Love the songs, but they are not going together for me as an album!
 

I feel like this album has a very different vibe, and some of the songs are just not going together for me. Most of all, Cheaper than Free and Soldier's Angel. They just come out of no where! I would have almost preferred the album to just end with Italian Summer, and to just have Soldier's Angel as a bonus/hidden track. The whole vibe of this album is off for me. Secret Love as the opener? No thanks! I do like that song, but I keep skipping it because it isn't Opener Worthy. Okay, I know this is a weird rant/ramble, but does anyone else know what I mean?

Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of really great songs here, but I almost feel that TISL sounds more cohesive, even though we all know there were a lot of cooks in that kitchen....

Thoughts?!

Sorry, you think that

I think the diversity is pretty awesome. Ironically a couple of people have complained that the album "sounds too much alike" which I'm sure must come as news to you (as it did to me).

This is a simple fix though. Just create a new playlist (if you have iTunes) and re-arrange the songs. Or, just put your CD on shuffle. Problem solve.

i agree with 90% of what you have said......italian summer is where the cd should have ended..and for some reason I skip secret love everytime(i like the song but I did the same thing with Rooms on Fire too)..What i dont agree with is for some crazy reason I really admire this cd....it certainly has scored higher for me than OTSOM and SA and amazingly even now TISL

I never thought of TISL as cohesive. This feels more cohesive to me eventhough the songs are more varied and it's because of the production. TISL sounded like there were too many hands in the pot. This album takes you to different places. Reminds me of Out of the Cradle by Lindsey Buckingham.

Oh, I definitely agree about that Cheaper Than Free closing. Ugh. Overall though, I was surprised at how well such an eclectic mix of songs did go together for me. You had these different genres and I would have expected them to clash or for one song to spoil the mood of the one next to it, but I was surprised that it didn't. I thought the sequencing was wonderful. I guess Stevie will say she tracked it with her own little hands.

Michele

I totally understand what you are saying. I've spent the last few days analyzing the sound and feel of this collection of songs.

Does anyone else hear a guitar riff in WSS that sounds like The Cult?

It seems like there are a few songs that go together... songs that maybe Dave had a heavy hand in, punctuated by three other songs that go together... songs that were in Stevie's vault that weren't to be messed with, in between two other songs that go together... songs that sound like they got lopped off of TISL, etc. - so it does come off a bit disjointed. For me that's what makes an album easy to listen to all the way through, because it feels like a journey. I clearly have favorites and even one or two that I skip over, but that's normal. Soldier's Angel is destined to become the next Desert Angel. :angel:

It is the best and most cohesive studio album by either Fleetwood Mac or any of it 's members since Out of The Cradle.

I was thrown at first by the first two songs. In my opinion, Secret Love and For What's it Worth don't flow together that well. I was also thrown off by The Ghosts are Gone, with it's guitars blazing. I'm in love with the second half of the album now. Ghosts is big change up and frankly, I look forward to when it comes. The pace of the album keeps changing. Wide Sargossa with it's energy goes into the bittersweet New Orleans. The dreamy Annabelle Lee gets a dose of reality with Soldiers Angel. The dramatic Italian Summer comes down to earth with cheaper than free.

I almost wish they would of cut the first songs off the album, because the mood changes are perfect from In Your Dreams On. To me, having Secret Love go into For What's it's Worth is sorta of ODD.

However, when you hit shuffle on your player, you just realize how good some of these songs are. For What's Worth is touching and Secret Love is drippy, dramatic. They add color to the add. But I think it's an awkward start.

It's an ecletic album. That's what you get. It's like listening to a mix on the radio.

Wow, I'm really surprised by this reaction...I honestly think this album flows masterfully! It's such classic Stevie, it's almost like it should have been the follow up to TOSOTM...not that it sounds dated, I don't mean that at all, just that much as I love Street Angel and TISL, they didn't bring me back to the hey day, this one does...when I would become OBSESSED with an album and not want to hear anything else at all...having said that, I do think Italian Summer should have been the last song...I think Cheaper Than Free should have been moved up somewhere...And Secret Love...I have that problem with songs all the time that are released (and I get to know - or in this case, already knew) - before the album came out... they just seem to not fit...until years later when I pick up the album, knowing all the songs equally, then I see the sense of it...When TISL came out, the first three songs hit me like that...

