Unpopular FM Opinions

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Tango In The Night has the worst album cover in Fleetwood Mac history

Worse than Heroes are hard to find??? If that is true I need therapy.

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I love this thread. I went back and I had a few comments but I never gave a list. I love when people stick to the intent of the thread. Many pages back people started giving their favorite stuff. Many unpopular opinions really were not unpopular. I am sticking to the script and here is my list. Get your tomatoes and tambourines ready to throw at me:


Say You Will is a great album

Stevie's Mirage songs are the best she has contributed other than Rumours
(notice 2 of them have no chorus just like the brilliant Sara)

Tusk and The Ledge are the worst songs on Tusk but Tusk still is a fine album

BTM has one of the best album covers in Fleetwood Mac history

The 1990 Farewell concert was better than the Dance

Street Angel and OSOTM are good albums

1991 Timespace versions of Rhiannon and Landslide are some of the best ever

Tango In The Night has the worst album cover in Fleetwood Mac history

Big Love is the worst single Fleetwood Mac ever released and is the only cheezy single they ever released.

Nights In Estoril made Time worth it and is one of Chris's best Fleetwood Mac songs

Stevie's backing vocals on Say You Love me and Go Your Own Way on the 1980 live album ruin both songs.

Oh Daddy is the best musical track the band created

Bella Donna is almost as good as Rumours

The Highwayman and Jane are fantastic songs and great album closers

Mystery To Me and Heroes Are Hard To Find are just as good as the White Album and Rumours

Lindsey is a really good singer

RAL is the worst album of any solo careers or group recordings

Only Over You is a fantastic song and one of the better songs on Mirage

World Turning is a great song but loses all of its magic in concert

Chris backing Lindsey on I'm So Afraid is better than Stevie

The 1980 Live album is one of the band's best releases

Lindsey's Oh Well is the best version of the song ever including Green

Bob Welch is responsible for making the band an American super group

Some of these are certainly hot takes, so I'll go through some of them. Gypsy is the only song of Stevie's Mirage material that I really enjoy. The country tinge to "That's Alright" is off-putting and "Straight Back" is a limper "Sisters of the Moon", the latter of which is one of Fleetwood Mac's best songs of all time. Tango in the Night happens to be one of my favorite album covers, so go figure. I don't strongly dislike the Behind the Mask cover art, although I wish it was more mask oriented, something along the lines of the single art found on "Save Me".

"Big Love" was an interesting choice as a first single, but there weren't really any clear candidates of his that would have worked (although I enjoy all of his songs on that album). "Nights in Estoril" seems to be largely adored by most people here and I also agree with that sentiment. As for the Live album, their performance of "Say You Love Me" in general doesn't translate super well. Buckingham's guitar is overly distorted and not in time during certain sections of the song and Nicks also doesn't blend super well. I don't have many problems with "Go Your Own Way". The instrumental recording of "Oh Daddy" is very good and features some of McVie's most tasteful keyboard playing. It's difficult to directly compare Mystery to Me & Heroes are Hard to Find to Fleetwood Mac and Rumours, although Mystery to Me is better than Fleetwood Mac at the very least. Mick Fleetwood's I'm Not Me is probably worse that Stevie's Rock a Little, although "I Want You Back" is still fantastic.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Villavic

Worse than Heroes are hard to find??? If that is true I need therapy.

I love the Heroes concept and photos!

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

Go grow some more tomatoes and leave me alone! I'm a Nightbird in the wind. You can't catch me.

I just ate one!

You're doing something in the wind...

[David]

My truly unpopular opinions:

Street Angel is Stevie’s best overall solo album, but Shangri La has the highest high points. Still, I can find something on all the albums to love.

I greatly prefer Lindsey’s singing voice before he hit about age 35. So many people say they prefer his deeper middle-age voice, but not me, bucko.

The band hasn’t been terribly interesting (to me) or innovative as a live act since the 1980 shows. Up till that time, they had the same funky energy as the Talking Heads and were a truly great live act. After that, I was more interested in their studio work than their concerts.

Fleetwood Mac has this reputation for great harmonizing, but after Rumours, did they even harmonize that much? Or well?

Individually, the instrumentalists in the band from 1975 to 1997 (or 2015) were never virtuosos. Their individual technique on their respective instruments was hampered by being less than technically gifted. (Even Lindsey’s Travis picking is usually sloppy and stumbling.) Their style, however, is what made them fascinating. They were all such batsh*t, idiosyncratic players that the tension between their technical shortcomings and their personal voice is what made them legendary and what made them more enduring than the conventional hotshots in music. Think of Dylan: terrible singer in conventional terms but a vocal personality that is so “right” it’s legendary. Sometimes the oddballs feel up the yin and the yang of the music a million times better than the Eddie Van Halens and Keith Emersons.

