Let Me Go (Leave me alone)
 

If Let Me Go (Leave me alone) was released by FM during the Rumour years, how do people think it would have been produced. I can hear it with heavier guitars arrangement with many lines dualed with SN. CMcV isn't happy with her early work, but I think there are quite a few songs which would polish up quite nicely.

I really love the Christine Perfect album... it gives me that old time radio feel... like listening to some old Nina Simone or Ella... only a little more poppy...

I think the main critisism lies in her vocals at times... but I love the arch of her success.... she truly was an amazing musician who respected her craft....

There are quite a few of Christine's songs that would "polish up" as you say. I'm not a big fan of her early Chicken Shack stuff (sorry it's the voice) but I think there are some which I wish she'd have another bash at. Some of the songs from the Penguin album would be nice to hear re-done.

Gail

I think it would have been speeded up substantially & the lead vocals would have been split into perfect-5th interval harmony, with rolling banjo textures on the track, making the whole sound like Appalachian mountain people on meth.

Nobody can ruin blues better than Lindsey.... lololol

Wasn't the album re-released during the rumours era? I recall Christine not being very happy about that. She wanted to put that behind her. She was uncomfortable being a soloist, and didn't like her singing or the production of the album. Despite that, I find a lot of merits in it, and was glad it was re-released at that time. But at that time I didn't have a depth of knowledge and was confused about the Christine Perfect title.

I agree. I really love the 'Christine Perfect' album, and I listen to it often. I listen to it more often than to some Fleetwood Mac albums. It's true that her vocals were undeveloped at the time, but I actually really like that. I think that sometimes in later years Chris used too many layers of vocals, too much double-tracking of vocals, and I like the rawness of the vocals on the 'CP' record. I can understand why Chris didn't like it, in retrospect, since the songs sound like little more than unfinished demos ... which is actually why I like it so much.

I also like the 'CP' record since her keyboards are so prominent. I wish her piano playing was as prominently featured throughout her career. I also really like the style of blues that Chris performed, and I have a higher opinion than most people of some of the songs on the record, including "Wait and See" and "No Road is the Right Road," both of which I really love.

I also agree that Chris' vocals with Chicken Shack weren't very good yet, and some of her live vocals that have survived from her very early days with the Mac are pretty terrible, but remember, she was focusing on being a musician. I think she was actually reluctant to start thinking of herself as a singer. Incredible, isn't it, considering that Christine McVie's voice is one of the most wonderful sounds in the entire realm of pop music.

The song I would have liked to hear was probably written during those days, but the only version I've heard is from a bootleg from the KH tour, called Baby, It's Alright Now.

I agree about some of the Chicken Shack stuff. The first album isn't good in terms of Christine's vocals, but O.K. Ken? isn't that bad. Get Like You Used To Be and Mean Old World are pretty good, IMO.

I dunno about how much better the Penguin stuff would've been. The Roxy version of Remember Me was pretty good (though I realize the other Rumours crew weren't on it), I can't say that it was a lot better. It was a little different, but not much better.

I liked some of his blues playing from up until the early Rumours tour. He's definitely not a purist, but he had potential.

While I really like the album and think Christine has been a bit hard on herself about that album, I can see where she would have not been thrilled about that album being reissued at that moment in time. It was really inappropriate. Christine and Fleetwood Mac were moving away from their pasts, away from living on their past glories. Especially after having HAD to do it in 1974 just to be able to re-estabilsh themselves as the REAL Fleetwood Mac.

Agree. Her vocals improved very quickly in the early days. I wonder if it was just a matter of gaining confidence in herself as a vocalist, or did she "learn" to sing? Has an interviewer ever asked Christine about this?

I'd agree SteveMacD... he was ok in Get Like You Used To Be 1975... but when I heard Rick Vito play after LB... I got more of the genre in his sound than LB...

I think Christine's vocals with Chicken Shack (both albums) were consistently excellent as blues. The vocals on her first solo album are a little less assured, still interesting but more transitional...Let Me Go is one of those songs where her voice is just not "on."

It would take her another few years to get to the voice we know and love. Some of her vocals on those early FM live performances are shaky. By 1973-74 she was in top form.

I think she said that her voice improved with practice. In the beginning, her vocals on the Chicken Shack albums & the early Fleetwood Mac records were OK. But her live vocals were pretty bad, especially the Madison Blues release. If you listen to the early live bootleg recordings, they gradually improved with each year. By 1973, they were excellent.

Exactly, MacFan, though I must say her live-in-studio version of Crazy 'Bout You Baby (from Madison Blues) is fantastic.

I've always thought "No Road is the Right Road" and the souped-up arrangement of "I'm On My Way" should have been re-recorded on one of those 71-74 Mac albums.

What is my favorite live vocal by Christine?

"Songbird" & "Oh Daddy" from Osaka 12.4.77.

Oh! That would have been fabulous. What a shame it didn't happen.