[face of glass]

I'm late with this pretentious response, since I was on a "holiday road". (Excuse the lame pun.)

Originally Posted by Johnny Stew

I just think that "SGCYM" has qualities I would expect LB fans would appreciate more, as he seems to be offering a rare glimpse into his more gentle, vulnerable side.

For me "Someone's Gotta Change Your Mind" is a piece that is in the singer-songwriter territory, in a similar way to something like "Save Me A Place" or "Street Of Dreams" (both songs I know you dislike, albeit "Street Of Dreams" and "SGCYM" both are far more convincing atmospherically than "SMAP"). It is not a typical mode for Lindsey Buckingham, it is a mode you'd expect from someone like Bob Dylan, John Lennon, or hell, even Stevie Nicks. It is a mode where the appeal is usually to be found in the intimacy of the piece, the warmth of the vocal, the introspective lyrics and such. And it is something Lindsey Buckingham has gotten himself into only a few times during his career. So no matter how much I love "SGCYM", it won't ever find its way into my biggest favourites. Lindsey Buckingham didn't come here to bare his soul in the manners that singer-songwriters do (even though he might have done it a few times), he came here to dazzle us with his instrumental colours, to emotionally show all the various sides of his personality, his heartbreak, his spiritual uplift, his happiness, his hyperactive nuttiness, his violent and depression, through his music. "SGCYM" does show us his vulnerable side, but as I said, it is shown only in the more traditional manner of the singer-songwriters. I believe his vulnerability is present in almost anything he does, but not in the same way as in "SGCYM".

Originally Posted by Miss Vicky

I fail to find anything that "speaks" to me in "Holiday Road."

To me "Holiday Road" is a deeply resonating artistic masterpiece, but then I am a person who believes that all emotions are equal to each other, and that no emotion is deeper than the other. Thus the have-fun attitude that one should immediately find in "Holiday Road" is no less deeper than the introspectiveness of "SGCYM", the male depression of "Street Of Dreams" or the violent imagery of something like "Play In The Rain" or "Murrow".

What is the message of "Holiday Road"? To me it goes as follows: "forget all your troubles, let your hair down, go out and have some fun". It's a deep universal message that anyone can identify with. But then the world we live in has made things seem so that such a message is seen as superficial and empty, whereas songs that deal with sadness, depression, longing, yearning and such, are seen as "heavy and important". To me that's a false assumption. Just because it is more difficult and less acceptable to talk about the latter than the former it is assumed that it's therefore "heavier and more important"? Bah.

Originally Posted by Miss Vicky

As for myself... does a song need to have a message for me to like it? No.
Does it need one in order to be my favorite? Absolutely.

Another thing that I personally don't approve of here is the suggestion that the only way you can find a particular message in a particular song is to look at the lyrics. But then it isn't surprising, considering that there are people on this board who consider the lyrics the "meat" of a particular song, and that the music is only "gravy". Therefore it is easy to assume that a wordier piece is deeper and that something with minimal lyrics is therefore less deep. To me the message of a particular song, no matter what it is, is conveyed through music as well, the way the whole thing is arranged and performed, the way the atmosphere of the piece is created. Lyrics are only a part of creating that overall impression. So when I speak of the message of "Holiday Road" I take into account the entire piece and choose not to just stare at the lyrics written on a piece of paper in front of me. "Holiday Road" may boast less sophisticated production than most of Lindsey's other work, but that underproduction only serves to emphasize the message of the track.

Since I believe that Lindsey Buckingham's career as a whole is a collection of diverse emotions, I also believe that "Holiday Road" plays an important part in that whole, it presents another important side of him to his listeners and serves as the necessary piece of unpretentiousness just before the release of his most pretentious album. And in the collection of diverse emotions that his career as a whole is, it is no less worthy than any other part of it.