The album does flow masterfully. The flow between FWIW and SL isn't terrible at all, but in an album, where the mood changes are soooo perfect, the flow between those songs isn't quite as good. She probably could not put those songs anywhere else because the flow between the other songs was so right, she would ruin it. The album is ecletic, so I feel a tiny bit of oddness is to be expected. I just wish it would not have happened at the beginning.

I think Stevie outdid herself with the sequencing on this album - it's pretty much perfect. I also had reservations about "Secret Love" being the opener, particularly since "For What It's Worth" didn't seem to follow it well, but I now realise that neither song could be anywhere else on the album. I was sort of hoping that "Secret Love" would either have an extended ending or merge seamlessly into another track, but that was not to be.
I initially thought "The Ghosts Are Gone" needed to be earlier in the running order, but it now seems a perfect fit being near the end, I guess in the way "Fall From Grace" came in late on TISL.
As far as "Cheaper Than Free" is concerned, I've always considered this to be like a bonus cut of sorts so it doesn't concern me being where it is. I actually think that "Italian Summer" ends too abruptly for an album closer as well.
I'm still a major fan of the TISL album, but with five producers involved, it always seemed a bit too eclectic to be a cohesive album. Despite the diversity of songs on IYD, having the one set of producers (Dave and Glen) on board has served it well in terms of consistency and a thematic feel.
I'm still not overly keen on either "Wide Sargasso Sea" or "Soldier's Angel", but recognise that both songs have their merits - I'm just not sure that they actually belong on this album. "Soldier's Angel" in particular sounds like a Mac track to me. The new version of "My Heart" is far superior to the TISL version in my opinion (as well as the two aforementioned tracks), but it probably also doesn't belong on IYD.

The album does (for me) flow rhythmically and sonically (it's just too long). Just as importantly, I feel a thematic through-line to the album (as may be illustrated by the Lindsey-IYD conjecture thread). A friend of mine likened the experience of listening to the album to Marlene Dietrich after she and Josef von Sternberg split; lore has it that before each take in every movie after the split she would call out: "Joe, where are you?" Here, even the "political" songs seem to grow out that life experience: the emotional longing and hard-earned wisdom. I'm floored by the sophistication of a song like "Italian Summer," for example which isn't only romantic, it's ABOUT Stevie's romanticism (that's why she can sing "Oooh, it's so romantic" because she's commenting on the codes of romance: the atmosphere (natural and man made) and the romantic gesture (laying down the guitar and giving a rose). Stevie-and-Lindsey are part of our romantic lexicon. Ergo, In Your Dreams.

I'm glad this was brought up...My version of IYD starts with "For What It's Worth"...FWIW starts with the acoustic guitar,the little intro (The first couple of seconds including the little bell) of FWIW have been edited out...Secret love has been removed from the CD as well,I just don't like the song...And yes I have given it a chance...Other than that I have left IYD intact...I originally had a problem with the placement of "Moonlight" and "Annabel Lee" but they are fine now...As for "Soldiers Angel" being a MAC song,It's a Buckingham/Nicks song pure and simple..."Soldiers Angel" is a very personal and powerful song just try reading Stevie's Walter Reed Journals while listening to "SA" Powerful Stuff here...

