Say You Will as a Stevie Solo Album ~ Works?
 

I know there's been lots of discussion about Stevie's songs on Say You Will. See, to me, it's not a Fleetwood Mac album, but two solo albums featuring the same musical performers. Anyway, agree or not, that's the purpose of this thread, to discuss Stevie's Say You Will songs as a single piece of solo work.

Therefore, we get a 7th solo album from Stevie by 2003. Going by Trouble In Shangri-la's lead, Stevie has two songs from the 1970s ("Goodbye Baby", "Smile At You"), one from the 1980s ("Running Through The Garden"), four from the 1990s ("Not Make Believe", "Sweet Girl", "Thrown Down", "Everybody Finds Out") and four from the 200os ("Illume", "Say You Will", "Silver Girl", "Destiny Rules"). A nice mix from Stevie's career. BTW, ignore the slight crowd noise on "Sweet Girl" and accept it.

Here's a listing I've done for it, but I'd like to know how others have done it!

1. Say You Will
2. Illume
3. Smile At You
4. Running Through The Garden
5. Not Make Believe
6. Sweet Girl
7. Thrown Down
8. Silver Girl
9. Everybody Finds Out
10. Destiny Rules
11. Goodbye Baby

I think that would be quite good. It certainly hangs together & creates a more unified atmosphere & emotional palette.

It's Lindsey's material that largely disrupts it -- & not in the quirky, amusing way that we hear on Tusk. If Murrow & Come are jokes, they're terribly unfunny jokes. (In that sense, they remind me of That's How We Do It in L.A.)

Still, even creating a Nicks solo album out of her songs doesn't solve the whole problem. The entire Mark Needham contingent at the engineering board would have to be eliminated. They brought in nothing but Worst Practices & cauliflower ears.

See my blog for more examples of my Barzunesque writing.

I would combine TISL and Say You Will into one good rock record

1.TISL
2. Candlebright
3. Sorcerer
4. Planets
5. Say You Will
6. Everyday
7. Illume
8. Thrown Down
9. Destiny Rules
10. Smile at You
11. I Miss You Now
12. Everybody Finds Out

I don't think I could see this as a solo album. I think it's just because I am so used to seeing it with Fleetwood Mac that I couldn't imagine it as a solo album. I mean, I love all the songs. But they would sound differently without the Mac, and I like them how they are :D

To me, there's a difference in her solo work and her Fleetwood Mac work, thematically, in what I hear.

Maybe I'm just weird? Does anyone else agree with the difference between the two?

I think thematically Stevie's songs actually go together better on SYW than they would as a solo presentation.

Jondalar, your mix of TISL and SYW songs works better. Then again, once it won me over, I found TISL pretty perfect just as it is. I probably wouldn' t drop more than 2 songs from it. So, I don't have any ideas for playing with that too much.

Michele

I always have... and that's precisely why I've always been a Fleetwood Mac fan first and foremost. Good portions of Stevie's solo career are hard for me to stomach. Her sound is so much more classic in the Mac... whereas it's very poppy and 'of the moment' with her solo work.

I completely agree. SYW is a Lindsey solo album, and a Stevie solo album smushed together. Here is my Stevie solo version. I call it "Illume":

1. My Heart
2. Illume
3. Thrown Down (wall of sound mix)
4. Say You Will
5. If You Ever Did Believe
6. Crysal
7. Smile At You
8. Running Through The Garden
9. Silver Girl
10. Not Make Believe
11. Everybody Finds Out
12. Destiny Rules
13. Goodbye Baby

I don't see how SYW differs from the majority of FM albums in the sense of feeling "disconnected" - besides Christine being absent. Only the first two Mac albums gave off a true ensemble feel or were true band projects. I would like it if they could present an album to us in that way again, but I'm totally fine with getting the Stevie and/or Lindsey harmonies on the other's songs and the band playing on the songs in the same way they did with Tusk, Mirage, Tango, and Say You Will.

If you present Stevie's SYW songs as a solo album then you remove Lindsey, Mick and John and the songs would lose something vital, in my opinion.

Stevie on SYW was her best effort since Tusk, I think. Really engaging songs sung and produced in a way that really compels. Restored my faith after TISL. Of course since then we've had an 8-year drought.

Great to hear differing opinions!

BTW, I'm not saying for Stevie to re-record the 11 songs. Just slap all 11 on a CD and ask: does it work as an album? That's all.

For me, it does.

On the "Smile At You" thread, mitzo mentions Stevie's "Creepy" vocals on that song as very enticing. Well, I have to add Stevie's vocals on "Goodbye Baby" as totally creepy, in a good way! So bizarre, they sound like leftover vocals from a Rock A Little discarded track, all trembly and breathy. Also, Stevie really doesn't sing along with the music. I mean, I find it hard to sing along with her. I just sit and listen, entranced.

I also think Stevie translated the song well in the 2003-2004 concerts, keeping the "creepiness" intact.

Oh, if you can keep LB's harmonies I'm cool with that! :D

Love it, but I say put the demo version of Sweet Girl on there. No crowd noise, and I always felt the demo was much better than the live version :) I also think My Heart should be in there somewhere, perhaps between EFO and DR.

Ooh, but I loooovvvvvve when Stevie wails/growls:

"Weeelllllllllllllllllllll, come down here for a minute..." on the Live version!!!

Otherwise, yes, the demo is far superiour!

Hey Mike,

I too made my own CD (play list) back when the CD came out. Without analyzing every single detail as to why or why these songs wouldn't work as a Stevie solo album, here is my order.

STEVIE NICKS / DESTINY RULES
Thrown Down (Wall of Sound Mix)
Everybody Finds Out
Twisted (with Lindsey Buckingham)
Illume
Not Make Believe
Say You Will (Single Remix Fade)
Running Through The Garden
Smile At You
Silver Girl
Sweet Girl
Destiny Rules
Goodbye Baby
-
Thrown Down
Say You Will (Live @ AOL Sessions)

I didn't necessarily like having the titles Silver Girl and Sweet Girl back to back but I've always based the running order on how good the flow is. I thought about switching Twisted and Sweet Girl but I didn't like it, the order above is how I've listened to these songs all these years. It also makes the ones that I don’t care for as much a bit more listenable. I even had someone (and I'm blanking on who did these for me) create some artwork. Also, while I do prefer the version of “Thrown Down” that is on SYW, I like the intro to the “Wall Of Sound Mix” and thought it was a good opening track. I also prefer the single remix cold ending of SYW as opposed to the fade but the cold ending I would have made the single release. There is a method here.
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For me the reason it lacks Mac-ificity is that we don't hear each of them on the other's songs as much as we should. This is especially problematic on the Lindsey songs - at least on the Stevie songs, we hear Lindsey's recognizable guitar playing. But on a song like Murrow (which I like), for one example, Stevie needs to be heard in the chorus if it's a Mac album. JMO

- Jake