DISCUSSION: Lindsey's songs from the 1975 Fleetwood Mac album
 

Week 2 begins with Lindsey's songs from the 1975 album. Songs up for discussion...:]

1. Blue Letter
2. Crystal
3. I'm So Afraid
4. Monday Morning
5. World Turning

I realize that Stevie wrote "Crystal" but since Lindsey is lead vocalist on it, I feel it is up for discussion in this contest. "World Turning" is a collaboration between Christine and Lindsey; his contributions to the song can be discussed here.

What do you think of these songs?
Also check out the sticky thread here on the Rumours forum for updates on the countdown. I will update the first post every weekend. :D

I love ALL of those songs. But my favorites are Blue Letter & Im So Afraid. Especialllly, Im So Afraid! Thats the one song where my whole world stops and i must block everything out so i can hear the gutair. (did i spell that wrong?) lol. :blob2:

1. Blue Letter- Good song, a litte catchy fun, even though he didn't write it. Like the live version with Mick's random drum solo, but even then, it's just some fun fluff
2. Crystal- I generally prefer the Buckingham Nicks version over the White Album version, but it's better than Stevie's version
3. I'm So Afraid- If we're talking live, hell's yeah, that my fave from this album. The guitar solo, though long, is killer. The album version is good too and solidifies him as being the master of pain and suffering 9and fingerstyle guitar) in rock
4. Monday Morning- A nice opener to the album, again some fun fluff
5. World Turning- Probably #2 for me on this album and probably his best collaboration with Christine

i think songs should be ordered by tracklisting rather than alphabet. :shrug:

1. Blue Letter - I always wondered if this was Lindsey/Christine or Lindsey/Stevie. But lately I hear it as a Lindsey/Stevie duet. It's wonderful, of course. Returning to it could boost their country cred, but I Don't Want to Know surpasses it in every way. Should this be Lindsey or odds-and-ends?
2. Crystal - Again, controversial for me to put this in Lindsey rather than Stevie, but it also says so much that the song is best executed by soulmate.
3. I'm So Afraid - Essential to the Mac, Lindsey, and this album. Sugar Daddy would have made a dynamite closer for a POP album, but this song announces deeper art intentions. It's an ambitious song that succeeds.
4. Monday Morning - My second favorite track on the album and Lindsey's best on the record. Wow! What an opener for the new Mac, for the Lindsey/Stevie mythos! The perfect ROCK update of Mamas and the Papas. The complicated romantic/heartbreaking/mature lyrics.
5. World Turning - It's not my favorite thing and I always feel like I want it cut from the setlist, yet whenever it's playing or whenever I'm seeing it performed live: it's awesome.

Crystal! This has to be one of the most beautiful songs ever, and this version is my favorite.

Blue Letter-Great song, got burnt out on it very quickly though.

I'm So Afraid-Just like SYLM, this song is Fleetwood Mac

Monday Morning-Always jolts me if I have the Ipod on shuffle or just listening to the 75/Very Best of albums. Again, great song that grew on me.

I think I'm So Afraid is perhaps Lindsey's strongest Mac contribution of all time. I love the studio version, it's darkly sultry. It seems the rather stripped down bare bones aspect of the album cut is perhaps a foreshadowing at Lindsey's future sensibilities. The song turns into a rabid animal live... I love how completely different the energy is onstage.

World Turning was the beginning of a beautiful duet collaboration with Christine that would last through both their tenures in Fleetwood Mac. I love the energy these two have when they work together... they seem to one up their respective games.

Crystal... I've never understood why Lindsey recorded this song vs Stevie. It's such a stereotypical Stevie song, with stereotypical Stevie sentiments and lyrics. It's just so feminine. And Stevie is relegated to only 2 songs: Landslide and Rhiannon. Never been a big fan of Lindsey doing this one.

Blue Letter: yawn. It's romping and upbeat, but it's still pop fluff, and Lindsey didn't write it. As prolific of a writer as Lindsey is, I've never understood why he recorded other people's music for his big musical breakthrough.

Monday Morning: It just baffles me how Lindsey can write such substantive songs like I'm So Afraid, and then write rather banal songs like this one, too. It's a cute enough little song, a good album opener, very radio friendly (and sounds great through radio transmission, I might add), but it just seems like Lindsey could have brought more to the table for this album. Perhaps he was playing it safe and getting his footing before he blossomed and showed his true self? :shrug:

I debated between by track listing vs. alphabetically. :rolleyes: Maybe for the next one I'll do it by track listing. :lol:

I completely agree...plus it would be kinda unfair to put "Crystal" in with "Rhiannon" and "Landslide" - I mean "Crystal" would be a slaughtered pig up against those two mammoths!! :laugh:

I really think Crystal should be a Stevie song. Without her we wouldn't have had Crystal. She wrote it. But either way, I still really love this song so much. It's beautiful. And Christine adds that beautiful ending that was missing on the BN version. Great to listen to that with headphones on.

