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It isn’t just any guitar in there! It’s Lindsey Buckingham’s guitar! You think there’s that much production in “Landslide”? It’s always been a “simple” acoustic track. There’s nothing of significance lost in concert. I do think it’s one of Stevie’s best written songs (and obviously so do those who have covered it) but a lot of the fascination comes from Lindsey’s playing and what notes from the chords he emphasizes.
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"Landslide" examplifies the Buckingham/Nicks ideal. A great song with compelling lyrics and melody
arranged by a great guitarist. Top it off with one of Stevie's best vocal deliveries and you have pop perfection. But you certainly cannot discount Lindsey's contribution to this song. Were it a leftover used in Bella Donna or The Wild Heart, it most likely would have gotten a completely different treatment. I credit Lindsey's genius with keeping this a simple, sparsely arranged folk pop ditty. There is beauty in simplicity.
The beauty of Bella Donna and The Wild Heart is that Stevie was allowed to be Stevie to a greater extent than she had been allowed to before. And it worked While we can have academic discussions about whether certain songs would have been better or worse had Lindsey arranged them, it becomes moot when you consider how truly good those albums are. Sure there are some self-indulgent moments, but let's face it, Stevie had not been allowed any self-indulgence on record until she went solo, while one could certainly make the argument that Lindsey had done so quite extensively on Tusk, with what I consider to be stellar results.
But after The Wild Heart, one gets the sense that Stevie had become such a big star that the people around her in the studio became timid about editing and producing her. Her self-indulgence became unchecked, and therefore a huge problem. Jimmy Iovine pretty much laid down the law for Bella Donna, but by Rock a Little it looks as if she's getting away with some truly bad ideas. It got worse later.
Sometimes success becomes your biggest problem. Lindsey fully realizes this, which is why his solo records are what they are. But I think he wants his cake and eat it too. He wants to have the creativity and envelope-pushing abilities
and the commercial success. Which, I believe, is why SYW is somewhat disjointed. There's some capitulation to commercial interests very evident in that album, whereas in Out of the Cradle, while a lot of the stuff is "poppy," I wouldn't necessarily say it is poppy in a commercial way.