[redtulip]

Originally Posted by RockawayBlind

LOL, this is an amusing thread. As a long-time FM fan, I see some things don't change. What has changed is the band's quality. I am sorry to say that even Lindsey's new stuff is rather dull, judging from the EP. Stevie has been phoning it in for three decades, so now she doesn't even pick up the phone anymore.

Both of these reviewers seem to hit some hard truths: One says Stevie is croaky and Lindsey steals the show. No surprise there. The other says the set list is rusty and uninspired. Again, no surprise.

What cracks me up is that people still take sides between Lindsey and Stevie, and a lot of the same old arguments come up. Both sides make good points. But the reality is neither Lindsey nor Stevie are stellar right now. Sure, Lindsey rips it up on stage, and Stevie still has a lot of the old witchy charm. But the band is stale, end of story.

On and by the way, I'll agree with the first reviewer about Lindsey's One Man Show. I didn't go to any shows, but what I heard and saw on YouTube struck me as way off. Lindsey missed the target by a wide mile on that one. What he should have done was leave the backing vocals, cheesy backing tracks and about two thirds of his guitars behind. Then take a guitar and stand -- or sit! -- in front of the mic and do quiet, introspective versions of old songs and play some new stuff.

But even Lindsey admittedly is flawed. SWS was tremendous, but the EP is lackluster, and the OMS was just him doing by himself what four guys generally have done. (Who cares? I've seen solo performers with a looper put on more interesting performances.)

As for IYD, yes, it was a good album. Better than anything Stevie has done since The Wild Heart, in my view. But the reason it got such a positive response was because most of everything else in between has been crap. So in comparison, good seems great. IYD isn't great, but it's damn good.

I wouldn't go by the youtube videos for OMS. I really do think it's so much better in person. I loved it. The backing tracks were only on 4 songs and I actually liked them a lot on two (Come and ISA), and didn't even notice them on one of the songs (Stephanie). If you had gone to the show and didn't like it, fine. But unless you've experienced it in person, I don't know how you can really draw a conclusion on what the shows were like. I love the intimate atmosphere and really grew to appreciate many of those songs in a way I never had before.