Why have "Tusk" and "So Afraid" gotten the old man treatment?
 

These are two of my favorite Lindsey songs, so apologies in advance for the complaining... but...

WHY did he do to these songs on the last couple of tours!? Including the most recent Unleashed tour, he's slowed them down, changed the key, and made them shadows of what they used to be. I can understand why he'd do that to two of his signature songs, and why the rest of Fleetwood Mac would want to perform them that way!?

What is your opinion of the new renditions? Prefer the new arrangement or the original?

see i feel exactly the opposite - that tusk had been a shadow of itself (along w/ SHN) throughout the last 10+ years, but he reworked them for this tour and they sound GREAT and so exciting now!

My opinion? I prefer "Tusk" to be sung with Fleetwood Mac... it's... grander?

So Afraid is one of my all time favourites and I didn't like the lower key at first. What I wish is that they'd play the song (if they must) in the lower key but as they did on The Dance tour with Christine's keys and that bluesy intro.

I love the new spin on ISA!! It's amazing!!

He HAD to lower the key, he couldn't sing it in Fm anymore and obviously, he couldn't sing it in the Gm it originally was recorded in. Nothing wrong with changing keys. :shrug:

Nobody's complained about "Big Love" being a whole step lower than The Dance version :cool:

Heck, "Landslide" is about 5 half steps lower these days than the original recording. :nod:

No, Landslide as sung today is actually in the same exact key as the original recording.

She used to raise it UP like 2 whole steps when she sang it live in the 70's/80's.

It wasn't on The Dance. I saw where Lindsey capoed his guitar and his finger positions...exactly the same chordal positions as in '70s except capoed down 2-1/2 whole steps (@ 4th fret instead of 7th fret as in '77)

I have live recordings from back then, I've played along...live shows in '70's same as original recording.

Yeah, but the way it was played in the 70's (with the capo on the 7th fret) is not the original key of the song. Now, there may be some recordings of it that I haven't heard, where it's sung in the original key (the same as The Dance), but out of the 20 or so I do have from like 75-82, they're all 2 whole steps up from the original like you said - capo'd at the 7th fret.

If you play The Dance version and the White Album version right after each other (or alternating, or whatever, even just the intros to both of them, or Stevie's first pitch..) you can hear that they're the same.
The Dance:


White Album:


She is definitely singing the song in the exact same key as it was sung on the White Album.

I like the title of this thread. I agree with ChiliD that he
just can't sing them in the same key anymore.

Though Tusk was one of the first FM songs I liked,
I wish he'd just drop it from his solo concerts. It's such
a waste of time, at least the way he performs it now.
He could add some new material that would suit me just
fine.

did you hear it on THIS tour? i would agree if you are talking about last few tours, solo and FM, but it has been GREAT on this tour!

Elle, I have to admit I haven't heard much from
this tour. But I'll be hearing it on Blu ray soon.

yeah, Saban version is similar to the version on the tour - i was very pleasantly surprised when i heard Tusk at Saban. before this makeover i also thought it sounded tired.

yeah i guess that happens. I did recognize that Big Love had changed though it's not too noticeable. He might also be playing it slower as well. I think it's more of a pity what he's done to NGBA more than So Afraid or Tusk.

I could swear that The Dance version of Landslide is capo'ed on the 3rd fret :shocked:

Off topic but littleD I watched another one of
you videos on YouTube. Good job brother.
Next time wear the Bat Mask!

Agreed! I loved the guitar during '09 FM tour, but he couldn't sing it. This is perfect now! And hey, any time Lindsey sings lower, it's a wonderful thing IMO.

I think so too.

That's the way I play it on my guitar
when I'm listening to The Dance.

I don't know why lowering the key surprises any of you musicians. Y'all know people cannot sing in the same key when they are older. And, if there are people in their 60's still singing in the same key as they did in their 20's, then they probably NEED to lower it...

Beat me to it. Everybody's voice changes....it's life.

Mick

That's how I play it too. Same for when I listen to the White album version. :)

I could've miscounted or "misremembered". :shrug: Hell, I'm old, too.

Guitar sound in ISA solos
 

I've been curious about a component of his changed renditions. The sound of the guitar on I'm So Afraid in the 1980 Tusk tour (appearing on both the 1980 live album and the 1992 box set), the Mirage Tour, Out of the Cradle Tour and through The Dance sounds different than today. With the most recent live versions, the guitar during the ISA solos sounds like he is playing two strings at once for each note, or maybe it is an echo effect...? I'm sorry, I don't play guitar myself so I don't know how best to describe it, but does anyone know what I mean? Is it a pedal he is using to achieve that sound maybe?
Thanks.

LOL... That's okay. Seeing as how you're not a fan of the post-75 material I won't hold you to the standard I put on your pre-75 knowledge ;)

Whats LD's youtube name? I wanna check it out.

I'm not good at this sort of thing--I did not notice a Tusk or ISA difference on this tour. How is it different than the last 4 tours?

It doesn't make you want
to kill yourself this time out.
At least that's what I've been
told.

Spoinny,
LittleD's name on YouTube is
something like "PonyBoy..."
Can't remember exactly.

sounds the same. The best solo version was circa "Out of the Cradle" on VH1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s7HNEoNmzoU

Stevie doesn't lower any keys... at least on the current tour. If anything, "For What It's Worth" has been pushed way up at least a full step or two higher. Same with "In Your Dreams" the two times she performed it live. I think lowering keys is tantamount to giving up on life for a singer. It is just one more acknowledgment that time is marching on and it is one more concession to age. I personally dread the thought of waking up one morning and realizing, OMG, I'm too old to _____ anymore. :distress:

Admittedly, Stevie should have lowered the key of "Don't Stop" at Bill Clinton's birthday celebration. But I love the fact that she is trying to keep it original.

As a musician (though I don't claim to be a great one..), I don't see anything wrong with lowering keys, at all. What's more important: your pride, or the actual quality of your performance?

If you legitimately cannot sing something in a certain key anymore, due to age or illness or what have you, by all means, take it to a place more comfortable for your range. It's not that big of a deal. In choir, some a capella pieces are very hard to sing in a certain key without going flat or sharp collectively on a certain day or time in certain weather :lol:, for whatever reason, but lowering it or raising it a half step can make all the difference in the world as far as staying in tune goes. We used to do that all the time before concerts - if we practiced it and something was off, we'd take it up or down a half step and voila, everything would be perfect. It's just part of the game.

Luckily for Stevie, she does a pretty good job of adjusting the songs (ie, Rhiannon, Dreams, etc, etc) in their original keys to where she can still sing them, for the most part. It's also worth mentioning that I think Stevie can and actually does sing a lot higher than it sometimes seems like and than people give her credit for, if that makes sense, depending on the way she sings.

But if she ever lowered a key a step or two I wouldn't hold it against her. It's life. Everyone's getting older, and I give props to the ones who accept it with grace and dignity instead of sacrificing all of that for the sake of their pride.