Silver Springs

[brocadelady]

When was this first performed? The earliest I can find is 1997
I mean I have the demos but have no idea what is the iconic performance of this song...

Also how incredible is it that Patty Loveless covered it? I mean wow, that is the new thing I've learned today!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeZZVn-wkus

Are there really any notable covers of Stevie songs other than Landslide and the Dixie Chicks? I wouldn't really consider Lohan's or Courtney Love's covers notable...

[Dodfather]

Nora O'Connor does a brilliant version of That's Alright. It's on her album 'Til The Dawn. I'll get it from youtube and post it here whenI get back from work and can access the site.

[Sanne2]

When was this first performed?

1976, there's a recording but it's pretty bad quality. There's also a recording from 1977 and unfortunately that quality isn't great either.
I'm sure somebody can post them.

[Artemis]

Silver Springs Live 1976: http://www.mediafire.com/download.php?1952ycgtmnfbc1p

Sound quality isn't fantastic, but it's not awful either.

[Nathan]

Nora O'Connor does a brilliant version of That's Alright. It's on her album 'Til The Dawn. I'll get it from youtube and post it here whenI get back from work and can access the site.

I just found a cover of that's alright by the flat five that was pretty good.

[CADreaming]

1976, there's a recording but it's pretty bad quality. There's also a recording from 1977 and unfortunately that quality isn't great either.
I'm sure somebody can post them.

There is also a boot labeled "piano demo" but I don't know what year and if it's really a demo.

[mitzo]

The Rumours vintage Silver Springs is on the box set The Chain. I never really cared for it, while the 1997 version is an absolute gift from god.

[omshiva]

and what about this stunning demo ?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YzntsOuixA4&feature=channel

where does it come from ? i didn't known this outtake !
Jeremy thank you, is it possible to have a wav mp3 of that version ?
do you have other treasures to share ?
You made my day...

[BombaySapphire3]

Nice! Does anyone else remember when Stevie stated that the original Silver Springs was 14 minutes long?To my knowledge no fans have ever heard that version.

[markolas]

I thought it was "Sara" that was originally 14 mins long.

[CADreaming]

I think all of her songs are 14 minutes long.

[MrStevie]

I think all of her songs are 14 minutes long.

:lol:

:wavey:

[michelej1]

Lost Songs, Pop-Break August 3, 2012 by Jason Stives

http://pop-break.com/2012/08/03/lost-songs-fleetwood-mac-silver-springs/


In prepping a last second replacement for this week’s Lost Songs, I was at a stalemate: do I cover another noted British band that I have a love for or try and find a strong American act with a wealth of material that may come off predictable but still different? Then, my iPod shuffled to “Second Hand News,” the opening track to Fleetwood Mac’s acclaimed 1977 release Rumours. Problem solved.

The American/English-fused rock quintet provided the exact answer but one can easily push aside the importance of this stellar band that has been around for some 45 years. Most people have two trains of thought when it comes to Fleetwood Mac: 1) they’re obnoxious, ’70s AM gold balladeers. 2) They’re Bill Clinton’s favorite band. On one end both are true depending on your taste but Fleetwood Mac’s roots stem back to their original blues rock format back when Peter Green was lead guitarist and they produced mainly experimental rock albums like Kiln House and Mr. Wonderful and releasing bombastic bluesy tracks like their first charting US single, 1969’s “Oh Well.”

Then in 1975 after numerous line-up changes the band relocated to California, enlisted the songwriting couple of Stevie Nicks and Lindsay Buckingham and turned their output to a more pop oriented sound. After a self-titled release in the same year the band would go on to make Rumours, one of the biggest selling albums of the seventies and also one of the most important records to come out during this period.

This is the album that Chuck Klosterman famously proclaimed was when “Christine McVie and John McVie’s marriage ended, the on-and-off relationship of Stevie Nicks and Buckingham was practically through, and Mick Fleetwood strongly began considering sleeping with Stevie Nicks, something he did during the making of 1979’s Tusk. The true legacy of this album lies in the personal drama that is mentioned above and the collection of songs that ultimately stemmed from these sessions are so passionate and so devastatingly honest that you feel like you were in the room during the record’s production.

