DISCUSSION: Danny's songs from Then Play On

[MacShadowsBall]

In an attempt to keep the FM "Battle of the Songs" moving along, here is the first discussion thread on Then Play On focusing on Danny Kirwan's songs.

Songs up for discussion...

1. Although the Sun is Shining
2. Coming Your Way
3. Like Crying
4. My Dream
5. When You Say

What's your take on these songs?

[aleuzzi]

In an attempt to keep the FM "Battle of the Songs" moving along, here is the first discussion thread on Then Play On focusing on Danny Kirwan's songs.

Songs up for discussion...

1. Although the Sun is Shining
2. Coming Your Way
3. Like Crying
4. My Dream
5. When You Say

What's your take on these songs?

Coming Your Way is a great opener. The lyric is minimal and the song's strength is really the instrumental.

Like Crying--what a great vocal duet! Fleetwood Mac would not pull off a duet like this (where both vocalists sing at the same time) until I Don't Wanna' Know.

Although the Sun is Shining is a really cool, surf-like sound. A spare, haunting little ditty.

My Dream--eh, okay.

When You Say: awful.

[doodyhead]

Coming your way is a great opener for the album. The influence of their encounters with the Santana band is obvious. The stayed at the young drummers house for a while when they were in California and they were able to get a big sound from this song. How they got such a feel that is both hard and soft at the same time is quite a trick.

Like crying is a great duet between Danny and Peter.

Although the Sun is shining is a wonderful bleak song with a unique musical structure.

my dream is a bland sort of pretty piece

When you say is another experiment utilizing a repeating chord circle in the fade that was a fad back then .

doodyhead

[dansven]

Coming Your Way: the ending is a killer! The Beatles' "She's So Heavy" comes to my mind...
Like Crying: So much beauty there... Danny & Peter:nod:
Although The Sun Is Shining: Sophisticated. Class!
My Dream: Danny's having pleasant dreams........
When You Say: :distress:lalalalalalalalalalalalalala

[chiliD]

Coming Your Way: Now THAT is the way to open an album. This is the song that put Mick Fleetwood on the map, percussionwise....it pretty much is the first song in the Fleetwood Mac catalogue that Mick puts his stamp on. (over the years of making Fleetwood Mac mixed tapes, this one is always the opener...try following this song with Jeremy's "This Is The Rock"...I think you'll be pleasantly surprised how well those two songs fit together)

Like Crying: Love the guitar tones...electrics being used as if they were acoustics. Don't think Peter & Danny ever did another vocal duet...but, this works. Too bad Peter bailed, there was some groundwork set on this album that could've been explored in further detail.

Although The Sun Is Shining: Danny came up with some great melodies, too bad he seemed to have difficulty with lyrics...he'd come up with a great verse & chorus, but couldn't follow it up....a trend that lasted his entire Fleetwood Mac tenure.

My Dream: Typical Danny Kirwan instrumental...not the best of the bunch, not the worst, either.

When You Say: {excuse me while I head to the toilet to yak} And, to think of the other great songs Danny's done and Christine decides to cover THIS one? WTF was she thinkin'?? But, only having one clunker over the course of his career in Fleetwood Mac is a pretty good track record. Too bad Ms. Nicks didn't have that kind of percentage.

[zoork_1]

Always liked "Like Crying", and "When You Say", when it come to the latter I just open my ears for what's beautiful in it...

[slipkid]

1) "Coming Your Way": It's a track that improved following the album's release. By Boston 2/70, it bleeds Santana.

2) "Like Crying": I guess this should be Danny's but Peter did assist. The tone of the guitars is striking, a vintage Fender Telecaster plugged into a vintage Fender amp without pedals (Danny), and a vintage '59 LP plugged into a vintage Fender amp without pedals. That's guitar tone 101.

3) "Although the Sun is Shining": My favorite Danny song on the album. Danny had a Beatles crush, and this is his answer.

4) "My Dream": It's not "Sunnyside of Heaven", or "Albatross".

5) "When You Say": Danny Kirwan could write music, and melody far beyond his years. This song demonstrates when he's at a loss for lyrics, and the proper notes for the vocals. His safe bet was to sing the same note with the melody.

I think Peter Green, and Danny Kirwan would've been a great songwriting team if they were able to work together. Peter certainly could've helped Danny with the lyrics. Those great dual harmonized guitar songs they had for the late '69/early '70 tours' tossed into the trash, because Green left.

[dansven]

I've always thought of "When You Say" as a sort of unfinished demo. It has some interesting chord changes, and I think it could have been good if they'd developed it a bit further ... and written proper lyrics.

It shouldn't have been on the album, but would have been nice on "Vaudeville Years" or a similar demo collection.

I can't imagine why Christine chose that one...:confused:

I think "Woman Of 1000 Years" were Danny's best lyrics.