[cbBen]

No I haven't, but don't get me wrong. I LOVE Lindsey. I have all his solo albums and with the exception of the second one like them all.

I went to his solo shows and was blown away. I admire him tremendously as a writer and as a producer. Little Lies is one of the greatest productions of the eighties. No one else produces like he does. He is the band leader and has a legacy that will last an eternity. Plus he is probably one of the ten or twenty best guitar players ever.

But I think the way Lindsey *fails* to smile for the camera is unnatural. We're not talking about candid shots. Candid shots are a different story.

Lindsey is always trying to create a dark mood of some sort. As is the rest of the band -- look at the photos on their website. These are posed photos and are so gloomy.

If you look at Petty & The Heartbreakers they aren't smiling unnaturally -- they're really happy.

Lindsey wants to get his way, but he uses cheap tricks and does not have the best sensibilities to boot. The best song on Say You Will is Steal Your Heart Away.

As I say he is the master of the false dilemma. It's either do it my way or you're playing it safe and stifling creativity. Red Rover and Come are not giant leaps forward. Steal Your Heart Away is a giant leap forward. But he needn't have spent ten years producing it. The live version from the Soundstage DVD is better than the studio version that took a decade and a half a dozen overdubs to produce.

If he would just get out of his own way and embrace Stevie for her strengths rather than try to compete with her you might have a really great band, rather than a couple solo artists sharing a rhythm section and a band name.


P.S. Lindsey also tends to carry a victim mentality. The "faceless corporate record industry" is always working against him. He is lucky that, thanks to Fleetwood Mac, he will always have a platform for his music. But instead of recognizing this good fortune, he is always complaining. Did you see that documentary called "It's Not Too Late" about the shopping of Under The Skin? Why wasn't Lindsey himself at those meetings instead of waiting at home for the record companies to "do the right thing"? Doesn't he realize they have all the right in the world to pass on his record?

And he quit after just a half a dozen or so rejections, because his ego couldn't take it anymore. That's not how one shops a record. Even the greatest records can take thirty rejections before getting an offer. Many great records get no offers at all. Warners was at least up front with him that they were not going to offer a big promotion push or tour support. That was very forthcoming of them and demonstrated a lot of integrity. They wouldn't have released it at all if it weren't for his name value.