All the songs on this album are dynamite selections, and many of them ended up being hit singles, but some of the tracks that didn’t make it onto that record are truly the ones to look into. One in particular, “Silver Springs,” was originally intended to be on the album but was taken out, ultimately leading to growing tension between the band members. It ended up being the B-side to “Go Your Own Way,” but would see even greater exposure when it was included on The Dance, the band’s live album from their 1997 reunion tour.

It’s probably the best track not be included on a record and in my own personal opinion, I would gladly swap the Christine McVie heavy “Oh Daddy” for this song on the album any day of the week. The strength in the songs beauty lies in Nicks’ vocal work which even on this live cut is remarkably haunting and sincere. Coupled with some strong harmonizing from the group and elegant guitar and piano work from McVie and Buckingham and you have a true lost classic.

[drag00n]

I thought it was "Sara" that was originally 14 mins long.

I thought the Sara original version was 17 minutes long??
Twirl Harder!!
:]:]:]

[PenguinHead]

I think all of her songs are 14 minutes long.

14 minutes of meandering and repetition. I don't feel we're missing out on any content of great significance. Also, take in to account that Stevie is often loose with the truth, and tends to exaggerate for dramatic effect (poetic license) and often just because she really doesn't have a firm grasp of her own history.

[Macfanforever]

When was this first performed? The earliest I can find is 1997
I mean I have the demos but have no idea what is the iconic performance of this song...

Also how incredible is it that Patty Loveless covered it? I mean wow, that is the new thing I've learned today!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aeZZVn-wkus

Are there really any notable covers of Stevie songs other than Landslide and the Dixie Chicks? I wouldn't really consider Lohan's or Courtney Love's covers notable...



I love Patty Loveless .She's one of my favorite country singers.Seen her live many times.She did a great cover of SS.

Also she did a great cover of Lone Justice's Don't Toss US Away and made it a hit.


Patty Loveless

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/XMN3R4IGE5E" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Lone Justice

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uOxpIhxpK5Q" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[michelej1]

Chicago Reader
http://www.chicagoreader.com/Bleader/archives/2013/02/08/12-oclock-track-the-best-fleetwood-mac-song-that-never-made-it-to-a-record-album

12 O'Clock Track: "The best [Fleetwood Mac] song that never made it to a record album"

Posted by Tal Rosenberg on 02.08.13 at 12:00 PM

Today I'm going to Los Angeles for a six-day vacation. People associate cities with all sorts of things—memories, dreams, or pieces of art. For whatever reason, I think of Fleetwood Mac when I think of LA. The sound of the music and my impression of LA are inseparable.

Like LA, Fleetwood Mac initially gives off a tacky and artificial impression. Their music has glossy surfaces and breezy instrumentation—cleanly recorded acoustic guitars, brushed drums, and silky keyboard parts—it's the kind of music you expect to play in stores where you buy candles and bath products. But those surfaces are deceptive: pay attention to Fleetwood Mac's music and you'll find that it's often quite sophisticated and nuanced; and sometimes, as on 1979's postpunk double album Tusk, (their best album), it can be bizarre. While I'd imagine most people hear FM rock, soft pop, and pop-country, I often hear power-pop, dub, and the art-rock of Brian Eno in a lot of their music (and all those other ostensibly less interesting genres as well).

Depending on how you listen to pop music, you either hear lyrics and music separately or simultaneously. Personally, I need to make a connection with the music before I listen to the words. In the case of Fleetwood Mac, it took some time to get over some of my biases against the music. But I think one of the brilliant things about Fleetwood Mac is just how well the music and lyrics work together, because once you internalize the melodies, they suit the lyrics perfectly.

There is already at least one, probably two or three more, VH1 specials on Rumours, so I'll spare you the back story. Basically, Fleetwood Mac songs are about breakups and postbreakups—in the case of Rumours it's the latter. And Fleetwood Mac can be an especially masochistic balm when you're just getting over a breakup. It creeps up in unexpected ways: one minute you're just buying shampoo at CVS, the next thing you know "Dreams" is streaming faintly from the ceiling speakers and you're standing in the middle of the store trying not to cry with a bottle of Head & Shoulders in your hand at 11 o'clock at night.

