Is anyone else feeling "Blah"?

[diamondsnake]

Originally Posted by Hawkeye

well I can't speak for everyone but my knickers are in a twist because a thread like this doesnt make sense right now. If you posted it in 2010, sure it'd make tons of sense. But the fact that we have IYD, the sound city players thing with You can't fix this and the kick ass collaboration concerts with the foo fighters. Plus as TerraRhiannon has demonstrated, her set lists have been amazing on the 2 year IYD tour, even including a one time New Orleans performance.

And to the she doesnt write good songs anymore comment.. bullsh*t maybe you didn't like IYD but the vast majority of us love it. And my personal favorite song she's released this decade is You Cant Fix This.

Her involvement in the EP is disappointing. the fact that Without You is her sole contribution is pathetic, but a thread like this is a total over reaction to that.

I went to her concert last year and loved it. I adore In Your Dreams, and I loved the documentary and saw it in theaters. I was in the audience for her Letterman performance of YCFT this year. I think all of that is great!

But the FM EP is pathetic and does leave a bad taste in my mouth. Its hard to be excited about FM when Stevie herself seems so uninterested. My posting of this thread is in reaction to that. I feel weird as a fan. Am I supposed to be excited about FM when Stevie is barely involved? I feel blah and I am sorry it upsets everyone. I mean, it upsets me! I wish I could be more excited about this FM project....

PS: I love Sad Angel. I think maybe if they just released Sad Angel as a single, and Without You as a B Side, that would have made more sense. Oh, and take one promo picture together. It would seem more logical maybe?

[JohnL]

I love the post above. So many people here just to stir people up. Thanks for the chuckle!!

[editme2]

I've been a fan since the late seventies and get just as excited about new Stevie music today as I did back then.

I think Stevie has plenty of creativity left in her. Though I do think she's gotten somewhat lazy with her writing, her songs remain imaginative, dramatic, and full of emotion.

What I do miss is the spontaneity of the old days. It used to be that when you went to a Stevie Nicks concert, you never knew what to expect. That's not the case these days. Everything is scripted, she wears the same clothes night after night. And she sings the songs in the same way show after show. There's very little variety.

I also worry about her voice. In the past few years, especially, it has lost a lot of that softness and beauty that once was so appealing. It's very harsh and monotonal these days, more so than it's ever been. And I think this is really evident on the EP tracks.

All of this aside, Stevie still remains the one artist who can move me like no other, and she's always the one I turn to to pull me out of the doldrums and make me feel alive. For that, I am forever a fan.

[soul_drifter333]

Ditto - some of these comments are nothing short of ridiculous. Everyone has a right to state their opinion about the music without people making such ugly and vicious comments about other users. The ones that don't like this thread shouldn't be reading it in the first place - the title gave a good indication of what it is about. I thought the original post was thoughtful, tastefully written and needs to be stated.

Originally Posted by JohnL

I love the post above. So many people here just to stir people up. Thanks for the chuckle!!

[JeremyGloff]

I felt "blah" as a Stevie fan between TIMESPACE and STREET ANGEL. The Stevie we are seeing all over the place today far surpasses how little we saw of her or about her in the early 90s. With all the stuff she's done in the last couple years, I'm super interested.

[Jondalar]

Originally Posted by jellyman10

Good. I don't expect to see your opinions about her any more.

Sorry, you don't like other people opinions, but we are not your minions.

[WatchChain]

Originally Posted by diamondsnake

As a longtime Stevie Nicks fan, I can't remember the last time I felt this disenchanted as a fan. In one respect, this year we have had a new song (You Can't Fix This) and an actual movie released, and she is touring with Fleetwood Mac. But on the other hand, she is basically completely uninvolved with the EP Project (sounds like she was in the studio with the band for about 4 hours), and I am just not that interested in watching the same old Fleetwood Mac Soap Opera for hundreds of dollars.

Where is Stevie Nicks headed as an artist? I just fear that this Fleetwood Mac greatest hits tour (that is really the only thing you can call this) is going to last at least a year.... and by that point Stevie will lose her creative streak yet again.

She basically gave Fleetwood Mac the middle finger with their latest EP project- is there a reason for that? Does she have big plans to release more music as a solo artist in the near future? In terms of logistics, I simply don't understand what the hell is going on!

Does anyone else feel this way? It's hard for me to be even remotely excited about a FM tour when Stevie herself doesn't seem interested in being a part of the band anymore. It just leaves an icky taste in my mouth.

I couldn't agree more. I already posted something similar to this on the FM RUMOURS LINEUP SECTION. See my "Open Letter To The Mac" (no need to restate the details). Some posters agreed with me, while others called for me to be publicly hanged for voicing my opinion. I greatly enjoyed the whole creative process that went on during "In Your Dreams". I was hoping the creative streak would continue into this new MAC project.....no such luck. This new "ep" is a Lindsey Buckingham solo record, plain and simple.
The "In Your Dreams" tour was wonderful.....new material, artistic freedom. Frankly, I do not buy tickets to a Stevie Nicks/Fleetwood Mac concert to hear her sing "Gold Dust Women" for the 100th time. Still, I've decided that I will support this tour. I will be sitting in the audience as I've done every tour since 1977 (as a 6 year old child).

[diane_k]

I guess everyone is just glossing over the fact that this woman will be 65 next month. That's the age to become eligible for Medicare. God forbid she slow down after the pace of IYD (sidebar...I always read that is IUD), the tours, the documentaries, the Q and A's, Sundance, etc. Maybe she's just as bored with FM as everyone else? It's essentially a boys club these days with Mick/Lindsey calling the shots, at least that's how I perceive it.

I actually saw more fire in her version of GDW with the Sound City fellas than any FM performance post 1997. She could just be over the whole thing.

