I have a feeling that wont be the most unpopular opinion.
I second that, though Tusk itself is one of the very best LB songs.

I give him an A+ on producing credit. And let's be honest, Ken and Richard engineered it.. LB produced it.

What he did with the girls' tunes in incredible.

Fleetwood Mac would have been better off with Dave Mason joining in 1987 as the lone guitarist/male singer/songwriter. Billy and Rick were great (and probably better than Dave, all things being equal), but Dave had the name and could've handled being the lone guitarist/male singer/songwriter.

How about this one (with a few thoughts)?

Brett and maybe Neale should have been made full members of FM when Christine departed after the Dance tour.

1) It would have upset the gender balance on the front line, potentially ticking off SN, but limiting the front line to SN and LB made FM's future dependent on their working relationship...not the most stable foundation of all time!

2) FM has historically thrived on having a variety of singers/songwriters/players with different styles and voices in the band. SN and LB are set in their ways and obviously come from the same basic musical background, so there's not much *really* new ground to cover there.

3) We already see and hear both of them in the live shows anyway (in Brett's case, even with Christine's return), and have for going on 20 years, so it's not like they're strangers.

Fleetwood Mac have become boring. Same stale story, no new music for many years.

2 years technically.

They recorded new music. Only to do a set list that makes me want to jump off a bridge.

You're high. lol The chemistry clash alone would have blown it all up and you know it. :nod:

Christine would've bitch slapped him off the stage.

Gold Dust Woman is a tired song, performed live too many times over the years..........

Sorry, in advance- no offence intended...
...but that's a sh!t idea.
:sorry:

Her range has suffered so much. This is the one song she can do.

I'd have to disagree. The performance with Dave Grohl for the Sound City concert was perhaps her best live performance in recent years. "Dreams" and "Rhiannon" are tired, IMO.

Agree 100%. Her LA Forum performance was amazing. Dreams and Rhiannon... meh...

I dunno, GDW just doesn't do it for me anymore. I can only take Dreams in small amounts now. Whenever I give Rumours a spin I always skip it.

For me, Gold Dust Woman, Silver Springs and I Don't Want to Know have stood up the best of the songs from this era. Honestly though, I think the reason they sound so stale is that there really hasn't been much in the way of new material since SYW to take its place, and for some odd/strange reason they avoid that record like the plague which I think is a shame. If there had been new, really good songs after the classic years, these would potentially bump the tired Dreams and Rhiannon, both of which she seems so bored and going through the motions.

As for unpopular opinions, I think Danny Kirwan (short tenure aside) is by far the most important figure in Mac history and single-handedly established the band's core sound that stayed true with Lindsey and Stevie's arrival. He is so tragically overlooked and forgotten by the band and fans alike, but there's nobody before or since, even Green, can match this man's talent. A musical great whose candle burned out far too soon. I hope he's found peace.

1000% Agree!
 

I agree. Danny is severely overlooked and that's unfortunate, because not only are his FM songs awesome, his solo stuff is wonderful as well. I adore his work. This band has had such a mystical root that has stuck around thanks to Peter, Danny, Bob Welch and Stevie.

I mean, Peter Green is the Godfather of the band, but for me....Danny was the heart and soul during that era.

I very much agree and the bolded part in particular makes me happy to read because I've thought the same thing.

Unpopular opinions
 

Stevie's tambourines were taped shut after Bob Welch's Cal Jams '78 set.

Billy and Rick (or Bekka for that matter) weren't necessarily the problem after 1987.

If Stevie really left Fleetwood Mac in 1991 because Mick wouldn't let her have "Silver Springs" for her comp, she got terrible counsel and should be suing the **** out of somebody.

Peter Green shouldn't have done that whole Splinter Group thing. Glad I saw it, but Rick Vito did it better.

Stevie Nicks was the worst thing that ever happened to FM.

Ohhhh this is gonna be good....:D ...grabs popcorn...

'Behind The Mask' is a better album than 'Tango In The Night' and all of Lindsey's solo albums, give or take a few songs, suck.

