Extended Play Reviews

[kak125]

Fleetwood Mac have released their first collection of new music in a decade. As promised, the legendary band tabled a full album release in favor of an EP, titled "Extended Play" and available exclusively on iTunes.

The record kicks off with the bouncy "Sad Angel," in which co-lead singers Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks harmonize over looping guitar and Mick Fleetwood's driving beat. "Hello, hello sad angel, have you come to fight the war?" they ask.

The rest of the EP includes the classic-sounding "Without You," which started as a track for Buckingham Nicks, the duo's pre-Mac group. There's also a piano ballad by Buckingham called "It Takes Time" and the album closer "Miss Fantasy."

It's their first new music since 2003's "Say You Will," which debuted and peaked at No. 3 on the Billboard 200.

The band told Billboard in February that, "Big, long albums don't seem to be what everybody wants these days." Whether a full-length album emerges from this current reunion is entirely up to fans, Nicks said.

"[Let's] see if the world does want more music from us," Nicks said. "If we get that feeling, that they do want another 10 songs, we can reassess."

Fleetwood Mac is on tour until June.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...-extended-play

[TerraRhiannon]

Originally Posted by kak125

"[Let's] see if the world does want more music from us," Nicks said. "If we get that feeling, that they do want another 10 songs, we can reassess."

Fleetwood Mac is on tour until June.
http://www.billboard.com/articles/ne...-extended-play

So here's an idea, Stevie. Let's release it with no advertisement except at your shows, and only on iTunes. So half the world wont have access to it!

[tabruns]

Originally Posted by TerraRhiannon

So here's an idea, Stevie. Let's release it with no advertisement except at your shows, and only on iTunes. So half the world wont have access to it!

Apparently that's the right way to do it, since it's doing well on the charts!

[TerraRhiannon]

Originally Posted by tabruns

Apparently that's the right way to do it, since it's doing well on the charts!

I know!!! Who knew!

Number one, baby!!

[Josh2003]

So Stevie & Lindsey produced Without You, and Mitchell Froom produced the other three tracks. Interesting.

[elle]

Originally Posted by Josh2003

So Stevie & Lindsey produced Without You, and Mitchell Froom produced the other three tracks. Interesting.

yup, that's what i thought.


http://ultimateclassicrock.com/fleet...-album-review/
FLEETWOOD MAC, ‘EXTENDED PLAY’ – ALBUM REVIEW
by Michael Gallucci April 30, 2013 12:17 PM

iTunes

The last time Fleetwood Mac made an album together, they were minus Christine McVie and enough good songs to fill its 75-minute running length. They’re still without McVie on their new four-song EP, but they fixed ‘Say You Will’’s biggest problem by keeping ‘Extended Play’ at an economical 17 minutes. And if it sounds more like a Lindsey Buckingham record than an actual band one at times, at least ‘Extended Play’ is the best thing released under the Fleetwood Mac moniker since 1987’s ‘Tango in the Night.’

In fact, ‘Extended Play,’ which is available exclusively on iTunes, sounds a lot like Buckingham’s recent solo albums, but with a punchier rhythm section and Stevie Nicks’ backing vocals. All of which give the music way more life than if Buckingham – whose insular approach to his solo records often make them sound thin and narrow – would have recorded them himself.

The opening ‘Sad Angel,’ propelled by acoustic guitar and a killer hook, crackles with more energy than anything the band or Buckingham, who wrote and sings lead on all but one of the EP’s four tracks, has done in years. It doesn’t hurt that Nicks and Buckingham still make a great singing team, chiming in on the choruses like it’s 1977 again. The song is the highlight of ‘Extended Play’ and its only real uptempo track.

But the remaining three songs are almost as good, especially the closing ‘Miss Fantasy,’ a shuffling pop number featuring a whispered vocal by Buckingham, with Nicks pushing along the choruses. The hushed piano ballad ‘It Takes Time’ is mostly Buckingham until the final minute, when strings swell around the spare melody. And Nicks and Buckingham share lead vocals on ‘Without You,’ a leftover cut from the pair’s pre-Fleetwood Mac duo days written by Nicks.

Fleetwood Mac have been performing a couple of the songs on their current tour, so in a way, ‘Extended Play’ doubles as a show souvenir for fans wanting new material from the band. It’s not essential Mac by any means, but after all these years, and all these years apart, it’s nice to know that they’re still capable of making some sweet music together.