LA is a place where people go to escape. The real world can be an ugly place, and a person with a certain type of disposition frowns on Angelenos, who spend their lives in 70-degree-plus weather amid mostly beautiful people. And Fleetwood Mac's music is the sound of people struggling to avoid their problems, the surface of the music the sunny distraction from the shrapnel of narcissism—heartache, drugs, depression, and the people hurt while dealing with all of it. This is the compelling friction in Fleetwood Mac's music, between the illusion of happiness and the reality of emotional trauma.

Look no further than "Silver Springs," written by Stevie Nicks for Rumours, which was just reissued in a bountiful four-disc box set. Nicks had written the track, and the band recorded it, but it was cut from the album due to exceeding the accorded length for an LP; it was instead used as a B side for the "Go Your Own Way" single. She was so angry about its exclusion that it became a sore point for years, not seeing an album release until it was re-recorded for The Dance 20 years later. It's not hard to see why Nicks was so incensed: According to the song's Wikipedia page, "Richard Dashut, the engineer and co-producer, called it 'The best song that never made it to a record album.'"

On the box set, "Silver Springs" is added as the album's closing track, and it raises the already impressive quality of the album even higher. Slightly ragged, with a serpentine array of guitar parts played by Lindsey Buckingham, it's a midtempo number that exposes the lingering resentment of a destroyed relationship, an attitude that would inform much of Tusk, Rumours's follow-up.

Nicks sings, "Time casts a spell on you/But you won't forget me/I know I could have loved you/But you would not let me." The song's protagonist is burned by their former lover, who's moved on, and distance has only inflamed the wounds that should have healed. Bitterness informs music that's otherwise sweet and bright, like the jealousy that seethes beneath the Los Angeles sunshine.

For people without Spotify, I've also included a YouTube of the original, but I would pay for Spotify just to have access to the full reissue. Aside from a beautifully remastered version of the original Rumours, the set also includes a full live show and two discs of outtakes, rough cuts, and demos, all of which add new dimensions to this artifact of deeply affecting artifice.

[Nicks Fan]

Lily Wilson a singer from California area did a live version of That's Allright a few years back then posted in Facebook. It was pretty good

[bombaysaffires]

Lily Wilson a singer from California area did a live version of That's Allright a few years back then posted in Facebook. It was pretty good

She also did a mix of Dreams/Nightbird that was pretty cool on youtube as well.

[Lilyfan]

Are there really any notable covers of Stevie songs other than Landslide and the Dixie Chicks? I wouldn't really consider Lohan's or Courtney Love's covers notable...

The Corrs did a pretty good version of Dreams.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8BglEyv5O2Y

[redbird]

The Smashing Pumpkins also covered "Landslide" and took it to #30 US, bringing it to the attention of generation y. I'm sure that's her most covered song, Tori Amos also did it, Bush's Gavin Rossdale, Miley Cyrus, Pat McGee Band.

The Kills, Cat Power, Richie Havens, Whiskeytown, Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Yo La Tengo and Augustana have covered "Dreams", Lykke Li also did "Silver Springs", Best Coast and Waylon Jennings did "Rhiannon", Marianne Faithfull did "Angel", Julia Holter and Sister Hazel and Karen Elson and Waylon Jennings and Grace Potter have done "Gold Dust Woman", Matt Sweeney and Bonnie Prince Billy did "Storms" together as did Best Coast again, the Goo Goo Dolls did "I Don't Wanna Know", Agnes Chan did "Beautiful Child", Waylon Jennings did "Leather and Lace", Rod Stewart did "Stand Back". My Morning Jacket and Neko Case did "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" live a few years ago.

I guess some of those might be notable depending on what kind of artists you like.

[johnnystorms]

The Smashing Pumpkins also covered "Landslide" and took it to #30 US, bringing it to the attention of generation y. I'm sure that's her most covered song, Tori Amos also did it, Bush's Gavin Rossdale, Miley Cyrus, Pat McGee Band.

