Exactly!

I was sooo severely disappointed when I heard The Dance cd for the first time. I was so looking forward to it, and it just let me down, it was so over-produced and all the music sounded watered-down. These things bummed me out:

1. The Chain lost the continued guitar solo after the tag "chain.... keep us together"; Lindsey used to keep the solo going long after that.
2. Rhiannon was completely castrated.
3. Lanslide lost the "well I hope you make it" lyric-change.
4. You Make Loving Fun lost the "edgey" guitar and sounded like Lindsey was playing under water.
5. Don't Stop... with horns... um, I don't think so.

So I voted for Live 1980.

About the only thing I liked about it was was the rebirth of Silver Springs, but it was just too tame; now I prefer the version that is on the Superstar Concert Series show from that tour.

Yes, I never understood what people liked about The Dance dvd version of Silver Springs. To me the song was much better and more electric during the tour than it ever was on the dvd. I never thought Stevie was especially passionate on the dvd. I remember being surprised that everyone was talking about that moment after the show aired on on tv, because it wasn't a highlight for me. I was more giddy about their little "thank you" exchange following Landslide than I was about Silver Springs. When I saw it live though, I loved it. Michele

What? Are we watching the same thing? What I love about the "Dance" version of SS is that it spans the emotional landscape the way the original version was not quite able to. I love the way it starts off slowly, sweetly, plaintively... then after four minutes it turns into this fast, tumultuous, furious, stormy ending where she screams "you'll never get away!" amidst the musical onslaught. My favorite part of the DVD comes towards the end of Lindsey's solo, where Stevie seems to be bracing herself for the stormy ending. She assumes the hunched position, pushes the hair off her shoulders and proceeds to give the stare of death to Lindsey. Oh ****, it's on. It's sort of like watching a boxer getting limbered up for the final round.

If you could have had a video of only one of the following, which would you pick?

1. Tusk from The Dance with USC marching band May 1997
2. Tusk from Inglewood Forum with USC marching band December 1979

I like the subtlety -- the hushed sense -- of the instrument playing (which may have been faked in post-production, I don't know). I remember telling the newsgroup that I was ready for the geezers in Fleetwood Mac to start sounding like Peter, Paul & Mary -- & here they were, sounding like Peter, Paul & Mary. I was thrilled with the minimalism; I had never heard the band present itself like that before.

36 months, if you count all the time represented by the performances the album included. Rhiannon, Over My Head, Say You Love Me, Don't Let Me Down Again, Don't Stop, Dreams, & Monday Morning all were recorded before the Tusk tour.

In retrospect -- that is, after hearing so many (what seems like) hundreds of audience recordings from those years -- I'd have preferred a 1980 live album with different cuts or different performances. For example, I mentioned the December 1979 performances of Tusk with the Trojan marching band. Imagine the album with THAT on it! What a missed opportunity for some maximal fun. And where the hell is The Chain of a two-disc live album? There's something perverse about some of the tracks chosen for the actual album. Again, to confound expectations? Ok, but witty surprises generally only work once & tend to annoy on repetition.

I so agree with you! Believe me I was THRILLED to know that Lindsey was back in Fleetwood Mac and if it took something such as a money maker like The Dance to put him there, so be it. But, Live showed the band for what they were in a real concert, not a preconceived idea for an MTV special. Speaking of MTV, they didn't play much of any FMac from about 1991-1996. I felt they were hypocrites for being able to make money off a band they hadn't help promote in years.

1979 of course, but I take what I can get!

Yeah, I know that everyone else really liked it. That's why I was wondering why it didn't stand out to me. It's not that I'm not crazy about the DVD and not easily stirred into a frenzy.

Ya know. I'm usually like, "Oh look at Stevie straightening Lindsey's scarf on the Today Show. I think she's worried about him being cold. I may need a valium. How can I frame that moment!" So, it doesn't take much, but I never could figure out why that Silver Springs DVD moment was water cooler talk.

Loved the song on tour though. We talk about the concerts being staged and it was, but when Lindsey would move towards Stevie and she would move away from him while scream singing, I really don't think she was faking it.

