GOS first single?
 

in the light of discussions of what song should have been the first single from GOS, with several people having very definitive but completely opposite opinions, i thought i'd create a poll...

in your opinion, which song should've been the first single from 2008 GOS?

this is a multiple choice poll - please list only your 2 first choices.

it would be great if you can also indicate in the text whether you are primarily lindsey fan, mac fan, or stevie fan. i'm asking this as a very crude and inaccurate way of trying to group the votes of lindsey fans (presumably somewhat more indie inclined) vs primarily mac fans. this is prompted by Peestie proposing two different singles - one geared towards indie audience, and other towards audience expecting a more typical mac song.

1) Being primarily a Fleetwood Mac fan, I think that had the vocals been remixed (drier, less effects & pushed more out front in the mix) on "Right Place To Fade", I would suggest that it should've been the lead single...but, as is, no...the lyrics are pretty much unintelligible with all the effects on the vocals. If you can't make the distinction between a lyric of "Right Place To Fade" & "Twist Of Fate", there's a glaring problem with the song (as a single). Being that musically it sounds vaguely similar to "Second Hand News", which would make it have more of an immediate visceral attraction of a long-time, but generic, Fleetwood Mac fan to the song...something along the lines of: "I like it cuz it sounds like something I already know, but it is just different enough to be new".

2) For a more "indie" based audience (one that is a bit on the older side of a typical "indie" audience, though), I'd suggest "Gift Of Screws"...it has a harder edge, almost REM type sound to it. Again, a few notches up the "quirky" scale, but still fits the "sounds like something I already know".

Even though it has been said on here that Did You Miss Me doesn't convey "the edge" of the album... I don't think it should have to. It's meaningful, catchy and just a tad bit up tempo from a ballad so it work totally work as the first single. It's hypothetical because I realize it was the first single. Then follow it with Love Runs Deeper and knock 'em dead with Right Place and you got yourself a hit album with the right promotion and proper airplay. If it's a hit, hit 'em again with Underground. It's a great album and deserved better than what it got. Reprise sucks ass if your not the flavor of the time.

I don't understand the love for "Right Place To Fade".
It sounds like a bad Kingston Trio song.

Sounds like a FM song to me... from the first time I heard it.

Well Bel Air Rain is my favorite but it's not much of a single...

Best single for me would be Love Runs Deeper or RPTF. But, since I couldn't decide I went with Wait For You :D It's not as mainstreamy, but still very single worthy, and with a definite Lindsey feel.

Hard for me to say. I think Gift of Screws was the concert highlight, but I don't know if it would make a good single.

DYMM was a fine single music wise, but it had such lame lyrics and there's nothing wrong with light lyrics, if you've got hard-driving music running underneath it. The DYMM music was catchy, but not intricate. I wouldn't want casual listeners to think Lindsey was really that sing-songy shallow. Maybe it was the best one to sell records. I just don't want to reinforce the "tell me lie, tell me sweet little lies" perceptioin the world has of FM with DYMM, off the bat.

I'm not knocking Little Lies. I think it means more than it's given credit for. I'm just saying, as long as this GOS record is not going to sell anyway, I don't think we need to put the commercial foot forward first.

Michele

well, looking through results so far, my first poll here is a dismal failure!:lol::lol::(:(

the point i was hoping to prove, that people didn't like DYMM as the first single, seems to be disproven so far... plus when making a poll, i was undecided whether it should be a multiple choice or not, i made it two choices, and most people went for just one... so it seems like a complete mess now:rolleyes:

Michele - i think i completely agree with what you wrote below and that it was the point i tried to make, very non-eloquently - that if you are not expecting a commercial success, don't put forward a blah-single that does not represent the artist or the album well.

i get the point LukeA and you were making about relative non-importance of a first "single" in the time of itunes, but again, if i heard DYMM as the first thing from this supposedly legendary artist, i'd just turn away... while GOS is typical lindsey - so one can take him or leave him, but it represents him well, imo.

i think i'm confused - if you believe this, why would you vote for DYMM as the best choice for the first "single"?

I only know GOS, so i just voted for Love Runs Deeper

Because I really don't know. I'm of two minds on this and schizophrenia doesn't do well in polling. Part of me is proud that he's the guy that did the song everyone knows, Holiday Road and part of me would rather have it out of the set list, in place of something like Time Bomb Town.

Trouble makes a great first single and maybe it lured people in, but it doesn't represent Law & Order either. Maybe bait and switch is good. Or maybe it was ok 30 years ago, but doesn't serve any purpose today when we know he's not going to sell records anyway -- we didn't know that back then.

The point is, I see pros and cons with using DYMM as the first single. I can argue both sides and, because of that, I ultimately have no real conflict with the choice that was made, so I voted for the status quo, even though I could have gone the other way too.

Sorry to be indecisive and confusing, but :lol:

Oh and I suppose my second choice in the poll might have been GOS.

Michele

I still think that Wait For You would have made a great FM song. For some reason it works for their sound IMO.

You hit the nail right on the head there. Its a very low quality recording in that respect. This was one of the main concerns WBR cited back in '98 when Lindsey got all butt hurt about being asked to re-record the song (with Sarah McLachlan) as a condition of releasing GOS (as it stood) with the lavish roll out LB was expecting after he played ball with the label on "The Dance".

Played this song for my father (a casual FM fan), and 30 seconds in, he said "Second Hand News?" Definitely another problem.

There's a lot of good in "Twist of Fate", its just so muddled and nebulous that there's no way it could/should be held up as a singular (pun intended) representation of that album.

:shocked::eek:
Holy crap!!! Mark today on the calendar...one of the RARE times that Luke & I have agreed on something in the past 10-15 years!! :laugh: :wavey:

hmmmm... yeah, b/c all words are always intelligible in any hit single;) "one-winged dove"? various meatloaf stuff?