The Kills, Cat Power, Richie Havens, Whiskeytown, Fleet Foxes' Robin Pecknold, Yo La Tengo and Augustana have covered "Dreams", Lykke Li also did "Silver Springs", Best Coast and Waylon Jennings did "Rhiannon", Marianne Faithfull did "Angel", Julia Holter and Sister Hazel and Karen Elson and Waylon Jennings and Grace Potter have done "Gold Dust Woman", Matt Sweeney and Bonnie Prince Billy did "Storms" together as did Best Coast again, the Goo Goo Dolls did "I Don't Wanna Know", Agnes Chan did "Beautiful Child", Waylon Jennings did "Leather and Lace", Rod Stewart did "Stand Back". My Morning Jacket and Neko Case did "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around" live a few years ago.

I guess some of those might be notable depending on what kind of artists you like.

GREAT list, RedBird... thanks for adding it! i LOVED Hole covering GDW too!

[skuncles]

Waylon Jennings never recorded Leather And Lace. He and wife Jessie Colter released an album using the title in 1981 but the song, if recorded at all, has never been released.

[redbird]

Sorry about the wrong info + thanks for the correction.

[UndoingTheLaces]

Wasn't it Marilyn Martin who did Sorcerer for a movie? Streets of Fire, I think. It was years before Stevie officially released her own version.

[Jondalar]

Wasn't it Marilyn Martin who did Sorcerer for a movie? Streets of Fire, I think. It was years before Stevie officially released her own version.

Yes, I like her version better than Stevie's. Here it is.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x-LbUWh_SyE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[bombaysaffires]

Yes, I like her version better than Stevie's. Here it is.

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/x-LbUWh_SyE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

But you gotta love Stevie's howl in the middle, right as it quiets down "Lady from the MOOOOOUNNNN-taaaaaiiin";)

[Kena]

I really don't like many of the old recordings of Silver Springs (not my favorite Stevie Silver Springs voice). Sad but true. Also bugs me that during the early concerts, they always said the song was "going to be on the new album" but we know how that went.

Anyways, I downloaded a link someone here posted recently and there was a 1976 recording of SS that I 'm pretty certain Lindsey sings on. I haven't been doing my best at keeping up with all the Ledge action and posts lately, but I didn't see anyone mention this. Ring a bell to anyone?

[WildHearted]

I really don't like many of the old recordings of Silver Springs (not my favorite Stevie Silver Springs voice). Sad but true. Also bugs me that during the early concerts, they always said the song was "going to be on the new album" but we know how that went.

Anyways, I downloaded a link someone here posted recently and there was a 1976 recording of SS that I 'm pretty certain Lindsey sings on. I haven't been doing my best at keeping up with all the Ledge action and posts lately, but I didn't see anyone mention this. Ring a bell to anyone?

I know there's a live recording from 1997 where Lindsey sings at the end. I'm not sure I've heard one from 76.

[michelej1]

November 13, 2013



http://somethingelsereviews.com/2013/11/13/it-was-an-incredible-seven-minutes-stevie-nicks-untangles-the-history-of-fleetwood-macs-silver-springs/

[B]‘It was an incredible seven minutes’: Stevie Nicks untangles the history of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Silver Springs’ by Something Else!

Most Fleetwood Mac fans are familiar with “Silver Springs” as the band’s 1997 comeback single after Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham returned for the live album The Dance. But it’s got a tangled history.

Nicks had originally written the song years before, and hoped to have it included on Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 blockbuster studio effort Rumours. The physical limitations of the old vinyl LP format ended up getting in the way, however.

Nicks would learn the news in a fashion that still sticks with her.

“I wrote ‘I Don’t Want To Know’ about Lindsey and I,” Nicks tells Classic Rock Society, “and I didn’t want ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ on the record. I wanted ‘Silver Springs’ on the record. Lindsey wanted ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ on the record, and recorded it — without telling me. I went in, and it was recorded, and ‘Silver Springs’ was off. It went off, because it was too long. The version that everybody heard was, like, four minutes and something seconds, but it was really seven minutes. And it was an incredible seven minutes.”

An edited studio version was ultimately relegated to the b-side of “Go Your Own Way.” When Fleetwood Mac returned to the song some 20 years later, Nicks’ belief in its was justified. They earned a Grammy for best pop performance for the ’97 live take.

“It was too long; ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ was a lot shorter,” Nicks adds. “But the choice to take ‘Silver Springs’ off and put ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ on will go down as the biggest question in history, as to whether that was the right thing to do or not.”

