Unpopular FM Opinions

[aleuzzi]

Originally Posted by David

I've loved that one for years, and still like it. During a TV commercial, I sometimes run across the room to my digital piano to play and sing "Derelict." It comes out of me unbidden, like a little burp. What unfinished form? Is there a demo of it floating around?

1. Last month of 1980 tour—best month of the band's stage career since B&N joined.
2. When Stevie lyricizes in her typically vague, vapid way—stealing phrases from various oddball sources (including pop-cultural references) and adding her common stock of pseudomystic catchwords ("dreams," "moon," "candles," "wind," "cried," "shadow," "heartache," "sorrow," "silence," "mirror")—she's banal and trite, a poetaster. On the other hand, when she writes straightforwardly, she's more honest and thus more believable and finally a better wordsmith.
3. Even before B&N, Fleetwood Mac benefited from its youthfulness. On the back cover of Rumours, the band is at its most hip. The hipness waned within a few years, despite the big sales later on with "Tusk" and "Mirage."
4. Mick was the greatest shuffle player among every drummer in rock. I still can't figure out how he did it. I think it had something to do with his lanky height. I use the past tense here because he can't do it anymore.
5. "The Chain" has been an old log bobbing around in the water since the 1980 and 1982 tours. It lacks its old pantherish momentum, its stalking power. It used to build anxiously and inexorably and then explode. These days, it's just a turd.

#2 is right on! "I Don't Want to Know," "Landslide," "That's Alright," "Leather and Lace," "Silver Springs," "After the Glitter Fades," and "Frozen Love" are all (notably early) examples of her very effective, direct, reflective lyrical style. She is writing songs for this earth and for everyday people. And all of them are emotionally powerful.

Later examples of a straightforward, cliche-free Stevie are "Blue Denim," "Destiny Rules," "Everybody Finds Out," and (to a lesser extent) "I Sing for the Things." These songs actually MEAN something and are powerful in part because they do not embrace an incoherent, pseudo-mystical mythology...