Who is the least talented singer/songwriter in Fleetwood Mac

[elle]

Originally Posted by David

Fleetwood Mac is usually great at amplifying all the songwriters' strengths and making their weaknesses less important to the vibe the music is giving out. In the context of the classic Fleetwood Mac music, the songwriters all feel, to me, like better writers than they are. I don't know what to attribute that feeling to, but maybe it's the revolving variety of having three songwriters in one band. (The older versions of Fleetwood Mac have that magic, too.)

It has also helped considerably to have such intelligent and creative track production in the band. The singers were recorded superbly well and given excellent backdrops at the "right" levels. That made them all sound like great pop singers.

beautifully said.

Originally Posted by Dex

I appreciate that negativity isn't everyone's cup of tea, but coming into a thread and posting about how stupid/awful the thread is doesn't exactly seem like a great, non-hypocritical way to express that. It's not like this thread is being particularly tricky/shady in any way. It's doing exactly what it says on the label. And it's very easy to not open it or participate in it.

Personally I enjoy a little negativity amidst my fanwankery. Keeps me sharp. And I'm willing to bet I'm not alone. There's a place for threads like this here, too.

exactly to all of it. going into threads you know you won't like before opening them and then telling everybody how much you don't like them seems like a waste of bandwidth.

and completely agree re sharpening your arguing skills. and possibly coming out with something you didn't think of or knew at the start.

Originally Posted by michelej1

But I like it if they provoke interesting discussion.

yes. and i can bet right now what the results of this poll will be.

so i think i'll go from a positive side - question is a combination of singer/songwriter talent so that's different than just great singer or just great songwriter. but i still have to dissect a bit.

talent as a singer:
i think Christine is a great and talented singer, with very interesting, warm, and low for a woman, voice. quality of her voice comes through clearly throughout her career.
i think Stevie has the most interesting singing voice although she never had much range, but i was amazed to hear her singing "Ring Around Your Neck" as well as "It's So Easy" - both songs showed how great and talented singer she really is.
i think Lindsey used to have a range (remember Fritz guys saying how he'd have to sing many songs that were really for a girl singer because Stevie just didn't have needed range), but i hated his young singing voice. however, as he ages, his later songs (especially solo) fit his deeper voice really well, as well as some of the reworkings of his older songs. on ISA or BL for example, he sounds pretty great, plus his voice and instrument together can do some pretty unique stuff.
so as a singer the most talent (if judged by interesting singing voice) would go to either Stevie or Christine.

talent as a songwriter:
Lindsey describes himself as a stylist. his lyrics can be amazing, or they can be kinda trashy. they can be literal and gibberish but still ingenious (bam bam bam?), or they can be really poetic and profound. age appropriate if you will, especially on his later solo work. his musical talent? the guy is obviously born with loads of it and then some - for writing melodies, hooks, interesting within-song changing chord progressions, arranging, playing instruments... he has a huge spectrum, from pop to experimental to just pure typical LB, he thinks in music and melodies, apparently, and when asked he always says that he almost always comes up with the music first, then lyrics.
i don't know Christine's output nearly as well as Lindsey's, but the woman can write and arrange a song, and create unbelievable hooks. her songs may be in many cases a bit poppy for my taste but i can definitely appreciate how much talent for songwriting she has. i like what she said recently, how staying away from songwriting and performing after a while just felt wrong - like she's wasting this huge gift she was given. it did not sound pretentious at all the way she said it, just a fact.
i appreciate that Stevie's lyrics touch many people and made better many of the lives of people here. that's definitely a talent, even if she's not Bob Dylan (a horrible singer!). someone in this thread was arguing about the completeness of the songs she writes - yes, her version of the chain was a complete song, very different from one-of-a-kind sum-of-the-parts FM version. with a few exceptions, somewhere starting with Sara, bulk of her melodies became reciting lyrics to some music in a sing-songy way, as someone characterized it recently. after hearing her singing some of the covers, i have to say that it's too bad that songs she wrote over the years didn't really allow her to realize her full potential as a singer.
so pure musical talent would have to go to either Lindsey or Christine.

now, talent as a singer/songwriter is a combination, something that may not necessarily be a sum of the two parts.