There's nothing unpopular about that opinion among FM fans. I mean ... even people who love Eagles' music don't think they can't be beat as live performers.

Michele

Nice going guys.Get it off your minds.


I forgot to add.

Very very poor tour timing for this last tour.Effing winter tours.They suck.
I saw to many snow covered hills on this tour last winter.

Put off the the start of tour to 2015 .They ALL should record last summer or fall and release the album early this year and start the tour in late April or May the early summer months here in the states with less dates and hit Europe with less dates and Aussie/NZ as scheduled and its done at Christmas 2015.

Give Stevie and Lindsey 2016 to do their thing

In 2017 they can do their 40th Rumours Anni tour and throw in the towel or continue for years to come.

I like the Hold Me video better too. I think my main issue with Gypsy is that Stevie is the focus 80% of the time, whereas Hold Me portrays the band a bit more equally. Plus I like the surrealism/Magritte feeling in Hold Me.

Another gripe.Speaking of Hold Me.Why was it not in the setlist.

Why don't they play "Oh Well" during the european leg of this tour? Great song, builds the bridge to the original FM and is a showcase for Lindsey. "Never going back again" is not such a crowd pleaser anyway.

I felt this way about her 1984 solo album, but when I started to work out the songs on a piano I realized they were as well-structured and conceived as her earlier work. What differed was the production. And the attack. After 1979, The band (including, obviously Christine herself) used Christine's songs as vehicles for album sales. It was much more calculated. In doing so, they sometimes went for "radio-friendly generic pop"--especially on the Behind the Mask songs, but also with Everywhere.

Little Lies, Nights in Estoril, Hollywood, Love in Store, Temporary One...all of these Mac songs are really strong, IMO.

And her skills in In the Meantime are really in sharp focus, despite the blandness of the lyrics.

How are "The studio version of 'Silver Springs' is better than the live version" and "The live version of 'Silver Springs' is better than the studio version" both unpopular opinions? :shrug:

The audience responds when he does ... whatever he thinks he is doing on NGBA. When he pauses they clap and go "oooh" or something. I'm not sure he knows it's not a crowd pleaser. Michele

1) It was the right decision to include I Don't Want to Know on Rumours rather than Silver Springs.
2) Since at least 2003, Lindsey has been a far more interesting songwriter than Stevie.
3) Christine's Tusk songs are underrated.
4) Behind the Mask is better than given credit for.
5) I love "Temporary One."
6) Stevie is terrible on the Live in Boston recording. Beautiful Child being the exception.
7) I like Over My Head better than Say You Love Me.
8) Caroline is unfairly maligned.

Agree. If I had to pick my favorite album of Christine's songs, it would be Tusk.

Also agreed. Although I like to pretend it was about the band getting back together, rather than her relationship with Eddie.

Mark me in agreement with Christine's Tusk songs, too. Although she comes close on Mirage, thanks to Hold Me and Love In Store.

I'd welcome Stand Back's return to the live show.
Welcome to the Room...Sara is great.
You and I Part 2 is much better than You and I Part 1.
Crystal is just dull.
Never been especially interested in The Dance...probably only ever played it a dozen or so times.
Wish You Were Here is epic- the best song on Mirage.
The video for In the Back of My Mind is good.

I know this is an unpopular opinion but I prefer old performances of Landslide - including the studio version - because I like the high notes she used to hit. Having said that, I do think the old live versions (1975) are ruined by the keyboard solo, it just doesn't really go IMO.

I think Chris' 1984 solo album is underrated. As was her 2004 one. ITM didn't chart in the U.S. at all.

I really like "Sweet Girl" and "Not Make Believe"

Stevie will join FM in the studio after the tour

The Dance version of "Landslide" is the best

With the exception of "Angel" and "Bermuda Triangle", I didn't like Bob Welch's songs on HAHTF

Time is not that bad (Except for "I Got It In For You")

This is my first post ever on here! My name is Katherine by the way, but you can call me Kate, or anything really. Nice to meet you all! :) This is so exciting. Okay here I go with my unpopular opinions (as I try to fit in on here with people who've been on here since probably before I was born in the 90s...)

