Stevie and Lindsey's new albums
 

I think these people are doing some of the best work of their lives. However, I'm starting to wonder where the rock is. Lindsey's artistic escapes are excellent, but there is no anthem like Frozen Love or World Turning, which I know he would love to do.The man can rock. The acoustic work is great, but it's starting to sound a little the same, although better than the previous album.

And Stevie... Edge of Seventeen just might well be the best-rock out song by a female ever. Ghosts are Gone is great, but that's it? The song is not even upfront. Her album starts with a yawn and only picks up on the third track. It's buried. It just seems to me that things are getting too mellow. I guess maybe TISL was supposed to be her rock album, but things sorta fell apart. I think Ghosts are Gone is a sweeter rock anthem than anything on TISL, but still... That album had more rock.

I just know that these people are dying to rock. Lindsey loves big guitar anthems and Stevie loves belting out rock songs. I don't get it.

I mean, we know rock is dead but don't exactly expect it to be dead from these people. Lindsey song End of Time made me wonder if it's the End of Line.

Hmmm. I feel your longing, but I think if they were dying to rock, they would rock. No one's stopping them. Stevie was a big rocker in the '80s partly because Jimmy pushed her that way. Gotta think they are into their 60s now, without a lot of great rock around them to inspire.

Stevie's generally pretty mellow, really, with some rockers on the side. That's been pretty consistent throughout the years... and I don't think it was any different on IYD.

I agree with this. Even during the time period when Jimmy arguably had the most influence over her, which was Bella Donna, that album didn't have a lot of hard rockers on it. It was more in the vein of mellow rock. I think what Jimmy was majorly pushing her to be was more straightforward with her lyrics and getting way from the "airy fairy" image she had had so far in the Mac. Yes we had "Edge of Seventeen" and SDMHA but most of the rock was more softer. A.k.a "Kind of Woman" and "How Still My Love". She's pretty much stuck to this format for the majority of her solo career. I personally am glad she doesn't do a majority of hard, hard rock songs because it makes the ones she does do much more epic and awesome!!

Stevie and Lindsey's bsaic style would be folk rock IMO.Lindsey with some rockabilly and and 1960s style Brian Wilson pop thrown in and Stevie with some country flavors.The songs that made Stevie famous could hardly be described as rockers the studio version of Rhiannon( much more of a rocker live of course)Dreans and Sara none of the these are really rockers not to mention the likes of Landslide or Silver Springs.I'd have to say Angel was really her firsr recorded song to move in that direction and it was originally more of a ballad as well.

Yep, IA completely.

Stevie always has a mix of mid-tempo, haunting, country and rock. If anything is rare for her its the big string-laden ballads, of which she's done what, three of them? "Beauty and the Beast", "Has Anyone Ever Written" and now "Italian Summer"?

What I've learned:

1. Both are better served in the Mac.
2. Stevie, the political artist > Lindsey, the political artist

And she needs to do many more like that. It's where her talents and voice really shine. Rock schmock, I say.

Perhaps they actually want people to listen to what they have to say, rather than "rock out," and not pay attention to what they are rocking out to.
I'm all for rock. But, (personally, YMMV) both these albums have touched me deeply and I'm glad they kept the rock to the minimum, and turned the meaningful lyrics on max.

I heartily disagree. Those sappy megaballads have always seemed disingenuous coming from Stevie IMO. All of this is personal opinion of course, but I've always felt she shines brightest on really rocking songs like:

Rhiannon
Gold Dust Woman
Sisters Of The Moon
Edge Of 17
Straight Back
No Spoken Word
Freedom
Love Is Like A River
Fall From Grace
etc.

However, like others have said, her albums have always been a potpourri of styles from day 1 (with or without Fleetwood Mac). Stevie's isn't just purely a rock artist, she dabbles in country, folk, blues, pop, ballads, and even touches on electronica. If you break down Stevie's albums into these categories (including Fleetwood Mac), she has always only had 1-3 true rock songs per album. The rest is a mix of styles, always has been. :)

Wow, someone else feels this way? I always hated HAEWAFY. Mostly because it's all about her still. ;) but yes I like her more rocking and angry or ethereal.

I like the mid-tempo whimsical kind of stuff ie, Sable on Blonde, Sara, Storms, Rhiannon, Outside the Rain, The Wild Heart, Gypsy... aka, a majority of her catalogue.

No Angel in your list louie?? :rolleyes:

I have to agree. While I think disingenuous is a bit strong, I'm not too keen on her big ballads. The best of them are Has Anyone Ever Written Anything For You (which I certainly don't hate) and Love Is, the sentiments of which I can appreciate and, when I'm in the right mood, are lovely. I really don't play them much though and as for Beauty and the Beast - no. It's far too over wrought for me!

However, I love Beautiful Child - particularly the stunning Live In Boston version!!