[michelej1]

[As many David Duchovny tv moments are engraved on my memory, I don't watch Californication and am glad it is finally ending. I might like to see the sequence with SS though. This is from a Hollywood Reporter article on the show. The soundtrack will be available for purchase]

The Hollywood Reporter, 4/11/2014 by Phil Gallo,

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/californication-soundtrack-feature-pete-townshend-695466

Sunday's episode features two versions of the Townshend classic. May episodes will feature Coral Sea’s psychedelic version of the Pixies' “Where Is My Mind,” Candy Golde’s rendition of Paul Simon’s “Boy in the Bubble. and Vicious' “My Way.” In June, The White Buffalo’s cover of Faster Pussycat’s “House of Pain” and Elsie’s haunting take on Fleetwood Mac’s “Silver Springs” will debut.

[goldenground]

Are there really any notable covers of Stevie songs other than Landslide and the Dixie Chicks? I wouldn't really consider Lohan's or Courtney Love's covers notable...

Marianne Faithfull did cover of "Angel". I'm not sure how I feel about it though..

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3efw_vwZ1so" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[sorcerer999]

Marianne Faithfull did cover of "Angel". I'm not sure how I feel about it though..

<iframe width="420" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/3efw_vwZ1so" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

While I adore both the song, "Angel" and Marianne Faithfull's beautifully damaged voice, I really didn't think the two meshed well at all. :(

Marianne's music is much more psychically predisposed toward darker avenues/perspectives than Stevie's. I find it hard to explain why, but I don't think she could ever pull off a Stevie Nicks cover song. I would love to be proven wrong, though. :)

[michelej1]

Pod Man Rush

http://media.weei.com/a/100398757/pod-man-rush-christmas-edition.htm

DJ and Scott reveal the greatest Christmas song of all time: Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs." They also discuss the Christmas outrage of Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs" being left off Rumours.

[bethelblues]

Pod Man Rush

http://media.weei.com/a/100398757/pod-man-rush-christmas-edition.htm

DJ and Scott reveal the greatest Christmas song of all time: Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs." They also discuss the Christmas outrage of Fleetwood Mac's "Silver Springs" being left off Rumours.

Fascinating take on a great song. I've never considered "Silver Springs" a Christmas song. I wish I could hear the commentary better, but it was too hard with the song playing. They even went ahead and called it Fleetwood Mac's greatest song. I was really enjoying their takes on Stevie's voice, saying it was absolutely incredible in the late 70s before "she was done" in the 80s.

[TimeCastASpell]

I find it interesting several people have said they don't like the original 70s Silver Springs. Out of curiousity is it because the 97 version is how you first it? I'm like obsessed with the original, my favorite song of all times, and in my mind the climax near the very end is what I consider to be the greatest musical moment ever. Like it shakes me to my core, gives me chills, has so much passion. Though I've got so many different mixes and it's been released so many different times now that what I notice most is they change the ending in different releases. I'm not sure now off the top of my head even which version is which with the most intense ending. They softened it out on the Chain box set version for sure. (That box set is such a disappointing album all around and the track list order makes me crazy but the 2003iwh Very Best of set is one of my faves)

Okay just checked and if the original mix is what's at the end of the Rumours box set edition, hit the 3:57 mark. THAT is what I can't get enough of. I find the 1997 version so passionless in comparison. I prefer the song to end on "I'll fol-low you down til the sooound of my voooice will HAUUUUNT you!" Wailing, sort of scratchy, so true, so impassioned and then the aaaah Ahh ahh ahhs versus the very gentle "You can be my silver springs. My blue green coooolors flashiiiing." Honestly I complteley lost it at this year's Detroit show because while she ended like the 97 version she sang something so much closer to the original part with all the power and passion. That, what I heard that night was the best I had heard her do it in many many years. I have a video I recorded and could probably upload if anyone is interested, especially if any of you didn't have the chance to see them this year. She didn't perform it like this the year before for sure. But like I said, I was videoing and started screaming and loosing my mind so I ruined it a bit. Lol.