1. Keep Me There is one of my favourite Chris songs, I'm consistently confused as to why most people don't love it from the reviews. I do, I really really love it.
2. I really like almost all of SYW.
3. I think jumping into a huge tour like this was not very well thought out and the effects are starting to show (is this unpopular? My apologies if its not).
4. Caroline and TITN are my favourite Lindsey songs off TITN, I'm not crazy about Big Love at all.
5. World Turning is one of my favourite songs and it makes me optimistic for what Lindsey and Chris may do in the future.
6. I love the accordion, I wish it was incorporated into more songs.
7. I think that if all 5 don't do another album/tour, then there's no point. At this time, so much material has been released under different lineups that unless all 5 of them sign on, it seems like there's no point.
8. I love every single song on the White Album. Yes, every single song I love and they all hold a strong place in my heart. The entire thing. So there. :lol:

That's all! I hope I made sense, as this is my first post. Talk to some of you soon hopefully! :D

Agreed! :o:o

Hi Kate,
Keep Me There???? I don't think I've ever heard anyone be critical of that. I agree its terrific.

I have no issues with Chris's tunes but I'm still burned up over why "Hold Me" was left out of this tour setlist.

Does anybody have the reasons why she axed the great hit tune from the setlist.

Yeah! Before I got the super deluxe 4CD Rumours, I was looking at the reviews for it, the reviews where they review every single song is what I landed on (normally I don't read those) but anyway I did. All of the ones for Keep Me There were mostly negative, like "nothing special" or "glad this didn't make it onto the album" or "definitely not required a listen". I love it!

I put part of those lyrics on the back of my father's funeral program:

The river goes on and on, and the
Sea that divides us is a
Temporary one, and the
Bridge will bring us back together

1. Stevie hasn't given a collection of consistently good songs for an album -Mac or solo- since "The Wild Heart."

2. Christine coming back was a brilliant move for her legacy, because her "Time" songs were no way to sign off (most were unnecessarily long).

3. Lindsey's songs, with some exceptions, are kind of wimpy. Good, but wimpy.

4. It was great that Peter Green made a "comeback" in 1996, but he's nowhere near the player he once was. (That said, I'd need a change of pants if he ever joined them on stage for a rousing rendition of "Oh Well.")

5. Most of Bob Welch's solo albums kinda suck. The moments of brilliance are often buried in predictable, cliche shlock that sound like they were forced on him by labels or management.

6. The most interesting (not necessarily the best) solo album by any of the Mac was "The Visitor."

7. "Out Of The Cradle" proved that Lindsey needed Mick and John as much as they needed him.

8. The band should have tried to keep going with Bekka Bramlett and Billy Burnette. They were on the verge of something good. All they needed to do was part ways with Dave Mason.

9. "Future Games" is the most underrated Fleetwood Mac album.

10. Danny Kirwan was the most important member of Fleetwood Mac because he was able to move them from being a blues-rock band to being a pop-rock band.

I think the chorus is impossibly high-pitched for the three of them to even attempt!

1. NONE of them have written a consistently good set of songs ever!

Yes, I suppose that WOULD be an unpopular opinion on a FM forum.

I think in the sense that Lindsey is a songwriter and Mick and John are not, they need him more than he needs them.

I think the closest would be Stevie's 5 songs on Tusk

I've loved that one for years, and still like it. During a TV commercial, I sometimes run across the room to my digital piano to play and sing "Derelict." It comes out of me unbidden, like a little burp. What unfinished form? Is there a demo of it floating around?

1. Last month of 1980 tour—best month of the band's stage career since B&N joined.
2. When Stevie lyricizes in her typically vague, vapid way—stealing phrases from various oddball sources (including pop-cultural references) and adding her common stock of pseudomystic catchwords ("dreams," "moon," "candles," "wind," "cried," "shadow," "heartache," "sorrow," "silence," "mirror")—she's banal and trite, a poetaster. On the other hand, when she writes straightforwardly, she's more honest and thus more believable and finally a better wordsmith.
3. Even before B&N, Fleetwood Mac benefited from its youthfulness. On the back cover of Rumours, the band is at its most hip. The hipness waned within a few years, despite the big sales later on with "Tusk" and "Mirage."
4. Mick was the greatest shuffle player among every drummer in rock. I still can't figure out how he did it. I think it had something to do with his lanky height. I use the past tense here because he can't do it anymore.
5. "The Chain" has been an old log bobbing around in the water since the 1980 and 1982 tours. It lacks its old pantherish momentum, its stalking power. It used to build anxiously and inexorably and then explode. These days, it's just a turd.

which songs would you classify as the latter rather than the former? I don't necessarily disagree with you, but am curious where the line is for you.