I know I have said this before but you're my kind of Stevie fan:wavey: ( the icon was supposed to b a thumbs up not a thumbs down but as usual I'm typing on my phone and not an actual computer)
Some people only find Her music to there taste if its "Rockn" ( ROCKIN' THIS AND ROCKIN' THAT AND did isay rockin rockin rocking. ROCN! rock rawk rockin. as long as it rocks and I can rockin turn rockin it rockin up rockin loud and rockin bob my head back and forth an up and down ) if I wanted to hear bob seger zz top or tom petty (and SOMETIMES i do) I will listen to them not stevie nicks doing her impersonation of them, which. she does well, but I appreciate that Stevies music has always been a mixed bag of tricks. But if I had to choose only one style of Stevie, I woulid pick the more mystical mid tempo ethereal Stevie Especially because I really can't get that from anyone else. Not too many anyway. To put it in IYD Turns some people are only Ghosts are gone, Or only italian summer. I'm more of a moonlight. That's stevie nicks. mystically romantic with a bit of rock thrown in:)

And to those that I love like a ghost through the fog, like a charmed hour and a haunted song . . .

Don't be ashamed, Louie. Admit you love it.

I really love songs like SOTM and EO17 and GYOW, GOS and the new One Take too. But at heart I am not really a rock fan. So, a concert full of FFG, Whole Lotta Trouble, ISA and Come would make me very unhappy.

I think they both have just enough rock on their albums.

Michele

Yep, I so agree.

Now stuff like Edge, Stand Back, Enchanted, In Your Dreams, I love all that stuff too, and listen to it and adore it.

But it's the stuff like Moonlight, Gypsy, GDW, SOTM that I feel like kind of epitomizes a Stevie Nicks song, to me.

Jesus... it would be SO random if Stevie did Whole Lotta Trouble live! It's not her best moment but I do enjoy it ocassionally and I'd love it for the sheer unexpectedness of its appearance in a set - The Ledge would go into meltdown!

People were very excited when she talked about it on Crystal Visions. Of course, nothing ever came of it.

Michele

Her real strength and roots are in the folkish sorta over-the-top borderline mawkish realm. Her voice is so distinctive on those and the spell she weaves is amazing - look at BATB live in Melbourne, for example, or Beautiful Child live in wherever-it-was, or Silver Springs on The Dance. I mean, THAT`s a goddess. Who the hell could have ever written those and performed them like that.

The deep vault contains the likes of 3 Birds of Rhiannon and Forest of the Black Roses.

I can take her other stuff too, but I have a lot of non-favourite songs from that, and I do believe her long-ago desire to be a female Tom Petty or some kind of rocker was big error, she lost her way. Her solo career has been marred by rocker wannabe excess that buried her talents a lot.

are we listening to the same album? IOOT, Illumination, TTWLG, One take (and that there's that crazy electric SWS, prob not rock, but def pop)... are not rockers?!?!?!

That's a really interesting premise! Food for thought. It sh0ws a lot of insight on your part. Now for something completely different: I hope that Stevie and Lindsey, once they convene in the context of Fleetwood Mac, blow everyone's minds and produce a heavy-rock goth metal style album!!!

Well I love Illumination. And actually, Lindsey's new album is probably his 2nd best ever. But to me, songs like Illumination are small fires that feel doused by other songs on the album. It seems to me that Seeds We Sow is a continuation of the Say Goodbye tangent he was on in Say You Will. He is a genious and the guitar picking is flawless, but the rock feels intangible and muted.

See, I think Stevie's the only one in Fleetwood Mac who effectively pulls off ballads/slow songs on a consistent basis. Her voice & delivery offset any potential for mawkishness.

Well, I have thouroughly enjoyed B&B and HAEWY. But I always thought the lyrics were sorta weak. The music is great, but the songs needed to be fuller lyrically, especially HAEWY. I really like Italian Summer, but it's a song that needs to be cut down. I think these songs are some of her better songs. Even with the sparse lyrics, people can visualize and identify with them emotionally. HAEWY is a great "feel sorry for yourself" song.

I'm right there with both of you. I think we are all here because Stevie clearly represents the wide range of poet, singer songwriter, mystical goddess and rocker chic that no one else can really champion. But if you are looking for any other artist to capture that ethereal quality and charisma..no one has Stevie beat!

I love her ballads, rockers and mid tempo stuff. But those last songs you listed were what drew me in and are what keeps me coming back for more :D

Even if I throw out half of her songs out (which I do, Oh Daddy), I still think Christine is the ballad master.

I like most of Stevie's ballads, but I tired of HAEWAFY a long time ago and while her voice and delivery might have offset the mawkishness in BATB, once she started to sing it in the get up, I found it very hard not to give in to despair.

Michele

I prefer the mid-tempo stuff, too. How Still My Love, Sable on Blond, Ooh My Love, Sorcerer, & Moonlight are among my favorites. An album full of songs like Ghosts are Gone or Fall from Grace would not make me happy.

I think, and this is just my opinion, the reason why Stevie's more rock-orientated songs always stand out so much and seem so much better is because they're surrounded by slower, less rocking songs, so when she does rock out on an album, it feels so much better. An album full of rock songs in the vein of Edge, No Spoken Word, Fall From Grace, etc... would be utterly and incredibly boring. Stevie's strength is having albums which cover a lot of different genres so that it appeals to a wide range of people, like she has her whimsical dream-like songs, and then she has her big mushy ballads, and then her country tinged music... etc.