Unsure which Forum, so....
 

I've always been a Fleetwood Mac fan. Stevie Nicks is my fave, solo or with the Mac. I've always thought LB was a diva to the max...didn't bother with his music after Out of the Cradle, and was very picky even then.
After going back thru some of the old threads I got interested so I went back to have a listen...OMG! Some of his stuff is just too frantic for me, my brain is frantic enough! But the rest is amazing...some of the most beautiful guitar work I've EVER heard. And, if you know the story like most true fans, hell, everybody then some of the songs will break your heart. End of time...geez...so f***ing sad! And so beautiful... After going back thru it all, I'm thinking he's done some growing to be sure.;)

Well, first off, Lindsey (as well as Stevie and Mick) is a diva sometimes ;) but he's also a really great guy, and an intelligent guy with more talent than any one man should have! His music isn't one dimensional and so it doesn't surprise me that you can't listen at all to some of it, and find other songs of his to be stellar. Even us Buckheads have stuff of his we can't listen to. But everything he does he does with all his heart, and what I really love is how honest he is in his lyrics and performance. He's not afraid to bare himself. You mentioned End of Time. Gone Too Far is another from Seeds We sow that almost brings me to tears. I didn't care for it at first. It seemed too generic. But then the lyrics hit me and it started to grow on me. His songs can be like that. I like too, how he often has such upbeat, pop melodies, but then you listen to the lyrics and think, my god, is he okay? He really is as underappreciated in his lyrics as he is in his guitar playing, and I think even he doesn't get that he's actually an amazing lyricist. He writes himself off as a stylist, which, yeah, he is. But his lyrics are by no means second rate. Far from it. I'm glad you gave him another chance :) Keep digging and I'm sure you'll find plenty more to love. That goes for his guitar too. Yes, some of it is frantic, but then some of it is just gorgeous. Some is jaw-dropping. And btw, I hope you don't write off his personality either. His diva side actually rarely comes out any more, lol ;) and while his fans love his music, and his playing (and his singing, for that matter!), we adore the man himself, because he's good to us, and because he's endlessly fascinating.

Very cool what you wrote...and lovely what a family and especially 2 little girls can do to a man. Who would ever have thought this year could happen, because as staged as it is, it is also different in a good and noticible way!

wow what a beautiful and welcoming post Lindsfan!

while family is probably responsible for a lot or maybe even most of Lindsey's current peacefulness and happiness i think we shouldn't necessarily jump to conclusions such as "especially 2 little girls". you said you are SN fan first, and i've noticed that many of her fans take as done deal a lot of the stuff she says, even though she usually seems to say one thing and a year later something completely opposite... i know she said something about girls softening him up and that's probably where your stating this particular conclusion as a done deal comes from. but she also said "he never smiles" which is utter nonsense as anybody who has met Lindsey in the last 2 years or has been to an FM show in the last 3 months knows :laugh:.

i think Lindsey has worked hard on being the man he is today, and it's not by chance that he never leaves out "the importance and power of change" when introducing BL. family, stability, shrinkage (that we all assume he has had a lot of), living more or less normal life (for a celebrity millionaire ;)), going places, walking around towns, enjoying life, meeting people, and collecting new experiences appear to all be what contributed and are a part of who he is today. i loved what Louie wrote in another thread:

I like to joke about her inconsistencies, but that doesn't mean she's never honest or never gives insight. I think she's being totally honest about Lindsey getting softened by his daughters. You have to know usually when she says things that are just not true she is either exaggerating, making a point, or being sarcastic or humorous. Obviously, she knows its not true that he never smiles. She may have been making a dig at him for not smiling at her. Lol.

sure. she is stating her honest opinion, at the specific moment. and some fans take it as a definitive and indisputable truth. :D

i guess my point is, and you said the same thing especially in parts i bolded, don't necessarily think that everything guy's ex and on/off bandmate says about him is uncolored and unbiased. like, i would not form any definitive opinions about Lennon from what McCartney says about him... does that make sense?

EDIT: and, just for some good measure, i wouldn't take everything LB says as a definitive and indisputable truth either. :)

Absolutely. I think we can sometimes forget the Stevie is really just a person, and most people say things one day, then a completely different thing another day. The difference is their threads of thought aren't scrutinized over and over by thousands of fans.