Monday Morning - what a fun opener! Love the BN harmonies.

Blue Letter - I like this song live better...it's a good song, but the studio version kinda lacks some passion after awhile. I really like the live versions of this when Stevie and Lindsey proclaim and scream that they're not waiting! There is a live version of this song I've heard where Stevie sings "I ain't waiting" but it sounds like "I hate waiting" which I like a lot more. And Mick is crazy on the drums here.

I'm So Afraid - This is a song that I'm really happy to have in the Fleetwood Mac catalog because it's not a powerful song. Shows the new band wasn't all about poppy fluff.

I agree with track listing order. And I wouldn't be so sure about Crystal losing. Landslide is timeless and Rhiannon is sexy and mysterious, but they've both been played to death. Plus, IMO, these 2 tracks both sound much better when played live, especially Rhiannon. We are voting on studio versions. Crystal is beautiful and I think has a solid chance of winning in a Stevie poll.

I'm also afraid it would win in a Lindsey poll if we put in there - and that would kinda stink cause it's not really Lindsey's song. And remember, Stevie is on the vocal for the track as well.

Blue Letter - I've always had a soft spot for this and just feel compelled to sing along every time I hear it. :laugh: My favorite part of the song, however, is John's bass. I enjoy it live, too.

World Turning - As discussed in the Christine thread, I love this, as I love all McBuck collaborations.

Monday Morning - A fun, upbeat song, and a great opener....but fluff.

I'm so Afraid - I adore the song live. I dislike his album vocal, but I think everything else about it is fantastic: "Agony's torn at my heart too long..."

Crystal - While I think this may be the best pure love song Stevie ever wrote, I actually enjoy Lindsey doing the vocal. I slightly prefer the BN version. Good taste, John. ;)

Buckingham's "White Album" songs--all 2.5 of them--are okay but unexceptional when compared with the rest of his Mac songs. Monday Morning is bouncy and pleasant--but that's all. Burnette's first Mac songs on Behind the Mask were equal-to, if not better than this. I'm So Afraid is much better. The instrumental track is sublime. His vocals seem tentative, even strained.

His voice on Blue Letter is excellent. The World Turning collaboration represents his finest work on the record. Nicks's Crystal has an exceptional backing track (love the organ) and a fine vocal, though I wish Buckingham-Nicks sang this together as opposed to her stepping back.

In the words of Janeanne Garofalo,"and the mugger said, what???"

Every one of Lindsey's songs on this album are enjoyable. Fluff or not, Monday Morning and Blue Letter are completely fun and get me dancing and singing. As I said in the other thread, World Turning is my favorite collaboration between Christine/Lindsey. I'm So Afraid is among my favorite of Lindsey's songs, but the album version lacks the powerful vocals that the live versions have.

I don't really know where Crystal is ultimately going to go for the voting, but I love it no matter who sings it. Much like I'm So Afraid, I find the album versions of Landslide and Rhiannon to be lifeless compared to live versions, so I don't think Crystal would automatically be out of the run if it were in Stevie's category.

This is the first FM record I owned so to me for years this seemed like a begining album or square one. Of course as years have gone on it seems to me more of a hodge podge (sp) album than any of the others until Tango.
When i pick this album up I hear an album, that from a Christine end is much more like Heros or Mystery to Me. When it's a lindsey song it seems very very Buckingham Nicks (for obvious reasons). To me the only song on the entire album that seems like a progressive step is probably Rhiannon.

Now on to Lindsey...I have trouble calling Crystal a LB song so I'll pass on that.

I'm so Afraid= LB's best classic rock song with no real pop influcence he ever wrote. As good today as it was then. If FM had been more of a rock band this would've been a bigger staple than already was, as a pop band it gets lost. It's songs like this that make you just go wow at LB, he can write rock songs, pop songs, new wave, etc. All like he's focused his whole life on each.

MM....classic Buckingham Nicks sound, I really do think the next BN album would've hit close to a million copies because of songs like this.

WT...never has been a top tier song to me, more of a jam filler...but even thier jam fillers get your feet tapping, and singing.

BL...again a solid BN type of contribution.

It's clear now when you listen to this album none of the three really have the knack yet of writing with everyone in mind. LB and SN have it down, and it's clear that LB and CM have great vocal chemistry. But it's not till Rumour where all three match up. This is an album of three strong song writers, and 5 strong mucisians, but they are not quite a band yet until the tour ends in my opinion.

Fascinating. I wish THAT question would be asked of the three songwriters when they are interviewed. Do you construct Mac songs with the roles for the others in mind? If so, how so?