7 out of 10 Official Ultimate Classic Rock Rating



btw, if anybody thinks Sad Angel is more rocking than a number of songs on Lindseys most recent solo albums, they are either deaf or never listened to those albums.

[michelej1]

Rolling Stone By RJ Cubarrubia

http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...ay-ep-20130430

April 30, 2013 9:55 AM ET

Fleetwood Mac have returned with their first batch of new music in 10 years. Extended Play, available now exclusively on iTunes, contains the new tracks "Sad Angel," "It Takes Time" and "Miss Fantasy," penned by Lindsey Buckingham. It also includes "Without You," a rediscovered and revamped track originally written by Stevie Nicks from the pair's Buckingham Nicks project.


Extended Play is Fleetwood Mac's first studio release since the 2003 LP Say You Will. Buckingham promised the EP was on the way earlier this month during a concert in Philadelphia. In January, he talked to Rolling Stone about how his relationship with Stevie Nicks has developed over the years.

"It's still evolving, and that's the beauty of it too. I've known Stevie since high school. We were a couple for many, many years, and we've been a musical couple forever," Buckingham said. "After all this time you would think there was nothing left to discover, nothing left to work out, no new chapters to be written. But that is not the case – there are new chapters to be written."

Fleetwood Mac are currently on a North American tour. Their next show is tonight at the Sprint Center in Kansas City, Missouri. For full tour dates, visit the band's website.


Read more: http://www.rollingstone.com/music/ne...#ixzz2RyIbVztK
Follow us: @rollingstone on Twitter | RollingStone on Facebook

[Villavic]

Originally Posted by Josh2003

So Stevie & Lindsey produced Without You, and Mitchell Froom produced the other three tracks. Interesting.

Was Stevie a producer? I didn't know that.

[elle]

http://www.offthetracks.co.nz/fleetw...ended-play-ep/

May 3, 2013 by Simon Sweetman
Fleetwood Mac: Extended Play – EP

Fleetwood Mac

Extended Play – EP

LMJS Productions

Though you could argue it’s phoned in by the title alone, I really like this four-track EP by Fleetwood Mac, the band’s first release in a decade and their second set of recordings sans Christine McVie. Once again her presence is missed – because it’s now just The Stevie and Lindsey Show and her counterpoint was (always) crucial.

Where Say You Will, the band’s last album, was far too long (some 75 minutes) Extended Play is probably just a bit too short – six tracks might have been nice. But it’s a move I applaud. For two (crucial) reasons. Firstly, Fleetwood Mac is a hits-act, running the nostalgia circuit, giving its fans what they want, delivering ****-hot performances, still white-hot with Lindsey’s guitar prowess front and centre, that oh-so-capable rhythm section, Nicks still playing the twirling white-witch bogan-fantasy to the hilt and – yes – The Stevie and Lindsey Show is a big part of the sound and look and story of the band’s tours – as it has been since 1975 (with just a slight break). So fans want to hear the hits and a new album would be a waste of time but a new EP allows them a fan-souvenir and a chance for the band to slip in just a wee bit of new material. A nice touch, I say.

But the other great reason for a four-track EP at this stage in their career – far more important, I say – is this idea of simply offering all you have to say at any one moment and nothing more. Or, put another way, offer up your best work – avoid the filler. So Fleetwood Mac only has four songs they want to share right now. So be it. See reason one above – no one is going to a Fleetwood Mac show for the new material.

I don’t see this move of releasing an EP as misguided, I think it’s smart that a band like Fleetwood Mac releases an EP over an album; that they’ve done so at this stage in their career pleases me. More bands should be releasing just the good material.

So, all that said, is the material on the EP good enough?

For the most part, yes. And – it has to be said – thanks to Lindsey. Three of the four songs are from Buckingham, who really has been doing the heavy-lifting since Tusk. And – in the decade since Say You Will – he’s the Mac member that’s offered the most outside of the band; his solo albums a grand showcase for his skills; each album offering something new, a fresh angle. The other song is one that Buckingham had a hand in way back; has been resurrected.

So, opener, Sad Angel is the sort of immaculate pop song Buckingham has been scrubbing since his first solo album and in the way the riff dissolves into the hook it bears some resemblance to his great solo track Trouble. It’s a strong new addition to the Mac cannon.