I would probably agree with you on the first part. Funny because I only love half of each album. Tango was a Lindsey solo album with extremely little Mac sound. It was pure 80's synth pop. In addition Stevie's songs were flown in rushed demos recorded and thrown on the album. Behind the Mask is a pure group effort. Less pop, more rock. Some great songs but it also has horrible songs like Hard Feelings, Second Time Around, Affairs of the Heart, and Stand on the Rock. The rest of the album is pure magic.
I could not disagree more on Lindsey's solo work but great call on the first part and I agree with you.

I really love "The Second Time", "Affairs Of The Heart" and don't mine "Hard Feelings". SOTR is pretty naff though

If it wasn't for Stevie joining the band and her popularity throughout the years, Fleetwood Mac would of fizzled out a long time ago..

I always skip Christine's songs, except for Brown Eyes i really love this one.

Ducking for cover :p

Hahahaha.Good topic .I can see the hate and the mud slinging worse in this thread then the Election 2016 thread.I always think back in 1981 maybe Stevie and Lindsey should told Mac to go their own way or sing Johnny Paycheck's "Take This Job And Shove It" to them and go full time solo.Meantime FM will peter out and die with no top hits like "Dream" being number one on the the charts and other hits from them .

It's great having two threads on the go at the same time about the same topic.
:shrug:

I think TOSOTM is not a great album and LB has not aged gracefully.... I'm probably gonna get shot now. Oh well.

Shame!!! ding... Shame!!! ding... Shame!!! ding....


(it's from Game of Thrones. )

Those are my thoughts about Behind the Mask too. I loved that everyone was singing/writing together. It was great to see the band chemistry that formed between Billy/Christine and Rick/Stevie.

I'm not sure if either of those opinions is necessarily unpopular. :laugh: TOSOTM was kind of a polarizing album for Stevie Nicks fans and male rock stars, in general, don't age very gracefully.

Yes, I love the harmonies on the super peppy Skies the limit. I love how Nicks has a rocking duet with Rick Vito with Love is Dangerous. Their voices are so good together. I love Stevie and Billy singing side by side on In the Back of my mind with Christine even taking part in the bridge. I LOVE DO YOU KNOW with Billy and Chris. Its so from the heart. The band sounded very much like Fleetwood Mac with Christine demonstrating keyboard playing again. On Tango, so much was pre-programmed that her playing was lost entirely. If you could drop the Affairs of the Heart, Hard Feelings, Stand on the Rock, and Second Time and add Isn't it Midnight, Tango in the Night, Mystified, Everywhere and Little Lies......that would be the best album ever!!!

Put me down for The Other Side of the Mirror being one of Stevie's best albums. Lindsey Buckingham and Jimmy Iovine were key to making Stevie's songs terrific. I would also add Rupert Hine. I LOVE most of the songs and the writing was her best since Bella Donna. Cry Wolf, Fire Burning and Blue Eyes are the exception. Those are bad. Rooms on Fire is so magical. Long Way to Go so powerful. Two Kinds of Love so romantic and Stevie getting a bit sexual with her description of the meaning of the song. Ooh my love- terrific, Ghosts really good and fantastic lyrics, Whole Lotta trouble is pretty good. Juliet good too. Doing the best that I can is amazing. Rupert Hine did an amazing job. The song is mesmerizing, entrancing....just captured the feeling of the song perfectly. Those lyrics would be impossible to put music and a song to. But Rupert Hine did it. Its such a magic album.

I agree entirely. TOSOTM is a poorly produced album with average vocal performances and a fair few stinkers.

And Lindsey's face has gone south whilst his hairline has gone north.

Funny you should point those songs out - 2 of those Stevie didn't even write. "Cry Wolf" and "I Still Miss Someone" are covers.

Linds should have stayed away after Tango and the new lineup would have been so much better.... look at BTM and the new tracks on Greatest Hits!

Linds ruined every Mac endeavour since Rumours, with the exception of his production work on the girls's songs.

At least you didn't drag me out into the street and kill me....... yet.