Planets of the Universe on SYW?
 

Does anyone else think that POTU would sound fabulous on SYW?

I think it would fit into the atmosphere of the new album very well and Lindsey could do some major kick-ass production to it. As much as I love the TISL version, I think that it would have been perfect for SYW, especially with the extra lyrics from the extended version! :D

I could not agree with you more, as long as LB didn't "overproduce" it! I personally thought the version of TISL was a bit overdone (even though LB wasn't involved). Maybe because the demo is one of my very favorites, mostly for its passion and simplicity.

I am still not sure how I feel about what LB did with "Smile At You", so I still don't know about how he would do with this song.

Well, considering that Stevie said Lindsey told her many times he had no idea what to do with Planets, I don't think I'd want it on Say You Will. I think John Shanks did an excellent job on that song...it's still one of my all time favorite studio tracks (especially the extended remix). HOWEVER, if we were to keep it as it is and place it on Say You Will, I think it would fit in nicely.

Where/when did Lindsey have no idea what to do with POTU? On FM albums of the past?

What do you all think about Lindsey producing a future Stevie solo album?

PS. I would like to see the two of them write songs together ;)

Bit didn't Stevie write more lyrics for it before she recorded it with John Shanks to soften the song up a bit? I think that put it in a more verse/chorus mode that was easier to record.

Someone said that it used to be just the chorus with the lyrics that were on the "extended" version and the lyrics at the very end. The whole "The birght light is lyind down..." bit I thought was recently written.

Stevie talked about it when she was doing interviews for Trouble in Shangri-La. Interviewers were interested in how three songs were written in the 70's, and she would say that she'd played Planets for years to Lindsey but he didn't know how to produce it. She even mentioned once that she played it for Sheryl Crow and SHE also didn't know what to do with it. Then, she played it for John Shanks, and he understood how to produce the song. But Planets was written I believe in time for it to go on Rumours, so it could have gone on any FM album since. I hope this helps...but there are many 2001 interviews on www.nicksfix.com if you haven't read them. :wavey: By the way, welcome to the Ledge.

Yes, this is true. The verses of the song were not written until 2001, although I THINK, can't be sure so if anyone else knows (Johnny Stew) please say so, that production for the song actually started with just the demo. Then Stevie heard the song and was like, "Wow, this is really harsh," so she wrote the two verses to "soften the blow."

Thanks Sorcerer for the welcome and the info...now that you said that about Lindsey and Sheryl, I remember reading that on the NicksFix. Silly me, I get overloaded with FM stuff sometimes! LOL :)

From a bootleg audio copy of POTU in Atlanta, 2001 TISL tour....

"A little note on this coming-up song. I wrote this song in like, 1977 right at the end of the first two months of recording rumours in Sausilito we stayed there for two months then we went back to LA. So I wrote this song at the end of that and it was really when Lindsey and I were breaking up and It was really... not a nice song and he's been listening to this song on my demos for the last 30 years you know he's always like, passed on that. So, uh, a couple of months ago, i mean not that long ago I decided that I..I just had to write another part to make this song be not such a ..not such a like, the thing about I would never dream because people have asked me like, like you, I can't believe you wrote the words I would never dream and it was just that I was so angry at that moment when I wrote those words and I didn't want to change them because then it would change what I was saying as a writer so anyway, this song is called, and it has it's new part which is the first two verses and it's old part which is just like, a hundred years old and it's called Planets of the Universe."

Sounds like Stevie. Unintelligible. :laugh:

thanks for posting that transcript, Marissa~ I have that POTU bootleg from Atlanta and she sounds so cute when she says it~ the part where she's like "yeah, he passed on it" she giggles a bit. She realized how harsh the song is and I think Lindsey did, too~ ha ha ha

btw, the extended part of that makes it one of my favorite stevie songs ever~ soo great :D

xx Meredith

It's so cute when you listen to it---especially at the end of the song---she says "I still wish you gone....and I will live alone....cuz I still live alone...." :D I just love the song and I think it would have been awesome on SYW and I wonder what Lindsey would have done with it because you know after he heard it he was probably like, hmmm...I would have added this and took away that...but nooo, he didn't know what to do with it or anything :laugh:

Once again I'm in the tiniest minority, but Planets was not a favorite of mine on the album or on the tour. I like it, I really do, but I'm not wowed. I love the demo, so I think it's just a matter of production. Again, IMO there are a few songs on that album that were much more Rock Vocal Grammy-worthy than Planets, which was not the best choice for nomination. (In addition, I seem to be the only person who does not hear a similarity between the start of Planets and Rhiannon. Everybody from critics to casual fans hears this, but I just can't.)
Getting back to your thread, I would like to see what Lindsey might have done with the production.