Michele

Gah! I love it when she moves her mic stand around. There's one particular clip on YouTube of SS on the Dance tour where, towards the end, Stevie is dragging the mic stand so far away from Lindsey that she ends up practically off stage somewhere next to John. It would have just seemed so much easier if she would grab the mic off the stand and carry it instead. :shrug:

Michele, I get your point about The Dance's "Silver Springs." Compared to versions we have on YouTube and in audio recordings from later on in the tour, it sure doesn't stand out in terms of emotional intensity. However, I think that people can feel how the ending of that song wasn't exactly scripted and in comparison to the rest of The Dance, it IS emotional and it IS a little jarring. You long time fans had been spoiled with emotional intensity for years and years by the time that The Dance came out. For people who were first introduced to the band with the DVD, its totally flooring... since we have nothing to really compare it to, I think. I mean, I was five when I first saw "Silver Springs" on the DVD and I vividly remember being torn up by it and crying while watching it over and over again. I think it takes a lot to affect anyone like that, let alone a little kid. So with that being said, many of you guys were used to the Lindsey/Stevie tensions for 20+ years before The Dance. Then of course there's the entire idea that Rumours had come out exactly 20 years before, and I'm sure people watched the DVD with that hyper-nostalgic mindset... I donno. But I do think "Silver Springs" is special on that DVD, even if it isn't the most powerful version we've heard from that time period.

You uh... you kidding? ;)

I'd probably say, alongside the new songs, Landslide and Silver Springs are the highlights of The Dance. I remember just being thrilled to finally hear it performed live.

I've never heard Live 80, and I'm not a big fan of The Dance (I am, but Its not my favorite)

Id rather watch Live in Boston over The Dance

and thats what I'm basing my choice of off

Well, it was wrong for me to say I never understood what people liked about it. There is nothing about it I don't like. I'm just saying it didn't stand out for me. Wouldn't have made my Top 10 Dance Moments list. Michele

Live 1980...Love the Tusk sound. That album brings back memories:nod:

2. Since there'd be a chance that I would be in the video. (and, you'd also have basically the same people in the USC marching band who were on the studio track....with The Dance, you have the KIDS of the people who were in the USC Marching band on the album track....sort of how I picture the entire Dance project...it's a nostalgia act performing the song, not the "original" cutting edge performance....Lindsey of all people should take his own advice from his song on Mirage...."Can't Go Back".)

I follow you. ;) I feel the opposite but, I get ya.

Music is released primarily to be heard. The 1980 Live album was released in a time long before DVDs and MTV videos. The songs all come from different shows. Unlike The Dance, there is no concise "video footage" to correspond with the Live album. It's a great "audio" document without any need for visuals. The sound should be enough satisfaction by itself!

If the 1980 album had been from one concert (which it was not) and filmed in HDish (imagine it on Blue Ray!!!!) - many people would be picking that one. The visual of The Dance is just too compelling, esp. Silver Springs.

Well, there is certainly a lack of concert videos from Fleetwood Mac. But remember...there was no such thing as high def in 1980!!! The Live album is great because of the diversity of songs and the shows they came from. It would have been nice for them, at the time, to release a full concert on video.
But again, at that time, that was not the norm. You can't compare what could have been done then with what exists (media, technology etc...) today.

Ok, Michele,
What are your Top 10 Dance Moments?

I'm curious!
:-)

Well true - ya got me there.

I was trying to point out that the older concert footage from the 70's and early 80's (in whatever format and of whatever quality) seems to be venerated as the superlative era by many if not most. And, if there was a clean copy of one concert of the quality on the actual record, for most, it likely would shine brighter than The Dance. But, you are correct, the comparison is only in the abstract.

I bet the band has loads of Tusk live footage wasting away in a basement somewhere. It makes me too sad to think about it.

I know -- it's like they are still too stoned to order a servant to send the boxes to Kinko's to put on DVD :laugh:

Moreover, they could sell it online for like $5.00 and make a fortune. Better yet, do it rightr and spend like $25,000 times five (yes CM should chip in) in production and give it away as a thank you :cool:

I betcha the actual band doesn't. I betcha they don't even know about it, if they do. But there must be some good stuff stashed elsewhere -- storage facilities, what-have-you.