I'm a little interested in how Stevie fans sometimes express an initial dislike of Lindsey for his "diva-ness". When there's absolutely no way any fan could be unaware of Stevie having that identical quality in equal amount. I was probably guilty of it at one time too. Is it just a trait we find more abrasive when it's in a man and easier to accept (and perhaps even expect) in a woman? Just thoughts, here. Don't mind me. I just find it odd when people use "diva" to describe only certain members of FM in a negative way. They're really all a bunch of divas, aren't they? ;)

And yes, wonderful post, Desiree! Welcome to the world of Lindsey goodness. :) I don't listen to him as much as I feel like I probably should, but his talent and dynamics are undeniable.


ETA: I need to mention how great it is that Lindsey is doing so well artistically these days. Sad though it is, it often seems that marriage + children marks the death of a successful creative career in music (see Tori Amos), but it just seems to have set Lindsey on fire, and I think that's wonderful.

True and I think he's always been an amazing lyricist. He just may not have started off doing it as consistently as he does today. I think SYW was the first time I saw such a solidity of words and message, in so many songs, but certainly I've admired his very original use of words and phrases since practically BN. Or maybe BN didn't stand out on its own, but once I had a body of his lyrics to go on and paired the words in DLMDA with the words in SHN, they began to tell me a story and I've been following the Lindsey word tapestry ever since.

So many times I will not particularly like a song (SMAP, WATL) but his words wrap around my heart anyway.

So, I think I heard Miranda and felt, "Top to bottom, this guy is writing poetry." And that may have been the first time I thought about the lyrics as a whole song, but I never felt, "Whoa. He has sure grown and changed and has come so far." That aspect of Lindsey has always been there. Not everything you are is always on display at full blast at any given time. Michele

Yes to all of that, Elle! He has made a very concscious effort to be a better and happier man. Also, I think he'd be the same today if he had three boys, instead of two girls and a boy, though daughters do tend to bring out the soft side of a father a bit more, I suppose :shrug: but children in general will do that. I also think Kristen has to get some credit for giving him stability and relative normalcy in his life away from the spotlight. They've been together a long time now, so it's probably safe to say they're doing something right!

Yes, it's not really anything new. He's been putting out deep and thoughtful lyrics for a long time. OOTC is full of crazy good stuff! SYW and SWS are wonderful examples, but it's not like he suddenly took a lyrics pill, to paraphrase Stevie (though I know she meant it as a compliment).

I love how you said that...his lyrics wrap around your heart. They totally do! And WATL is a perfect example. In the past, when I've said I don't care for it, I'm talking about the music, not the lyrics. In fact, pretty much everything of his that I don't care for, it's about the music...not the lyrics. WATL is amazing, and SMAP? SMAP is sublime. Don't even get me started. Both are sooo personal. I can't even imagine sharing that much with strangers, or with loved ones, either! He lays it all out there, and that vulnerability is part of his charm.

You know, Elle...I don't know what SN said about LB's kids, I'm going on personal experience. And, Lindsfan, 3 boys would change the whole game, I know of what I speak! Of course little girls, and boys for that matter, change a man when they're his...

Which is why I tried to qualify my statement, saying kids in general, can change a man. But, yeah, three boys would be different for sure, and I LOVE the thought of Lindsey sitting at a tiny table for a tea party, or lending voices to dolls and stuffed animals. Makes me think of that beautiful picture of Lindsey and Leelee, years ago, and what Kristen said about Leelee doing Linds's hair for him. GAAHHH!!

I love the dvd where Lindsey is holding LeeLee in her jammies. Well, the kids make me a sucker for Bass Hall anyway. First of all, I love LeeLee and Will in Dad's recording studio. I like the ending with Will on the roof and I love the scene where Stella is talking on the phone (fake talking just like her father) and Kristen motions for him to record it.

Funny thing is, that dvd did not come out that long ago, but I recently gave a toddler a phone like that and she hardly knew what to do with it. Of course, she does everything she wants to do with my cell phone, but I guess you can count on one hand the times she's seen a corded landline, with a base and receiver. Michele