Say You Will sales ten years after release

[secret love]

Originally Posted by redbird

For me the best songs on this album are just so much better than the worst ones, I can't figure out why they're together except that they were ready to go. But then as someone else pointed out, what's good and what's bad is subjective and we all have different opinions. I feel like the creme de la creme of SYW is only 10-12 songs, but I wouldn't need to cut that many so long as I could be rid of "Say You Will" and especially "What's the World Coming To". Lindsey may have done amazing things on this record, but o h m y g o d that song is such pap. The other 16 songs I can deal with. Even though I think that "Illume" and "Silver Girl" are a little too awkward at points, and "Peacekeeper" and "Steal Your Heart Away" are also a little bland (not nearly as bad as WTWCT). "Come" and "Goodbye Baby" aren't especially meaningful to me but I can appreciate them.

I always think of SYW as two albums, but not necessary the Stevie solo album + the Lindsey solo album, rather the album I want and the album I don't But yes it's subjective. Maybe it's my attention span at fault; I really like albums to be artistic statements in themselves, either that or retrospective compilations, and I feel like SYW would hold my attention more if it was shorter and told more of a story. It doesn't fascinate me the way double-album Tusk did, I mean, at least 8 of the songs are ostensibly designed to be radio-friendly (but I don't like 2003 radio the way I like 1977 radio, granted I've only heard 1977 radio through the oldies station), and some of that feels a lot like filler to me.

I do have a personal version of SYW I put on my own iPod, but it's not perfect either so I don't imagine I could do sooo much better. For one, Stevie's songs are way more "topical" in that, if this is the story of Fleetwood Mac since the The Dance reunion, all the songs I'd keep of hers are either about Lindsey to some extent or about herself in the context of relationships, while Lindsey's got songs about the news media and politics and whatnot. I'm sure someone else could make a sound argument against my choices. (If anyone cares, "Miranda", "Thrown Down" and "Bleed to Love Her" would be the first three spots in some order, then "Murrow" followed by "Everybody Finds Out" followed by "Smile At You" as the **** Just Got Real part of the album, then "Red Rover" as a breather, and then it has to end with "Running Through the Garden", "Destiny Rules", and "Say Goodbye".)

This thread did make me re-listen to the album again, and boy "Say Goodbye" really is much better slowed down ala the live performances. Still a moving song though. "I fall down, I get up" has become something of a coping mechanism for me personally, hahah, glad to know I'm not the only one Lindsey.

(I'm sorry I know this thread is a month old, I'm bored and I didn't get to go to my concert and I needed to talk Mac )

Funny that you say you can't stand What's the World Coming To ...I really like it and find it quite endearing. It sounds like a political statement to me almost (like Peacekeeper) - it's a nice little departure from the Mac's usual subject matter (love, relationships, fellow band members). Say You Will I fell in love with from the first listen and it also helped to inspire me to write my first song.

I hated Say Goodbye at first because it sounded very cliched to my ear and instrumentally quite bland. However it has grown on me particularly after viewing the professionally shot 2003 (Live in Boston) and 2005 (Live at the Bass Performance Hall) live performances of the song - there is some beauty in these gentle performances that did not really translate well on to tape in my opinion. Goodbye Baby is beautiful...for me it's more about end of life than the end of Stevie and Lindsey's relationship. If you were to interpret the lyrics literally it could be about an abortion, or a miscarriage...but who knows?

Thrown Down and Steal Your Heart Away were the stand out tracks for me on the Say You Will record. I know Thrown Down was written in 1997 and that Stevie said it is about Lindsey...but this doesn't really make sense to me (unless the song is a complete lie hehe!). "He fell for her again/She watched it happen" and "Maybe now he could prove to her that he could be good for her and that they should be together" don't really fit with what BN were saying at the time, e.g. Lindsey suggesting (tongue in cheek/sarcastically) that he and Stevie might hook up again sometime soon (It was a joke - he did not seem to have any desire for this to happen)... Stevie responding with "Over my dead body"

Anyway, Thrown Down is a great song and Steal Your Heart Away is too - it's just wonderful. I really liked Say You Will as a complete album. Could have done without Murrow, Red Rover, Smile at You, Say Goodbye. The Dance version of Bleed to Love Her is my favourite but I like both versions (live and studio). SYW is definitely reminiscent of Tusk (Tusk is obviously a superior product, but both albums are experimental to varying degrees, both are double albums). I loved Stevie's bonus track Not Make Believe - love: "It hurts my self esteem, it hurts my every-thing. I am reeling ooh it hurts my feelings"!

SYW does feel like the Stevie show to me though - let's face it, Lindsey put just two new songs on the table (I think they were WTWCT and Peacekeeper). Stevie wrote four great new songs with Fleetwood Mac in mind (SYW, Illume, Destiny Rules, Silver Girl) and finally finished and recorded some great demos diehard fans no doubt had been wanting for years ... she didn't just lift the majority of her contribution of songs off what was intended to be a solo record like Lindsey. That said - they both brought their A-game. Was a shame Stevie only performed two of her own SYW songs on the 2003-2004 world tour. Would have been good to keep Running Through the Garden and Destiny Rules in the set, even better have all the eight "new" songs played on opening night plus Steal Your Heart Away and Thrown Down.

This post has gone on much too long ... sorry guys! Here's something I thought might be worth sharing while I think of it (writing about Goodbye Baby made me think of this song for some reason... if you haven't heard it do yourself a favour and give it a listen!).

Sigh ... so many great unreleased songs to her name and Stevie still will not contribute to a new Fleetwood Mac album...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5UurPDrrRe4