A new version of "These Strange Times" with Albatross
 

This popped into my email box today

https://wu.artistic.io/u/lp/Mick-Fle...ange-Times.htm

Sounds a bit of a desperate idea, but I haven't heard or seen it. I didn't hate the original, as many others did. Interesting that John Jones rather than McVie played bass on it in 1995. I suspected as much.


MICK FLEETWOOD RELEASES NEW MUSIC/VIDEO

Rock & Roll Icon Releases New Recording of
“These Strange Times”
September 25, 2020 -- Rock & Roll Hall of Fame drummer Mick Fleetwood released today a new recording and video for Mick Fleetwood’s Da*da*ism “These Strange Times,” available on Rhino Records. Originally released on Fleetwood Mac’s 16th studio album Time in 1995, the song was re-recorded adding thirty seconds of Peter Green’s “Albatross” to the end of the song and set to a brand-new video.

Inspired by an eighteenth-century painting, the newly released video and accompanying single artwork are centered around the idea of something greater than us, which lies at the core of our very human struggle to be our best selves.

“The project is about the energy of choice, of deciding if you want to be a part of the dark or the light when push comes to shove, which seems very apropos at this moment in history,” Fleetwood says. “It’s about how you read things, which is very important today. Everyone needs to be carefully paying attention to the information coming our way. There is subtext to everything and we need to be aware of that. When I first encountered the painting that inspired the photoshoot, it was a soul-searching exercise that I was driven to do but I didn’t know when would be the time to release it. Now I know why: the when is now.”

The spoken-word poem at the center of the song finds the narrator, Fleetwood, questioning his feelings and his thoughts, as he has found himself stuck between the dark and the light. The video is meant to be as thought provoking as the song is hypnotic, as the lyrics detail the struggle of the narrator.

“I hope the song conveys that life is about choice,” Fleetwood says. “God is everything, no matter what your belief system is. Being in love is God, no matter your creed. There’s a rejoicing at the end of the song when the narrator chooses the side of the light. The song is about all of us making that choice ourselves and the relief we feel when we are no longer caught in the middle.”

“This is something I wrote many years ago,” Fleetwood says, “and I want it to be nothing more than thought provoking. I want people to see and hear what they will in it. My hope is that by sharing these thought-provoking moments in my world that I can somehow open the eyes of others to things in their world and to the existence we all share, which is more and more endangered with each passing day.”

Click here to find out more on “These Strange Times” as told by Mick Fleetwood w/ Anthony Bozza.

Song Credits:
Title: These Strange Times
Artist: Mick Fleetwood’s Da * da * ism
Composers: Mick Fleetwood, Ray Kennedy and Peter Green
Executive Producers: Mick Fleetwood and Carl Stubner
Produced by Lynn Peterson, Mick Fleetwood, John Jones and Ray Kennedy
Recorded and Mixed by: Lynn Peterson and John Jones
Additional Engineering: Jimmy Hotz
Recorded in the USA

Vocals: Mick Fleetwood & Bekka Bramlett
Lead Guitars: Rick Vito
Acoustic Guitars, Drums & Percussion: Mick Fleetwood
Bass Guitar: John Jones
Keyboards: Ricky Peterson & John Jones
Background vocals: Lucy Fleetwood

“All Over Again” on the last tour, a remake of “These Strange Times,” with Bekka Bramlett no less...I feel 21 again!

Hmmm. I wonder if this could be initial preparation for a possible box set of post-Tango In The Night material with bonus tracks and alternate versions etc???

I found the original version on Time rather embarrassing.
However, I actually quite like this. If you ignore the corny lyrics and just focus on the music there's a lot to appreciate. The drums and Rick's guitar are pretty damn awesome.

Mick has a little Peter Gabriel in him struggling to get out.

Very little. :laugh:

Mick is probably trying to figure out how he can still keep a decent revenue stream coming in. Fleetwood Mac touring days are done. No Lindsey/ No “live” voices left for Stevie or Christine. He is going to have to sell some stuff/down size his life a bit. I hope he has paid off some stuff from the $$$ he got from the last couple of tours.

And with this pandemic and quarantine situation nowadays, even more difficult. I hope he haven't been wasting what he earned from the tours and boxsets of the last few years

Does this mean I have to listen to “These Strange Times” again? Ugh.

Always loved this song. Haven’t listened to the new version. Hurts too much. And insult to injury that they didn’t have Rick Vito in the last tour.