Anyway, I can't be alone in my love of the original, right? Does anyone else love that same ending part? It's so raw, which you sure don't get these days with auto tuned over perfected and over produced stuff. It's the best thing in the world to me because of how it makes me feel. Like I'm a lifelong super fan type so sure a lot of Mac/ Stevie music excites me and touches me on an emotional level but nothing is quite like that. So much anguish and intensity.

[soul_drifter333]

I agree. I've loved the original version since I first heard it on the 45 single. Although the ending of the live "97" version is nice, she definitely strains to hit some of the high notes which makes it hard for me to listen to. Also, when I heard it performed on the Dance Tour the strain was much more obvious. Several people cringed along with me. The 2009 version was much better but still doesn't touch the original. For me, some of her best vocals are in the mix that fades at the end of the songs. Usually there are more harmony vocals on those parts that make me want to hear more.

I find it interesting several people have said they don't like the original 70s Silver Springs. Out of curiousity is it because the 97 version is how you first it? I'm like obsessed with the original, my favorite song of all times, and in my mind the climax near the very end is what I consider to be the greatest musical moment ever. Like it shakes me to my core, gives me chills, has so much passion. Though I've got so many different mixes and it's been released so many different times now that what I notice most is they change the ending in different releases. I'm not sure now off the top of my head even which version is which with the most intense ending. They softened it out on the Chain box set version for sure. (That box set is such a disappointing album all around and the track list order makes me crazy but the 2003iwh Very Best of set is one of my faves)

Okay just checked and if the original mix is what's at the end of the Rumours box set edition, hit the 3:57 mark. THAT is what I can't get enough of. I find the 1997 version so passionless in comparison. I prefer the song to end on "I'll fol-low you down til the sooound of my voooice will HAUUUUNT you!" Wailing, sort of scratchy, so true, so impassioned and then the aaaah Ahh ahh ahhs versus the very gentle "You can be my silver springs. My blue green coooolors flashiiiing." Honestly I complteley lost it at this year's Detroit show because while she ended like the 97 version she sang something so much closer to the original part with all the power and passion. That, what I heard that night was the best I had heard her do it in many many years. I have a video I recorded and could probably upload if anyone is interested, especially if any of you didn't have the chance to see them this year. She didn't perform it like this the year before for sure. But like I said, I was videoing and started screaming and loosing my mind so I ruined it a bit. Lol.

Anyway, I can't be alone in my love of the original, right? Does anyone else love that same ending part? It's so raw, which you sure don't get these days with auto tuned over perfected and over produced stuff. It's the best thing in the world to me because of how it makes me feel. Like I'm a lifelong super fan type so sure a lot of Mac/ Stevie music excites me and touches me on an emotional level but nothing is quite like that. So much anguish and intensity.

[michelej1]

Something Else Reviews August 19, 2015 by Something Else!

http://somethingelsereviews.com/2015/08/19/fleetwood-mac-silver-springs-stevie-nicks/

Stevie Nicks untangles the history of Fleetwood Mac’s ‘Silver Springs’: ‘An incredible seven minutes’

Most fans are familiar with “Silver Springs” as Fleetwood Mac’s 1997 comeback single after Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham returned for the live album The Dance, released on August 19, 1997. But it boasts a complicated backstory.

Stevie Nicks had originally written the song years before, and hoped to have it included on Fleetwood Mac’s 1977 blockbuster studio effort Rumours. The physical limitations of the old vinyl LP format ended up getting in the way, however.

Nicks would learn the news in a fashion that still sticks with her.

“I wrote ‘I Don’t Want To Know’ about Lindsey and I,” Stevie Nicks once told Classic Rock Society, “and I didn’t want ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ on the record. I wanted ‘Silver Springs’ on the record. Lindsey wanted ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ on the record, and recorded it — without telling me. I went in, and it was recorded, and ‘Silver Springs’ was off. It went off, because it was too long. The version that everybody heard was, like, four minutes and something seconds, but it was really seven minutes. And it was an incredible seven minutes.”

An edited studio version was ultimately relegated to the b-side of “Go Your Own Way.” When Fleetwood Mac returned to the song some 20 years later, Stevie Nicks’ belief in its was justified. They earned a Grammy for best pop performance for the ’97 live version.

