Say You Will sales ten years after release

[MikeVielhaber]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Great points! One of the advantages to trimming SYW down to 10 or 11 songs would have been enough leftover songs to release a follow-up album the following year. The 7/8 songs, plus the extra two tracks from the Deluxe version of SYW.

Alternatively, we could have had singles with real b-sides, or a E.P in 2004 or 2005. Lots of options.

All in all, I like SYW, I think it's a strong album, and while it does indeed sound like two solo albums mashed together, I sort of like that it has a he-said she-said back and forth feel to it.

I get why some would say Lindsey's tracks sound like a solo album....because they were recorded with that intent and Stevie was shoe horned in after the fact. Most of them any way. But Stevie's songs were recorded for Fleetwood Mac (and some even written with the band in mind) and arranged and produced by Lindsey. What did they have to sound like to not sound like a solo project?

[kak125]

ahh i have been listening to say you will like crazy the past few months. its still one of my favorite cd's and i pretty much love all the songs on it. i think its just as amazing today as it was 10 years ago.

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by MikeVielhaber

What did they have to sound like to not sound like a solo project?

Great question, and one I'm not sure I really have an answer for. In my opinion, *not* all of the tracks sound like solo songs, most notably Steal Your Heart Away, Bleed To Love Her, Peacekeeper, Miranda, What's The World Coming To, Say Goodbye, Goodbye Baby, Thrown Down, Not Make Believe, Silver Girl, Say You Will, Illume, Smile At You and Destiny Rules. That's a lot, actually, and they all sound very much at home on a Fleetwood Mac album.

I think the most notable "solo" sounding songs are the rest: Murrow, Come, Red Rover, Running Through The Garden and Everybody Finds Out. Perhaps it's just that these songs stand out so much from their album-mates that they overshadow the "Fleetwood Mac sound" of the other tracks.

Christine offered a lot of temperance between the quirky and mystical of Lindsey and Stevie, respectively; temperance that is missing from SYW.

Again, this is just my opinion.

[bethelblues]

To be honest, I don't think Stevie has been able to capture mystical the way she used to. In a few tracks on this album and In Your Dreams, she often comes off more kitsch, riffing on and attempting to recreate her older work. I think, for instance, the album cover for In Your Dreams may speak to my point.

[bluefox4000]

Originally Posted by bethelblues

To be honest, I don't think Stevie has been able to capture mystical the way she used to. In a few tracks on this album and In Your Dreams, she often comes off more kitsch, riffing on and attempting to recreate her older work. I think, for instance, the album cover for In Your Dreams may speak to my point.

For a wonderful album, IMO...that cover nearly made me vomit. Awfully over the top. I'm Stevie...magical.....Did I mention I'm Stevie.....Nicks

Mick

[bethelblues]

Originally Posted by bluefox4000

For a wonderful album, IMO...that cover nearly made me vomit. Awfully over the top. I'm Stevie...magical.....Did I mention I'm Stevie.....Nicks

Mick

Honestly though, maybe the album cover had more of an impact in the low sales than Stevie may think. When I saw it, I was like barf....that quality is always there, it's ingrained, she doesn't need to hit us over the head with it. It spoke more to the style of a much younger artist and I thought it was corny. I would've gone with a more artistic cover, some kind of collage or montage maybe of her different dreams together: the moonlight, Italy, the ocean, a road trip. Anyway, we're just speaking to the mystical element and how in recent years it may sometimes come off as kitsch when Stevie tries to recreate it and goes over the top.

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by bethelblues

Honestly though, maybe the album cover had more of an impact in the low sales than Stevie may think. When I saw it, I was like barf....that quality is always there, it's ingrained, she doesn't need to hit us over the head with it. It spoke more to the style of a much younger artist and I thought it was corny. I would've gone with a more artistic cover, some kind of collage or montage maybe of her different dreams together: the moonlight, Italy, the ocean, a road trip. Anyway, we're just speaking to the mystical element and how in recent years it may sometimes come off as kitsch when Stevie tries to recreate it and goes over the top.

The white horse stuck out like a pink elephant. It was such a horrendous and incongruent choice for her. It certainly surprised me.

Michele

[KarmaContestant]

Originally Posted by michelej1

The white horse stuck out like a pink elephant. It was such a horrendous and incongruent choice for her. It certainly surprised me.

Michele

I love the cover of IYD. The white horse is representative of Rhiannon, who rode about on a white horse.

Stevie's still *really* into that mythology, even though she rarely speaks of it any longer.

[RockawayBlind]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Great question, and one I'm not sure I really have an answer for. In my opinion, *not* all of the tracks sound like solo songs, most notably Steal Your Heart Away, Bleed To Love Her, Peacekeeper, Miranda, What's The World Coming To, Say Goodbye, Goodbye Baby, Thrown Down, Not Make Believe, Silver Girl, Say You Will, Illume, Smile At You and Destiny Rules. That's a lot, actually, and they all sound very much at home on a Fleetwood Mac album.

In truth, all of the songs could have sounded like they belonged on a FM album, but the production was uneven. Stevie's songs, with a couple of exceptions, were produced to be commercial and, in my humble opinion, rather pedestrian in a few cases. Lindsey's songs were mixed and produced with a different mentality, so they didn't mesh too well. Some of Lindsey's choices were odd, too. For instance, Come, Murrow and Say Goodbye would have worked better on a solo project.

