Quote:
Originally Posted by aleuzzi
SYW is a substantial album. It has ideas. WhatÂ’s good is very very good. But about 1/3 of it sinks under its weight.
Even the greatest moments on SYW leave me a bit chilled. For all of their supposed “chemistry” LB’s and Stevie’s songs on the album do not hang together all that well. As a listener, I find a lot of it interesting and even innovative—but it lacks earth, and it lacks heart. By contrast, Christine’s IN THE MEANTIME has so much heart, is so genuine and honest. No pretense or posturing…No calculation.
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If I were to get rid of a third of the album, I would probably end up with this as a running order.
Everybody Finds Out
What's the world coming to
Smile at you
Bleed to love her
Thrown Down
Steal your heart away
Say you will
Miranda
Destiny Rules
Peacekeeper
Goodbye Baby
Say Goodbye
I like the punchy, attention-grabbing opening of EFO (John's bass is great, as it is on SAY) although it's a shame the music wasn't written by Stevie; this tracklist also gets rid of LB songs on which Nicks doesn't really feature and it reins in Lindsey's weirdness (Miranda is his most edgy contribution that remains, IMO). It also has Christine's two archival contributions early on which means she's less buried in the saggy middle. It does remind us of her absence, though. I do find the album as it is a bit of an endurance test. Perhaps this suggestion is a bit more cohesive.
DR and
Peacekeeper have a gloomy edge that twins them together. I like the jaunty sadness of
Say Goodbye (think
You and I part 2) so much that I want it to be the last thing I hear of the experience- it would be a counterbalance to giving the lead-off to Stevie for the first time.
It's not exactly
Rumours 2, but maybe it's
Tango 1.5.
Would it have made much difference in terms of reception and sales? Probably not. But the six excised songs could have featured in a follow-up Mac album, an EP or perhaps more appropriately on solo offerings.
[Edit] Hmm. I've just listened to my reduced SYW. I really rather liked it.