[starshine]

Originally Posted by TheWILDheart

I can't believe nobody has noticed this, but Stevie CANNOT write like she used to. IYD was only as brilliant as it was because of Dave Stewart's involvement. Stevie cannot do it anymore.

Think about it -

Constant tours with the same setlist
Tours promoting Greatest Hits packages
Litterally decades between new material
Unnecessary cover versions to make up for lack of new material in live sets

I think Lindsey will expect Stevie to bring something new to the table as was always the way, but she just can't write like she used to anymore and would only have old demo's to bring that would be of the quality Lindsey would expect.

Don't get me wrong, I worship the woman and always will. But she is nearly 65 - you can't expect her to be able to write at the amount and quality that she used to. And I think deep down, the fact that she really cannot do it like she used to upsets her greatly and is a big struggle for her.

I think that you make some great points here. I'll never be like it used to be for most of us fans. It is what it is really. There's nothing wrong with anyone's opinion really. It doesn't make you any less of a 'fan' cause you don't feel the same that you did when you started liking Stevie and Mac. I've been a fan since '88 and I have my ups and downs as a fan. I just know that Stevie & Mac could release many things that US fans would love but they don't which I'll not ever understand. If not them there other family members will at some point and time I'm sure. But most of us would love it now not 20yrs or so from now when I'll be too old to care myself. I could make lists of things I'd love. I just don't expect it now. Blah can be a good word but it is what it is. I have no ill feelings toward anyones comments or how they feel. To me you have the right I guess just as Stevie and Mac have the right to do what they want to or don't. Again it is what it is now. Life goes on and on and on

[fairydust75]

Originally Posted by Macfanforever

Stevie does not have to write new tunes .She can recycle some of her demos rerecord them for a new CD for FM and herself.Which she does.

She can still write.I cant take that from her.

About the EP which reminds me when I read these threads think of politics with the parties split down the middle or lopsided when they try to pass a bill.

All the Lindsey fans are saying yippy and the Stevie fans say blah.

Yes I agree that wish there was more Stevie on the EP but she had her hands on other projects at the time.Thats the way I see it..

[SuiteShangriLa]

I'm kinda feeling blah now. Only because the past couple years were great. We had seen stevie do some things she's never done. Like the whole in your dreams doc. And album. All the videos that were put out. The songwriting. The Dave grohl doc. You can't fix this. Then I hear the songs from the Ep and I'm like BLAH! She's hardly there. And they release an ep that stands for extended play and title it 'extended play' BLAH!
I guess after the last 2 years my expectations were set higher. But I will take into consideration she did lose her mother kinda unexpectedly. But I think that if an ep or lp was an idea that they would at least hold off until she was ready to add to it.
I bought 3 of the 4 songs. Even tho it sounded like a Lindsey album with Stevie singing harmony

[StandbackStevie]

I love the song You Can't Fix This on the sound city soundtrack love it.Wish Fleetwood Mac was doing it on the current tour.It has a fleetwood mac sound.

[TerraRhiannon]

Originally Posted by SuiteShangriLa

Then I hear the songs from the Ep and I'm like BLAH! She's hardly there. And they release an ep that stands for extended play and title it 'extended play' BLAH!

You're right - she was just busy with In Your Dreams documentary, and the Sound City business.. and it was being recorded (the EP) right when her Mother passed on. I'm not surprised she wasn't more involved in the Ep, therefore I'm not disappointed. I'm thinking we will get new Stevie material in a new album or an actual Fleetwood Mac album in the future.

And I'm just now realizing that "Extended Play" is the long version of "EP."
I must have stared at that title for a long time wondering why in the world they would go with a title like this. Oh, Fleetwood Mac.

[KarmaContestant]

I feel like right now, Stevie is actually very emotionally invested in her music, moreso now than since 1983, maybe. If Fleetwood Mac had not come calling, I would not be at all surprised to hear that her and Dave were already recording again. I really believe that In Your Dreams was that good for Stevie - it gave her back enthusiasm for recording new songs, after a decade of music peopel telling her it wasn't worth it. She even said in the documentary that she wanted to see if it was still possible to record an album the old fashioned way, and it seems certain from her statements over the past two years that she had a really, really good time and accomplished what she set out to do. The creative release must have been a magnificent feeling for her. Why woudn't she want to do it again, right away?

That said, I don't believe she can have this experience with Lindsey. It's just not possible. I would bet that she hasn't really had that experience with Lindsey since 1975. She seems, to me, to feel dominated by his opinions and his influence over her songs. Surely, that sucks, and probably doesn't feel like a fun collaboration. So she looks the other way. Granted, Lindsey has done some incredible work - honest - one could even credit his work on her early material as the very reason she has been successful at all.

But that doesn't mean it's fun for her. So that brings me back to her emotional investment in her music: why shred her (and his) soul again to make songs that are going to turn out feeling like compromises? It's a lot of energy to expend, to take the risk that the end result will be unwanted or unliked or to feel like you maybe disengaged from your work and the effect is noticable in the songs. For this EP, she showed up, smiled, nodded, and contributed vocals to material that she had no emotional investment in, and went on the road. I think the EP and tour is a way for her to test the waters and see if it's worth it to her to go through it again, to put herself in that position again, to postpone a solo album to make a Fleetwood Mac album, to sacrifice the number of songs she can release, to maybe not like the end result. On the other hand, she could work with Dave again.

It could all be different this time with Lindsey, Mick and John - or it could all be the same.

In her shoes, where would your interest be?

[SuiteShangriLa]

Originally Posted by StandbackStevie

I love the song You Can't Fix This on the sound city soundtrack love it.Wish Fleetwood Mac was doing it on the current tour.It has a fleetwood mac sound.

I completely agree. The first time I heard the intro the drums and the whole groove of it were very similar to GDW and SOTM.