- Jake

"PotU"'s opening riff is the same "notes" as the opening riff of "Rhiannon" only played "upside down"; the riff starts at the topside and goes down, where the "Rhiannon" riff starts at the bottom and goes up.

Hmmmm...how about Lindsey's "Twist Of Fate" & "Second Hand News"?

Thanks for explaining. My musical expertise is limited since my music instructor made me stop coming for lessons after two years when I was little. I was THAT bad, especially since this guy was old, patient, and hard of hearing, so I must have really gotten to him. In that respect I'm musically talented; I can reach an audience through music, apparently. (They just don't like it.)

I don't think I have Twist of Fate, but I'll check. I'll assume it's not the same Twist of Fate that Olivia sings in the terrible '80s video with John Travolta?

- Jake

Thanks for explaining that chiliD, because I really didn't know how. It's just like, instead of the notes going up as on Rhiannon, they go down, or whatever.

I have to switch gears and comment (jokingly) on Jake's comment about the 80's video with Olivia Newton John and John Travolta. The movie is called "Two of a Kind," and I remember it was one of my favorite movies when I was little. I can still watch it...yes it's a cheesy movie but I can't help but loving it. :laugh: Anyway, I don't think it's the same song, but that's another guilty pleasure of mine...Olivia's Twist of Fate song.

I LOVE that song!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

"It's gonna be a stange twist of fate - telling me that heaven can wait - telling me to get it right this time ye ime"

Plus, she looked incredible in the video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

No, no, no...

"Twist Of Fate" is a Lindsey song from his aborted Gift Of Screws album that didn't make Say You Will (unfortunately).

It sounds a whole lot like "Second Hand News", which is possibly the reason it DIDN'T make the SYW album.

I always thought that the reason Lindsey wouldn't do "Planets" for a Fleetwood Mac album wasn't because he didn't know what to do with it, but that he didn't WANT to do...being such a bitter song about him. At least that's the way I perceived it from the TISL interviews I'd read and the comments Stevie made in concert. Thus going back and writing the verses to "soften the blow".

Stevie also did mention in an interview during the TISL era, That not only did Lindsey think that TISL was her best work to date but mentioned he was impressed with what John Shanks did w/ "Planets of the Universe". So I'm not sure that the song would have ever seen the light of day If Stevie waited for Lindsey to produce it, seems he too was at a loss of what to do w/ it.

I personally LOVE the demo, AND the final version equally even thou the are totally different....and to me this song ranks w/ Stevie's finest solo or w/ the Mac...It is a classic.

John Shanks must've been picking up on SOME sort of "Lindsey" vibe when doing "PotU"...it just SOUNDS (to me, anyway) like Lindsey had some hand in it...especially that guitar solo during the fade sounds like circa-1976 Lindsey.

The 'TISL' version of "Planets Of The Universe" (well, more specifically, the extended album version found on the maxi-single) is definitely another feather in Stevie's cap.

The old demo that's circulated a million times, is pretty and moving, but the 'TISL' version kicks you in the pants.
It has a lot of oomph and energy, and John Shanks did a brilliant job on the production.

If Stevie does another solo album while the guys in FM take time off to spend with their families, I think she should hire Shanks to produce the entire album.
So far he's my second favorite of Stevie's producers.

As for the Grammy... I do have to say I agree that perhaps "Fall From Grace" would have been a better candidate for best rock vocal performance.
It's more of a show-off piece than "Planets."

Still, I'm sure it felt good for Stevie that yet another one of her songs that Fleetwood Mac discarded, or passed over, was eventually nominated for a Grammy. :)