Quote:
Originally Posted by michelej1
I agree about Can't Go Back. Those acoustic flicks, the echoing arrangement, the great vocals that weave around the song's message, expressing everything elusive and distant. When the way those 3 sing together leaves one with a sense that they're falling away, it makes for a very emotional experience (as it also did in Hold Me). This song offers a Beatles' melody, combined with some of LB's best lyrics.
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Yes, yes. I got to thinking about the ostinato that anchors the whole thing musically: in the treble register you hear this repeated motive of the thirds. It's an example of true ostinato, & it carries weight equally with the work the singer is performing. I guess it's actually a double or dual ostinato, if you count the thirds as one (played on keyboards) & the descending single-note pattern (played on guitar).
It's not terrifically complex -- or even complex at all -- but it shows very well how Lindsey thinks in terms of gluing motives together to create an arrangement around his lyrics & chords. Stevie doesn't think that way. Lindsey used to say that Stevie made her words & vocal melody central to her songs. It's not that she makes them central; it's that she makes them totally exclusive. That's all there is in a Stevie Nicks song (before an arranger gets to it). She doesn't construct the track part by part. She doesn't paint that canvas. Consequently, if she doesn't put a terrific vocal on a track of hers, or write some terrific lyrics, there's nothing left. If Lindsey doesn't do a good vocal or lyric, chances are still good there'll be something else to listen to in the track because he has built other things in.
If Stevie had sung "Gypsy" crappily or written crappy words, we could still enjoy the 5-tone scale motive Lindsey built into it. It's craftsmanlike. It displays musical thinking rather than (or in addition to) verbal thinking. It's what pop music is for, as far as I'm concerned. It's what the Beatles & George Martin excelled at.