Without You is a re-recording of a pre-Mac Buckingham/Nicks demo – and though it’s lightweight it plays into the history and is something for fans to hear; to reconnect with that soap-opera back-story that is so important to this band. It’s the weakest song on Extended Play however.

But It Takes Time is gorgeous, Lindsey at the piano, deciding – essentially – that if the band is missing Christine McVie and Christine McVie Songs he’ll just write one. It Takes Time wouldn’t have been out of place on the recent return from Bill Fay. It’s my pick for winning track on EP – it’s the something special you often find on EPs.

And the closer, Miss Fantasy, is another strong pop song. Flavours of the Mac of old. Just enough to distinguish it – and the other songs here – from Lindsey’s solo career; it’s deceptively slight at first – just 17 minutes after all – but you hear the textures, that lovely feel that is signature.

Will it change the world? No. Will it keep the fans happy? Of course.

The EP is available at iTunes or you can stream it.

[mylittledemon]

Originally Posted by TerraRhiannon

I know!!! Who knew!

Number one, baby!!

It's #59 currently...

[Christopher]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...=entertainment
Fleetwood Mac 'Extended Play' Released As Band Debuts New Songs

Earlier this month veteran rockers Fleetwood Mac promised fans they would soon be releasing new music, and Tuesday morning they did just that.

Made up of Stevie Nicks, Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, and Lindsey Buckingham, Fleetwood Mac released a four-track EP called "Extended Play" on Tuesday, available exclusively through iTunes.

"One of the things we thought would be a good idea before we hit the road would be to go into the studio and cut some new material," Buckingham said at a Philadelphia concert in April. "So last year we did that. It's the best stuff we've done in a long time, and in a few days we're going to drop an EP of new stuff."

The extended play is Fleetwood Mac's first collection of new material in 10 years. The band released its last studio album, "Say You Will," in 2003. The new EP features four songs from Fleetwood Mac: a retro Nicks-penned track "Without You," as well as new songs called "Sad Angel," "It Takes Time," and "Miss Fantasy." Take a listen to "Sad Angel" above.

With more than four decades in the business, the members of Fleetwood Mac are currently in the midst of a North American tour. The tour kicked off earlier this month, hitting cities across the U.S. and Canada before wrapping in Sacramento, Calif. on July 6. The band then heads abroad, kicking off the European leg of the tour in Dublin, Ireland on Sept. 20.

So what has kept the rockers (now all in their 60s) going all of these years, making new music and traveling the world on an exhausting schedule? "It has everything to do with the feeling I get when my fingers touch those keys and I sing that first sentence," Nicks explained to HuffPost Entertainment about her love of making music in December. "It may not save the world but people are gonna love it. Because I love it."

[PenguinHead]

Originally Posted by Christopher

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/0...=entertainment
Fleetwood Mac 'Extended Play' Released As Band Debuts New Songs

So what has kept the rockers (now all in their 60s) going all of these years, making new music and traveling the world on an exhausting schedule? "It has everything to do with the feeling I get when my fingers touch those keys and I sing that first sentence," Nicks explained to HuffPost Entertainment about her love of making music in December. "It may not save the world but people are gonna love it. Because I love it."

If you didn't know better, you would assume, by her quote, that Stevie is the keyboard player in the band.

[TerraRhiannon]

Originally Posted by mylittledemon

It's #59 currently...

Weird.. it's still showing as being the top album in Rock on iTunes. I think I have iTunes Canada or US or something maybe.

Or my iTunes just knows what I want to see.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by TerraRhiannon

Weird.. it's still showing as being the top album in Rock on iTunes. I think I have iTunes Canada or US or something maybe.

Or my iTunes just knows what I want to see.

Right now (just checked), it is number 6 on the iTunes album chart.

For those who may not know, these are iTunes sales charts - not Billboard rankings or anything like that.

However, with iTunes being the largest (in terms of volume) music retailer in the world, being number 6 in the U.S. late in the day after release, is very impressive.

[KenshiMaster16]

Originally Posted by kak125

"[Let's] see if the world does want more music from us," Nicks said. "If we get that feeling, that they do want another 10 songs, we can reassess."

Guess it's time to reassess. *cough cough*