Despite his songs — many of which are quite cool — onstage Bob Welch was charmless — sort of pushy and geeky. (Offstage, however, he was a good conversationalist in interviews.)

I wish Dave Walker had written more music for Fleetwood Mac. “The Derelict” is the only song I really love.

I’ve always hated the site design on the Penguin, and I vastly preferred the Matt Wright script on the very first Ledge. The current, longtime message board design frustrates me to no end, and I take it out on loved ones.

[Macfan4life]

I am shocked to see someone else liking Street Angel. Its not her best but its a good album or at least half of it is very solid. Its a return to a guitar orientated country rock vibe that suits her well. Vocally its her last album where she is not flat and has a great voice. She is not trying to be a radio pop star on the album. Its more classic and vintage Stevie. And I love that. Although it was a mistake her doing a Bob Dylan song. But I do like it when Stevie writes about current events like the Gulf War and homeless children.

Bella Donna is a masterpiece like Rumours. She wrote awesome songs and her musicians and players were some of the best. Yes Jimmy deserves major credit. But while SDMHA does add the the album. The album did not need it. Jimmy's fear was that the album was good but no one would hear it because it had not catchy pop rock radio songs that would chart as singles. He was right in a sense that SDMHA charted highest. But Edge of 17 and Leather and Lace would have worked just fine as the major hits on the album. I bet Edge of 17 would have been a fantastic lead off single into the top 10 easily.

People are misinterpreting my Big Love comments. I dont find it odd at all that the record company picked it as the first single. It was edgy and fit with the spring of 1987 perfectly. Of course it was going to be a big hit. However its a song you never hear anymore even on 80s channels. The song has no legs and is fairly cheezy. Lindsey did a nice acoustic in 1997 but even that got old after awhile. I am a horrible song writer and I could have written that song in study hall in high school.

[Karlie]

Originally Posted by UnwindedDreams

Do you like any of Lindsey’s songs on SYW?

SYW’s 9 tracks are Stevie’s best solo album.

I’ve always thought SYW and Tusk contained Stevie’s best work. Thrown Down, Destiny Rules, Everybody Finds Out, and Smile At You are masterpieces IMO. Though lately I’ve realized that John’s bass parts are what really make those songs excellent.

[jbrownsjr]

Originally Posted by Karlie

I’ve always thought SYW and Tusk contained Stevie’s best work. Thrown Down, Destiny Rules, Everybody Finds Out, and Smile At You are masterpieces IMO. Though lately I’ve realized that John’s bass parts are what really make those songs excellent.

First thing that I've ever loved about SYW... John McVie.

[jmn3]

Originally Posted by jmn3

* I can count on my left hand the number of Lindsey solo songs I can even tolerate
* Fleetwood Mac was not better before 1975
* Outside of the band context (and sometimes within), all three of the current singers in the band can write and perform some painfully cheesy things
* The soap opera crap that the fans buy into with the band is as painful as anything the band does to encourage it - when I saw teenagers squealing at the site of L&S hugging in 2014 it made me want to barf. These two are bordering on 70 and have played their stupid 40-year old broken relationship up so much over the years....that ANYONE gives a rat's behind anymore is just beyond me.
* Dreams charting higher than any other post 1975 single honestly befuddles me

So these types of threads are always very interesting to me because EVERYONE seems to have a bunch that stir the pot up. My response to something like this can often morph with time so I thought it would be good to go back 7 years to my 2016 post and see what I think of what I wrote back then...

1) I liked several songs on Lindsey's latest solo album so maybe I might need my right hand now in addition
2) Yep, this still stands. Even our beloved songbird Christine, some of her songs are just pure saccharine crap.
3) This still stands x10000000 - the 'kids' are all over TikTok daily with their L&S conspiracies and stories of never-ending love. GMAFB. She dumped him more than 45 years ago. People are so dumb.
4) Still agree here. Dreams is a good song. I can't believe it's their highest charting song to this day. Go Your Own Way is far superior and I could name five others, including several of Stevie's, that deserved better chart performance. Come at me with your daggers for this one!

Okay so what else would I add?

*The Rumours era lineup is far superior to anything before or after it. I don't want to hear about Peter and the blues and how popular they were in the UK. There's a reason this iteration was and is the most popular.
*Stolen from someone else and related to above, Lindsey's live version of Oh Well (in particular that one on the 1980 album) is the best.
*Bella Donna is a solid album. It's not a masterpiece or a top album of all time. It's by far Stevie's best album, but it sure as hell isn't a Rumours, Sticky Fingers, or Dark Side of the Moon.
*That version of If You Were My Love that Stevie finally went out with SUCKS. It's lame and boring. It compares to the Mirage era demo the same way that dopey Smile at You on SYW does to the Mirage era demo.
*Tusk is too long - Lindsey and Christine have unnecessary songs that could go away.
*Tango in the Night has a number of great songs (title track, Everywhere, Isn't it Midnight, Seven Wonders, Little Lies, Big Love) but it also has things like Mystified, Family Man, WTTRS, WISYA, and Caroline that suck. The production is way too 80's and it just doesn't hold up like other albums have.
*Say You Will is a good album it just has ten too many songs
*Stevie didn't have a dud on a Fleetwood Mac album until Tango
*Stevie's solo career is questionable from a "rock and roll" standpoint - every album has at least one song I either like or can at least tolerate but every album starting with The Wild Heart is full of wayyy too much crap

[vivfox]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

Get your tomatoes and tambourines ready to throw at me:
(Paraphrased) Jane is a fantastic song and great album closer.

Hahaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahaa
That's like saying Manichewitz wine is the preferred taste for wine connoisseurs.

[GypsySorcerer]

Originally Posted by GypsySorcerer

1) It was the right decision to include I Don't Want to Know on Rumours rather than Silver Springs.
2) Since at least 2003, Lindsey has been a far more interesting songwriter than Stevie.
3) Christine's Tusk songs are underrated.
4) Behind the Mask is better than given credit for.
5) I love "Temporary One."
6) Stevie is terrible on the Live in Boston recording. Beautiful Child being the exception.
7) I like Over My Head better than Say You Love Me.
8) Caroline is unfairly maligned.

All of these still apply. Lol

I will also add that I think most of the singles from Stevie's solo career are quite mid. Like, I get why "Stand Back" was a hit in 1983, but it's aged poorly and I never feel a need to listen to it.

[Villavic]

1) I like Family Man
2) I like Tusk but its rhythm is a bit monotonous, specially Lindsey's songs
3) I think what is described in Mick's book, about what happened on august 7 1987, is true

[mitzo]

Originally Posted by HomerMcvie

The production is what makes the album great. Yeah, she spewed some words out, and Jimmy turned them into PLATINUM.

That's what you meant to say, right? There, I fixed it for ya!

The production on BD is what ruins it. Doesn't lift the songs, it pulls them down. So damn dull.

[justcrazylove]

Originally Posted by Macfan4life

I am shocked to see someone else liking Street Angel. Its not her best but its a good album or at least half of it is very solid. Its a return to a guitar orientated country rock vibe that suits her well. Vocally its her last album where she is not flat and has a great voice. She is not trying to be a radio pop star on the album. Its more classic and vintage Stevie. And I love that. Although it was a mistake her doing a Bob Dylan song. But I do like it when Stevie writes about current events like the Gulf War and homeless children.

Bella Donna is a masterpiece like Rumours. She wrote awesome songs and her musicians and players were some of the best. Yes Jimmy deserves major credit. But while SDMHA does add the the album. The album did not need it. Jimmy's fear was that the album was good but no one would hear it because it had not catchy pop rock radio songs that would chart as singles. He was right in a sense that SDMHA charted highest. But Edge of 17 and Leather and Lace would have worked just fine as the major hits on the album. I bet Edge of 17 would have been a fantastic lead off single into the top 10 easily.

People are misinterpreting my Big Love comments. I dont find it odd at all that the record company picked it as the first single. It was edgy and fit with the spring of 1987 perfectly. Of course it was going to be a big hit. However its a song you never hear anymore even on 80s channels. The song has no legs and is fairly cheezy. Lindsey did a nice acoustic in 1997 but even that got old after awhile. I am a horrible song writer and I could have written that song in study hall in high school.

BHAHAHAHAHAHA.......BHAHAHAHAHAHA Sure Jan!

[aleuzzi]

Apologies if what I list has already been stated.

—I prefer Green’s songs on Mr Wonderful to anything from the first FM album.

—Fleetwood Mac in Chicago (Blues Jam at Chess) is by far and away the band’s best album from the 1960s

—Kiln House is better than Then Play On

—Kiln House is in the top three or four FM albums of their entire catalogue

—Bob Welch’s Future Games songs are the best material on that album

—Monday Morning is a pleasant but overrated song

—Lindsey’s vocal on ISA is terrible

—Say You Love Me is more groundbreaking and iconic than Rhiannon

—The song Tusk is in the top 3-4 all-time best FM songs

—I know I’m Not Wrong stinks

—The early version of Christine’s TAB (sans guitar and Lindsey’s vocal) is better than the final version

—Christine’s demo for “One More Night” is one of her best performances and one of the best FM recordings

—The 1982 live version of Eyes surpasses the studio version

—About 1/2 of Tango rings false.

—Christine’s vocal on “You and I, Part 2” is superior to the album version

—Skies the Limit is worse than When I See You Again

—Time is Better than Mask

—The four new Dance songs are better than almost anything else on that record

—Although uneven, Say You Will is the band’s best album since Tusk

—Buckingham/McVie is the best FM since 1982