“It was too long; ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ was a lot shorter,” Nicks adds. “But the choice to take ‘Silver Springs’ off and put ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ on will go down as the biggest question in history, as to whether that was the right thing to do or not.”

[sorcerer999]

“It was too long; ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ was a lot shorter,” Nicks adds. “But the choice to take ‘Silver Springs’ off and put ‘I Don’t Want to Know’ on will go down as the biggest question in history, as to whether that was the right thing to do or not.”

"I Don't Want To Know" is probably the one song that people forget about when ruminating Rumours (say that 10 times fast) as Mick Fleetwood has said many times.

I love it. Stevie has said that NOW she enjoys it as well, because it's the song where her and Lindsey get to do their "Everly Brothers thing" - the perfect two part harmony. It's a song that really needs to make some sort of LIVE debut, and I think once again they missed the boat with it on this last tour.

"Silver Springs" will always be a classic. It did finally get its due. It's been a staple in their set for almost twenty years now. As much as I love the song (and will ALWAYS love it), I think it's time for it to go in order to make room for other lesser known FMac songs like IDWTK and such to make their live debut. But that will never happen, so...

[Jondalar]

Silver Springs did not belong on Rumours. It had the wrong energy and would hurt the flow. Great song though but very Tusk to me. I Don't Wanna Know had the right energy.

[Macfan4life]

Silver Springs did not belong on Rumours. It had the wrong energy and would hurt the flow. Great song though but very Tusk to me. I Don't Wanna Know had the right energy.
Oh I disagree so much ;)
Rumours is pretty much the perfect album but Silver Springs deserved to be on the album. Many of the songs on Rumours are about breaking up or love affairs. Silver Springs so much fits in the mold of the album. IDWTK is great but Silver Springs is better and would have been a layer of icing on the perfect cake. Its magical and would have added a magical feeling.
To make it fit there would only be one option IMHO. IDWTK and Never going back again would be the sacrificial lamb. Silver Springs is in the 10 ten best written Stevie songs IMHO. Its full of emotional pain and belonged on Rumours with all the other emotional pain songs. It would be out of place on Tusk IMHO. But most important.....it was a moment in time and needed to fit in this period of the band.
But it got its due 20 years later with the Dance. The live Dance versions of the song are some of the best ever.

[bombaysaffires]

I find it interesting several people have said they don't like the original 70s Silver Springs. Out of curiousity is it because the 97 version is how you first it? I'm like obsessed with the original, my favorite song of all times, and in my mind the climax near the very end is what I consider to be the greatest musical moment ever. Like it shakes me to my core, gives me chills, has so much passion. Though I've got so many different mixes and it's been released so many different times now that what I notice most is they change the ending in different releases. I'm not sure now off the top of my head even which version is which with the most intense ending. They softened it out on the Chain box set version for sure. (That box set is such a disappointing album all around and the track list order makes me crazy but the 2003iwh Very Best of set is one of my faves)

Okay just checked and if the original mix is what's at the end of the Rumours box set edition, hit the 3:57 mark. THAT is what I can't get enough of. I find the 1997 version so passionless in comparison. I prefer the song to end on "I'll fol-low you down til the sooound of my voooice will HAUUUUNT you!" Wailing, sort of scratchy, so true, so impassioned and then the aaaah Ahh ahh ahhs versus the very gentle "You can be my silver springs. My blue green coooolors flashiiiing." Honestly I complteley lost it at this year's Detroit show because while she ended like the 97 version she sang something so much closer to the original part with all the power and passion. That, what I heard that night was the best I had heard her do it in many many years. I have a video I recorded and could probably upload if anyone is interested, especially if any of you didn't have the chance to see them this year. She didn't perform it like this the year before for sure. But like I said, I was videoing and started screaming and loosing my mind so I ruined it a bit. Lol.

Anyway, I can't be alone in my love of the original, right? Does anyone else love that same ending part? It's so raw, which you sure don't get these days with auto tuned over perfected and over produced stuff. It's the best thing in the world to me because of how it makes me feel. Like I'm a lifelong super fan type so sure a lot of Mac/ Stevie music excites me and touches me on an emotional level but nothing is quite like that. So much anguish and intensity.

the original mix is not on the the Rumors boxed set. It's also not on the 25 years boxed set. It's been tweaked in both cases, though the 25 years: the chain set is closest to it. Her vocals have been brought up more to the front of the mix in the very beginning and they've pulled up the vocal track in the last part (which is made up of her singing the same part several different ways all combined together) where she sings it with more a rock edge, and that's what she went for on The Dance version.