I don't know - La Nicks has referred to the footage several times. Moreover, since the Disney doc in like 93 - more of it keeps appearing. So, someone must know something :shrug:

Not the same thing, necessarily. I mean, certainly she remembers that old concerts were filmed -- her own solo concerts, for one. She remembers she used to film those & give copies as presents to her bandmates. Not the same thing as knowing the extent of the footage that might exist, or where it might be after all these years.

Not much more, really. Just upgraded copies of things that already ran the rounds. In the case of audio, however, virtually all our soundboards have appeared since the late 1990s. But that was thanks to some sleazy people who had access to storage, like Frank Harding (who gained that access when hired by the band -- or the label -- to help compile the box set & research the band's history). It had nothing to do with John, Mick, Lindsey, or Stevie. Those four are clueless & will forever remain so.

The next time you run into Stevie Nicks, ask her to explain some of her comments made on the Landover 1978 pro-shot video. She won't have the slightest idea what you're talking about.

No *****. ;)

:lol: I see your point though. And I said way earlier in the thread that I do love the 1980 LIVE album. I just prefer The Dance. I think, for me, the 1980 album could surpass the Dance if it had a remastered DVD to go along with the songs. We all know the footage exists.

Touche'

:cool:

Oh cut it out. Send me a pm. We'll talk about the Kreutzer sonata.

Well, it will be hard for me to say without looking at the DVD again or at least having a track listing in front of me, but among my favorite moments are:

Say You Love Me

The Chain

Thank you, Lindsey. Thank you, Stevie.

Christine and Lindsey kissing when Stevie bends down to bow.

Christine's saying they had never done Don't Stop with a marching band.

Isn't that weird? That is pretty weird.

The way the singers are all staring at each other.

The way they lay down their instruments and walk off the stage after Don't Stop.

Interesting way the thread has gone.. although kinda what I would have expected. I was expecting Live to trounce The Dance, I'm glad it's not the case.

I remember listening to Live in the shower, screaming with Rhiannon, Not That Funny, etc. But the sound quality is kinda odd and the track selection as David alluded to, is quite bizarre. I could care less about Farmer's Daughter, I never want to hear FM play that ever again.

For me, it's not the DVD, although inevitably that influences you.

It's the sound. I'm not so big on the faux LB/SN romance, I care about the music.

The Dance has a superb tracklist with GOOD surprises. The Live album has a good tracklist with annoying surprises. The Dance has great sound quality. Live has okay sound quality.

I know Ken Caillat said they never released a whole concert due to one or two songs being bad in every concert, but that's every band.. I have heard many a show from the Tusk era, and there are whole performances which are superb!!

I would pick some Tusk-era bootlegs over the Live album (eg soundboard from FM rehearsing for the end of the Tusk tour). That's why I can't vote for it over the Dance, which is a genuinely excellent 'all in one' performance.

- Spike

oh gawd, I know. at least we have the Midnight Special footage of Rhiannon, but I would love to have another great, really live version of Rhiannon at its height...like say, from the NOLA concert...gawwwwwwwd!

this poll is tough, but I gotta go with Live 80.

:cool:Amen:cool:

Live In Boston isn't doing so well...

I love them all hard choice and I voted for The Live Double Album 1980 from the Tusk Tour i do love the dance too and Live in Boston too I was at the taping of the Live in Boston so it holds a sentimental thing for being at a live recorded show and too that night first time for me to shake hands with Stevie Nicks and Lindsey Buckingham that night it was a special night to have it been recorded and released a cd/dvd is awesome and loved the say you will tour amazing. good poll.

Well, I choose "The Dance". I think "Live 1980" could be the best...if it had "Tusk" and "The Chain" !!!!!!! :mad: :mad:
Regards

I gotta go with The Dance. Mostly because I prefer an entire live show, as opposed to the selected tracks featured on the 1980 Live album. Live In Boston is too short for me, and more importantly, it lacks Christine McVie.

Same for me. The Dance is great because the songs are rendered so polished. But LIVE is more pure, rough and honest, with little to no support musicians -- just the five firelies.

Though I would have preferred a full concert performance, they took a less tradtional route. It's a selection of different performances - a few from the Rumours tour, a few from the Tusk tour. Oh Well and Don't Let Me Down Again are standout tracks, and the live/studio-tweaked songs. Firelies, The Farmer's Daughter, and One More Night are nice rarities.

Wish they could expand this into a box set!