Stevie's most criminal songs

[bangdrum]

Originally Posted by Travisevian

Would you elaborate on Affairs Of The Heart? How do you think it could be improved?

You made me dig out BTM and listen to it again.

Honestly, it sounded better this time than the last time I remembered. Stevie's vocals are very good on it... I think it's just that it's so generic sounding. You wouldn't really notice it outside the context of the album and you might not even realize it was Fleetwood Mac.

Having skimmed through the whole album, I'll add that I'm not by any means in love with Freedom, but for some reason I find it a lot more tolerable. Stevie has a subsection of songs that are TP-style, so it fits more with what you'd expect from her.

[Christopher]

Originally Posted by bangdrum

You made me dig out BTM and listen to it again.

Honestly, it sounded better this time than the last time I remembered. Stevie's vocals are very good on it... I think it's just that it's so generic sounding. You wouldn't really notice it outside the context of the album and you might not even realize it was Fleetwood Mac.

Having skimmed through the whole album, I'll add that I'm not by any means in love with Freedom, but for some reason I find it a lot more tolerable. Stevie has a subsection of songs that are TP-style, so it fits more with what you'd expect from her.

I totally agree . Behind The Mask's production is THE worst of Nicks' FM albums. As I alluded to earlier in a post on this thread, Greg Ladanyi - who also mixed these recordings, sucked the life out of these songs. And Rick Vito, Billy Burnett & Christine obviously couldn't be bothered to come up with any interesting arrangements on Stevie's songs (they barely came up with anything more exciting on their own respective songs) The band probably stuck pretty close to her demos. "poor little fool"

"Freedom" is a subsection of TP's-style because the music was written by Mike Campbell. It's basically the musical precursor to Blue Denim - very similar, but less dynamic musically. But Freedom's lyrics are killer!

[SapphireSister]

I cringe at the sound of anything from BTM. It's so unFleetwood Mac sounding that it brings tears to my eyes. The fact that all of Stevie's songs are sh*t (at least the music) compared to what could have been on there is simply a waste of album space. Did I mention that album does not even deserve to be called Fleetwood Mac? It should have been called by another band name and then "including members of Fleetwood Mac". O.k. so I feel a little strongly about this. Billy and Rick who?

Edit: On second thought, I'm glad she didn't use any of our precious demos on this album with that line-up. Could have been easily ruined so she did a smart thing by putting weak tracks on there.

[mikephxaz]

Originally Posted by J.Miller

The words laundromat and chimpanzee almost ruin Street Angel single handedly. I love you guys but don't hate on my Enchanted.

Amen. My thoughts exactly. Laundromat and chimpanzee sums up how bad street angel is....and . "oooooooooo, you're consistent and that's good" are equally bad lyrics on listen to the rain.

[rubylounge]

Originally Posted by markolas

I'm gonna go through all the albums (FM & solo) and just list the songs I can't stand:

- Nothing Ever Changes
- I Will Run to You
- When I See You Again
- Two Kinds of Love
- Desert Angel
- Sometimes it's a Bitch
- Love's a Hard Game to Play
- Unconditional Love
- Maybe Love Will Change Your Mind
- Jane
- One More Big Time Rock & Roll Star
- That Made Me Stronger
- Too Far from Texas (good song, hideous vocal)
- Not Make Believe

I could take or leave most of her SYW songs, but there aren't any I'd classify as "criminal," except for Not Make Believe. But the ones on this list, she simply never should've recorded (IMO), with the possible exception of Too Far from Texas - she should've at least tried for a better vocal.

Here are the songs I don't care for:

Cheaper Than Free
Everybody Loves You
Free Fallin’
God’s Garden
I Need to Know
I Still Miss Someone with Blue Eyes
It’s Late
Just Like a Woman
Love is Like a River
Nothing Ever Changes
Paper Doll
Reconsider Me
That Made Me Stronger
Think About It
Touched by an Angel
Unconditional Love
Whole Lotta Trouble
You May be the One

[bombaysaffires]

So funny........in the interview in the Songwriting Q&A she says that she tells Dave that Cheaper Than Free could end up being the best song either of them ever wrote.......

[bluefox4000]

Originally Posted by bombaysaffires

So funny........in the interview in the Songwriting Q&A she says that she tells Dave that Cheaper Than Free could end up being the best song either of them ever wrote.......

Ohhhhhhhh Stevie

Mick

[glamorousnymph]

To me, there's a little bit of criminality in most of the songs after Tusk, in that she got lazy with her lyrics. Look at the tight writing of the songs on the first few albums, before she started peppering her songs with random words from the Stevie Song Generator. I still love a lot of WH and RAL, TISL and IYD, but she started losing the craft of writing, editing down, and she never got it back completely. Perhaps she surrounded herself with yes people or was such a terror to work with at that time, no one wanted to tell her "Quit saying 'well' every other line and find a way to make the line work" (Springsteen started doing this little trick with "sir," though to better effect) or "Stop switching from third to first person." well, Lindsey tried that once, with Thrown Down, and we all know what her response was.

A song like Nightbird, a great song, but it starts to creep in *slightly* with the lazy rhyme "blankets that I love / surrounded by too much love." or in "Edge" "hear you, hear you, unable to hear you." Also, the Edge line don't make no damn sense.

Then we get to a later stage with non-lyrics filling out songs, like Imperial Hotel "baby whoa my baby, you have to know, you have to know" (stop for a second, think for a minute, and write a real line!) or cringe-inducing contradictions like "they say unspoken words to explain it." I know it's rock'n'roll and all, but it seems like she started to fudge some of the lines when she didn't want to write them.