Her voice was a bit further back in the mix and more blended in with the music on the original version we heard (the 45, sitting here on my shelf). She obviously felt her vocals should be more front-and-center than the producers in FM. On the liner notes to BD she thanks Shelly Yakus, who engineered and certainly contributed to the production and mixing of the album, for "giving me my voice back" , i.e., putting her vocal very upfront in the mix, which she prefers. Clearly by the time any of the boxed sets came out she was in a power position to get the Rumours version remixed how she preferred it.

[BLY]

As I have posted before I Don't Want To Know was the song that got me into the Mac when I heard it in early 1977 when Rumours was released. I heard Silver Springs for the first time in a juke box at family vacation that year and was in a complete aw. I was hooked .Silver Springs (bside) became my favorite Mac song. It still is in my top 5 after all the years. The Dance version was a great but NOTHING beats her vocals from the 70's!

[michelej1]

[Excerpt From an article about the album format]

Sometimes it's better to compile your own album

By Joel Goldenberg The Suburban Nov 6, 2015

http://www.thesuburban.com/columnists/joel_goldenberg_retro_roundup/sometimes-it-s-better-to-compile-your-own-album/article_acd64905-dbdd-5757-a107-bf1cc42c61f1.html

Warner also did this with Fleetwood Mac's massively popular Rumours album, but in a rather silly way. The original album lacked Stevie Nicks' great song, Silver Springs, which was only released on a 45 RPM single.

Again, when the CD was first released in the late 1980s, it still lacked Silver Springs, angering fans of the song. Then, a few years later, Warner got the message, and they added the track.

But not to the CD that is mostly available in stores. Nope, first they added it to the DVD-Audio 5.1 Surround Sound version of the album, and then the expensive Deluxe Edition, which also includes outtakes. But they didn't add the song to the most affordable version of the album. And you can't find the DVD-Audio disc these days.

[michelej1]

Five Songs For A Friday

http://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/music/78018427/Five-Songs-For-A-Friday

SIMON SWEETMAN Last updated 09:32, March 18 2016

#2 Silver Springs

Again, anything – well, almost anything, by Fleetwood Mac could have made this, or any list of favourite songs.

At the moment it's Tusk I listen to most often, but I've gone back to the deluxe edition reissue of Rumours for this. Silver Springs was planned for the album and ended up losing out, it was b-side only to that album's Go Your Own Way.

If the A-side was Lindsey Buckingham telling his side of the death of his relationship with Stevie Nicks then her B-side is her comeback, her narrative.

Twenty years after Rumours, Silver Springs would be released as a single, the live version from the Mac's reunion, The Dance. It's a concert highlight now. Still - an enduring classic. No mean feat for a song that didn't make it onto the album it was written for.

There's something valedictorian about the rise and swell of this, the anger-turning-back-into-passion in Nicks' voice. It might be an odd choice, but it always used to send me off on my stroll to the office with an implied fist-pump.

[Jondalar]

Oh I disagree so much ;)
Rumours is pretty much the perfect album but Silver Springs deserved to be on the album. Many of the songs on Rumours are about breaking up or love affairs. Silver Springs so much fits in the mold of the album. IDWTK is great but Silver Springs is better and would have been a layer of icing on the perfect cake. Its magical and would have added a magical feeling.
To make it fit there would only be one option IMHO. IDWTK and Never going back again would be the sacrificial lamb. Silver Springs is in the 10 ten best written Stevie songs IMHO. Its full of emotional pain and belonged on Rumours with all the other emotional pain songs. It would be out of place on Tusk IMHO. But most important.....it was a moment in time and needed to fit in this period of the band.
But it got its due 20 years later with the Dance. The live Dance versions of the song are some of the best ever.

No way. Silver Springs had the wrong energy and didn't fit in. I Don't Want To Know added energy and musicality to the album. Silver Springs would have fit better on Tango in the Night.