Most of us here would say Stevie's performances of "Rhiannon" in the 70s were powerful, but IMO, once the latter half of the Rumours tour rolled around she started dodging the high notes and just sort of rambled all over the place non-sensically during the climax. In other words, she hasn't given a great performance of the song since about '78.

"Love Shines" is a pretty lackluster song, and "Heart of Stone" beats it in every aspect by miles.

Interestingly, this is not a fault of the song as it was originally written. The "Hold Me" demo with Christine on the piano features a straightforward, mid-range, catchy chorus that was replaced in arrangements for the record.

#2 is right on! "I Don't Want to Know," "Landslide," "That's Alright," "Leather and Lace," "Silver Springs," "After the Glitter Fades," and "Frozen Love" are all (notably early) examples of her very effective, direct, reflective lyrical style. She is writing songs for this earth and for everyday people. And all of them are emotionally powerful.

Later examples of a straightforward, cliche-free Stevie are "Blue Denim," "Destiny Rules," "Everybody Finds Out," and (to a lesser extent) "I Sing for the Things." These songs actually MEAN something and are powerful in part because they do not embrace an incoherent, pseudo-mystical mythology...

Yet, he didn't make a very compelling record without them. Lindsey's talent only go so far. He needs a great rhythm section behind him, and they have the name for which he'll always be affiliated.

Me too. I think it's better than Over My Head, You Make Loving Fun, Hold Me and Everywhere. The best song Christine has recorded with Fleetwood Mac is Isn't It Midnight. Brown Eyes and Honey Hi are better than anything she recorded for Fleetwood Mac '75 and Rumours.

On 'Hold Me'
 

The demo with the original (I guess?) chorus is so good. That version could be performed tomorrow and it would still be fun. The arrangement for the record wrecked it. It lost a little bit of that funk. Unpopular opinion...I blame Lindsey for it all! Hahaha

Rumours would have been completely flawless had Silver Springs been on it instead of that horrendous snoozefest Oh Daddy. (this may or may not have already been said. I haven't read through all the posts yet! But it can always bare repeating!!)

The "classic" 1982 performance of Sisters of the Moon is vastly overrated. I think Stevie sounds awful. I hate it when she whimpers like she's in pain.

IMO, the one from the Tusk video is a lot better all around.

I love the Tusk version of Sisters, it's Stevie in all her "witchy" glory - you almost believe she can shoot lightning out of her hands.

My unpopular opinion is... I don't really care for Lindsey as a singer. As a producer, he's amazing and knows exactly how to elevate Stevie AND Christine's songs (I also think that while people are very quick to say Stevie is only good with Lindsey, they overlook how much he pushes Christine) but as a singer... I can count on one hand the number of his songs I really adore - I'm So Afraid, Secondhand News, GYOW, Tusk and Miranda. But that doesn't mean I don't acknowledge that Fleetwood Mac is nothing without him.

For me, it's more Lindsey's songwriting than his voice, I think his voice is good (although when it comes down to it I like Chris' and Stevie's better). Christine's lyrics aren't always revolutionary but they're very solid and, I don't know how to explain it, sit very well and fill up the music she's written for it and they leave me satisfied with what she's trying to do, also I admire her musicality. I do give Lindsey points for being ambitious as he clearly is, but it doesn't always come together in the final product for me. But like you I wouldn't want to imagine Fleetwood Mac without him, he's been very integral no matter who's song it is. I don't know if anyone else is as integral to everyone else's songs as he is. I mean, Stevie is important because of her own songs, but she's usually icing on the cake when it comes to others'. Lindsey is far more integral to some of her songs than vice versa.

I liked CM and SN's songs on Tusk better than LB's.