfection of harmony. I love that the distinct voices can be heard. (To me, that's what's missing in the Time harmonies, which sound nice, but without strong, clear voices to distinguish.)

- Jake

[darklinensuit]

Originally posted by RavenOfRhiannon
I love Brown Eyes. It was also played on the Tango tour, I think.

I believe you're right. I missed that tour, but the Greatest Hits insert mentions them playing it live for the prince.

- Jake

[Vianna]

is one of my favorite Christine McVie pieces-and - I did not know Peter Green was playing in that song! That is so cool.

Tusk is my favorite album-I just love every note of it. It was, to quote John McVie, "a moment"-only John says that about Rumours=:-)

[stevierocks87]

I agree with everyone else, Christine's songs from Tusk are definitely her very best. Over and Over is gorgeous...i love the harmonies...of course Think About Me is classic! "Brown Eyes" is a very unusual song for Christine....its kind of spooky like Stevie's songs. Have ya'll heard the Live version from Memphis 82?It is better than the album version IMO, the "Sha la la, sha la la, sha la la la la la's" are incredible!

:wavey: adam :wavey:

[hildymac]

Geeze, it's been probably 2 years or more since I've been on the forums. Anyways, glad to finally have the time to be back and posting on a, duh, Christine-related thread. I think that, as a whole, these are Chris's strongest songs... she was on such an amazing creative roll during Tusk. "Brown Eyes" is just amazing, and it's got the added perk of being a great driving song, what with the bass and all. :D "Never Forget," "Honey Hi," "Forget About Me..." I could go on and on and rave about her tracks on this album. Heck, I could go on and rave about *all* of her tracks, esp. the ones on Bare Trees and Mystery to Me. To the person who just bought BT, it'll grow on you, but "Spare me a Little" is hands down (other than "Why" from MtM) my favorite song of her's. I'm thrilled she's working on a new solo CD (here's hoping for some blues), but I really do miss her presence on the new FM CD. I know I can hear her harmonies on "SYHA" and "BTLH" but that's it... I guess that's why those are my favorite tracks. :laugh:
Ta!
Laura

[DownOnRodeo]

Christy - it's funny you mention how Peter Green features on the outro to Brown Eyes, becuase in the Penguin Q&A the reply was that he didn't. But then some opinion was that the Q&A wasn't answered by him personally, so who knows. One thing's for sure - it sounds like Peter Green!!

Eric - I think yoiu'l find Brown Eyes (as one reviewer remarked) was done almost just for 'the production;. I don't think it was meant to be wordy or particularly meaningful - just "groovy", like a dance track :D . Who would have thought that a chorus of just "Sha la la" would pay off ... when you read the lyrics it doesn't look like much chop. But when that second layer of "Ooh"s kicks in and ascends, it's magic.:nod:

[jeffles]

I've read in several sources that Green is playing the guitar piece at the end. It sounds great and it compliments such a great song. I would tend to agree that Christine was at the top of her game on Tusk. Interesting how none of her songs became major hits. The only minor hit, Think About Me, though not bad, is probably her weakest song on there.

[stefan]

Well it seems I am the only one in this thread that doesn't agree on this topic.
Tusk is a fantastic album- my favorit FM LP. Except of the Christine tracks. Somehow these songs for me never really belonged to the album. That means I immediately made a tape of Tusk without her songs except of "Think about me". There is a great balance between the superb Lindsey tracks and Stevies contributions. Christines songs did not fit into this balance and to the concept of this album imo. I always regarded her tracks on Tusk as completely shallow and mediocre and simply could not stand them. Especially- Brown eyes...
Well O.K. a lot of people here like her contributions to Tusk, so that`s all about taste. There are other ones she made , that I like more.

[Les]

Originally posted by DownOnRodeo
Christy - it's funny you mention how Peter Green features on the outro to Brown Eyes, becuase in the Penguin Q&A the reply was that he didn't. But then some opinion was that the Q&A wasn't answered by him personally, so who knows. One thing's for sure - it sounds like Peter Green!!

I think it's been confirmed by more than a couple of sources that he was there. But it's possible that Peter, after some of the difficulties he's been through, just simply doesn't remember playing on it. :shrug:

[chiliD]

Ya gotta remember that 1979 wasn't a really good time for Peter Green, healthwise (according to both Mick's book and Jet Celmins' bio of Peter).

It is very apparent that he doesn't remember playing on the track. My thought is that since (according to Mick's book) Peter was hanging out in LA and with the band in 1978/79, he probably was at the studio and was just noodling around along with some of the tracks that they were recording. Somebody might've just slapped a mic in front of Peter's guitar amp and recorded his noodlings without his knowledge. Hence, his denial of playing on the track. But, the fact is, that guitar at the fade out IS Peter.


As far as stefan's point about Chris' songs "never really belonged to the album"---I disagree. Tusk made the differences in their three writing styles more pronounced. Also, I fail to see the "balance" between Lindsey's songs & Stevie's contributions...they're as night & day as ever, if not MORESO. It was Christine's tunes that gave the album its "balance".

The inclusion of "Brown Eyes" during the 1987/88 tour was just incredible, my favorite version is from that tour. It was part of the greatest "three-song stretch" in any Fleetwood Mac show I've ever seen:

HAEWAFY (just Stevie at the mic, Christine on piano...awesome!)
I Loved Another Woman (only Mick, John & Rick) segueing seamlessly into:
Brown Eyes (with full band...how'd Billy, Stevie & Christine get back on stage unnoticed?) :shrug:

[DownOnRodeo]

Originally posted by trackaghost
I can't believe I forgot that one, Never Forget is one of my absolute faves!
trackaghost - you should Never Forget!! :laugh:

[cliffdweller]

Originally posted by trackaghost
I just love Tusk, everyone was at the top of their game on that record, Lindsey, Stevie and Chris too definitely. I think there isn’t one weak track on the record, it’s just so perfect IMO. Its strange too than it sounds rather sparse and minimal, yet quite intricate, dreamy and spacious. Does that sound weird?
Anyway I always loved Chris’ songs on that record, I reckon they are her very best. Think About Me, Honey Hi, Brown Eyes, Over And Over... all amazing!

And Tamara, I love the quotes you have for your signature. So true!
:D


~Sharon~

I totally agree, Tusk does showcase Chris's best material. However, I don't know about Tusk being flawless: one song I skip over and over is "Not That Funny" it's just too much, Lindsey is way too mean spirited on that one. It's like he's spitting venom at Stevie or something (I don't even know if it's about Stevie but it makes sense that it is). Anyway, I can't take it. The rest of the songs on Tusk are fabulous though.