Unpopular FM Opinions

[WalkAThinLine.]

1) Say You Will is better than Buckingham/McVie (both are still enjoyable listens)

2) Buckingham's Mirage songs are better than Nicks' and only slightly better than McVie's (despite the inclusion of "Oh Diane")

3) With the exception of "Edge of Seventeen", "Leather and Lace", and "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", Bella Donna is rather generic and boring

4) The music of Fleetwood Mac is more interesting than the personal drama

5) Christine's voice on the pre-Penguin material is relatively difficult to listen to (although the songs themselves are fine)

6) I love Mick Fleetwood's vest solo

[HomerMcvie]

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

1) Say You Will is better than Buckingham/McVie (both are still enjoyable listens)

2) Buckingham's Mirage songs are better than Nicks' and only slightly better than McVie's (despite the inclusion of "Oh Diane")

3) With the exception of "Edge of Seventeen", "Leather and Lace", and "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", Bella Donna is rather generic and boring

4) The music of Fleetwood Mac is more interesting than the personal drama

5) Christine's voice on the pre-Penguin material is relatively difficult to listen to (although the songs themselves are fine)

6) I love Mick Fleetwood's vest solo

You're only correct on #4. As far as the rest, you're cray cray.

[Villavic]

Interesting points. My thoughts:


1) Say You Will is better than Buckingham/McVie (both are still enjoyable listens)
Well I choice B/M as better than SYW, just from a "what do I enjoy the most" point of view (I mean I'm not a music pro just a mortal die hard fan)

2) Buckingham's Mirage songs are better than Nicks' and only slightly better than McVie's (despite the inclusion of "Oh Diane")
I'd say it's a tie.

3) With the exception of "Edge of Seventeen", "Leather and Lace", and "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", Bella Donna is rather generic and boring.
Can't comment cause I'm not enough fan of any solo work of FM members, so I don't usually listen whole solo albums. The only entire album I do enjoy is Out of the Craddle (and sometimes In the Meantime).

4) The music of Fleetwood Mac is more interesting than the personal drama
Of course! far more interesting, enjoyable, etc.! Though I agree when I read Stevie and Mick destroyed the band, the legacy, the farewell etc etc, I'm so tired of reading insults and sarcasms to those two. But I'm never saturated of listening the music of Fleetwood Mac.

5) Christine's voice on the pre-Penguin material is relatively difficult to listen to (although the songs themselves are fine).
I usually listen Rumours lineup albums so I've to review her previous songs

6) I love Mick Fleetwood's vest solo.
I liked his Tango tour performance but it's the only one I've seen, and just in video.

[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

[jbrownsjr]

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

We agree on so much! I love Big love (why it was first single was a big mis step). SYW has grown on me but still not a great "Album". Love OSOTM and RAL, don't care for Street Angel. Christine's solo show WT was fantastic with Hawkins. Chili and I would disagree about LB's Oh Well. (I love it too) I don't really like NIghts in Estoril. And yes, on BWelch! He was a Welch Witch.

[Macfan4life]

Originally Posted by jbrownsjr

We agree on so much! I love Big love (why it was first single was a big mis step). SYW has grown on me but still not a great "Album". Love OSOTM and RAL, don't care for Street Angel. Christine's solo show WT was fantastic with Hawkins. Chili and I would disagree about LB's Oh Well. (I love it too) I don't really like NIghts in Estoril. And yes, on BWelch! He was a Welch Witch.

We are the Boppsy twins.


I wonder what Greta would say..

[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.

[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!

[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.

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by David

My truly unpopular opinions:


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’m not sure any of these are unpopular opinions. They seem spot on to me. The only thing I’d argue is that the band’s 1982 version of Not That Funny is among their best live work...

[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.

[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.

[DownOnRodeo]

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

2) Buckingham's Mirage songs are better than Nicks' and only slightly better than McVie's (despite the inclusion of "Oh Diane")

I like how you drew a line at poor old "Oh Diane"

[mitzo]

Originally Posted by WalkAThinLine.

1) Say You Will is better than Buckingham/McVie (both are still enjoyable listens)

2) Buckingham's Mirage songs are better than Nicks' and only slightly better than McVie's (despite the inclusion of "Oh Diane")

3) With the exception of "Edge of Seventeen", "Leather and Lace", and "Stop Dragging My Heart Around", Bella Donna is rather generic and boring

4) The music of Fleetwood Mac is more interesting than the personal drama

5) Christine's voice on the pre-Penguin material is relatively difficult to listen to (although the songs themselves are fine)

6) I love Mick Fleetwood's vest solo

Agree on #1 and #3. BD is so boring!