Which two albums represent Christine's best Fleetwood Mac work?

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by FuzzyPlum

Just looking back at tabrun’s comment about Christine being the weakest writer on Tusk….omg!!!!
Brown Eyes, Over and Over, Think About Me, Never Forget, Honey Hi….all gorgeous songs. Even Never Make Me Cry was sweet, if a little under-cooked.
I certainly wouldn’t consider her contributions to be inferior to Lindsey’s.

Her Tusk songs are excellent. The reason some people think they’re “weaker” is because of (Lindsey’s) decision to pare back on arrangements and create a spacier, sparer sound. Christine and Stevie get one really lush tune each: Sara and Brown Eyes—and according to Ken, a lot of the work for Sara was accomplished by Hernán Rojas. The rest of their tunes sound by turns raunchier (Think About Me, Angel, Sisters) and ultra spare (Storms, Never Make Me Cry).

It’s clear, to my ears at least, and through my study of the songs through sheet music, that Never Forget, Think About Me, Over and Over, and Honey Hi (to pick just four, though all six would work) are entirely comparable to Christine’s Mirage songs. The only difference are the arrangements. And in the case of Never Forget, in terms of craft, the tune ranks pretty high in her overall catalogue.

I have said nothing so far about her voice, which was flawless on Tusk. A pure and potent alto…

[WalkAThinLine.]

Originally Posted by aleuzzi

Her Tusk songs are excellent. The reason some people think they’re “weaker” is because of (Lindsey’s) decision to pare back on arrangements and create a spacier, sparer sound. Christine and Stevie get one really lush tune each: Sara and Brown Eyes—and according to Ken, a lot of the work for Sara was accomplished by Hernán Rojas. The rest of their tunes sound by turns raunchier (Think About Me, Angel, Sisters) and ultra spare (Storms, Never Make Me Cry).

It’s clear, to my ears at least, and through my study of the songs through sheet music, that Never Forget, Think About Me, Over and Over, and Honey Hi (to pick just four, though all six would work) are entirely comparable to Christine’s Mirage songs. The only difference are the arrangements. And in the case of Never Forget, in terms of craft, the tune ranks pretty high in her overall catalogue.

I have said nothing so far about her voice, which was flawless on Tusk. A pure and potent alto…

Hernan certainly played a key role in championing "Sara" and encouraging the rest of the band to record it. Up through the Rumours album, Lindsey was very involved with the arrangements of Stevie's songs. He even convinced Ken and the rest of the band to record the basic tracks of "I Don't Want to Know" in Stevie's absence. By the time Stevie arrived, one of the only things that needed to be accomplished was the addition of Stevie's vocals, a few more overdubs, plus the mixing and mastering. Starting with the Tusk sessions Stevie began working with Tom Moncrieff and recorded various demos with him, including "Smile at You" and "Sara". Based on accounts from Hernan, Lindsey was one of the final band members to actually listen to "Sara" and overdub his parts - Mick had already recorded his drum track and I believe that John's bass had been added at that point too.

Lindsey certainly exerted his influence on certain tracks, with "Never Make Me Cry" being a prime example where the piano was stripped in favor of several guitars, but songs like "Think About Me" and "Angel" are very much ensemble pieces. Granted, Lindsey still managed to place his stamp on both songs by recording very prominent vocals on the former and replacing the Chamberlin solo originally found on the bridge with a fuzz guitar solo. As demonstrated in the Tusk documentary, he also managed to land a more prominent role on "Angel".