Say You Will (the song) indicator of album vibe?

[EricBliss12345]

I get to hear this song on a daily basis thanks to the sattelite soft-rock station at work, and at first I really hated it, especially the kids that sing on it. It does have a way of getting jammed stuck in your head though, and now when it comes on I don't mind it.

What frustrates me about it is that when I hear it, I hear a REALLY GREAT Fleetwood Mac song in what is there. I do really like the lyrics and the melody of the vocals is nice. It just sounds like such a phoned in performance though. Stevie sings in her low register throughout and never really deviates from the melody of the song, and I always find myself wishing that she would have just cut loose on that chorus towards the end a la Stand Back, Angel, or Sisters Of THe Moon, doing the trademark banshee wailing in the background that she does at the ends of some songs that make her older songs so great. I find myself wishing there were some keyboards. Even the simplest keyboard accompaniment can take a song to such higher places. I miss hearing the gorgeous Mac vocal harmonies. And that guitar solo is flat-out boring.

When you take out this trademark Mac stuff, it turns into something that blends right in with all the other cookie cutter stuff they play on our soft rock radio station. For about a week I thought it was a mediocre Nicks solo track from something more recent until I noticed what she was singing on the chorus.

Even though the Welch era stuff is my favorite, what really draws me to the Buckingham/Nicks incarnation of the band are the lush vocal harmonies and interesting, detailed production that graces their more famous albums, not to mention the fantastic McVie/Nicks/Buckingham dynamic. Without these I feel like I have no need to listen.

Am I jumping to conclusions about the album? Yes and no. I don't feel it's fair to judge an album based on one song in the least, but I also think that first impressions are the lasting ones. What a band chooses to release as a single to represent the album should be indicative of the general direction the ship sails.

If I buy the album, am I going to be let down? I've had it in my hands a couple times but always put it back. I know I may be making some of you regurgitate what you've already said, and if so I'm sorry. The album seems to have got nothing but glowing praise from you diehards but is it an appropriate release for somebody fairly new to the band or not?

Thanks!