Say You Will v.2
So it's been 4 months since we all got our sweaty paws on the new album.
a lot of the reviews talked about how it was too long and maybe a little bloated. other reviews mentioned the sequencing and wondered if it could have been ordered differently.
I love the album but I have to admit - it is too long and with the help of a cd burner, I found a way to make Say You Will a much better record.
Here's what I did. I experimented with re-ordering the tracks alternating the Lindsey Tracks with the Stevie tracks so that they played as every other, etc. through to the end. This was great - although not what I ultimately ended up with.
Here's my final personal copy:
What's The World Coming To
Murrow
Illume
Miranda
Thrown Down
Red Rover
Destiny Rules
Peacekeeper
Say You Will
Come
Smile At You
Bleed To Love Her
Sorcerer
Steal Your Heart Away
Everybody Finds Out
Love Minues Zero
Say Goodbye
It's Only Love
The "bloat" for me on this album were the three Stevie songs: Running Through The Garden (the 80's production and the histrionic "turn around" make it insufferable for me), Silver Girl (nicely produced, awful lyrics - this one sounds like it was put together lyrically - in about 15 minutes), Goodbye Baby - (I know lots of people love this but I find that it falls into the Stevie category - of "everything you do has been done" kind of song). Not good songwriting craft and on the heels of Lindsey's masterpiece Say Goodbye - I say, Why Bother?
So - there's my favorite version of this great Fleetwood Mac record. I threw in a few Stevie tracks from TISL because I think her work on that record as a whole was much stronger than her songs on Say You Will (with the exception of Thrown Down and Illume). I almost wish she had saved those songs for Fleetwood Mac. If I were a reviewer I'd finish by saying that Lindsey Buckingham continues to grow as an artist by leaps and bounds. With the exception of Illume, which musically is one of the strongest tracks of her career, and Thrown Down, Stevie Nicks is almost "coasting" on the success of her earlier work. Lucky for her, she's a much stronger singer than any other woman rocker - and any of the younger women that have been influenced by her. That alone legitimizes her contributions on this big challenging Fleetwood Mac record - quite possibly the most interesting release of 2003.
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