Many songs started with a good idea, but instead of crafting a full set of lyrics, she put one or two good verses and used filler or repeats for the rest. Instead of someone who wrote a lot of songs, she became someone who wrote the same three songs over and over. (I wouldn't say that about her now, but there were many years like that.)

[mikephxaz]

Originally Posted by glamorousnymph

Then we get to a later stage with non-lyrics filling out songs, like Imperial Hotel "baby whoa my baby, you have to know, you have to know" (stop for a second, think for a minute, and write a real line!) or cringe-inducing contradictions like "they say unspoken words to explain it." I know it's rock'n'roll and all, but it seems like she started to fudge some of the lines when she didn't want to write them.
)

I agree with your thoughts in general but I love the simplicity of Imperial Hotel lyrics....the song reminds me of Tom Petty's Ways to be Wicked (that Lone Justice did an incredible cover of)
I wish Stevie would have covered that song but Maria McKee of Lone Justice sang the hell out of that song..Stevie couldn't touch her version..

[bombaysaffires]

Originally Posted by glamorousnymph

To me, there's a little bit of criminality in most of the songs after Tusk, in that she got lazy with her lyrics. Look at the tight writing of the songs on the first few albums, before she started peppering her songs with random words from the Stevie Song Generator. I still love a lot of WH and RAL, TISL and IYD, but she started losing the craft of writing, editing down, and she never got it back completely. Perhaps she surrounded herself with yes people or was such a terror to work with at that time, no one wanted to tell her "Quit saying 'well' every other line and find a way to make the line work" (Springsteen started doing this little trick with "sir," though to better effect) or "Stop switching from third to first person." well, Lindsey tried that once, with Thrown Down, and we all know what her response was.

A song like Nightbird, a great song, but it starts to creep in *slightly* with the lazy rhyme "blankets that I love / surrounded by too much love." or in "Edge" "hear you, hear you, unable to hear you." Also, the Edge line don't make no damn sense.

Then we get to a later stage with non-lyrics filling out songs, like Imperial Hotel "baby whoa my baby, you have to know, you have to know" (stop for a second, think for a minute, and write a real line!) or cringe-inducing contradictions like "they say unspoken words to explain it." I know it's rock'n'roll and all, but it seems like she started to fudge some of the lines when she didn't want to write them.

Many songs started with a good idea, but instead of crafting a full set of lyrics, she put one or two good verses and used filler or repeats for the rest. Instead of someone who wrote a lot of songs, she became someone who wrote the same three songs over and over. (I wouldn't say that about her now, but there were many years like that.)

well.... she reused the "diamond snake in a black sky" twice on SYW and I've lost count how many times "it broke my/her heart, broke my/her heart" on this album....

[glamorousnymph]

Originally Posted by mikephxaz

I agree with your thoughts in general but I love the simplicity of Imperial Hotel lyrics....the song reminds me of Tom Petty's Ways to be Wicked (that Lone Justice did an incredible cover of)
I wish Stevie would have covered that song but Maria McKee of Lone Justice sang the hell out of that song..Stevie couldn't touch her version..

Oh, Maria McKee... I didnt know she covered that! I love her. I'm going to check that out.

[mikephxaz]

Originally Posted by glamorousnymph

Oh, Maria McKee... I didnt know she covered that! I love her. I'm going to check that out.

yups check out Lone Justice..Ways To Be Wicked....she sings the hell out of that song....She writes and sings like a young southern Stevie

[WildHeart69]

Originally Posted by mitzo

Stevie's work to me ranks "marvellous," "who cares?" or "dreadful." the dreadfuls are all from her solo work, and include the Petty-inspired arrangement stuff like Blue Lamp, Violet and Blue, I Need to Know, OMBTRARS...

Dumb songs she shouldn't have done:

BD: I detest most of the production on this album, and have neither faves (maybe EO17, Still of the Night?) nor hate-ables (Highwayman, title track?)

WH: I Will Run to You, Enchanted.

RAL: Sister Honey, Imperial Hotel

TOSOTM: 2 Kinds of Love, Rooms on Fire, Ghosts

TS: SIAB, LAHGTP. Desert Angel is god-awful but something about the arrangements and vocals touches, it's the lyrics (and overall theme) that hurt. Badly.

SA: Everything except MLWCYM, Kick It, and Jane. yes, Jane.

TISL: Bad production courtesy of Sheryl Crow abounds here. She shouldn't have done Everyday, TFFT. Bombay Sapphires is a nifty song ruined by some "WTF?" lyrics.

IYD: It is Dave Stewart's album. She shouldn't have done FWIW, AL, and IS really badly needed at least another verse or something.

Stevie is a balladeer, to me. The slow haunted stuff is where she shines and where her voice still hits the stars.

I am going to pretend I didnt read about 90% of this post... ha!

Everyone has their own opinion

[tilthefirefades]

There are very few Stevie songs that I truly hate:
The Second Time
The Nightmare
Nightbird
Soldier's Angel
Ghosts are Gone

The rest I simply appreciate even if I don't love them.

[Dodfather]

Originally Posted by mikephxaz

I agree with your thoughts in general but I love the simplicity of Imperial Hotel lyrics....the song reminds me of Tom Petty's Ways to be Wicked (that Lone Justice did an incredible cover of)
I wish Stevie would have covered that song but Maria McKee of Lone Justice sang the hell out of that song..Stevie couldn't touch her version..

I LOVE that song!! Lone Justice's entire first album is excellent. Shelter (album no. 2) isn't quite as good but then we got Maria's solo debut, which is a stunning album!