I think all of the praise and criticism of the CD are great and informative. I'm glad that even hardcore Stevie fans can be critical of her work. I see that more with the IYD release than I did on TSIL. It's refreshing. :nod:

And you can bet, I'll do my best to critic her work :)

I'm okay with the sequencing on this album, but had I been given the songs separately weeks ago (before release) & been told to put them in order for the album, here's what I would have come up with:

Secret Love
In Your Dreams
Annabel Lee
For What It’s Worth
Ghosts Are Gone
Everybody Loves You
Moonlight
Wide Sargasso Sea
Soldier’s Angel
New Orleans
You May Be the One
Italian Summer
Cheaper Than Free

I like SL as the opener because it's like the lyrics serve to invite you upstairs into Stevie's world & into the album.
But then the album needs to grab you with a rocker. IYD is not just catchy, but also more upbeat than GAG, and therefore doesn't really fit with some of the darker songs I stuck near the end of the album.
IYD, AL, & FWIW all flow into one another, I think.
I like the strong contrast when FWIW is juxtaposed against the opening guitars of GAG. It's like Stevie sings gently, "You saved my life," only to come roaring back in the next song to signal she's fine all these years later.
ELY sounds to me like two songs put together - the dark verses and the poppy chorus. Thus it's a bridge song, best for the middle of the album.
As somebody else wrote, "Moonlight" is the centerpiece of the album (and so belongs at the center). Plus it's such a long song, I want to separate it from AL. "Moonlight" also has a conspicuously produced sound, as does WSS, so it made sense to put them together.
WSS and SA have similar guitar feels, though the latter is darker, and thus leads into the less heavily produced sounds of NO and YMBTO.
Then IS bursts in & lifts you back up again, right before CTF releases you with a gentle vocal & melody.


- Jake

I agree that those two don't flow together well. I think FWIW should have been left off the album.

Darklinensuit, I like your revised sequencing - I might give it a try.
Another option would be just to swap "Secret Love" and "In Your Dreams" around, leaving everything else as it is.

I like For What's it Worth, but I don't understand what the hoopla is about. I mean both David Wilde and Dave Stewart basically said it was their favorite from the album, and while I think it's touching, musically, it just doesn't have as many layers as the other songs. Yes, it tells a small story, and is bittersweet and sounds like the 1970's, but there is no change up to this song. The song does take me back and makes me think of Gordon Lightfoot, Jim Croci and Don Mclean. Bob Dylan too I guess, however, it's almost too straightforward and its like I'm waiting for the song to happen.

However, once again, I remind myself that this album is about experimenting with genres. For What's it Worth is definitely her coffee house song, and the doubling of the harmonies work just enough so that I like it. I do have to be in the mood for though. It's nowhere near as creative as alot of the other songs.

Stevie has not written alot of songs like "For What for What it's Worth"I loved it from the first time I heard it .It is poignant and has a Landslide feel to me..it is that type of song IMO.I can't imagine IYD without it..also it sure as hell beats a cheesy little ditty featured on the soundtrack of an old Chevy Chase movie.:nod:

it is poignant, that is what I do like about it, and very touching, it doesn't work the way the other songs work, I wish they would of added another layer, but the double harmonies does work

I think FWIW is beautiful in it's simplicity :/

For What Its Worth and Italian Summer are the best duo of Slower Stevie songs since Storms and Beautiful Child on Tusk. Now those 2 are miles ahead of everything else, but I think the closest to them are FWIW and Italian Summer. For What Its Worth is more guitar oriented like Storms and is earlier on the album and IS is more BC and is near the end.

I don;t know what to think yet. As of now, I prefer TISL. But... albums have a tendency to grow on me and songs that I don't like at the initial can change for me in a year or two when I can somehow relate to the lyrics (like, "Love Is" on TISL for example)... This new album for me is good. It's a good enough return to Stevie, after a 10 year absence... so while it didnt "wow" me... I'm glad it's out there and it's certainly not worse than TISL.

Count me in the group that thinks For What it's Worth is perfection exactly as it is. I would not change a single thing about it. I love the entire album but that song instantly earned a place in my top ten favorite stevie songs of all time.I think her vocal on that song is so well matched to the lyrics. It just socks me in the gut every time I hear it.

Amen...i'm listening to FWIW as often as I did That's Alright when Mirage was released...it is playing constantly ...I'm going to wait a few months and see if it truly has earned a spot in my all time top ten of stevie songs