Say You Will has some real flashes of brilliance but it lacks cohesion and suffers from poor quality in some of Stevie's songs. Garden and Silver Girl are atrocious, and should have been dropped.

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by KarmaContestant

Christine offered a lot of temperance between the quirky and mystical of Lindsey and Stevie, respectively; temperance that is missing from SYW.

You hit it on the nail. SYW is one hot mess! But there are some strong tracks on it. I would have released it like this and put the rest of the songs on the limited edition disc.

1. What's the World Coming To
2. Say You Will
3. Peacekeeper
4. Thrown Down
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. Miranda
7. Destiny Rules
8. Bleed to Love Her
9. Everybody Finds Out
10. Say Goodbye
11. Goodbye Baby

[MikeVielhaber]

Originally Posted by SpyNote

You hit it on the nail. SYW is one hot mess! But there are some strong tracks on it. I would have released it like this and put the rest of the songs on the limited edition disc.

1. What's the World Coming To
2. Say You Will
3. Peacekeeper
4. Thrown Down
5. Steal Your Heart Away
6. Miranda
7. Destiny Rules
8. Bleed to Love Her
9. Everybody Finds Out
10. Say Goodbye
11. Goodbye Baby

I'm sure Stevie and Lindsey would have to make it an even number of tracks to give each the same amount of songs. That's what happened on the released album, so I'm sure whatever alternate configuration they came up with would've been like that as well.

[SpyNote]

Originally Posted by MikeVielhaber

I'm sure Stevie and Lindsey would have to make it an even number of tracks to give each the same amount of songs. That's what happened on the released album, so I'm sure whatever alternate configuration they came up with would've been like that as well.

That's probably true. I just don't think any other song, besides the 11 listed, go together. The others definitely belong on solo projects. As much as I love "Running Through the Garden," it never evolved from the new wave trappings of Rock a Little.

[shackin'up]

Right Place To Fade
Destiny Rules
Thrown Down
Bleed To Love Her
Wait for You
Everybody Finds Out
Say You Will
Gift Of Screws
Not Make Believe
Miranda
Smile At You
Someone's Gonna Change Your Mind
Peacekeeper
Goodbye Baby

Don't know about the Running Order, but I chose to pick other selections from Lindsey's original GOS. Ofcourse some of them would have been opened up for Stevie's voice. Although I love red rover, murrow, and come, that are typical LB soloefforts. I'm not a fan of rodeo. This way, the album would have had more uptempo partitions.

[Keith]

Where ever Fleetwood Mac is with this possible new album, I hope they utilize one of the band’s biggest strengths - the vocals of the band members. A highlight for me of “Say You Will” is how, throughout the record, there are some great moments of Stevie and Lindsey harmonizing and/or singing on each other’s songs - Steal Her Heart Away, Peacekeeper**, What’s the World Coming To, Thrown Down, Smile at You are my favorites - I hope we hear the three harmonize and sing on each other’s songs throughout the new record. Man, “Tusk” would have been much better if there was more singing from the three.

On its release date, I listened to "Say You Will" twice from front to back, then made two play lists which has pretty much been the way I listen to these songs..

So with 10 new Stevie Nicks songs, of course I had to make a “Stevie only” version..

Say You Will
Thrown Down
Destiny Rules
Not Make Believe
Illume
Running Through the Garden
Everybody Finds Out
Smile at You
Silver Girl
Say Goodbye

I listen to it sometimes - it would be in the bottom tier of my favorite Stevie albums - but I mainly listen to my FM play list when I want some “Say You Will.”

So let’s say I worked for a record company and I was asked to take these SYW tracks and make an album with 12 tracks and market it to the masses. No more than 12 tracks because they also wanted to issue it on vinyl as a single disc.

And this is how the album would play out (very similar to how Daniel would sequence the record)..

What’s The World’s Coming To
Say You Will
Peacekeeper
Thrown Down
Bleed to Love Her
Not Make Believe
Miranda
Destiny Rules
Steal Your Heart Away
Everybody Finds Out
Smile At You
Say Goodbye

Two songs I kept going back and forth on were Red Rover and Illume, but I couldn’t make them fit into the SYW puzzle and also didn’t want to replace any other track with one of them. Really like both songs, though. I would have included all the rest of the tracks as part of extras in the deluxe version making it more attractive to hardcore fans.

I had forgotten how badly SYW was sequenced - great songs, but no cohesion, and way too long. I would have went with my 12 tracks with a name change to “Gone to the Moon” - SYW is Fleetwood Mac’s worst album title. And, I would keep the cover art. Me like.

Just finished watching the news.. “What’s the world coming to.. what’s the world coming to? Everyone’s gone to the moon..”

[michelej1]

Originally Posted by MikeVielhaber

I get why some would say Lindsey's tracks sound like a solo album....because they were recorded with that intent and Stevie was shoe horned in after the fact. Most of them any way. But Stevie's songs were recorded for Fleetwood Mac (and some even written with the band in mind) and arranged and produced by Lindsey. What did they have to sound like to not sound like a solo project?

Good point. Stevie wrote four new songs for FM and as for Lindsey, even though BTLH and SYHA were solo songs, they were going to be solo songs with Christine, Mick and John on them so . . . pretty Macky in my book. That's six tracks down and 12 (yikes) to go.

But really, I think it's very popular to say that SYW was just two solo albums slapped together, but I don't think it's true fundamentally.

Michele